What's my DVD burn speed? 1st gen imac G5

I need to buy new DVD's- was wondering if the 8x would work on my imac? I cant seem to find out what speed my computer can burn to= system profiler is no help. I have a 20" imac G5, first gen- it's about a year old now...

Here are the specifications of your 20inch iMac.

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Max DVD burn speed 2x!?!

Hey all, is anyone else not getting full burn speed on their iMacs? Mine only gives me the option of 2x as the fastest. My external LaCie will let me burn at 4x with the same media. What gives?

Let me see if I can help out.
Just because your drive says it is capable of 8X doesn't mean it will burn at 8X.
Depending on what you are using to try to burn with in the way of software, I suggest you burn at a slower Speed. like 2X. Apples Software is entry level and it works but many users find harder to use than the top of the line in burning software like Roxio's Toast 7.
Here is the explination on the different DVD's.
http://www.videohelp.com/dvd
Just bear one thing in mind.
When it comes to DVD Players, Formats, and Burners, of the hundreds of different manufactures, All are opting to be the Industry Standard, and it appears they insert there little chinks that almost force users to use there products exclusively.
There is always a backlash from these marketing ploys.
In a perfect world you would think any DVD would work in any DVD Player and Computer but sorry it is not so there are so many things that come into play. Format, Speed, Brand, Software used. Any one or combination can affect the process.
The problem is multi-dimensional.
First check in your particular profiler on EXACTLY what type(FORMAT) of DISK's your burner will burn.
Next please do not just randomly go out and buy a spool of 30 50 or 100 disc's because they are on sale.
There is a HUGE difference in the type format disc's you buy
There is also a HUGE difference in the BRAND you choose, some are junk.
There is also a HUGE Difference in the SPEED of the media you choose.
If any one or a combination of any of the 3 mentioned above can cause burn error's or no burn at all or spit the disk out.
So it is a good idea to do a little homework on your Optical Drive and see just exactly what it is capable of and what it will use for media.
(ONE LAST NOTE)
Many of the Media Manufactures are becomming aware that many of the Apple Burners are having trouble with there Media. Maxell has just come out with a brand new one that is. Maxell 16X DVD-R.
The key is read the packaging. this new media tells you that it will burn at any speed from 1X through 16X, and it works very well on the older Optical Drives. I also opt to use the individual that include the cases there seems to be much better quality, not like that of the spools.
Remember Apples Drives to date are much pickier than those used in the PC community.
Cheers Don

Wrong DVD burning speed with DR4-A

The DVD burning speed of my DR4-A appears to be wrong, it should be 4x but is 3.1x. Why is this happening?
(I have updated the firmware from 2.17 to 2.30 and the DMA mode is enabled)

I HIGHLY recommend DVDDecrypter for what you are trying to accomplish. It is free. http://www.dvddecrypter.com
You can use it to copy files to your hard disk, then use DVDShrink to compress the files for burning onto your DVD. Then you can burn with Nero, or with DVDShrink.
These 2 free programs together have worked extremely well for me and they are actually far superior to any of the programs you pay big bucks for.

Is there a dvd burner that comes with macs? if not whats a good dvd burner for mac os x?

is there a dvd burner that comes with macs? if not whats a good dvd burner for mac os x?

This may help, but it's an accessory with an extra cost:
http://store.apple.com/us/product/MD564ZM/A
This new Superdrive also supports DVD-Audio so you can load more music into it than a CD.

No video whatsover G5 1st gen iMac

My friend got this pristeen 1st gen iMac for free at a 2nd hand store outreach center. The HD and ram were missing and a I T tech we thought knew told us that was all it needed. I had no experience with anything Mac but I'm willing to learn. After installing 2 Gb of new PC 3200 400 mhz ram,new Western Digital 320 Gb 7200 rpm 32mb cache Sata hard drive, new apple wired keyboard,new Turtle USB Mac mouse and the brand new OS X Leopard disc and..... no video! I'm thinking this needs a replacement mobo but the mobo and capacitors are all looking great(appears new) so I don't think they're the problem. If I'm missing anything obvious please help. Possibly there's a video card missing and I don't realize it yet. Otherwise I'll be looking for one of those replacement G5 mobo's or a trade plus difference deal for another refurb or used Mac. Any ideas?

