I've been backing up DVDs using DVD Shrink and DVD Decrypter in conjunction with RipIt4Me for the last few months with no problem. Unfortunately, lately I've been burning nothing but coasters. The image skips and is pixelated from the beginning of the burned disc. I always burn at 4x and never to the edge of the disc (up to 4200). I've tried reinstalling the programs as that solved the problem in the past, but didn't help this last time. I'm beginning to suspect it's my burner and not the media I've been using as they've worked fine in the past. The media I've been using are TDK + R and Sony DVD + R (yeah, I know not the greatest I'm in the process of buying better media). It could be the firmware, but I'm not sure how to update that. The devices I have on my computer are: Device: TSSTcorpDVD-ROM TS-H352C Firmware Version: DE02 Device: HL-DT-STDVD+-RW GWA4164B Firmware Version D108 Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Your symptoms sound typical of cheap media...alot of people have good success with TDK and Sony while others don't, maybe you are the latter. I would suggest some nice Verbatims, they are on sale this week at Best Buy 50 - $12.99 There appears to be a firmware available for your drive if it is in a Dell... http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=2279 You can also loosen up your Mb restriction and burn to 4400 MB..4200 is a little extreme.
@davew244 I had the same problem as you in the past. The picture would freeze, jump, skip, you name it... basically unwatchable. I was using TDK brand discs. The funny thing was that these symptoms were only on certain dvd players. On others they played flawlessly. i switched to verbatim and have not had a problem since, so keep in mind that sometimes certain players have a taste for ceratin disc while other don't, but I can say I have ever heard of anyone having a problem with Verbatim, TY's or MIJ Sony's.
Thanks for your replies. Unfortunately when I attempted to download the firmware updates I got a "checksum fail" notice, and it failed to properly load - the frustrations continue. I guess as a last gasp before replaceing the burner, I'll try to clean the lens as recommended in another thread. Man, this really sucks.
I might be a little biased in saying that I've never been a huge LG fan, but there new drives are apparently pretty decent and go for about $30 US from Newegg.com There should be a readme.txt included in the download, it will contain instructions on how to flash your drive with the new firmware.
Once again thanks for all the useful input. I called the Dell helpline and talked to one of their reps, he also was very patient and helpful. He recommended I uninstall Roxio Creator, then reinstall it. As a result, the firmware then downloaded properly and my burner is now making much better copies. Hopefully these will improve to perfect when I get better media. Thankfully, no need for a new burner at this point. Dave
