I seem to remember this problem being discussed here a while ago, but
I can't find it...
A friend has a relatively new Optiplex 390 at work. It has one Sony
DVD burner. She needed to make a copy of a (non-commercial) DVD, so
she launched the Sonic Record Now that came pre-installed and copied
the source DVD to the hard drive. Sonic then told her to insert a
bland DVD into the burner and press OK. She did, but Sonic apparently
can't recognize that there is a blank DVD inserted, because it kept
asking her again and again to insert a blank DVD. I told her I
believed it was a problem with Dell installed versions of Sonic.
I asked her to bring the source DVD to me, and I'd try with my version
of Sonic on my (2/2007) i6400, which also came with Sonic pre-
installed, but that I remembered reading about this problem, and I
couldn't guarantee Sonic would make a copy of her DVD.
Sure enough, I have the same problem with Sonic on my i6400.
I finally just used Nero, which worked fine.
I have two questions:
1) What' up with Sonic? I've googled, and looked at the Dell forum,
but can't find anything that exactly fits this circumstance.
2) Anyone ever use DeepBurner? www.deepburner.com
There is no single standard for DVD media, so you get a choice of DVD+R and
DVD-R, and, of course, DVD+RW. Which blank media did you use and and which
media are supported by the drives in the 390 and the 6400?
Did you check the Dell web site for updates to the Sonic software?
Does the Sonic software manage to at least burn CDs?
Once again, in an industry where these sorts of things are supposed to be
mindlessly simple, life is made complex by the standard bearers and
manufacturers with vested interests.
I would bet that the Dell version of Sonic does not know how to burn DVDs, given
that Nero worked OK for you... Ben Myers
On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:15:31 -0700, Boris <boris-badenough@excite.com> wrote:
>I seem to remember this problem being discussed here a while ago, but
>I can't find it...
>
>A friend has a relatively new Optiplex 390 at work. It has one Sony
>DVD burner. She needed to make a copy of a (non-commercial) DVD, so
>she launched the Sonic Record Now that came pre-installed and copied
>the source DVD to the hard drive. Sonic then told her to insert a
>bland DVD into the burner and press OK. She did, but Sonic apparently
>can't recognize that there is a blank DVD inserted, because it kept
>asking her again and again to insert a blank DVD. I told her I
>believed it was a problem with Dell installed versions of Sonic.
>
>I asked her to bring the source DVD to me, and I'd try with my version
>of Sonic on my (2/2007) i6400, which also came with Sonic pre-
>installed, but that I remembered reading about this problem, and I
>couldn't guarantee Sonic would make a copy of her DVD.
>
>Sure enough, I have the same problem with Sonic on my i6400.
>
>I finally just used Nero, which worked fine.
>
>I have two questions:
>
>1) What' up with Sonic? I've googled, and looked at the Dell forum,
>but can't find anything that exactly fits this circumstance.
>2) Anyone ever use DeepBurner?
>www.deepburner.com
On Jul 24, 10:09 am, Ben Myers <ben_myers_spam_me_...@charter.net>
wrote:
> Only some questions, which may or may not help.
>
> There is no single standard for DVD media, so you get a choice of DVD+R and
> DVD-R, and, of course, DVD+RW. Which blank media did you use and and which
> media are supported by the drives in the 390 and the 6400?
>
> Did you check the Dell web site for updates to the Sonic software?
>
> Does the Sonic software manage to at least burn CDs?
>
> Once again, in an industry where these sorts of things are supposed to be
> mindlessly simple, life is made complex by the standard bearers and
> manufacturers with vested interests.
>
> I would bet that the Dell version of Sonic does not know how to burn DVDs, given
> that Nero worked OK for you... Ben Myers
>
> On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 08:15:31 -0700, Boris <boris-badeno...@excite.com> wrote:
> >I seem to remember this problem being discussed here a while ago, but
> >I can't find it...
>
> >A friend has a relatively new Optiplex 390 at work. It has one Sony
> >DVD burner. She needed to make a copy of a (non-commercial) DVD, so
> >she launched the Sonic Record Now that came pre-installed and copied
> >the source DVD to the hard drive. Sonic then told her to insert a
> >bland DVD into the burner and press OK. She did, but Sonic apparently
> >can't recognize that there is a blank DVD inserted, because it kept
> >asking her again and again to insert a blank DVD. I told her I
> >believed it was a problem with Dell installed versions of Sonic.
