PC Peripherals Benq 1640 - Cant seem to find a media it likes!!

Eazy said:
Try another ATA100 cable ... good quality one....with no other drive attached to same cable.
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heh, had tried it as master on secondary channel. that didnt help either.

thanks for trying though. i'm just hoping that the dvd+r from moser will solve my problem. but since almost everyone says the drive works well with sony media, (and mine barely gives a usable burn with it either sony dvd-r/+r), i'm not too optimistic about my chances.
 
Eazy said:
A few thoughts....Try another ATA100 cable ... good quality one....with no other drive attached to same cable ... make it master.... attach it to connector at end of cable. Clean pins on IDE connector on mother board.
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just another tidbit:

the cable 'cant' be faulty - as the transfer tests give a baby bottom smooth graph with average read speeds of 12.5x and max speeds of 16x on even the worst burns i.e. those with quality scores of 0!

wondering aloud, i know the quality tests basically give a guideline about the compatibility and longevity of a dvd - high quality scores means the data will be readable for a long time. but my burns with the moser -r media are so so bad, but surprisingly their transfer rate graphs are smooth as silk. AND ive tested the dvds on 3 other players including on my shitty compaq laptop, whose combo drive is finicky about pressed media, let alone burnt media!!!
 
vinitwins said:
heh, had tried it as master on secondary channel. that didnt help either.
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Did you have it attached to connector at end of the IDE cable ? Also clean the pins of the mother boards IDE connector ... I use a fibre glass pencil made by Staedler for this job........ could be gunk on the pins causing a problem.
 
Eazy said:
Did you have it attached to connector at end of the IDE cable ? Also clean the pins of the mother boards IDE connector ... I use a fibre glass pencil made by Staedler for this job........ could be gunk on the pins causing a problem.
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wouldnt that affect the read capability of the drive as well? the transfer rate tests give 12.5x average read speed with a silky smooth curve...
 

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vinitwins said:
wouldnt that affect the read capability of the drive as well? the transfer rate tests give 12.5x average read speed with a silky smooth curve...
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When I had Mosers -R media I had smooth read curves too but the writing was quite bad.
 
Eazy said:
When I had Mosers -R media I had smooth read curves too but the writing was quite bad.
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Whew, finally some common ground.

Okay, drawing a few conclusions then:

1. The Benq 1640 hates the Moser 8X DVD-R media available in india (MID = FUJIFILM03)

2. Samsung 4x DVD-R media (MID = MBI 01RG20) can be burnt upto 12x speeds and can still maintain disc quality rates of ~99%

I will test Moser 8X DVD+R Media (MID = MBIPG101 R04) for burn quality, which you say gives excellent burns upto 12X speeds

You could do the same for Sony 8X DVD-R (MID = SONY08D1), which gives me pretty poor burn quality at its default speeds of 8X (between 45-90%, with EXTREMELY high PIE/PIF totals and out of spec jitter)

3. In case Moser DVD+R gives me poor burns OR Sony DVD-R gives you good quality burns, there is something wrong with either:

a. The Benq drives I've tested - Batch June 2005, Made in China, Serial Nos 903SP and 999SP (which would possibly make them from the same assembly line as they are so darn close to each other)

b. my PC setup - either hardware or software

In any case, you should setup some pseudo poll to help n00bies decide on a safe media for backup, not just 'i've burnt 50 dvds at 12x with verification on and no coasters - this drive rules' BUT disc quality test results, that will ensure trouble free data retrieval even after 2-3yrs!!
 
I dont use -R media now - but I have a few Sony +R 8X media - D11 ...... here are scans - I scanned the SAME disk in the BENQ 1640 and also my Liteon DVD reader and here are the results. The Liteon scan look better tho the quality score is lower :O

Disk in BENQ



Disk in Liteon

 
Eazy said:
Strangely the Liteon reports the disk as a -R :)
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your litey is a dvdrom right, thats why. the bitsetting is in effect. anyways, scans from dvd readers arent really accurate.

do us all (and me in particular) a favour and get a couple of sony 8x -r discs and burn&scan them. i'm just going out to get the moser +r and will post the results shortly.
 
vinitwins said:
your litey is a dvdrom right, thats why. the bitsetting is in effect. anyways, scans from dvd readers arent really accurate.

do us all (and me in particular) a favour and get a couple of sony 8x -r discs and burn&scan them. i'm just going out to get the moser +r and will post the results shortly.
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Yes of course you are right about the Litey....

Man I am not able to move out of the house these days so may not be able to get Sony -R media .... have a problem with a leg :(

Please let me know what you pay for the Moser +R 8x media. The last lot I bought about 2 months back I paid 31/- per disk in 10 spindles.
 
Eazy said:
Yes of course you are right about the Litey....

Man I am not able to move out of the house these days so may not be able to get Sony -R media .... have a problem with a leg :(

Please let me know what you pay for the Moser +R 8x media. The last lot I bought about 2 months back I paid 31/- per disk in 10 spindles.
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27-29 now.
 
vinitwins said:
3. In case Moser DVD+R gives me poor burns OR Sony DVD-R gives you good quality burns, there is something wrong with either:

a. The Benq drives I've tested - Batch June 2005, Made in China, Serial Nos 903SP and 999SP (which would possibly make them from the same assembly line as they are so darn close to each other)

b. my PC setup - either hardware or software
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Okay so techhead has confirmed that the Sony DVD-R works flawlessly with the Benq 1640, and I've just finished a couple of burn&scans with the Moser DVD+R 8X with guess what disappointing results (are you surprised?!)

that leaves 3a. and 3b. open for speculation and discussion.

I'm going to buy a couple of new ATA100 cables, and also try the drive on my P43.2/875 gig rig (maybe my Athlon XP pc is warped and aged).

anyways here is the scan for the DVD+R Moser - notice how the perfect burn turns disastrous at the 2.5gb mark and continues into neverland from thereon...
 

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^Yikes! MBI discs overspeed quite well on the Benq. Bum drive and/or IDE cables. You sure you're using standard MS IDE drivers, not nVidia's?
 
^^^ YIKES ... indeed...

check what TechHead said about the drivers.. I have an Intel 875 chipset board maybe thats why our results are so different.
 
TechHead said:
^Yikes! MBI discs overspeed quite well on the Benq. Bum drive and/or IDE cables. You sure you're using standard MS IDE drivers, not nVidia's?
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2nd bum drive in a row? unlikely yet possible as ive posted above - both drives share manuf date, made in china stamp and ser nos are ridiculously close to each other as well.

will check with new cables and different pc to eliminate both suspects as well.

but i did read an interesting article that states ritek (moser 8x +r uses ritek dye) has quality control issues with their media and dyes, with a significant percentage of discs on the same spindle having problems on their outer edges (similar to my latest burns).

in any case, my drive has only successfully burnt the samsung 4x @ 8x/12x with 99% quality - all others, moser +r/-r, sony +r/-r have failed. on 2 drives. so there's something fishy somewhere...

ps: i think the articles was: "DVD-R market plagued by fake media and inconsistent quality"
 
Eazy said:
^^^ YIKES ... indeed...

check what TechHead said about the drivers
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the athlon xp system is using a via kt400 chipset - using the VIA HyperionPro Drivers from a few months back. will swap the drive on my p4 rig later today. and will get new cables as well.

at least we can eliminate the benq's from being too finicky about the media they like. i guess the problem is squarely at my end. sort of confirmed with 2 brand new drives exhibiting similar wonkiness...
 
@vinitwins ... if you want to bring your BENQ over to my place and try some burns here you are welcome - that is if you are in Mumbai. I live at Churchgate.
 
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