Apota Posted April 24, 2010 Posted April 24, 2010 I'm trying to use ImgBurn for the first time. I'm using it in combination with DVDFab. I have a new computer with a i7-920 CPU. I got the new Intel® Desktop Board DX58SO. I'm running my two hard drives as mirrored raid. There are 6 Sata ports. Ports 2 and 3 have the hard drives. Ports 4 and 5 are empty. Ports 1 and 2 have my two burners. I have my new burner and an older one. They are both Plextor. The new drive is a Plextor PX-B940SA internal 12X BD Writer. I was trying the Maxel DVD+R DL 8X media and Plextor said it's crappy and to use the Sony, so I got the Sony DVD+R DL 8X media, but I'm having the same problem. I've been trying to burn with ImgBurn, but it gets to like 33% and then just hangs there forever. I have Windows Vista Ultimate SP2 32-bit. I have 3GB of Kingston DDR3 1333Mhz memory. I have Nero 10, ImgBurn, DVDFab, and Cyberlink Blu-ray Disc Suite software installed. I did a fresh install of the OS a few months back after reformating the new hard drives. I'm enclosing the log file. I have the write settings set to the lowest burn speed. Like I said before I looked at ImgBurn and it was at 33% and it just stayed there for an hour and wouldn't go past the 33% so I just aborted it. I'm sure that means there is some kind of problem. Right? Thanks for all your help and time! I 22:24:22 ImgBurn Version 2.5.1.0 started! I 22:24:22 Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Edition (6.0, Build 6002 : Service Pack 2) I 22:24:22 Total Physical Memory: 3,133,928 KB - Available: 1,635,780 KB I 22:24:22 Initialising SPTI... I 22:24:22 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices... I 22:24:23 -> Drive 1 - Info: PLEXTOR BD-R PX-B940SA 1.04 (D:) (ATAPI) I 22:24:23 -> Drive 2 - Info: PLEXTOR DVDR PX-716A 1.11 (E:) (ATAPI) I 22:24:23 Found 1 DVD±RW and 1 BD-RE! I 22:24:23 Operation Started! I 22:24:23 Building Image Tree... I 22:24:23 Checking Directory Depth... I 22:24:23 Calculating Totals... I 22:24:23 Preparing Image... E 23:28:47 Operation Aborted! - Duration: 01:04:24 I 23:29:22 Operation Started! I 23:29:22 Building Image Tree... I 23:29:22 Checking Directory Depth... I 23:29:22 Calculating Totals... I 23:29:22 Preparing Image... E 23:30:07 Operation Aborted! - Duration: 00:00:44 I 23:30:10 Close Request Acknowledged I 23:30:10 Closing Down... I 23:30:10 Shutting down SPTI... I 23:30:10 ImgBurn closed!
mmalves Posted April 24, 2010 Posted April 24, 2010 Install this (reboot if asked) and then install this (also reboot if asked). That should solve your problem. By the way, there's newer firmware available for your PX-B940SA burner.
Apota Posted April 24, 2010 Author Posted April 24, 2010 (edited) I already installed both those files from Intel last month after I installed the new Intel motherboard and after I installed the OS. Do you think I need to install those files a second time after I've installed ImgBurn? I don't think I have too, but I can if you think it might make a difference. What is the FirmwareHQ.com website that has the firmware update? Whey would they have the firmware update and not Plextor's website? Plextor's website always had firmware updates for my other Plextor drive. I'm confused. Thanks for the quick response and your time! Plextor's website says there is no firmware update for my drive: http://www.plextoramericas.com/index.php/index.php?option=com_jdownloads&Itemid=55&task=viewcategory&catid=100 That's wierd, but I just found the update on a totally different Plextor website. I wonder why it's not on there regular website? Here it is: http://www.plextor-digital.com/index.php/component/option,com_jdownloads/Itemid,55/catid,132/cid,481/task,view.download/ Install this (reboot if asked) and then install this (also reboot if asked). That should solve your problem. By the way, there's newer firmware available for your PX-B940SA burner. Edited April 24, 2010 by Apota
LIGHTNING UK! Posted April 24, 2010 Posted April 24, 2010 That log doesn't show you burning anything, it shows the program is trying to 'prepare' the image. So what exactly do you see on your screen at that point? Get us a screenshot or something. The files on firmwarehq are taken from various sites. We know that manufacturers like to release them to different sites at different times so we scour all of them and then upload them to firmwarehq to make it easy for people.
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 You are right. I never used this software before so I wasn't sure how it worked. I thought it was burning but it never gets to that point. I goes right to preparing at 33% and then it stays on preparing at 33% for hours and never does anything else. I have taken snap shots so you can see. Hopefully that is helpful in helping me find a solution to this problem. Thanks again for all your time and help! That log doesn't show you burning anything, it shows the program is trying to 'prepare' the image. So what exactly do you see on your screen at that point? Get us a screenshot or something. The files on firmwarehq are taken from various sites. We know that manufacturers like to release them to different sites at different times so we scour all of them and then upload them to firmwarehq to make it easy for people.
