dbminter

They don't. They just perform cursory evaluations to see if I did anything to void the warranty. If there's no obvious damage, then, the company just issues a replacement. They don't actually test what you tell them. In fact, in my case, it would be pretty hard because it's hard to find Ritek 8x DVD+RW discs anymore. Only a handful could I find on Amazon.com. And that was AFTER I bought the last remaining 75 discs there! A few more cake stacks came across since then. And the company is not going to buy 25 discs just to test 1. Especially not Pioneer since these discs are the same ones I've told them about for 2 years now that they've borked the firmware on writing to raw discs formatted by Pioneer drives.

It's already been sent back to the replacement place. They received it a week ago yesterday and Monday was the last time I heard from Pioneer when I told them they should have received the package as I was tracking it. That person told me the replacement place would have to examine it and proceed from there. I wrote back on Thursday asking if there may be an approximate return around time. Haven't heard back from them. Will try again in a few days.

Interesting. Now Pioneer is not replying to my tech support e-mails about my replacement drive. I don't know if that says anything. Can't make a final judgment yet. They may just be busy or need another e-mail prompting them in a few days.

This was recently posted to the VSO support forums. It goes a bit to explaining why it's almost been a year since the last gold release of ConvertXToDVD: " VSO has gone through financial difficulties, but "big boss" hasn't given up"

About the copy and paste thing. I think what you're describing is what is known as the cache. About the chicken and the egg thing. I never understood why that was ever an argument. The egg obviously couldn't have come first because 1.) what laid it? 2.) what generated it? and 3.) what sat on it to hatch it? Plus, you'd need more than 1 egg to generate enough chickens to make more eggs. As with the flaw in the Adam and Eve idea, no life forms ever begin with just 2 samples. There are always multiples out there in the initial sample field. Like the hole in Cain taking a foreign wife theory. If Adam and Eve were the first 2 people and Cain was one of their first children, where did the foreign wife come from? About the new drivers' licenses. Locally, the price is set to be about $40, I think. What's such a pain in the ass is you need such specific ID! No laminated Social Security card. Well, mine IS laminated so I need to pay to get a new one to begin with on that. Then, you need your birth certificate. My mother would know where that is as I don't, so hopefully she can find it. Lastly, you need 2 bills that indicate you live in the state where you're applying for this ID.

Office Depot accepted my return for a refund of the Verbatim 6x BD-R in 16x packaging. They didn't want to at first, until they got egg on their faces. They looked on the Office Depot web site for the item. Take a look for yourself and check out the images associated with the item: https://www.officedepot.com/a/products/692833/Verbatim-BD-R-25GB-16X-Disc/ Notice there are 2 different images of the branded surfaces for the 16x discs. One that shows 6x and one that shows 16x! Even Office Depot can't decide what you're going to get. And notice in the production description at the top of the page and in the URL that they're supposed to be 16x!

Haven't bought a CD only burner in like almost 20 years, sorry. In fact, for over 5 years, I haven't even bought a CD/DVD only burner. I only buy CD/DVD/BD burners now.

I doubt there is. Write speeds are based on a few factors, one of them being whatever the write rates are set at on the media and the write strategies in the firmware of the drive writing to that media. Meaning you probably can't get anything lower or greater than what they're set at. Unless the firmware is specifically rated to burn a media at a higher than rated rate and do it safely. Plus, it's sometimes down to the whim of the drive. For instance, a drive may return a blank has X rate on it, but won't actually write at that rate but a lower one. And it can be random when it does and doesn't do this. So, bottom line, I doubt there's any trick you can employ to get a drive to burn a disc at a lower than its lowest rated rate.

What virtual drive software were you using? I use Virtual CloneDrive and don't have a similar problem. It hasn't been updated for a while, but I've been using it for years.

I don't buy the idea that everything evil is the Devil's fault. He's just the straw man in the argument. For the sake of arguing, let's say God exists. If he created everything, then he also created evil. If you have absolute power to stop evil acts and don't do anything to do so, you're just as guilty of those acts. It's the Nazi collaborator argument. They could have done something to stop the atrocities but didn't so they're guilty of them. It can work one way but not the other? Those who believe in God want to have it that way, too. That God is responsible for all the good things but wash his hands of the bad ones.

