dbminter

One thing you might consider if you're looking for long term storage of media. I haven't crunched the numbers, but buying BD-R may be cheaper for longer term storage versus buying M-Disc DVD+R. They will definitely be cheaper than M-Disc BD-R, but won't last as long. However, BD-R will definitely last longer than any recordable CD or DVD as they use organic dyes and BD-R uses metal oxide. But, BD-R won't last as long as M-Disc DVD. However, if you do use BD-R, you won't be able to natively play DVD Video or Audio CD's burned to them. They're better used as archive storage and then copied back to the proper recordable media when needed for playback. For a few years now, I've been archiving everything to BD-R, even if they will fit on a CD or a DVD. BD-R is now on par with about a $1 a disc here in the States when bought in bulk and they will last longer than CD or DVD. I don't mind paying the extra for a longer lived storage medium, but you may not want to.

8x DVD+RW is, pretty much, a dead flavor of DVD+RW. They still make 4x DVD+RW, but Imation was the last manufacturer of 8x, and even then Ritek made those for them. The only ones I can find are from a seller offering a few lots on eBay as Amazon.com's single seller no longer offers them. I believe the "Audio CD" CD-R's were merely a tax scheme. They were created as a way to levy a tax on recordable media to "make up" for people copying audio CD's with them. Entirely a scam as they weren't any better than some other kinds of CD-R out there. Taiyo Yuden, as long as they're the "genuine" high quality ones, are good. I had to briefly switch to TY DVD-R when Verbatim changed the manufacturing process of DataLife Plus DVD-R so that the NS60 no longer properly wrote to those until the 1.03 firmware update was released. If you don't get the high quality genuine "Pro" ones, they will be the CMC junk since CMC Magnetics now owns TY, too. Even at that, the so called "CMC Pro" discs are actually TY's and are good.

Ah, I got mixed up. There's like 4 212 model numbers out there over the years. At one point, what differentiated the 212 line from the 2212 line was the latter's support for BD XL and TL. Then, Ultra HD BD was thrown in the mix. For instance, the 212 I tested in that other thread did not support BD XL and TL media.

I believe the difference between the 212 and the 2212 is that the 2212 supports BD XL and TL, whereas the 212 does not.

Interesting. The NS60 is more expensive than the NS40 because it supports Ultra HD BD. But, more than twice the price? That seems excessive. Of course, Pioneer releases a firmware update that does NOTHING to address their 8x DVD+RW issues that have plagued ALL models of BD burners for MORE than 5 years. It only address PLAYBACK issues, NOT writing issues. If you never intend on writing DVD+RW media, the Pioneer 212 is fine as far as I tested it. Don't know about 4x DVD+RW, though.

Unfortunately, as far as BD goes, there is no jack of all trades unit. The best you can get is the best of the worst. They all have problems. For instance, ASUS's drive doesn't properly write DVD+R DL. A firmware update will fix it, but in 3 years, they've yet to address the issue I keep telling them. Pioneer does not write properly to 8x DVD+RW and hasn't for more than 5 years, despite my repeatedly telling them, too. Plus, the BD-RE it writes only Verify at maximum 2x, the maximum rated write speed. The LG WH16NS60 is the best of the worst, but it writes a bit slower and doesn't always properly read in all discs that other units will. The NS60 is the unit I use because it is the best of the worst. However, the write/read speeds set in ImgBurn tend to get ignored by the NS60. I've tried setting CD read speed to 1x and it gets ignored, reading instead at maximum write speed. The NS40 can be used, unless you want to to BD-R DL or BD-RE DL. It has never properly written those, despite, once again, my years of telling them a firmware update is needed for the NS40. Once I discovered the NS60 properly writes to DL BD media, I started getting it. LG also has a very liberal replacement policy. 2 months ago, I got a replacement for a drive still under warranty. But, after 2 months, it stopped reading DVD discs when inserted. LG is replacing it, too, and, as a courtesy, they sent me a prepaid shipping label, which they haven't done in the past.

It's been like a decade, probably, but I didn't find any alternative to WMPCDText when I tried it out before. I don't use WMP anymore. I've moved to MPC-HC.

I found the WMPCDText plugin to be highly unreliable. Enough so that I eventually uninstalled it.

Yeah, the 212 is definitely junk. After repeated variances between 6x and 8x write maxes on DVD+RW, I put in a new, unformatted 8x DVD+RW in the 212. It failed Verify, so Pioneer still doesn't know what the Hell it's doing when it comes to firmware. For more than 5 years, the Pioneer firmware fails to properly write to any 8x DVD+RW. And, given that Pioneer doesn't know its ass from a hole in the ground, I fail to see any hope that the 213 will do any better.