Is it starting up, but with no video? Or is it not starting up? I'm not certain an iMacG5 will handle a SATA disk drive successfully. Another possibility is that whoever had it before saw it die, salvaged the HD and RAM, and junked it. Sometimes you get what you pay for! You could get an external case for a SATA Hard disk, and maybe find someplace that would take the RAM in trade for some that's right for a new Mac, and be ahead to just buy a new one. If you're like me, I HATE to see one bite the dust with no hope of resuscitation!

Choppy video playback on my 1st Gen iMac G5

Everything from internet video to DVD playback on my 1st Gen iMac G5 is choppy and getting more so as time goes on. Can anyone tell me if this is a symptom of the defect that's covered under the extension plan or is this just some other problem?

Check the version in the Application Folder!
(I have had no problems at all after installing QT 7.5 on my G5 iMac in case you think it can't work at all.)
It is possible that something in either your pre-existing setup or your method of installing updates, are the root causes of whatever problems you are having with QT 7.5 particularly with choppy playback. Out of date plug-ins and add-ons could also be playing a part. Some users have found choppy playback to be associated with improperly loaded plug-ins and add-ons from third party vendors as well as those included by Apple with prior versions of Quicktime.
Third-party add-ons include DivX, Flip4Mac, or FLV components, while the included plug-ins are AppleIntermediateCodec.component, and AppleMPEG2Codec.component. The files for these are located in the root library, therefore a faulty component will load improperly for all users, resulting in choppy playback even when a user creates a new account. Some may need updating or just reinstalling to work with QT 7.5.
You should therefore:
Remove and re-add all quicktime components and plug-ins.
Navigate to /Library/QuickTime/
Move all plug-in ".component" files from the folder (to the Desktop, for instance)
Launch QuickTime and quit it again
Place the ".component" files back in the QuickTime library folder
Launch QuickTime again, and the choppiness should be better.
A few more things to try but in each case first close all applications and repair permissions.
1 Try opening then closing GarageBand, or launching then quitting the "Audio MIDI Setup" application located in Applications/Utilities. Failing that, go back to Audio MIDI Setup, and under the Audio Devices tab, make sure the Audio Output Format is 44100.0 2ch-16bit.
Restart your Mac.
2 Go to the Library on your main hard disk and find the Internet Plug-Ins folder. Try removing the following files:
QuickTime plugin.plugin
Quicktime plugin.webplugin
Restart your Mac.
Re-install the Quicktime 7.5 update
Go to Home/Library/Receipts and delete the file Quicktime 7.5 pkg.
Download from the Download page on the Apple site the correct version of Quicktime 7.5 for your Mac.
Install it and restart your Mac. Repair permissions.
3 If still no luck, it is time to look carefully at your plug-ins and add-ons. The safest way is to download and re-install all of them. The ones you need in order to see and hear virtually everything the web has to offer are:
RealPlayer 11 (which is no longer in beta) for Mac from:
http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/15540
Flip4Mac WMV Player from http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/wmcomponents.mspx (Windows Media Player for the Mac is no longer supported, even by Microsoft)
Perian from http://perian.org/
You should read this support page http://perian.org/#support in case you need to delete older codecs.
Adobe FlashPlayer should first be uninstalled using the appropriate uninstaller available here: http://kb.adobe.com/selfservice/viewContent.do?externalId=tn_14157&sliceId=2 and then the latest version obtained from here: http://www.adobe.com/shockwave/download/download.cgi?P1ProdVersion=ShockwaveFlash and installed.
(You can check here: http://www.adobe.com/products/flash/about/ to see which version you should install for your Mac and OS.)
You should also ensure that you have downloaded and installed all the correct version for your Mac of all recent Security Updates.
(N.B. Security Updates require both a restart and a permission repair.)
In Macintosh HD/Library/Quicktime/ delete any files relating to DivX (Perian already has them). However it should be noted that Perian is not an internet plugin and will not play DivX files imbedded on a website. For that you will need the DivX Player browser plugin available from http://www.divx.com/divx/mac/
Now go to Safari Preferences/Security, and tick the boxes under Web Content (all 4 of them) to enable Java.
Lastly open Audio Midi Setup (which you will find in the Utilities Folder of your Applications Folder) and click on Audio Devices. Make sure that both Audio Input and Audio Output, under Format, are set to 44100 Hz, and that you have selected 'Built in Audio'.
Important: Now repair permissions and restart.
There is an additional 'fix' you could try if you are having problems with Flash and Quicktime, depending on which type of Mac you have:
On Intel Macs, make sure that you are not running Safari in Rosetta. You can check this, and change it, in the Get Info window.
On PPC Macs, go to the Hard Disk/Library/Internet Plug-Ins folder, and drag the file 'QuickTime Plugin.webplugin' to the desktop. Quit and restart Safari. If things have improved you can trash that file. If they haven't put it back, as the lack of this plug-in can cause QT content in some widgets to cease functioning.
If none of the foregoing worked, then you should consider and archive and install before repeating all of the above.

