Media deals this week - Page 71

While you may still try to get your CFO to approve a new computer purchase (good luck!), in the interim you might want to check your CD/DVD drive's DMA status, as described here?

The drive might have auto-switched to PIO status due to previous "errors" and that's a very inefficient (slow) op process.

Supermediastore has, in my opinion, been very poor at packing in general, and I always dread opening their boxes. Because of that issue alone, I have moved many o fmy purchases to RIMA. Supermediastore, in the past, could really pile on the shipping charges. That's why many older posts in this forum used to recommend the free shipping option for items. If free shipping wasn't available, then I wouldn't buy it. As has been suggested, I recommend you specify extra padding in your somments. That suggestion seems to work.

I only have one question. Is your older media reliable? If it's questionable, then the duplicator might not be able to read it, um, them.

I opened a new cakebox of T-Ys yesterday, and realized that I now have LESS THAN 2000 blank disks left! I'm feeling a little nervous about my personal lack of supply.

That's the same number that prompts me to watch for the next sale of TY Premium Line discs.


Thanks for that link.

I'm a little confused now that I recheck my computer. I have two Primary IDE channels and one Secondary IDE channel.

The first Primary IDE Channel Device 0 is Ultra DMA Mode 5.

The second Primary IDE Channel Device 0 is Ultra DMA Mode 2. The Device 1 is Ultra DMA Mode 4.

The Secondary IDE Channel is "DMA If Possible" but it doesn't appear that IDE channel is populated.

The only DVDs I'll be computer burning in future are those that need a DVD Shrink re-encoding before burning with Roxio. The old Sony DVD ROM and new LG DVD burner have been slow, perhaps 25-35 minutes (as the content is "staged" or "restaged" to hard drive) for a single or first copy, but a second copy is usually in the seven minute range. Perhaps the Sony DVD ROM is the weak link and replacement will improve performance.

It's likely your software is doing an image copy of the source to the HDD and then burning the target from the HDD. For whatever reason, I've noticed that burning is an inherently faster process than reading. If you try to do a direct disk to disk copy it is always much slower than if you were burning an image from the HDD and is limited by the read rate of the source disk. You might want to try something like ImgBurn to first rip an image to the HDD then burn the image to disk. If your LG drive is new, just use it for both the rip and the burn. If the Sony drive came with the PC as original equipment, a 5 yr old reader is going to be especially slow.

That is "odd" and the tutorial doesn't mention the poss. of having TWO Device 0's... Device 0 is supp. to be the HDD, and Device 1 is the CD/DVD drive.

His later instructions on uninstalling and reinstalling Device 0 and/or Device 1 with the Driver > Uninstall menu might be something you'd want to consider for BOTH of your Device 0's in Primary and Secondary channels... altho I'm not sure if reinstalling the drivers for the Primary Channel fixes/changes the settings for the Secondary channel as well... just have to see what the Secondary menu looks like after doing the Primary?

That should force your computer to recognize the one-and-only true Device 0 HDD... unless you've got two HDD's?

Yes, that might be worth trying.

This is a Dell Dimension E510 with a single Western Digital Caviar WD2500JS 250GB 7200 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Hard Drive.

The Sony DVD ROM and LG DVD burner are both IDE on the same cable (both set cable select) with the Sony at the end and the LG on the middle connector.


I hadn't really given this much thought as I always assumed it was more efficient to have a separate reader and writer. The Sony DVD ROM is original equipment. I've yet to use the new LG burner for reading and writing but that now sounds like the best procedure.

Ah, one of the two DVD drives must be seen as another Device 0, and the other as the Device 1?

Maybe that's how your laptop configs itself for two DVD drives, and it may be normal???

Concerning your first thought, that's my thought as well.

This is the desktop computer seen in this photo:

Diga,
From your quote below, it read to me that you were referring to making multiple copies of the source disk. In that case the copy software would first rip an image of the source to the HDD and make the multiple copies from it. The first copy is slow for the reasons I stated above. The fact that your second burn takes only 7 min means your LG burner is not running in PIO mode. This is verified by the data you cite.

