Dvd Write Speed

Specs: HP pavilion ze4400 notebook 256 Ram AMD 1.8Ghz Processor
XP PRO SP2
External HP DVD 740E writer (16x read 16x write)
DVD Cloner III software
HP PCMCIA to 2.0 USB adapter
Memorex 16x 4.7 DVD'S
AnyDVD software

Question: Can anyone give me advice on how to speed up the writing process? When I burn a DVD the "copy" process is fine. It takes about 45 minutes to "copy" a 3hr long dvd. Then the writing process comes in taking around 1.5 hrs to "write" the dvd. The USB is 2.0, the writer and dvd's support 16x read/write speed. I'm new to the dvd writing world and if there's some tweaking that can be done I'm not aware of it. Any thoughts would be helpful.

Last min thought: I am turning a DVD9 to a DVD5 to fit 190 min long (lost complete season 1) dvd to 1 120 min 4.7 disc. It will fit using the dvd cloner III. Could the shrinking process be what's slowing it down?

Thanks, Cass.

 

No thoughts?

 

Yeah, I'm sure it's the compression that is slowing you down. To burn a whole 4.7Gb DVD, it should take between 10 and 25 mins depending on the speed. However, depending on your computer, it could easily take 1-2 hours to compress a video file. For example, with my Athlon XP 2500+ it took just under 2 hours to compress a 30 minute episode of Family Guy using DivX.

 

I tried it without compressing and it still takes over an hour to write and only 25 mins to read. bought new dvd's bench marked them and they're hitting at 4x 8x 12x 16x. I'm assuming that means that it can write any of the above. yet, 20 min reads and 1.2-1.5 hr writes.
could it be something with my pcmcia port, it is an old computer.