Cynthia Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 When you are in that "position", you need to pick/select one of the rows in the 'Create Layer Break Position Window'. I would select the second green star (the one with the padding 103652). Also, if your player supports it, enable the option 'Seamless'. That way you will never notice the possible hick up when the player switches layer on the disc. How do you know it works with your player? Burn one disc and play it, if it goes banana, you know it doesn't work with that player. Most recent players should work. For that disc you posted about, the option will not really make any difference as you have to have cells in a video part for you to notice it. If you have a disc that only offers Yellow and Grey stars, that would be a nice disc to try the option with..
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 OK, thanks for the information. I still have some questions. First is about the Seamless. I have a brand new Blu-Ray burner. It's a Plextor PX-B940SA 12X Blu-Ray Disc Writer Super Multi Format (whatever that means). Here are the features: http://www.plextoramericas.com/index.php/blu-ray/internal-blu-ray/px-b940sa Here are the specs: http://www.plextoramericas.com/index.php/blu-ray/internal-blu-ray/px-b940sa?start=1 So, I don't see anywhere where it says it supports seamless. Do you know for sure if it does or not? If not, I'll email Plextor and ask them. What exactly do I ask them? If it supports Seamless and they'll know what that means? Well, you told me what green star to select for this situation, but how do I know which one to select in the future for other discs? What is that exactly? Is that showing you the condition of the sectors on that peice of media itself? What am I looking for to know what green star to choose? When you say it goes bananas what exactly do you mean? So, if I burn it with seamless it will be a totally bad burn and when I play the DVD back it will be totally un-playable? What do you mean about having cells in the video part? Are you saying that if I have disc that only has yellow and grey stars it would be a good disk to try the seamless option with to see if it works? I'm a little confused. Can you please explain in a little more detail? In DVDFab I chose to use the slowest write speed possible, but when ImgBurn did the burn it did it at the fastest speed. I thought that DVDFab passed a long that infomration to ImgBurn? How come it didn't do it at the slowest speed? Even though it did it at the fastest speed I chose for it to verify and it said there wasn't any problems. I always thought that if you burn at the slowest speed you have a lower chance of getting a bad burn. Isn't that true? Thank you for all your time and help! When you are in that "position", you need to pick/select one of the rows in the 'Create Layer Break Position Window'. I would select the second green star (the one with the padding 103652). Also, if your player supports it, enable the option 'Seamless'. That way you will never notice the possible hick up when the player switches layer on the disc. How do you know it works with your player? Burn one disc and play it, if it goes banana, you know it doesn't work with that player. Most recent players should work. For that disc you posted about, the option will not really make any difference as you have to have cells in a video part for you to notice it. If you have a disc that only offers Yellow and Grey stars, that would be a nice disc to try the option with..
Cynthia Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 Multi format usually means that it burns all types of discs. It's your stand alone player that needs to support the option of seamless. The burner doesn't care. Step 6 in this guide explains the colors and what they stand for more in details. It's for another program, but the concept is the same. http://www.digital-digest.com/~blutach/dl_burn_guide2/dl_burning_with_pgcedit_v2.htm The player might freeze/skip a chapter if it doesn't support seamless. Only way to know is to burn a disc and play it over the layer break. If you use the preview and there is video to show, you should know what spot you selected as the layer break when you watch the burned disc on your stand alone player. Might be that DVDFab only passes the write speed over to ImgBurn if you actually set it to a value as 4x and not when you set it to lowest or fastest. You can solve this by setting up and using the AWS feature in ImgBurn. http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=4249 What do you mean about having cells in the video part? Are you saying that if I have disc that only has yellow and grey stars it would be a good disk to try the seamless option with to see if it works? I'm a little confused. Can you please explain in a little more detail? A Grey star is when you have the layer break options in the middle of the movie (video). Assuming that the potential layer break that is suggested is between two cells (a chapter can be made up of several cells) is in a movie with a car chase. Having the player to slightly pause the playing when it's changing layer of the disc (there are two layers on a DL disc) can be not so nice when you watch it. The seamless should in theory prevent that pause to occur. Also don't forget that you can use the preview to select a layer break that has a natural break, like between two different scenes in the movie.
