Closing session takes forever - why?

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Level 3

666 points

Closing session takes forever - why?

I am burning a simple 108.9MB disk image (.img) to an 8x DVD-R using my built-in 2x Superdrive. I do know that I can only burn 4x (or higher) media at only 1x, and 2x media at 2x.

This just seems ridiculous. Here is the rundown on timing, and how long it takes for each step (this is NOT a multisession DVD).

Opening session: 1 second
Writing track: 3 minutes, 11 seconds
Closing session: 11 minutes, 32 seconds

What is really happening when it closes the session? Does it have to write something out to the end of the disc? Why does it take 4 times as long to close the session, than it does to actually write the track? I have "Verify" unchecked, so that is not what's going on.

PowerMac (Quicksilver), Mac OS X (10.4.7)

Posted on Aug 19, 2006 9:59 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 19, 2006 10:35 AM in response to Andrew Lamont

The closing session time does not depend on the amount of data. If you filled the disk it would take 60 minutes to write the data, but still less than 12 to close the session. You should use verify if the DVD is going to be the only copy of your data. Verify is faster than writing, and there is no closing time.

Why not use CD-R instead of DVD-R if you are burning less than 700 MB?

You could replace your superdrive with a Pioneer DVR-110D or DVR-111D for about $40.00 and get 8X burning (and a lot faster reading).

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Answer 2

Aug 28, 2006 9:48 PM in response to Andrew Lamont

Apparently some standalone players do look at media code, though there is no reason for it. Some DVD burner can write fake media codes to fool them, but I think it requires PC software to do it. I have read of burners that set media bits on DVR+R media to make it look like DVD-ROM, to be more compatible with older DVD players.
Since you can get such cheap DVD media, and know that at least some players wont play DVD on CD media, stick with DVs, unless you verify that particular customers can play the CD version.
I play DVDs on my Mac, so don't have a stand-alone DVD player to try.

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Answer 3

Andrew Lamont Author

Level 3

666 points

Aug 24, 2006 9:25 PM in response to Malcolm Rayfield

I am using these for a mass mailing which needs to be playable on standard consumer DVD players. I was going to go the VCD route, but I discovered that a lot of DVD players could not play them. I also liked the increased quality of DVD, as well as the ability to use iDVD to create custom menus. And for 22¢ a piece, I could not beat the price of this DVD-R media.

Also, I am skipping the verify step since these are just mass mailers. Every so often I grab one from the stack and check it in my player. Not one coaster yet, and I've burned about 130.

Are you saying that if I choose to verify the burn, that no closing session will occur, or were you just mentioning that verify would be a good idea in addition to what I am already doing?

I have an external DVD buner arriving tomorrow (16x). Hopefully that should speed things up. Would you foresee this faster burner speeding up both the writing of the track, and the closing of the session?

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Answer 4

Aug 25, 2006 4:51 AM in response to Andrew Lamont

VCDs may not play on many DVD players, but if you burn a DVD image onto a blank CD the player should see it as a DVD, and play it with DVD quality. Try it. CDs may also burn faster than DVDs.

There is no closing session during verify. It just reads the data part of the DVD and compares it to the copy on your hard drive. It should be able to read faster than writing. Normally I would recommend verifying every disc, but since you are making multiple copies, and an occasional bad disc would not mean data loss, you would only need to verify when you try a new brand of disc, a new drive, or a new burning speed.

A faster drive should make all writing, including closing sessions, faster. I would be wary of speeds over 8X, though. Many people have reported problems with 16X. Also the hard drive may not be able to keep up with 16X if there are other things running on the computer. The brand of blank media can also make a big difference. Most reports say Memorex is bad and Verbatim is good. Don't buy a lot of blanks until you are sure they will play properly on the different players you will use.

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Answer 5

Andrew Lamont Author

Level 3

666 points

Aug 28, 2006 12:41 PM in response to Malcolm Rayfield

Well, I am done with the 300 copy project, and I burned all 300 without a single coaster. About half way through the project I got a new EZQuest Monsoon 16x DVD burner, which burned the 8x media at 8x, and took only 3 minutes for each copy. No coasters. I was worried at first since I purchased the cheapest DVD-Rs I could find (22¢ each), but it worked out great.

Burning a DVD image to CD media worked in Disk Utility, but when I tried to play it in my consumer DVD player, it would not recognize it. It did play fine in my Superdrive using Apple DVD Player.

So, are you saying that it should work that you could have a DVD image that is less than 700MB, and burn it on a CD, and a DVD player would think it was a DVD? I thought CD and DVD media had media ID's pre-written on each disc noting what type of media it was.

I might get into the business of making these CD/DVD things in mass quantity, and it would be swell if I could use CD media instead of DVD (to save a lot of money).

Would you think that a burned DVD image to DVD and a burned DVD image to CD would both be widely playable on most consumer DVD players?

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