Superdrive Write Speeds and DVD-R Media

[m-dogg]

Hello - I currently have an iMac G5 with a 4x Superdrive. I thought I remembered reading something that said you should only use blank DVD discs that are the same speed as your burner - Can anyone confirm if that is the case and why that's so?

I'm wondering becasue when I went to buy some blank discs @ Comp USA the other night, I noticed that 4x DVD-R's were on clearance and everything else on the regular shelves was at least 8x speed or higher.

Because of this, I don't know if I'll be able to find any 4x discs the next time I run out. Does it matter if I use 8x/16x/32x media? Or am I wasting my time worrying about this? I never really paid attention to this with the CD burner I had on my old computer, but I thought I read something that it was different for DVD burners.

If there are already threads on this, can someone post a link? I tried searching but couldn't find anything.

Thanks!

 

[daveL]

You can use faster media, you just won't realize any speed improvement beyond your burner's specs, so there's no sense paying for faster media, if you can still find 4x cheaper. This is especially true with write-once media. With RW media, you may have it long enough that you can use it in a faster burner later on.

 

[freiheit]

I personally don't use higher-rated discs than my drive's rated speed, but I'm not so sure it would cause a problem -- lots of times you're talking about identical (or very similar) discs that have just undergone certification to use the higher rated speed. Remember, 16X DVD burners were brand new last year so 8X rated discs MIGHT (and sometimes do) work at 16X on those burners, but the discs were made before the burners were available.

Discs also are not typically locked into using one single speed. Even on a 16X drive you can choose to burn at 4X if you wish, and a 4X disc would work fine at that setting -- just don't try to burn a 4X disc at 8X or 16X unless you know it'll work with your drive. Many drive makers specify (usually in hard to find documents on their website) which brands of media will work at higher than stated speeds on any given drive.

 

[m-dogg]

Great - Thanks!

 

[XIII]

Just to finally clarify, my iBook burns my 8x DVDs at 4x in its drive very happily.