Yeah, that's what I was expecting. Drives don't always obey what ImgBurn sends to them. Thanks!

I set the read speeds for both values to 1x. Audio CD read at 40x. Are these user set values just ignored if the drive cannot set those values? Thanks!

The 212 definitely is an unreliable performer when it comes to writing 8x DVD+RW. It fluctuates between writing at 6x and 8x maximum. You do one write and it's 6x max. You use the same disc that just wrote at 6x max and write the same image in the same enclosure and conditions, and you get 8x!

Nothing new to report since the last beta was released back in November.

Well, now I don't know WHAT to think! After the failed burn from before, the NEW enclosure I installed, completely different manufacturer, was ALSO returning Logical Unit messages on all inserted discs. So, I swapped in another Vantec enclosure, which was the same type that appeared dead before. (This one Vantec randomly causes drives to appear with blank contents in File Explorer until power is cycled. Vantec makes about 50% junk.) Now, the same disc that was writing at 3.3x is back to 8x! It's POSSIBLE both enclosures went bad simultaneously as the OWC had been sitting on a shelf unused for years. If the universe is ruled by god, I wouldn't put it past him.

Yeah, the 212 is junk as well. I put in a brand new unformatted 8x DVD+RW, wrote it once, played fine. Write to it a 2nd time, and it never got beyond 3.3x. Whenever this happens, Verify will always fail.

Further testing has shown the Pioneer drives are still junk when it comes to writing 8x DVD+RW. I put in a brand new, unformatted disc, let ImgBurn format and write it, and Verify failed on it. So, Pioneer has taken SLIGHT steps forward, but are still junk. In fact, the 212 DESTROYED the brand new DVD+RW I just tested! I tried using it again in an LG WH16NS60 and it won't even get past Logical Unit is in process of becoming ready. Which is what ASUS used to do on rewritable discs. EDIT: Actually, I may have jumped to a conclusion too soon. It could be the enclosure. I took out the 212 and put in an NS60 and I still get Logical Unit messages on all DVD+RW discs. Since it's highly unlikely both drives went bad at the same time and since I've tried other DVD+RW discs, the conclusion is either the enclosure, the USB cable, or the USB port are to blame. More to come. Must have been the enclosure. I used a different enclosure with the 212 and the same disc that had at first appeared to have been destroyed and the Logical Unit message went away. I used the same USB cable, so it's not the cable or port. Could be a power supply issue as the other enclosure uses a different type of power supply.

That's why I miss those days.

So, you're using 2 WH14NS40 drives? Writing in a 1.03 firmware drive and verifying in a 1.05 firmware drive? If that's the case, I'd wait and see if it happens again, but this time use the 1.05 drive to write the BD XL disc.

Is this the first time you've tried BD XL media? I know one of the reasons the WH16NS40 is not usable, as far as I'm concerned, is it doesn't properly write to double layer BD media. 9 times out of 10, it writes it incorrectly.

See if this helps: Tools --> Settings --> Build --> Page 1 --> Advanced --> Check the box for Include Reparse Point Files. If it's already checked, don't change it as that won't help.

I did recommend M-Disc in my initial reply, but there is one mitigating factor that may turn someone off to using them: cost. M-Disc are a tad bit expensive, particularly when compared to the price for BD-R. However, there is the initial cost of having to pay out for a more expensive BD burner if you're going to use BD-R. And you will need a BD drive to read the discs back. With M-Disc, as long as your device supports DVD+R, it will read it. So, M-Disc is a bit more "universal."

I do prefer the old days when apps stored settings in INI files in the directory they were installed in. It made configuring applications on a new system much easier. Plus, INI is safe from when developers change the name of the Registry key they're writing to or change/add/delete branches from the key.

One oddity of the firmware in the Pioneer 212. It takes 35 seconds longer to write an 8x DVD+RW than it does on the WH16NS60. At one minute and 25 seconds into burning, the drive drops the write rate to 0.0x and it stays there for 35 seconds before resuming, climbing back up to 8.0x. It does this on "Ricoh" 8x DVD+RW from years ago and on the current 8x DVD+RW from Imation, made by "Ritek."

So, in Verify Mode, if a user unchecked Verify Against Image File, ImgBurn would just do a Read of the contents as if it were creating an image file?

In the Verify mode, there's an option the user can check to Verify Against Image File. When a Verify is automatically performed after writing an image if the user has the Verify option selected, is the disc verified against the image file that was written by default? Or is the Verify just a Read operation without comparison against the image file contents being burned? Thanks!