Bad burner or media?

[WILDMAN 666]

Im using tsstcorp sh-162a drive it reads and mostly burns everything fine until now.
I was trying to burn imation dl (5)media.The first 2 were fine and after that the other 3 were weird.When they were burned
the dvd had patterns just like plywood or something like that and were unreadable.I ordered an another pack and same thing happened again.replaced them also and guess what...?The same crap repeated again.The drive is 3 years old.
Has anyone had this problem before.

[pawel]

Imation is not a disc producer but uses these which are not sold under a main brand because their quality isn't good enough. So, no wonder that you get coasters.

[direwolf-pgh]

personally, I dont believe the quality control of DL DVDs is that poor.
it sounds more like your computer/burner are overly taxed & buffering too often.

standard hard drive optimization (defrag)
and more CPU/memory allocation (turn all other progs off)
-yes, the 101 stuff is important -

todays burners can stop..buffer..write..stop..buffer write..
sure the burn doesnt 'fail' (as in your case)
but that doesnt guarantee it will play back properly.

you're burning 8+GB of data - you need to prep your system for the task.
even a reboot before the burn to clear memory can help.

2¢

[Five]

also to test if its the media just try a different kind and see if the same thing happens.

[direwolf-pgh]

the firmware of your burner can sometimes be an issue. DVDR/CDR MID codes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_Identification_Code

(so its not really the media per se - just that the burner doesnt know how to write properly to that manufactured disc.. which i guess is then a media problem )

[schmoe75]

Originally Posted by direwolf-pgh

personally, I dont believe the quality control of DL DVDs is that poor.
it sounds more like your computer/burner are overly taxed & buffering too often.

standard hard drive optimization (defrag)
and more CPU/memory allocation (turn all other progs off)
-yes, the 101 stuff is important -

todays burners can stop..buffer..write..stop..buffer write..
sure the burn doesnt 'fail' (as in your case)
but that doesnt guarantee it will play back properly.

you're burning 8+GB of data - you need to prep your system for the task.
even a reboot before the burn to clear memory can help.

[alg]

Please try other dl media that has a higher rating e.g. verbatium
It saves so much time if it is the cause than messing with burning software, firmware and other useless tweaks like defrag