problems with dvd(r)

Michael Knubben

My Plextor px750-a is being a royal pain in the arse, and i can't imagine why. Now i realise performance for dvdr's can be lower than for dvd-drives, but it's just impossible to install anything. It always times out and freezes the installer after a while, and it's getting to be very frustrating. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Eric Chadwick

I've got a Plextor px716a, and no problems so far, had it almost a year now. Not all DVD media is created equal, what are you using? Memorex 16x DVD-R hasn't failed me yet.

Are you installing from discs you burned yourself? Try burning at a slower speed, for less chance of burn errors. I usually burn at 1x, the most stable, burns the full 4.5gb at something like 15min. Also I use the verify option (free app CBBurnerXP Pro 3 works great) to make sure data made it intact onto the disc.

You might take a gander over at videohelp.com, see if there's a firmware update that might improve things.
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDnameid=1390&Search=Search&list=2#comments
Might be another site where you get firmware though, can't remember.

Also there's the PlexTools app that comes with the drive, might help diagnose any problems.

Good luck man. Many mixed comments on the 716a over at videohelp, but mine's been great.

Michael Knubben

I must say that the one thing i burned myself gave me no problems, but that was one several cd's instead of one dvd, but dvd's tend to just freeze near the end of the movie, and installers always crap out on me.

CheapAlert

I've had problems with my Plextor PX-716A, mainly occuring when I burn at low speeds, however 16x and up is fine (Memorex, Dynex and Legacy CD-R brands tested). It also can't read some of my burned cds well, so I have to pop out teh ISOBuster to brute force my files off my own cds.

I haven't burned enough DVD-Rs to judge the same for its DVD recording ability though. (Sony DVDs)