I just love how life tries and FAILS to trick me. I tried burning some left over stock of Verbatim DVD-R I kept for temporary backup purposes in my WH16NS60. The first one I tried burning in this replacement drive LG sent me. And if failed to Verify! Knowing how these things work, I tried a 2nd disc and, sure enough, it worked fine. As did the 3rd disc I tried in the same cake stack. It's actually kind of funny that after 45 years, life still thinks it can trick lil' ol' me.

Strange that you had to do that. I just run the .BAT file by double clicking on it in File Explorer.

I haven't made an audio CD from FLAC files in some time, but last time I did it, I was using madFLAC under Windows 10 x64. It may sound counterproductive, but try using any of the online free audio file converters to convert one of these FLAC's to a FLAC. This new FLAC might actually be compliant. I've had that happen before, actually. However, it may not actually do any good at all, though. I just tried creating a CUE file under Windows 10 1903 x64 and it worked with the FLAC I put in. So, I'd be leaning more towards your input files being the problem. However, without you actually having a FLAC file you know worked before and trying it again, it's hard to say if it's your input files or your madFLAC installation.

Probably wouldn't do any good to let Verbatim know. They'd most likely tell me to do what I intend to do next week and return them. If they are unaware, then it is probably a one off packaging error the automated lines made. If they are aware, they'd deny anything, so it's kind of a wasted exercise.

Yep, just as I thought. It's a PUP. They're not viruses. LUK must have updated the installer package to replace OpenCandy with something else? Anyway, you could normally avoid it, but your AV scanner is deleting the file before it can be used. I don't know anything about Windows Defender, so I can't tell you how to exclude the file. Just be aware when you run the installer to uncheck things you don't want installed along with ImgBurn. Or, before running the installer if you ever get it, turn off your Internet connection until the installer in finished. That way, it can't phone home to a server for free offers.

Sure would have been nice of Microsoft to actually SAY what the virus was. Without it saying, there's no way of knowing if it's an actual virus or just a PUP positive. I downloaded the file from Mirror 7 and scanned it with Avast and Malwarebytes with no positive results. So, Microsoft is most likely detecting some Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP). They're not viruses but people blindly click and install them. Some AV programs are lazy and don't differentiate between viruses and PUP's. As for the hash discrepancy, LUK might have had to put in a replacement for OpenCandy, the PUP, which was discontinued. And he just forgot to update the SHA value on the page. Until he chimes in on the subject, it's up for debate.

They are a stack of 10 discs that come in a box. The printing on the outside of the box says they're 16x. But, the branded label surface of each disc says 6x. When inserted in the LG WH16NS60, the maximum listed write rate is 12x. And the drive will write to these discs at a maximum rate of 12x. However, the same is said of 16x media, as the Pioneer BDR-211 is the only one I've seen that gets near 16x on the 16x media.

Verbatim would deny anything. If they're really doing it, they won't admit it. If it's a mistake, they won't admit to that, either. Amazon's probably just selling old 6x stock to get rid of it. Or they may not even be aware they're doing it. The packages both look the same except for the wording. And they're probably sitting on all kinds of 6x stock they're trying to get rid of. Now, that it happened at a brick and mortar store is more of a dead giveaway that Verbatim would have done that themselves. And it may have just been an accident. Some batches of 6x's got mixed in with the 16x's. Then again, it could be Verbatim's own conscious doing. Who knows? Sent off the Pioneer to the replacement place today. Wasn't as big a hit on the wallet as I thought it might be. 2 day shipping, should get there by Saturday, for $9.95, but I paid an extra $3.50 for $155 insurance. Best to get my $155 back if it gets lost in the mail for a $3.50 investment. I've only ever had 3 pieces of mail never get delivered either to me or sent by me to someone else. So, the likelihood of loss is low, but best to err on the side of caution when $155 is at stake.

Which mirrors did you use? There are 7. Always choose Mirror 7 if you didn't choose it before. That's one maintained by ImgBurn.com and the least likely to be altered by the other providers to include PUP's.

