text: Not all DVD writers can achieve what they claim.\n\n"Once again we note that speeds shown on the box and in the technical specs are purely theoretical. Makers should be honest with us and change statements like "Writes at 16x" to "Writes at up to 16x." And maybe add this disclaimer: "Your mileage may vary"..."\n\n16x speed is an optimal/Max speed.  If errors are introduce, the speed will fall back to recover the last data.\n\nErrors may come from the data source, (Hard Drive), the IDE connections (cables), the optical systems (Dirty read/write heads), and even the blank media (Low quality DVD)\n\nAre you using x16 blank media?