The referenced link, while useful, is dated and does not take into account SATA channels. My work PC is similar vintage to yours and has a SATA HDD. I also see two primary IDE channels. The first primary IDE channel is SATA and has your HDD on it as device 0, running in DMA mode 5. The second primary IDE channel, and in your case the secondary IDE channel, are both IDE. Your OEM Sony drive is running as device 0 in DMA mode 2 and the new LG drive you added is running as device 1 in DMA mode 4 (it's faster). Your second IDE channel is unpopulated. And yes, all channels support 2 devices, "0" & "1". Nothing is running as PIO mode, so you do not need to mess with your drivers. The best way to speed up the copy process would be to just use the new LG drive for read/write and a fast image ripper/burner like ImgBurn. Even though I have 3 burners on my home PC, I never do direct disk to disk copies -- just too slow.

Thank you for clarifying these technical matters. I'll use the new LG burner for read/write operations with this computer.

For a minute there I thought that was the same Dell I had. But it just the same case. I have a Dell Dimension 9150. It's about 5 years old and knock on wood has served me well. About a year ago I upgraded the ram from 1 to 3 gigs and also upgraded to a better video card. I have replaced the original dvd-rom drive with some after market ones. I have a Lite-on model, and LG in the desktop and a Pioneer in a external case. The LG is the newest but the ripping speed is slow as hell. Been like that since I brought it a year ago. The Lite-On is 4 years old and is going to be replaced. The tray has a hell of a time opening. I have a new Samsung 22X sata drive in the closet to replace the Lite-On. For now the Pioneer external is my fatest ripping drive. This computer is only used for encoding all those Korean Drama episodes I d/l using ConvertXtoDvd4 and then all the ripping and burning I do. I also rip all my dvd-r's I make on my Panny E500h on this computer also.

I also have a old Compaq computer which is used to surf the web and also used to d/l all those 720P and 450P Korean drama episode files. The 450P files are 700-800mb in size and the 720P files are 1.5gb. Sometimes I d/l the 1080p ones but those are about 8.5gb. I am serious thinking about getting a new computer and moving the Dell over to replace the Compaq and then use the new one to convert files using that ConvertXtoDvd4 program.

If I may ask what computer (brand & model #) did you pick out for your friend?

Well, the older DVDs read and copy fine on my computer. Of course, I can choose the burn speed to match the media.

I'm wondering if I put slower drives in the duplicator it might be more reliable? However, that would void any warranty and return privileges.

Do you have any links or ideas where I could get Dae Jo Yeong?

I use my DVD burners a lot to rip the main titles from commercial DVD's to my disk farm. I put them in, start the process and walk away without regard for the time it takes. Out of curiosity, I selected a fully burned DVD-R (no copy protection to slow things down) and did a straight image rip with DVD Decrypter to the HDD. My two internal burners are circa 2004 (LiteON) and circa 2006 (LG). Both are IDE running in DMA Mode 2. The LiteOn did the rip in 9:44 and the LG in 7:36. Your newer LG should read even faster. An 8X image burn takes about 8 min; the faster read time helps speed up the verify cycle.

Actually, my buddy found this computer on his own but wanted my opinion. After looking at several others we agreed that this one is "the best bang for the buck," er, actually $499.98:

http://www.staples.com/Dell-Inspiron...?cmArea=SEARCH

After additional discussion with my CFO it appears that I'll continue using my Dell E510.

Out of curiosity, what are the model numbers of your Lite-On and LG?

Over the past few years, I bought a Lite-On SOHW-832S and a LG GSA-H55N (based on forum recommendations and good sale prices) but due to health issues, didn't get around to installing them until recently. I put the 832S into a Gateway 6400 Server and it would only see CDs. For every type of DVD±R/RW I tried, it reported "No Media in Drive". I went to the CDFreaks Forum, d/l'd some utilities and verified that the firmware was indeed capable of viewing the also several year old media so I moved it to an old homebuilt FC VA-503+ MB (VIA) w/K6-III/400 and still NG. The VA-503+ also didn't like the Lite-On LTN-486S CD reader (pulled from a Dell 400SC) so I guessing it may be something to do with the VIA Chipset. IIRC, all my PCs have the 4.60 ASPI instead of the 4.71 and Device Manager says "DMA if available". (I know about errors and reverting to PIO mode.) Years ago, I had all this info in my head. Nowadays, sometimes I feel like I've forgotten more than I knew.