1st gen imac g5 graphics problems

Hi-
I have a first gen 1.8ghz 20" imac g5. About a year and a half ago, the mother board was replaced because of the exploding resistors. Recently, the screen has started intermittently getting pixelly in spots (like it did pre-mo-bo replacement) and then freezing (which is new). It happens every day or two, or sometimes within 10 minutes of booting. It seems to happen more quickly when Safari is up strangely enough...
I took it to the apple store this weekend and the genius there said that the resistors were not exploding and that the mother board looked good. I haven't seen any drivers for the graphics card available. Wondering if anyone else has had this experience and if there is anything that can be done. A shame to have to do away with this thing...

HI,
I too have a 1st gen iMac G5 20". It too recently started showing artifacts on the screen. For example when moving a window parts of the screen would get messed up. The problem became worse to the point where it would get stuck on a blue screen during boot (mouse and pointer still working). I took the cover off and saw three leaking capacitors on the mother board. They were in the group of 5 near the middle bottom of the board. I had them replaced, but unfortunately, this did not fix the problem or improve it in anyway. At the moment I have no idea what the problem is. Is this in anyway similar to your problem?

1st Gen Imac G5 Question

I own a 1st Gen Imac G5. I just recently purchased the Apple VGA Display Adapter hoping I would be able to use an external monitor as an extention of my desktop... after looking through the system preferences I realized there was no such option. I thought it might have had something to do with the OS version I was using so I upgraded to Leopord thinking it would solve my problem... it did not. Is there any sort of Patch or possible solution that could solve my problem?
Nick

Welcome to Discussions, Nick - as far as I know, you can only mirror to another display.

What is the max memory a 2nd Gen iMac (2008) can run and where can I buy it?

What is the max memory a 2nd Gen iMac (2008) can support and if it is more than 2GB, where can you purchase?

Go to Crucial.com or OWC, you will get good advice and good memory suitable for Macs.
http://www.crucial.com/uk/index.aspx?gclid=CJyMwKGJuL0CFWfLtAodGXEAMQ&cm_mmc=goo gle-_-uk-_-brand-_-null&ef_id=UzbobwAAAS7VFVy@:20140329153615:s. Note UK site.
http://eshop.macsales.com/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=adwords &gclid=CNLf77iJuL0CFTCWtAodiFUAVA

DVD Burn Speed - should I go Fast or Slow?