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 OK, I think I understand now. So, it's the player. Well, I have a brand new Samsung Blu-Ray player. One of the latest models. So, it sounds like that won't be a problem. So, I can use the preview to see where the break will be, in the movie and create the break there and test it on my Samsung Blu-Ray player? I will do another DVD and play with that preview feature to see what you are talking about and try it and see what happens. Did you say there might be a situation where you don't need to choose the seamless option and you won't have the problem when it switches layers? Can you tell me about what I'm looking for to make that decision? Thanks. Multi format usually means that it burns all types of discs. It's your stand alone player that needs to support the option of seamless. The burner doesn't care. Step 6 in this guide explains the colors and what they stand for more in details. It's for another program, but the concept is the same. http://www.digital-digest.com/~blutach/dl_burn_guide2/dl_burning_with_pgcedit_v2.htm The player might freeze/skip a chapter if it doesn't support seamless. Only way to know is to burn a disc and play it over the layer break. If you use the preview and there is video to show, you should know what spot you selected as the layer break when you watch the burned disc on your stand alone player. Might be that DVDFab only passes the write speed over to ImgBurn if you actually set it to a value as 4x and not when you set it to lowest or fastest. You can solve this by setting up and using the AWS feature in ImgBurn. http://forum.imgburn.com/index.php?showtopic=4249 What do you mean about having cells in the video part? Are you saying that if I have disc that only has yellow and grey stars it would be a good disk to try the seamless option with to see if it works? I'm a little confused. Can you please explain in a little more detail? A Grey star is when you have the layer break options in the middle of the movie (video). Assuming that the potential layer break that is suggested is between two cells (a chapter can be made up of several cells) is in a movie with a car chase. Having the player to slightly pause the playing when it's changing layer of the disc (there are two layers on a DL disc) can be not so nice when you watch it. The seamless should in theory prevent that pause to occur. Also don't forget that you can use the preview to select a layer break that has a natural break, like between two different scenes in the movie.
Cynthia Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 The green and blue stars are in places on the DVD where you never notice any layer break as it's between different titlesets. It's like when you are in the main menu and selects the menu items in that one. Like if you want to play some bonus stuff, in that case the player must "load" that part and you will never notice any "extra" time for the laser head to switch position. Also in the posted images, none of the selectable potential layer breaks are in the main menu of the DVD on this DVD. On another DVD you might end up with all the selectable options to be in the main movie part. In such a case the seamless option is of interest. So for this DVD you posted about, the seamless is pretty much of no interest, unless you had to select the yellow star row. As you can see that row is in the middle of two cells as the layer break would be between cell 1 and 2 in the video stream. Adding to the above about cells, another criteria is to try to find 50/50 splits in the column for %. Look at some other DVDs and you'll see some more examples on how it can look. The posted DVD is a bit to good and is not really showing how they can look. More or less, you have too good options to select between. In many cases you can also end up with DVDs that only have grey stars.
Cynthia Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 Also if you set up to use the AWS function in ImgBurn (see post #8), then you need to select 'Recommended' speed in the DVDFab settings for it to work.
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 OK, I think I understand it now. If there is blue or green stars I don't have to worry about Seamless. Only if there is gray and yellow. If there is gray and yellow I use the preview to select where the best place is to do the split and I also want to choose one that has the 50/50 in it. Am I looking for anything in the file names or the cells for where to choose the split too? I haven't used the preview yet, so I don't know yet what that's like. I have set ImgBurn to just burn at the slowest speed at 2.4x to be safe. I used Nero DiscSpeed to run tests on the media to see if it will help me choose the correct speed. I have both Sony and Maxell DL media. I would like to use just the Maxell because I can get it at a better price. I'm not sure what the test results mean, so I'll post them up here to see if someone can help me make the best decision on that. I have also configured DVDFab to use what's recommended by ImgBurn, so that should work now. Thanks! The green and blue stars are in places on the DVD where you never notice any layer break as it's between different titlesets. It's like when you are in the main menu and selects the menu items in that one. Like if you want to play some bonus stuff, in that case the player must "load" that part and you will never notice any "extra" time for the laser head to switch position. Also in the posted images, none of the selectable potential layer breaks are in the main menu of the DVD on this DVD. On another DVD you might end up with all the selectable options to be in the main movie part. In such a case the seamless option is of interest. So for this DVD you posted about, the seamless is pretty much of no interest, unless you had to select the yellow star row. As you can see that row is in the middle of two cells as the layer break would be between cell 1 and 2 in the video stream. Adding to the above about cells, another criteria is to try to find 50/50 splits in the column for %. Look at some other DVDs and you'll see some more examples on how it can look. The posted DVD is a bit to good and is not really showing how they can look. More or less, you have too good options to select between. In many cases you can also end up with DVDs that only have grey stars.
