Bad Batch of CompUSA DVD-Rs?

[Jerry Jones]

I bought a 10-pack of CompUSA DVD-Rs, silver, and only *one* of the 10 plays glitch-free in my GE 1106P-B player.

Brands that play *without* glitching in my player include:

1. MeritLine generic DVD-Rs

2. Sony

3. Apple

4. Imation

Has anybody else had better luck with CompUSA brand DVD-Rs?

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Brian Ellis]

To date, I've used only Pioneer and very few of them! However, who makes the CompUSA ones? What you may well find is that these would be perfectly OK if you were to use a different make of burner. I have a Memorex, an HP and a Pioneer DVD burners, all capable of burning CDs. They each perform best with different makes of media. I suspect it is no different with DVDs and what works well with one burner may not with another or vice versa. The same applies to readers. I have six devices capable of reading CD-ROMs and/or DVDs and they are certainly not all created equal. I have CD-ROMs (including commercial ones) that simply will not read in some but are perfect in others. In one case, I made a copy of a CD-ROM which simply would not read in my lap-top. Yet the copy played perfectly, as does every other one. I have a commercial music CD which refuses to play in 2 devices but is OK in others. I'm sure that many of us have similar experiences.

The question is therefore, is your problem with burning the DVDs or reading them? If burning, would they work better in a different burner? If reading, would they work better in a different reader? Or are the disks really faulty, in which case you should ask for a refund.

BTW, the colour of the reflective surface is immaterial. Both aluminium and gold have similar spectral reflectivities at the wavelengths concerned.

[Jerry Jones]

Brian inquired:

>Is your problem with burning the DVDs or reading them?

Since I already mentioned the Sony and other DVD disc brands play perfectly in my GE 1106P-B player, I can only conclude there is NO PROBLEM WITH EITHER BURNING OR READING.

The 'problem' is obviously with this batch of CompUSA discs.

Since I bought them about a month ago, there's no way I can return them.

Needless to say - I won't be purchasing CompUSA brand discs or CompUSA-branded products of any kind in the future.

By the way, I'm finding the Sony discs have virtually 100% success rate, which tracks closely with what DV MAGAZINE reported in their July issue.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[Brian Ellis]

Jerry

I'm sorry, you didn't read what I said above. I accept that these disks will not work with your equipment but that does not mean that they will not be 100% OK with other hardware. It is the combination that is important. I can hardly believe that CompUSA would be selling something with a 90% faulty rate or, if this happened by inadvertence, they would not replace them. If the discs are really faulty for everybody, then they will replace them, I'm sure - 30 days or 3 months after you bought them.

I realise that laws are different from place to place but, at least in most European countries, goods sold must be fit for the purpose for which they are intended and, unless they are clearly marked otherwise, the buyer is not responsible for "hidden vices" which appear within twelve months. This is not a case of returning goods because you changed your mind but because they contain a "hidden vice", at least by your lights. If CompUSA have had other complaints with that specific merchandise, they will refund or exchange without turning a hair. If you are the only person to have had these problems, then you may have some difficulty about proving they have "hidden vices", but they may still allow you to exchange them just to shut you up, if you are firm enough and are sure of your ground: remember the clerk will not have a clue what you are talking about. If that doesn't work, complain to their corporate headquarters, where they are most likely to be able to correlate complaints from different shops. Be firm: if the discs are really faulty, you have right on your side. No company is going not to admit when goods are faulty (except Ford and Firestone ) for the purpose for which they are intended. Also, by kicking up stink, you may be helping to protect others from similar problems.

BTW, one way of finding out if the goods are faulty is, if they have been withdrawn from sale, they sure were.

So start kicking their corporate posterior!

BTW, you may find the Sony discs, or one of the others in your first list, are made in the same factory as the CompUSA ones . There are not many factories making DVD blanks and I'm roughly 99.999999% sure that CompUSA does not own any of them. Like most companies, they buy them in and put their brand on them.

Oh! one other thing has just struck me. I have a niggling feeling that I've heard that early DVD-R burners had lasers of a different wavelength than all current ones and the discs had to be matched. If they weren't, then nothing worked well. Could this be the case here? I'm not at all sure of facts here, but could it be that there was a wavelength (e.g., 6nn nm) was marked on the pack somewhere and this wavelength is different from that of your burner? If so, your case may be weaker, unless you can show that the type face was so small or illegible as could be reasonably missed.

Please let us know how you get on. I obviously have no direct interest as CompUSA don't have a subsidiary called CompCYP, but I think this kind of thing must be brought into the light for the sake of my US friends. Nothing is served by experience if you just shrug your shoulders and say, "too bad" while CompUSA continue to sell, probably in all innocence, goods that may be faulty.

[Jerry Jones]

Actually, CompUSA-branded discs have a bad track record with our City of Boise network administrator.

He's stopped buying CompUSA-branded CDs for the very same reason... they don't work well in TDK CD burners (brand new).

As I mentioned, the following brands of discs burn with virtually 100% success rate in my Panasonic LF-D311:

1. Sony
2. Imation
3. Apple

The MeritLine generic discs have about an 85% success rate in my drive.

The CompUSA discs have a 90% failure rate so I find it very hard to believe your suggestion that they may be made in the same factories as the discs that burn successfully.

Jerry Jones

http://www.jonesgroup.net

[wkulecz]

Factory rejects, floor sweepings :-)

I haven't been inside a compUSA since they instituted their restocking fee policy.

--wally.