>
> >I asked her to bring the source DVD to me, and I'd try with my version
> >of Sonic on my (2/2007) i6400, which also came with Sonic pre-
> >installed, but that I remembered reading about this problem, and I
> >couldn't guarantee Sonic would make a copy of her DVD.
>
> >Sure enough, I have the same problem with Sonic on my i6400.
>
> >I finally just used Nero, which worked fine.
>
> >I have two questions:
>
> >1) What' up with Sonic? I've googled, and looked at the Dell forum,
> >but can't find anything that exactly fits this circumstance.
> >2) Anyone ever use DeepBurner?
> >www.deepburner.com
Hi,
I used +R in both, and both support +-R. I don't use RW media.
Both will successfully burn CDs, with Sonic.
Yes, the non-standard nature of the DVD industry drives me nuts.
I haven't checked the Dell site for Sonic updates, but I will.
On Jul 24, 8:15 am, Boris <boris-badeno...@excite.com> wrote:
> 1) What' up with Sonic? I've googled, and looked at the Dell forum,
> but can't find anything that exactly fits this circumstance.
Google for dell +sonic +dla, you find lots of stuff.
About a year ago, was troubleshooting what turned out to be a bad
optical drive on my daughter's Dell laptop, ran across this DLA issue.
DLA (Drive Letter Access) is apparently a Sonic utility that lets you
drag-n-drop files to your burner, just like a regular drive. Seems
like DLA does not like to play well with optical drives on Dells, lots
of issues regarding recognizing disks.
One of the recommended troubleshooting steps was to disable DLA :
MyComputer -> Right click on the DVD burner drive -> uncheck Use DLA.
Other help forums recommend uninstalling DLA using Add/Remove
Programs.
Jerry <jerry_maple@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1185314728.414472.43750
@z28g2000prd.googlegroups.com:
> On Jul 24, 8:15 am, Boris <boris-badeno...@excite.com> wrote:
>
>> 1) What' up with Sonic? I've googled, and looked at the Dell forum,
>> but can't find anything that exactly fits this circumstance.
>
> Google for dell +sonic +dla, you find lots of stuff.
>
> About a year ago, was troubleshooting what turned out to be a bad
> optical drive on my daughter's Dell laptop, ran across this DLA issue.
>
> DLA (Drive Letter Access) is apparently a Sonic utility that lets you
> drag-n-drop files to your burner, just like a regular drive. Seems
> like DLA does not like to play well with optical drives on Dells, lots
> of issues regarding recognizing disks.
>
> One of the recommended troubleshooting steps was to disable DLA :
> MyComputer -> Right click on the DVD burner drive -> uncheck Use DLA.
>
> Other help forums recommend uninstalling DLA using Add/Remove
> Programs.
>
> Jerry
>
Thanks, Jerry.
I did read about DLA before posting, but I wasn't using drag and drop. A
media procuction company had taken a local TV news story, about 3 minutes
long, and had burned it to DVD for presentation in court. The source DVD
that they produced, and that I was trying to make copies of, consisted of
the normal VIDEO-TS folder and it's contents.
The machine in question was shipped with Sonic DigitalMedia LE v7. I was
trying to use the Disc Copy function ("The Disc Copy project makes a
duplicate of any non copy-protected master CD/DVD) to make copies of the
source DVD, but it wouldn't work.
I ended up using Nero to first create an ISO on the hard drive, and then
create the DVD VIDEO_TS folder on the blank media. It worked fine, and it
also auto started.
Now that I'm home and am in front of the machine (3/2007 i6400), I launched
Sonic DigitalMedia LE, and let it search for updates. It came up with four
updates:
I was surprised to see such old updates, so I checked the About for this
Sonic program, and it showed copyright 2004. I don't know why Dell would
include such an old program.
I also don't know if I'm going to install the updates, or just uninstall
Sonic. I like the clean interface, and the ease of use (if working
properly), but the CD burning is also very slow. This is the free version.