Cynthia Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 IMHO the only true way to know what the optimal speed is to get the best burn, is to burn the available speeds - in your case you can see them in the first image under supported write speeds - in separate burns (one burn for each supported speed) and then scan them using a tool such as the Nero you used and the tab you can't see now - the tab 'Disk Quality'. But you need a Lite-On or BenQ burner for that task. what's recommended by ImgBurn ImgBurn doesn't recommend anything with the AWS option, if you don't configure it, it will always go for MAX speed. The AWS is just a table you manually set up and the speed selected in the table is up to you do find out.
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 So, it sounds like there is no way to find out what the best speed is because I can't get the Disk Quality tab on Nero DiscSpeed. So, maybe the best thing to do is choose 2.4x and I'll have the safest chance of the best burn. Unless the trial version of DVDInfoPro will work to give me the information I need for disc quality after the different speed burns? Thanks..
Cynthia Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 Might be worth a try, even if the result my not be as accurate as it would have been with a scan using a Benq or Lite-On. There is a also the program Opti Drive Control that can perform quality scans. http://www.optidrivecontrol.com/
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 (edited) Well, I actually do have a Lite-On BD Combo iHES106 Drive. I just pulled it out to install the new Plextor drive, but it would be easy to plug back in. I would assume that wouldn't help me though if I don't use that drive to do the burning and I want to use the Plextor. So, can I burn 4 different things on 4 different discs or do I have to burn the same thing on all 4 discs and waste the discs to test what does the best? I guess I should download and install Opti Drive Control and use the disk quality tests. I actually just installed Opti Drive Control and it's doing the test at 12x and won't let me change it and it's saying something about my drive dosen't support the quality test feature. Well, I just installed the DVDInfoPro software and it's telling me the same thing, that the drive doesn't support the test. I guess I'll remove the other older Plextor drive and install the Lite-On instead so I'll have the Lite-On and the Plextor drives and I can create the discs with the Plextor drive and test them in the Lite-On drive. Will that work? Does anyone know where I can find the firmware update for the Lite-On Drive? I contacted Lite-On and then sent me some software that's supposed to detect and update the firmware, but it doesn't work. Thanks... Might be worth a try, even if the result my not be as accurate as it would have been with a scan using a Benq or Lite-On. There is a also the program Opti Drive Control that can perform quality scans. http://www.optidrivecontrol.com/ Edited April 25, 2010 by Apota
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 Well, I installed my Lite-On drive and you were right I got the extra tab now in Nero DiscSpeed for Disc Quality. I ran the quality test for the Sony Disc I burned at 8x speed. It asks you what speed to run the test at, and I wasn't sure, so I ran it at the maximum speed. Can I run a quality test on the Lite-On drive for a disc I burned with the Plextor drive? What speed should I run the test at? I also got an error before the test finished and I don't understand if the results were good or bad for the test. Do you know what the CDB error is all about? I'm also trying to figure out how to update the firmware for the Lite-On drive. Lite-On emailed me some software called SmartPack Utility and they said that would tell me if my firmware needed to be updated and would update it for me, but I can't figure out how it works. Do you know? Here are the pictures. Thanks!
LIGHTNING UK! Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 Scan at 4x. New firmware for the liteon can be found here: http://www.firmwarehq.com/Lite-On/iHES106/files.html
Apota Posted April 25, 2010 Author Posted April 25, 2010 Yeah, I don't think that's the right firmware. I already saw that. The current firmware is ALO2 and that firmware is ALOA. The firmware for my drive should be ending in a number and not a letter. I think the problem is that my drive is an OEM drive and it's a PLDS drive even though it says Lite-On on it. I think it's a Philips drive made for them OEM by Lite-On, but it says Lite-On on the drive, so I don't know. I think that's why I'm having all of these firmware issues. Thanks! http://www.pldsnet.com/econtent/product/product.php Scan at 4x. New firmware for the liteon can be found here: http://www.firmwarehq.com/Lite-On/iHES106/files.html
LIGHTNING UK! Posted April 25, 2010 Posted April 25, 2010 Who says it should end in a number?! Did you even try and run it?! Just update it Firmware numbers often use 0-9 and then A-Z. Smartpack would offer you the exact same firmware - that's where I got it from in the first place!
Apota Posted April 26, 2010 Author Posted April 26, 2010 Yes, you were right of course. I just tried it and it worked. I just didn't understand how it could go from 2 to A. That's a lot of firmware updates, so this drive must have had a lot of issues I guess. I've had problems in the past where I've tried to do firmware updates and they wouldn't work even though the drive was the same model because they were differnet because of OEM or whatever. I didn't want to brick my drive. I wish I knew how to use SmartPack so I can check on updates for the future. Can you answer any of my questions regarding the media quality tests, so I know what speed to burn the discs at? Thanks so much! Who says it should end in a number?! Did you even try and run it?! Just update it Firmware numbers often use 0-9 and then A-Z. Smartpack would offer you the exact same firmware - that's where I got it from in the first place!
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