Burn Faster Damn You, Faster!

October 16, 2006 8:36 AM

My Intel iMac burns DVDs quite slowly. Is there anyway to fix this?

This is apparently a common problem with the new iMacs. They have 8x DVD burners, but don't seem to burn above 2x for most media. I've seen the problem reported in a few places, but haven't read of any solutions. Is anyone here aware of ways to get my iMac to burn at 8x, short of trying to get it repaired by Apple. (I am using TDK media -- I think.)

posted by chunking express to Technology (9 answers total)

Try switching media brands.
posted by nathan_teske at 10:51 AM on October 16, 2006

Since DVD burners are now too cheap to worry about, try picking up a second one and see if it does better. I've been very happy with my BenQ (in an XP box) which I selected based on reviews from cdrinfo and availability.

Pick one up at Fry's if you can and if it doesn't do any better, bring it back.
posted by chairface at 11:38 AM on October 16, 2006

Response by poster: Thanks for the replies so far. I was really hoping that I can get the DVD burner itself working properly, since it's an expensive-ass computer that should have a burner that can actually burn at 8x.
posted by chunking express at 12:30 PM on October 16, 2006

What model of DVD drive does your iMac have? You might have more luck googling on the name/firmware version for media advice. You should be able to get the information from System Profiler.

I've had the same frustration--I've tried four or five different brands of media for the Matsushita drive in my PowerBook and I can't get burns above 2x no matter what I do. I haven't found the magic bullet but I was able to rule out a few brands a few months ago that the internet agreed were sucky.
posted by bcwinters at 1:47 PM on October 16, 2006

Is there an app for mac like Windows' Nero Disk Info utility that can show how your DVD drive is viewing the media?
posted by SirStan at 5:19 PM on October 16, 2006

Have you tried using TDK DVD-R 16x media? It's been mentioned in Apple Support Discussions that it burns at 8x speed on Intel-based iMacs.
posted by plokent at 4:24 AM on October 17, 2006

I just saw something on Gizmodo or elsewhere that noted that the "sony" burners actually come from a different company and can be firmware-upgraded to some unholy speed. It might have been on del.icio.us
posted by craniac at 7:46 AM on October 17, 2006

Response by poster: I'll try out toast tonight to see how it "sees" the drive and the media. There is a comand line tool for doing this as well I think. I'll try hunting for a firmware patch as well.
posted by chunking express at 8:28 AM on October 17, 2006

Response by poster: So I have Matshita DVD-R UJ-846. Googleling that turns up plenty of "woe is me stories." However, I think my issue may have been using Toast 6, which runs in Rosetta. I didn't realise it wasn't Universal. Burning in the Finder seems snappier.
posted by chunking express at 5:49 PM on October 17, 2006