By the way, did disabling DLA allow Sonic to recognize a blank DVD? I have
no trouble recognizing a blank CD.
IIRC, Dell also did initial shipments of Vista computers with a version of Sonic
that just plain did not work. Or was it a version of Roxio that would not work
properly with Vista?
Bottom line is that either the contract Dell has for Sonic restricts them to a
limited OEM version or version(s), or somebody (somebodies?) at Dell is sleeping
when it comes to integration testing of all the software bundled with Dell
computers. Something is broken in the way Dell is handling its OEM software,
that is for sure... Ben Myers
On Tue, 24 Jul 2007 21:50:14 -0500, Boris <Boris> wrote:
>Jerry <jerry_maple@hotmail.com> wrote in news:1185314728.414472.43750
>@z28g2000prd.googlegroups.com:
>
>> On Jul 24, 8:15 am, Boris <boris-badeno...@excite.com> wrote:
>>
>>> 1) What' up with Sonic? I've googled, and looked at the Dell forum,
>>> but can't find anything that exactly fits this circumstance.
>>
>> Google for dell +sonic +dla, you find lots of stuff.
>>
>> About a year ago, was troubleshooting what turned out to be a bad
>> optical drive on my daughter's Dell laptop, ran across this DLA issue.
>>
>> DLA (Drive Letter Access) is apparently a Sonic utility that lets you
>> drag-n-drop files to your burner, just like a regular drive. Seems
>> like DLA does not like to play well with optical drives on Dells, lots
>> of issues regarding recognizing disks.
>>
>> One of the recommended troubleshooting steps was to disable DLA :
>> MyComputer -> Right click on the DVD burner drive -> uncheck Use DLA.
>>
>> Other help forums recommend uninstalling DLA using Add/Remove
>> Programs.
>>
>> Jerry
>>
>Thanks, Jerry.
>
>I did read about DLA before posting, but I wasn't using drag and drop. A
>media procuction company had taken a local TV news story, about 3 minutes
>long, and had burned it to DVD for presentation in court. The source DVD
>that they produced, and that I was trying to make copies of, consisted of
>the normal VIDEO-TS folder and it's contents.
>
>The machine in question was shipped with Sonic DigitalMedia LE v7. I was
>trying to use the Disc Copy function ("The Disc Copy project makes a
>duplicate of any non copy-protected master CD/DVD) to make copies of the
>source DVD, but it wouldn't work.
>
>I ended up using Nero to first create an ISO on the hard drive, and then
>create the DVD VIDEO_TS folder on the blank media. It worked fine, and it
>also auto started.
>
>Now that I'm home and am in front of the machine (3/2007 i6400), I launched
>Sonic DigitalMedia LE, and let it search for updates. It came up with four
>updates:
>
>DLA Update 4.98, 7/31/05, 9.28 MB
>RecordNow Data (Basic), 2.0.0.1, 8/29/05, 30.56 MB
>RecordNow Copy (Basic), 2.0.0.1, 8/31/05, 28.06 MB
>RecordNow Audio (Basic), 2.0.0.1, 8/31/05, 30.75MB>
>
>I was surprised to see such old updates, so I checked the About for this
>Sonic program, and it showed copyright 2004. I don't know why Dell would
>include such an old program.
>
>I also don't know if I'm going to install the updates, or just uninstall
>Sonic. I like the clean interface, and the ease of use (if working
>properly), but the CD burning is also very slow. This is the free version.
>
>By the way, did disabling DLA allow Sonic to recognize a blank DVD? I have
>no trouble recognizing a blank CD.
>
>Thanks again.
"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote in message
news:6dfda39e4uasurftjallgp9bdocuh7edo8@4ax.com...
> IIRC, Dell also did initial shipments of Vista computers with a version of
> Sonic
> that just plain did not work. Or was it a version of Roxio that would
> not work
> properly with Vista?
