Is there a way to burn DVDs at speeds lower than 4x?

Question

Hi to everybody. I need to burn DVDs at speeds lower than 4x (preferably 1x) but both Burn and LiquidCD (together with Disk Utility) are unable to. I believe that this depends on the fact that alle these utilities rely on Apple's optical Burning Framework. Is there a way to get rid of this problem without needing to buy Toast or Disco (I very rarely burn CDs and an expense in this direction wouldn't be justifeied).
TIA.
Simon
Message was edited by: majortom67

Answer 1

Insert a blank disc (it's not going to write, so the disc won't be wasted) then look in the "Disc Burning" section of System Profiler (Utilities folder). It will show the supported burning speeds for that disc in that drive. With my Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-115D and a Verbatim DVD-R 16X disc, it shows:
Write Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x, 12x, 16x, 20x
These speeds are determined by the drive and brand of disc, and cannot be changed by software. If you tried to run a drive at a slower speed, the drive's servo might not be able to keep the rotation smooth enough (so the dots are burned evenly spaced) without adding a heavy flywheel, and the laser would need to produce longer pulses at lower intensity. Laser diodes may quit when the power is reduced too much. For this drive, it must be the minimum power that laser will operate at, since the drive will burn DVD-RW discs at 1x or 2x. The RW must need more energy to burn each dot, so the laser power does not have to be reduced too much.
Why do you need to burn at slower speeds?
If you don't want to use DVD-RW, you may be able to find some older, lower speed DVD-Rs
<http://www.netsoftmedia.com/paypalshop/princo1x.html>
You would have try one to see if they are compatible with modern burners.