Please help! I am getting conflicting advice regarding the best speed to burn a DVD Video (in DVDSP, iDVD, Disk Utility etc) that will be used as a duplication master. I have read online that you should avoid slowing down the burn too much (I think because the disc dyes etc are 'optimised' for faster speeds) and that you will run into problems if you burn an 8x disc at 1 or 2x. However, a technician assures me that you should slow the burn right down and that professional duplicators and production houses never burn a DVD at its rated speed! Who is correct? Any help or links appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Burning too slow is often just as bad as burning too fast.
It's possible this may apply to the latest / newest DVD Burners on the market but not necessarily to the Burners that have been on the market for some time now like the Pioneer 103 for example. I own three separate burners, all Pionneer (103, 107, and 110U). The newest S-Drive I own is a Pioneer 110U in an ext. FW Enclosure. Originally my G4 733 came with a Pioneer 103. It still works but it now lives in an older G4 PM as a backup ... Still works great (at SLOWER BURN SPEEDS)!
But slower is better on this particular early model /S-Drive. And the same applies to the Pioneer 107. However, it does not apply to the latest Pioneer burners like the 110U, 111, nor the 112.
As pointed out in the above article you mentioned media can and often does contribute /influence the actual write speed that the drive will default to when burning a DVD. Very good article btw and thanx for bringing it to our attention.
Contrary to what is written in the above article though .... "slower is better" provided your burner is also an earlier model (and perhaps not so if you have the latest/ newer burner/s).

DVD burn speed options?

I've been told conflicting things in regards to burning DVDs. I understand that the speed listed for the DVD is how FAST you can burn. What I'm looking to confirm is whether you can burn at slower speeds on a DVD regardless of how FAST it is listed as. For instance, can you burn at 1x speed with a DVD-R that is rated as 8x?

Other than timing the burn from the point it finishes the lead in to the point it starts the lead out, I'm not sure there is a way in Toast 6. Toast 8 shows the speed that the disc is currently burning at as it's going.
On Toast 6, if you check the burn speed pull-down menu after it's read the disc and indicated that there's a blank disc in the drive, do some of the burn speeds show in bold and others show in italics? The bold ones are the speeds that the disc officially supports - the italic ones are the speeds that Toast can "force".

DVD Burn Speed

Sorry if this is a stupid question. But I want to how do I find out what the burn speed/rate a dvd is burning? As I've read that lots of people are only getting 2x.
Thanks

I've had the same problems with burning speed and
found that you won't get more than 2 x with an 8 x
DVD-R. I was using 8 x TDK and they wouldn't burn at
more than 2 x. I then switched to 16 x discs and they
burn at 8 x with no problems at all. This applies to
both TDK and Verbatim disks.
20" Intel Imac Mac OS X
(10.4.7)
I've been using 8X TDK DVD-R discs (single layer) and always get the full 8X burn speed.

DVD burning speed dropped

I have a powerbook and when i first got it and went to burn a dvd i had the option of a drop down menu box and it would show up to 8x for burning. Using the same media when i go to burn in the box it just goes to 2x anyone have a clue as what happen?
Thanks
Paul

In Toast you can select the burn speed you want up to the maximum your Superdrive will allow.
But there is a lot to be said for using lower burn speeds: 2x or 4x max.
Using 16x DVD media is fine - in fact it is difficult to buy any other - but there is a consensus in the Apple Support Forums that a slower burn is a better burn and that the most reliable brands are Verbatim, Maxell and Fuji, all DVD-R, burned at 2x or 4x (slow burns are better burns!). I always use Toast for burning.
I generally use Verbatim and when I can't get those, Fuji, and have never had a coaster from either.
Plenty of coasters in the early days from Sony, TDK and a few others.
The term "Best" means the fastest speed that the drive told Toast it can write to a specific disc. The drive's firmware and info on the disc decide what speed burns are available. When you press the speed setting button in Toast (after inserting a disc) you'll likely see some speeds in italics and some in bold face. The ones in bold face are supported by that media on that drive. The fastest one is what Toast calls Best.
Audio CDs in particular should be burned at the lowest supported speed.
Verification is a good indicator the disc is burned okay. However, other DVD players can still have problems with the disc. Media problems with various drives is not uncommon. Slower burning may reduce the chance of those problems, and is one of the reasons why RW (read/write) media is always rated slower than DVD-R.
There are some interesting facts here:
http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa4.htm and here:
http://www.osta.org/technology/dvdqa/dvdqa4.htm
But many will tell you that the 'slower burn is best' theory is outdated, as in this useful article:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/guides/media/dvd-media-concepts.htm
Who really knows? At the end of the day, if your home-made DVD was verified by Toast and will play anywhere on anybody's DVD player, then that is the result we are all after!