>
> Bottom line is that either the contract Dell has for Sonic restricts them
> to a
> limited OEM version or version(s), or somebody (somebodies?) at Dell is
> sleeping
> when it comes to integration testing of all the software bundled with Dell
> computers. Something is broken in the way Dell is handling its OEM
> software,
> that is for sure... Ben Myers
>
Most of the "bundled" software is limited so that you will have to pay for
an upgrade to get full functionality. So it's to Sonic's (Roxio) advantage
to supply the LE edition to Dell probably at little or no charge. I have a
purchased, full function version of RecordNow and have never had a problem
with it. I don't use DLA or CDRW's because of the "data fade" problem, but
all other functions fpr CD and DVD burning work very well. The only "free"
burning software that use is Nero6 which came with my Panasonic RAM burner.
I have it installed on my other computer and all functions work
well....again not using DLA. Most other "free" bundled software that I have
is crippled in some way to encouage the purchase of an update.
Limited functionality and :"light" versions I can understand. After all,
Sonic/Roxio wants to make a buck on its software. They need to provide superior
product to do so. Of course, CDBurnerXPPro, DeepBurner and several other CD/DVD
packages which are free can erode the Sonic/Roxio revenue stream over time.
There is also a less-than-subtle customer satisfaction tradeoff for companies
that make deals to bundle limited versions of software with a name-brand
computer.
Consider:
1. Executive Software's crippled defragger bundled with Windows. Does this
motivate people to buy Executive Software's DisKeeper? See my comments in
another thread about the open source and free JKDefrag.
2. Norton's or McAfee's anti-virus trialware. An occasional client of mine
ended up with three infected systems because the trialware stopped working, and
he did not re-up the AV subscription. Do you think he will EVER buy Symantec or
McAfee products ever again? Nope. I installed Free AVG on all his systems.
3. Microsoft Office trialware. Same story. People who do not use all the
bells and whistles and lock-in features of the Office suite can be perfectly
content with OpenOffice.
But to ship software that simply does not work at all with Vista systems?
Unacceptable. This is definitely limited functionality. Limited
functionality of minds at Dell.
And yes! Do not ever ever use CD-RW media.
End of my rant of the hour... Ben Myers
On Wed, 25 Jul 2007 07:56:03 -0400, "ol****" <ol****65@excite.com> wrote:
>
>"Ben Myers" <ben_myers_spam_me_not@charter.net> wrote in message
>news:6dfda39e4uasurftjallgp9bdocuh7edo8@4ax.com.. .
>> IIRC, Dell also did initial shipments of Vista computers with a version of
>> Sonic
>> that just plain did not work. Or was it a version of Roxio that would
>> not work
>> properly with Vista?
>>
>> Bottom line is that either the contract Dell has for Sonic restricts them
>> to a
>> limited OEM version or version(s), or somebody (somebodies?) at Dell is
>> sleeping
>> when it comes to integration testing of all the software bundled with Dell
>> computers. Something is broken in the way Dell is handling its OEM
>> software,
>> that is for sure... Ben Myers
>>
>Most of the "bundled" software is limited so that you will have to pay for
>an upgrade to get full functionality. So it's to Sonic's (Roxio) advantage
>to supply the LE edition to Dell probably at little or no charge. I have a
>purchased, full function version of RecordNow and have never had a problem
>with it. I don't use DLA or CDRW's because of the "data fade" problem, but
>all other functions fpr CD and DVD burning work very well. The only "free"
>burning software that use is Nero6 which came with my Panasonic RAM burner.
>I have it installed on my other computer and all functions work
>well....again not using DLA. Most other "free" bundled software that I have
>is crippled in some way to encouage the purchase of an update.
>
>
> I did read about DLA before posting, but I wasn't using drag and drop.
>From what I understand of the problem with DLA, you don't have to be
_using_ DLA - just the fact that you have enabled the use of DLA with
the drive can prevent it from recognizing a blank.
>
> By the way, did disabling DLA allow Sonic to recognize a blank DVD? I have
> no trouble recognizing a blank CD.
No, but maybe you missed it in my original post where I stated the
problem turned out to be a defective drive. Dell's service on that
issue really impressed me. I handled the issue by online chat, told
them the problem and the diagnostics I had done, they said those
drives are a known problem, we'll replace it. We wrapped up the chat
about 3PM Phoenix time on a Thusday. By noon on Friday, the
replacement drive was sitting on my front doorstep.
Sonic and Dell 
Linear Mode
