It seemed about time that I got myself involved in this wonderful world of blogging. But I really wasn't sure what I'd have to talk about. Coming from a tech support training background, I decided to do what I always do starting a new project: figure out what questions get asked the most. Since writing DVD Studio Pro 3 In the Studio, that has become an easy task. I get the occasional question about translucent figures for button templates in DVDSP, but 9-to-1 I get asked about the media I use.
I get two variations on the topic: "what's the best media to use?" and "where do I find the cheapest media?" Of course, everyone really wants to know where the best and cheapest media can be found. That, I'm afraid is a micro-scale holy grail, but these days it's not as absurd a question as it used to be.
On the quality front, Taiyo-Yuden discs are still winning hands down. You'll see them mentioned in lots of DVD discussions and they certainly have been the best performing discs I've used. They get rebranded by a lot of folks--some of whom will tell you about the rebranding, some of whom won't. Verbatim 4x -R media was one of the earliest sources of TY media, but nowadays you can purchase TY-branded media direct from a variety of online sources. I've personally had good luck with the MAM-A branded media as well. (I got hooked on them for archival CD-R...)
On the price front, that's something akin to the Floating Market in London Below. I usually pick up big bundles from Meritline or Tape and Media. My experiences there have always been good and I'm somewhat of a loyalist. (Both sites have TY media available.) DiscMakers also has the occasional special that catches my eye. If I'm really in the bargain hunting mode, though, I just Google "dvd-r media" and breeze through the sponsored links to see what's up for grabs.
If anyone has specific experiences (good--or more importantly--bad), I'd love to hear them. I'm also curious about 8x media experiences.
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DVD-R
looking for the best DVD-R, I hear Taiyo Yuden and Verbaim are great DVD-R's. But do they scratch as easy like all others DVD-R. used Ridata, Dasan they don't last long. any ideas? please help.
need help!!
Well, if you've got your plus and minus signs correct in your post, that might be the problem. It seems there are +R "only" versions of the GCA-4040N out there--the -R media (from Sony or anyone else) won't work. You'll need to pick up some +R discs.
If your burner is supposed to be dual format, then I'm at a loss. Guess I'd say stick with the media that works.
Good luck--and post back if it really does turn out to be purely a Sony media problem.
need help!!
I have a Toshiba MK8025GAS or HL-DT-ST DVD+RW GCA-4040N. It recognizes and burns Verbatim and Memorex, but not Sony DVD-R's. It sees them as either without space or not at all. Can you help?
DVD-R Media
Burn at the slowest speed for the less reliable media, that should fix your problem.
best dvds
Right. TY discs continue to be error free for me. I use these almost exclusively now for any serious project. ("serious project" == client is paying) I use Verbatim -R for all my simple test runs--especially on older systems where the burners only run at 2x or 4x.
Anybody with input on Ritek media?
need help!!
I have the same problem...I thought it was my burner... need to find out which dvr+r are the best out there....
need help!!
it is the quality of the media I had the same problem as you a few months ago. I heard about taiyo yuden and it didnt freeze, skip or have screen glitches.
need help!!
it is the quality of the media I had the same problem as you a few months ago. I heard about taiyo yuden and it didnt freeze, skip or have screen glitches.
best dvds
I have had really good luck with Taiyo Yuden dvd+r and -r. I have no playback problems whas so ever. I would highly recemond them. They are rated best blank dvds. Watch where you buy them though because for instance ebay sometimes sells fakes.
need help!!
I'm using Sony DVD+R WHEN BURN SEEM EVERYTHING IS OK WHEN I PLAY TO MY DVD HOME DVD PLAYER SOMETIME IT DOESN'T WORK AND SOMETIME JUST SKEEPING AND FREEZ UP. ANYBODY KNOW WHAT'S WRONG IT OR WHAT KIND DVD R MEDIA SHOULD I BUY? DID MISSING SOMETING. A BURN ALOT OF MOVIES AND SOME OF THEM I COULD PLAY THE REST OF MOVIE AND OF THEM JUST SKEEPING AND FREEZ UP. PLEASE ADVISE
Good and Bad Luck
I've been using Memorex 8x on my Samsung TS-H552 that is Dual Layer capable and comes equipped with "Buffer Underun Free" technology. I have made 2 coasters out of 115 DVD's. The 2 DVD's were bad productions from Memorex...you could tell because the data side of them looked different from the rest of the blanks. I have been hearing a lot of good things about Taiyo Yuden and will be trying those out soon since I found them for only $23.00 for a spool of 50 on pricewatch.com. I use DVD Decryptor ver3.5.3.0 and 1ClickDVDCopy ver2.4.4.2. I haven't ran into any "bumps in the road" with this setup. I love DVD Decryptor because it has Ripped certain things for me that DVD X Copy Platinum, DVD Shrink, Nero 6 and DVD Rescue couldn't. That's my input. Thanks for listening.
Good and Bad Luck
That's great feedback, thanks for taking the time to write. Since my original post, I've also had good luck with the Sony 8x media.
I've had mixed luck with some 8x burns on the DiscMakers 8x Premium media. They burned and verified fine and play in all of my consumer players, but my duplication house has had trouble reading them. Everything dups fine if I burn at 1x or 2x.
So now I have to ask about dual-layer media. Anyone with a serious thumbs-up or -down on their bigger projects?
Good and Bad Luck
I've have yet to have any problems with 8x Sony dvd-r media. I have burned over 130 of these, not a single coaster, all burned at 8x, 120+ have been data back-up, no errors to date, no problems with the few video/movies yet either.
I have had terible luck with TDK 8x media (burning at any speed) and with Ridata 8x media. I have had constant data loss and they have most been unreadable by all of my dvd players, not to mention the myriad of coasters i've ended up with, for no apparent reason. The Ridata's are supposedly 8x, but they show up as only 4x in toast???? and most fail verification immediatley after burning.
FYI, I am burning on pioneer dvr-108 in a B&W Mac g3 upgraded to 1.0 ghz, and a WD 8mb cache hard drive.
Good 8x burn
I Have a liteon (SOHW-1633S) and have been using maxell with good burns only 10-15% of the time do i ever get artifacting and most of the time its only for a second and the dvd goes on. i recently bought memorex branded (ritekg05) they seem to also burn nice. how ever i have one strange problem only about 40% will play in my computer but all will play in my home dvd player. at first i thought it had to do with the format i burned it in or the compression but that doesnt seem to be the problem.
thanks for listening sorry about the spelling/grammer
DVD-R Media
TDK 8x, Memorex 8x, Sony 8x do not work reliably in DVD players when burned with either my Plextor PX716 or the Sony DRU-530A. I am now using Taiyo Yuden very successfuly.
having problems with TDK 8x
I have used the following media in my Plextor 708A DVD burner:
Verbatim 4x, 8x DVD-R, 8xDVD+R
TDK 2x, 4x, 8x DVD-R, 4xDVD+R
Memorex 4x DVD+R
All of these worked well except the TDK 8x DVD-R media. Almost every disc that I have burned with this media skips or freezes somewhere between 6-11 minutes into the movie when played back on my home DVD player. I noticed that the 8x TDK discs have a thin line around the disc towards the beginning (center) of the recording surface. After burning them the thin line is not there but there is a noticable ring around the disk near the center of the recorded surface. I think this is causing the problem, since that would be around the same point where the movie freezes. The Verbatim 8x discs play back with no problems and there is no such line or ring on the recorded surface.
I usually use -R media when recording movies since I have had trouble with some DVD players not reading +R media.
I have the latest firmware installed for the drive and I use Nero 6 with the latest updates.