DVD follies: why considering -R/+R and brand name aren't enough.....

[Dr Mordrid]

There's a great link on DVD blank quality on DMN's Vegas forum;

http://www.dmnforums.com/cgi-bin/disppost.cgi?forum=sonic-foundry_vegas&filename=030714023659.htm

Dr. Mordrid

[wkulecz]

Same problems as with CD-R media.

Bottom line, so far I've never had problems with DVD disks that have been "verify after burning" in Nero.

How well they hold up is another issue, but brand name vs. no-name seem about equally vulnerable for the Audio CDs in my car under the hot Texas sun -- I seem to lose a couple (out of 50-60) every year where they were fine last time, but skip or don't load next time. I have to drive enough that each disk gets rotated thru pretty much once a month.

So far my data DVD+RW (K-hypermedia, one of his "bad brands") and DVD+R (Verbatim) have held up fine in checked luggage in trips to the pacific northwest and eastern europe. Interestingly, one of the data CDs (Fuji!) had a driver file I couldn't read, fortunately I could simply re-download it when I got there, but clearly nothing is anything close to perfect. I had two notebook computers with me and neither could read the CD file so it's pretty much certainly the disk not the drive.


I really wish the FTC required disclosure of the media formulation "brand" and the acutal manufacturer of the disk so we could have some idea what we are really getting for our money. Doing so might eventually force the crappy media off the market.

--wally.

[Nuno]

I don´t know. I always use the absolute cheapest CDR media and never got coasters. They read fine on everything, even on both cars stereo.

I also buy the cheapest DVD-R and -rw I can find ( www.mmore.com ) and everything seems to be fine. Even my PS2 reads DVD-R videos just fine and way past the 4 Gb mark.

So I never really found a reason to buy more expensive media.

[Dr Mordrid]

I've had the same experience, but can understand why this could happen. IF the burners tracking is tight you could likely get away with a lower quality media than if it isn't.

From the tests I've seen the Panasonic burners track very accurately and I'm sure there are other buners that do likewise, but on the other hand there are others that do not and could make coasters even with good media.

Dr. Mordrid

[xortam]

c't magazine did a spectral analysis of various recordable DVD media. The charts and rough English translation can be found in this Whole Wide Web thread. The conclusion was:

Best DVD-R

1. Panasonic / Fuji
2. Pioneer / Sony
3. Maxell
4. Apple
5. Verbatim
6. Emtec / TDK


WORST DVD-R

1. Imation / Memorex / Princo / Hi-Space
2. Datatrack
3. Intenso
4. Optodisc

The article specifies the manufacturer id of each of the media and you need to verify that when purchasing blanks. The lacking of advertising of the manufacturer id makes purchasing blanks a risky proposition, especially when dealing with on-line shopping. You can reduce the risk somewhat by purchasing brands that have a single manufacturer such as those that manufacturer their own media. You can still run into problems when buying such branded media on-line since there are counterfeits out there: Maxell has a warning out of on-line sites selling Maxell counterfeits that even show the proper manufacturer id.

[paulw]

Did they do one on DVD+R as well??

[xortam]

Originally posted by paulw
Did they do one on DVD+R as well??

The post referenced a chart but the image doesn't come up for me in that thread ... http://home.hccnet.nl/eruiter.1/dvd_r_test2/dvd+r.jpg .

[Brian Ellis]

Does anyone know where there is a list of media mark-in codes v. manufacturer?

E.g., some good DVD-Rs that I use have the code WX............. Who actually makes these?

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdmedia

Problem is that there a LOTS of disks out there with fake media codes. Confirmed ones list TDK, Maxell and Sony codes.

Haven't been able to find a "WX" code, but still looking....

Dr. Mordrid

[Brian Ellis]

Thanks for this useful list. In fact, I see that the WX I mentioned is not the media code, but something else. I mistook it because there is nothing else on that line.
See http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdmedia.php...ia=43#comments for the CD-Rs I refer to. I see that others also consider these cheap discs are good. I've bought considerable numbers of them and have never made a coaster, at least because of the disc. The daft thing is that this one has NO media code!

Looking through the list, there are a few other "makes" of DVD-R which appear to be identical, all with good reports. The makers claim that the discs are made in the EU, but it all depends on the definition of "made". Their HQ is in Greece (www.creation-optical.com).

[Peter B]

I can recommend the Accu (mentioned in the article) media if you have a Sony DRU500, so far I have bought (from www.meritline.com) and burned over 200 of these and not one has been a coaster. I have had some issues with authouring packages, but I have played them in 9 different DVD players with no problems yet. Not scientific testing but I can say they work well with the Sony unit.

[Jkun]

2 things to consider:

- just because you don't have a "coaster" doesn't mean you have a good disc. The introduction of the Plextor Premium burners caused a number of people to start using the advanced verification tools of this drive, and found that a majority of discs may have been readable but were way over the amount of allowed C1 and C2 errors. If you speak German, regular reading of NG de.comp.hardware.laufwerke.brenner can be a scary experience.

- cheap DVD or CD discs may burn OK now, with no apparent (without verification) difference between brands cheap or expensive. But which ones will still be readable in a few years? A Dutch magazine recently published some figures, and an alarming number of el cheapo discs only 2 years old turned out to be partly or totally unreadable even on the best CDrom drives.

J-kun