How is Write Speed Determined?

[herself]

I'm totally confused. My Sony DVD drives tells me that it will write in speeds up to 18x. The DVD discs I just purchased say they will write up to 16x. Yet when I put in a blank DVD disc and Toast 8 pops up, the only options for write speed are "Best" and "4x."

 

Can someone explain this to me or am I doing something wrong?

 

Thanks in advance for any help offered.

[tsantee]

I've never seen that limited a selection for speed. The drive's firmware examines the blank disc to determine its type and available burn speeds and then passes that info along to Toast.

 

What may be happening in your case is you are using a brand of blank media that wasn't a good match for the drive's firmware. Check the Sony support site to learn what media they recommend and possibly what media they have tested with that drive. You might also see if there is a firmware update available.

[herself]

Thanks for the information - that makes a lot of sense.

 

The Sony website has a firmware update for Windows only (I'm on a Mac). Pretty frustrating.