Will I get better burns if I do it at 4x versus setting it to max which often fluctuates between 4x and 8x?
I almost always use TY 8x -R discs.
My HP computer is less than 18 months old and has a Toshiba/Samsung burner TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H652L.
I can set it at either 4x, 8x or max.

Also, occasionally I use 16x discs (usually Verbatim) which setting would produce the best burns for those discs?

thanks

You need SEAN NELSON to answer this...he does lots of testing and will prob. have good advice based on experience.

SEAN NELSON...are you there?

One thing...+R/RW discs have a better design for error correction so you might be able to burn error-free faster with +R/RW than -R/RW...as a general rule.

Here's a "very technical" 2003 article (http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Why-DVDRW-is-superior-to-DVD-RW) that explains the different format designs and the part of interest to burn speed is under "Pre-pits versus ADIP" right after the intro.

The advice I see posted here most often advises to burn at half the speed of the disc. So if using 16x media, you'd burn at 8x. ..8x media, burn at 4x.

If you compare burned discs under a microscope, you will clearly see how tenuous things can get with faster burns. I use 4X for the important stuff.

After much testing, I have learned that +R discs have less Pi and PIF errors than -R discs. I can get great burns with -R discs using the correct combo burner and media, but never as good as I can get with +R. I should also add that a lot rides on the burn program; I've found Copy to DVD to be one of the finest programs for scoring high marks with burning either -R or +R media.

My favorite combo for +R burning: Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden (8X) media and a lite -on burner.

I find the best results with -R when using Verbatim media (Taiyo close second) and a pioneer burner.

My average burning score with DVDInfoPro is 95 with -R and 98.5 with +R media.

SEAN NELSON...are you there?SEAN NELSON, reporting for duty! :p

Regretfully, however, I haven't a lot to say about this particular issue. Most of my burns have been done at high speed on my Pioneer DVD recorders, and they don't give you a choice as to burn speed ("high speed" here meaning a direct HDD to DVD copy without re-encoding, as opposed to the specific 4X vs 8X vs. whatever media burn speed).

I did a few tests on my computer burner way back when I first got it, and I seem to recall that there wasn't a lot of difference between 4X vs. 8X burns. But like everything else I strongly suspect that your results depend heavily on the media, your burner, and it's firmware. The best thing to do (if you've got a suitably equipped computer) is to run a quality scan to see what kind of results you're actually getting. Anything else is really just guesswork.

Will I get better burns if I do it at 4x versus setting it to max which often fluctuates between 4x and 8x?
I almost always use TY 8x -R discs.
My HP computer is less than 18 months old and has a Toshiba/Samsung burner TSSTcorp CD/DVDW TS-H652L.
I can set it at either 4x, 8x or max.

Also, occasionally I use 16x discs (usually Verbatim) which setting would produce the best burns for those discs?

thanks

Just curious......

Isn't this the wrong forum for questions regarding PC burners?