I have an LG dvd recorder ( LG GSA 4082b).WIth k3b and the latest dvdrw-+tools (5.20.xx) i haven't managed to record DVD's @ the maximum recorder's speed which is 8x. When it starts to record the dvd i burn it with a speed of 3,x X and later on with 6X.The speed isn't never stable!Even for cd's in the begining the speed is very slow (in the begining 12X , on 20% of the disc (k3b bar) it goes up to 16X and only on 65% of the disc it goes up to maximum speed which is 24X , having an average of 17,7X!) What is going on?

I think I may have read somewhere that as CDs burn, they usually start slower(on the inside of the disc) and progressively get faster as it gets closer to the end(on the outside of the disc). I suppose that way the disc doesn't have to change speeds as much throughout the process. I don't know how accurate that is, but you might want to look for some info on it.

As for your DVD speed, you might want to check the speed on the DVD+/-R. 8x blank DVD's are still pretty pricey so there is probably a good chance that they are only 4x. I have an 8x burner that fluctuates(mostly at the beginning of the process) from anywhere from .30x to 3.90x with K3b, but I have never hit 4x.

You might also want to check which DVDs(+ or -) your burner has better performance with. Some burners will burn both, but you can see on forums that they are faster/burn less coasters with a certain type.

Incidentally, I only burn DVDs in Linux now because for some reason my burner gets stuck at 1x anytime that I try to burn in Windows, regardless of the software. But I think I have read varying degrees of success using Nero in wine. If you are sure that you have 8x DVD+/-Rs and you are not happy with the write speed, it might be worth a shot to try Nero with wine.

Hopefully this has been somewhat helpful, as I am not extremely knowledgeable with this subject, but I read quite a bit when I was getting my burner. Good luck and keep us informed of your progress.

Well i've tried taiyo yuden dvd's rated @ 8x and i wasn't able to burn them @ so high speeds!Same as before!!!!Why?????????????

have you tried x-cd-roast ??
for me it burns really fast
so many things i think could affect this
kernel throuput speed for one thing

x-cd roast is only 4 burning cd's right?My main problem is slow dvd burning cause nowdays i burn much more dvd's than cd's!!!

I can burn RiDATA 8x dvd's at 8x with growisofs.

I have done again a fresh fedora core 2 install but i still get slow dvd burning speeds!I have tried to burn my first 8x dvd-r disc @ 8X but the only thing i got was growisofs 5.20 to say it started burning @ 8.20X but after that i burn @3,90 X stable all the time!!!Could this be cause my dvd recorder is master and slave is my plextor dvd-rom?

PS fr0zen Those dvd's r + or - ??

Hmm . I currently use k3b 0.11.14 for fedora core 2 with 5.21 growisofs and dvd+-rwtools 4.10 , updated my lg's firmware to 207 (from 201) and whenever i try to record a dvd - r @ 8x in the begining it starts @ 3,9 and after 1:20 min the speed goes to 5,9 x , @ 6 min the speed goes up to 6,4x to 7,8x . Any ideas why?????????????????????????????/

I burn the same dvd's under winxp with nero @ 8x stable

Have you timed the two processes? Because Nero doesn't tell you what speed it is actually burning at, it just tells you the hypothetical speed. I've had times where it was supposed to be burning at 4x and it was actually burning at about 1x. My guess is the same thing I posted before. If you've ever had physics or certain math courses, you know that if a CD(or DVD) spins at the same speed all the time, then the inside is actually moving at a slower speed than the outside. A burner always starts at the inside of a disc and works it's way outside. So unless it is spinning the disk faster at the beginning, then it will be burning less information, because there is less space to store it. Does this make sense? I don't know exactly how they're burned, I suppose the rotation of the disk could change speeds, but I would assume that this is the explanation. (I don't think it's going any faster on nero).

-Knappster

Believe me i know physics.I am studying physics @ Athens University. I've done some calculations and of course you're right. The simulation speeds with k3b and nero an exactly the same (9:42 with k3b and 9:43 with nero). BUT the real speeds r a lot different! 10:05 with nero , 15:17 with k3b! Any idea why???

I'm not familiar with the LG drive you have. Is it an ATA drive. Do you have dma on. Try running hdparm to find out and if not set it to the rated dma speed of your drive ( probably 33 or 66 ).

Here's a web page about checking and setting the Ultra-DMA modes, and using hdparm.
http://www.icewalkers.com/Linux/Howto/Ultra-DMA-8.html

You may want to also scan through the file, /usr/src/<kernel version>/Documentation/kernel-parameters.txt, if you have the kernel source installed. This will list the kernel boot options. Some may by usefull for you to add to your lilo.conf or grub menu.lst file.