Is the problem the burner or is it the media???

[freeloader]

I have been having a lot of DVD burning problems lately. I have assumed it has been a media problem. And, it may very well be.

Back when, I had a Sony DRU500AX that I was also having a lot of media problems with. At first I blamed the media for the problems. Then, I became convinced that the burner was simply very persnickety about what brands of media were used in it.

I have since replaced it with a pair of Lite On SOHW1673S DVD burners. I have only been using the one designated as "master" to burn DVDs and CDs. It has served me well up until the last little bit. Recently, I have been having a lot of trouble with media and bad burns again. Once again I have assumed it has been low quality media. I just burned a disc on the second burner that is slaved to the first. An almost flawless burn resulted. It has started me to thinking that it's possible the problem is the burner not the media.

Because I have only burned 1 disc on the second burner, it is too soon to lay the blame for certain on the first burner for the problems. And, I don't have a full DVDs worth of data to burn again yet. The situation does open a question I'd like to ask:

Is it possible to determine if the problem is the media or the burner and how?
Thx

[Ian]

Moving...

I'll be straight with you. Even with good media, the 1673S doesn't have the best writing quality. What you can try is slowing the writing speed down to say 8x and try media from say Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden.

[[buck]]

With drives costing $35 USD or less these days, I think it's crazy to hang on to old drives like the 1673S. Go get yourself a new BenQ or Pioneer drive

[MonsterMan]

Go get yourself a new BenQ...

...while you can.

[TCAS]

Amin.