Well, they don't say you'll get 16x because of the variances with drives and the firmware write strategies for each medium. The box just says 16x and the label on the branded surface just says 16x. Besides, the only drive I know of where you get anything other than 12x is on the BDR-211. I don't know about any BD drive from ASUS or anyone else. However, you can get 12x speed on the 6x media. And they're probably charging more for the 6x media by claiming it's 16x since 16x media should be more expensive because it writes faster even though it isn't. I've gotten all my office chairs, including the one I'm sitting in in front of my PC, at Office Depot. So, I really can't just stop buying from them, really. Yeah, I got 14.7x max on the BDR-211 with the 16x media that was nearly fully written. If I had a full size image set, I would probably get 16x at the edge. Like with my DVD+R. 16x is generally only achieved with a full 4.7 GB. I checked the first page of reviews for the 16x BD-R Verbatim media on Amazon.com and someone else gave a negative review saying not to buy because they weren't as advertised. Amazon.com sent them 6x instead of 16x.

Remember that story I told of Amazon.com sending me 6x BD-R that they advertised as 16x? It happened again, this time with a brick and mortar store! I bought some 16x BD-R at Office Depot, but when I opened the package, every single disc in the stack was branded as 6x on the surface label! Now, on the BDR-211, it might be possible to get 16x on 6x media. On the WH16NS60, you get 12x on 6x (And 16x.) media. So, the BD-R should get at least 12x, too, but I got these media for 16x, which can only be achieved on the BDR-211. And mine is currently waiting to see if I can get replaced under warranty. So, since it won't cost me anything to return these except my time, I'm taking them back to Office Depot. Worst case scenario, they won't give me a refund, but should give me store credit. If they won't give me anything, well, there's always Amazon.com to do my shopping from. I can still get 12x on these 6x media, so it's not like they're useless, but it's not what I purchased them for. So, if they won't give me a refund or store credit, I can still use them. I'll just never buy BD-R from Office Depot again!

I rarely do Blu-Ray to container conversions but I do have access to a BD movie that was one a BD-50. I will create a container from it and see what results I get. I'll let you know when it completes, as I expect it to take some time. It's really interesting how life tries to trick you. After swapping back in the WH16NS60, I had a DVD+RW fail on me. Now, knowing this disc had been written to before, before I panicked, I tried a 2nd DVD+RW. It wrote and Verified fine. So, it just happened to choose that exact moment for the other DVD+RW to die on me in a blatant attempt to try and trick me. Yeah, looks like it's going to take over an hour. I'm creating an MKV from 1 hour, 43 minutes, and 16 seconds worth of main movie. I'm using Handbrake, set at Fast 1080p30, with 1 audio track, English DTS 5.1 channel, and 1 subtitle track, English. Only 1 Pass. Theoretically, using Fast over any of the HQ settings will result in a smaller file size. I guess I should have used Very Fast to minimize file size and time execution, but this should still be a good indicator once it finishes. And the results are in: 6.81 GB! So, is it possible to get under 1 GB? Yes. But, it requires a lot of compression. It would depend on the codec you're using, and it also means you're sacrificing video quality to get that small a size.

I use madFLAC to process FLAC files in ImgBurn. You're welcome to try installing that if you can't get Direct Show filters to work. Had you ever gotten them to work before and they suddenly stopped?

I thought BIN/CUE was only supposed to be used for Audio CD's? That appears to be a game CD.

Yes, more and more I'm starting to lean towards LG over Pioneer. LG isn't perfect. The WH16NS40 was a miss and the NS60 will die by scratching BD-R's. Plus, my 2nd NS60 died after like 2 months, so it didn't last as long as it should have. But, LG stood by it and replaced it so that's a plus. And, as I said, I'd rather have a slightly slower writer and Verify drive versus a faster one with all the borked firmware issues. Never had an eSATA peripheral, so I couldn't say anything about them. I don't even know if I ever had an eSATA port on a PC. eSATA just never really took off, so I think it's probably just all but abandoned by now. But, you never know. It looked like Thunderbolt was all but dead, but seems to have sprung back to life lately.