Does the 2X, 4X, etc rating on BD-R discs mean anything?

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Level 3

543 points

Does the 2X, 4X, etc rating on BD-R discs mean anything?

I'm thinking about getting a new EzQuest 12X Blu-ray drive for my Mac Pro and I went looking at the price of the blank BD-R discs and they are rated 2X and 4X. Does this rating on blank media mean anything? I know they do it with DVD and I never paid attention to it.

Anyone with Blu-ray experience have any advice for me?

Thank you for your time.

Dual 2.8 Ghz 2008 Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.4), 10 gigs RAM (and need more!), nVidia GeForce 8800 GT

Posted on Sep 1, 2010 8:34 AM

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Answer 1

Sep 1, 2010 3:27 PM in response to Scot Walker

it is the speed at which they burn. But, you often have better results (fewer failures etc) when burning at a slow speed anyway.

If you have a 4x burner, then you could buy 4x discs and save yourself a little time but it costs more. I get 2x discs which are cheaper, and there is a lower risk of burn failure.

Please note that none of this has anything to do with picture quality. That is the whole point of digital video; unless you have enough errors to cause failure, you can't really have a "better" or "worse" image in digital video. I'm looking at you, Monster Cables!

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Answer 2

Scot Walker Author

Level 3

543 points

Sep 1, 2010 3:32 PM in response to Jeremy Hansen

Thanks for the reply.

You can burn at any speed you want. My question is is there really any difference between burning at different speeds with different rated discs. In my opinion, it's a bunch of marketing BS and they are all the same. There's no difference between a 4X rated disc and a 2X rated disc. Correct me if I'm wrong. I can burn at 6X speed with 2X discs with no problem, right? Or is there really any evidence (anecdotal or otherwise) that they fail at a much greater rate?

The drive is 12X and the fastest BD-R discs I have found are 6X.

Thanks again.

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Answer 3

Sep 3, 2010 7:49 AM in response to Scot Walker

Correct me if I'm wrong. I can burn at 6X speed with 2X discs with no problem, right?

No, you are not allowed to. Whether there really is a difference physically is beyond me. But your software will only burn at the maximum rated speed.

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Answer 4

Scot Walker Author

Level 3

543 points

Sep 3, 2010 8:51 AM in response to Jeremy Hansen

Wow, I didn't know that. It will only burn at the speed rating of the disc? OK. Thanks for the info!

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