DVD burner speed

When I first got my computer (17" Macbook Pro), the DVD burner worked fine. I was able to burn at max speed - 8x, have a DVD done in under 10 minutes. At that point I was using Memorex blanks.
When I ran out of them, I didn't want to spend that much money on more, so got some generic staples brand. Even though they were labeled 8x compatible, they would only burn at 2x max. This was quite annoying, as it took about /2 hour now, but I ascribed it to the fact that they were cheap quality, and it was the price to pay for my frugality. However, I just bought a new stack of DVDs, this time Imation, supposed to be good upto 16x, but I am experiencing the same problem, being able to burn at no more then 2x still, so I now feel it may be something with the drive. Does anyone know what might be causing this problem? I have tried using both toast and disk utility, and both do the same thing...

Welcome to the discussions,
I am sure that most users are not aware of the big difference in the Media.
http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm
In a nutshell there are several things that can, and do affect the quality and speed of your project.
The Media you purchase.
The Burning Software you use.
The burner you have in your machine.
Any one or combination of the above can effect the project.
There are so many Formats, and differences in the formats that the casual user is not aware of the differences.
http://www.videohelp.com/dvd
The sad thing is that there are no step by step instruction and information to explain the in's and out's of copying DVD's in
Audio.
Data.
Video.
You will find that upwards of 95% of all burning issues are caused by using cheap or poor quality media or using the improper format of disc's.
There are so many restrictions placed on the Firmware of the Optical Drives used there in, is the problem.
That is the reason I recommend using DVD-R media and I also recommend the use of the newer 16X media that will support burning at 1X through 16X.
I also recommend letting the software do the work in Automatic rather then fiddleing with the burning speed.
So as you can see, the use of a high quality media and the correct format will make a very big difference. The guide I supplied above will give you the right direction. I personally use Maxell 16X DVD-R the reason I use this media, it is the highest quality, and the speed will allow you to use this media in older Optical Drives as well as the newest. This media or one like it will support just about all burners.
Hopefully this should help
Don

Revisiting DVD burn speeds

In an effort to better my DVD burn times, I upgraded to a new internal DVD 8x/Dual Layer drive.
After installation, I burned a DVD of previously recorded material that I had also burned on the old drive.
Much to my disgust, the new 8x drive using the same 8x rated media burned at the same old 2x speed!
I burn with Toast 7. Out of curiosity I clicked on RECORDER>DISK INFO and found out the following about my blank DVDs (HP dvd-r 8x):
Write Speeds 1X, 2X
Then there a manufacture ID with a MORE button that takes you to a web site that tells you all about the reliability of the media and even comments from users.
The surprising thing for me was that even though the disk is labeled 8X, Toast rated it for much lower speeds. And it only burned at 2X
Then I found another site with some good DVD media info at:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm
So I guess before I shout too loud that my iMac's burn speeds are slow, i need to look for better recording media.

Not all media is created equally. Drives include in their firmware a list of write strategies for various brands of media. If the drive doesn't have a write strategy for the particular media that you are using it will make an attempt to burn the disc, usually at a slower speed (you would rather it worked but be slow, than be fast and fail). In some rare cases you will get a power calibration error, where the drive just couldn't figure out what to do with your media.
Toast isn't doing the speed limiting, the drive is telling Toast what it can burn the disc at.
I would stick with purchasing name brand DVD, Iike Verbatim, most drives include their media in their wrtie strategy lists.

What's my DVD burn speed? 1st gen imac G5

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