I recieved the Sony DRX-710UL today and tried to write a DVD at 8x but although I can select 8x in the dropdown menu of ULead DVD Moviefactory, it reverts to 3x in the status bar.

Is this a fault with the unit or is the media (unbranded) just not up to the task? I have installed latest firmware etc.

Thanks

It'll check the media to see if it can do it. The firmware has a list of disc IDs and what they're capable of. At least, that's how my NEC works.

Yeah, make sure you are using good, quality media. The first discs I purchased when I got my 8x burner last year were cheap, knockoffs and they only burned at around 2.4x. I picked up a pack of Fujifilm discs next and they burned at 8x (even though they were rated on the box as 4x). I've also had the same great results with the Memorex 4x.

Given the data rate you'd need to maintain an 8x DVD burn (even if buffered) you would need a pretty punchy PC with a gallon of RAM to sustain the transfer. I doubt it's the medium, it will be the data source.

Isn't the UL the external drive? Are you connected with USB2 or firewire?

Also, you don't necessarily need branded media. I got these and they burn great. Plus I don't have any ugly logos on my media, which makes it great for the Casio CW50.

The UL is the external drive and I am connected by firewire. I'm using Ulead to make DVDs of mpegs I've captured
with a PVR-250 (about 1.2gb per file).

PC is a P4 2.4ghz, 512MB RAM, 7200rpm HDD.

So... Rob.... you think the PC may be incapable? I'm going to get a couple of branded discs tomorrow to see if it makes a difference. Maybe USB would be a better bet?

Edit: I forgot to mention that the discs are labelled 8x and I can select this in the pre-burn menu. It just reverts to 3x in the status bar.

Yeah, there's definitely nothing wrong with your machine, IMO. I've got an AMD 2100+ with 1GB RAM and, like I said, I burn at 8x with no problems whatsoever. As long as the rest of my machine isn't taxed too much, I'm fine.

Frankly, I'd never in a million years use anything made by Ulead. Ugh. Try the Nero demo and see if it auto selects a higher speed for you.

Are you only burning the MPEG files, or a DVD video you've created?

I'm using Ulead to make dvds to play nin standalone players from my mpegs - so going through the whole vob creation thing.

Yeah I agree that the pc should be up to it. I'm not at home just now so cannot check anything but do you think its still the media? Or could USB2 provide a faster burn? Is the burner itself ok do you think?

How long does it take to burn the disc?Are you sure it's not actually burning at a higher speed but only reporting a lower speed.Also make sure the drive is set to DMA.