The LG worked fine in the Gateway so the Lite-On is a problem for another day. I have two Dells (4100 and 400SC) with crashed boot HDDs to repair. Then, I can try it there.

Any idea / suggestions?

Thanks!

Years ago I read very favorable reviews of LiteOn DVD burners in the 16xx series. I bought three or four of these and installed them in various family computers. At first they performed well but within a few months (usually with light use) they developed read and write problems. I went back and read more recent reviews where others reported very short life-spans for the same 16xx models I had purchased.

To make a long story short, I replaced all the LiteOn DVD burners with NEC 3500 series DVD burners (the last of the "genuine" NEC DVD burners) each of which gave around five years of outstanding service, sometimes with very heavy use. The next series of NEC DVD burners were actually mediocre Sony products marketed under the OptiArc name.

I had these K-Drama download sites bookmarked - you can try them:

Aja-Aja.com
dlaznmovies.com
MySoju.com
Viikii.net.

Never any guarantees of English subtitling, although I would think someone would have them for something as in demand and popular as that.

If you want to buy it on DVD, I can probably find that out, too, but most K-Dramas are generally way overpriced. I'm guessing a longer, extremely popular series like that will cost some insane amount like $300.00 for a good print (with English subs) - but I could be wrong.

LiteOn DVDRW SOHW-812S; LG DVDRAM GSA-4136B. They each have their advantages.

The LiteOn is the better reader -- not in terms of speed but in terms of reading any less than pristine or faded disks I put in it. It also can read disk information and has the error checking capability to work with the Nero CD/DVD Speed utility for disk scans. I use the LiteOn as my primary ripping drive.

The LG is the better burner. It's a 16X burner (although I never burn over 8X) that has RAM R/W capability. It can't do error checking, but then that's what I have the LiteOn for. I do all my DVD burning on this drive; never burn with the LiteOn.

If I could only pick one drive, it would be the LG.

Thanks, I'll check them out. I found D-J-Y on the local PBS station 2 yrs ago when they played the whole cycle, 2 episodes per week. Problem was I came in at episode 40, so I would like to see what happened in the beginning.

Ok Aja-aja.com is a great site to d/l from but they went private because were linking from their megaupload links. I have no idea what dlasnmovies.com is but the other 2 are streaming sites. As far as I know who can watch korean dramas online with subtitles. The Viikii site also does a lot of their own subtitling and also if you look hard enough they provide soft subs for korean raw files you can d/l from other sites. Other subbing groups and one of the best is from WS2 and Haru Haru.

Here are a couple of other sites you can d/l K-drama files from.
1. AM-Addiction.com - they also offer direct links to the 3 sites I mention that do the english subtitles.
2. Lets-look.com - I believe you must register with this site to see the files. Also the site is in english and french I believe.

Yes you asked for the grand daddy of all dramas. At least when it aired it had a 30% rating and is 134 episodes in length. Very popular historical drama. If you can find it it will be on over 40 dvd-r's if the person recorded 3 episodes per dvd-r. Or if they went the 2 per episode route that would be over almost 70 dvd-r's. All the sites posted above do not have it posted. The only way to get it with subs is from some one who recorded it when it aired in their local area and some places never aired with subs. There is a message board below that has a lending club but you must register to see how you can join their lending club. They claim they have this to borrow from their club.
Korean Drama Group
http://forum.koreandramas.net/

Thanks for the info. I saw this posted on some deal sites. Unfortunately Staples does not offer free shipping to my location. Plus it looks like they are out of stock now.

Be careful with those, VERY VERY often cheap media uses fake media IDs to fool both buyers and DVD burners into thinking it's "good" media.

I'm located in the US so have no idea how trustworthy those discs are, but if you have known "real" MCC discs, compare what they look like-- do the dye colors look the same? Patterns of dye? are there any codes stamped in the plastic around the inner hub? Do they follow a similar pattern of codes? etc, etc.

You might want to ask at Cdfreaks.com if anyone has experience with the media as well.

I know. I was glued to it, even having to read the sub-titles. I have a wishlist on my TiVo HD set up to scan the guide for D-J-Y. If it is ever broadcast again, I'll get it.

You can buy Dae Joyoung from the network that aired it, KBS: http://www.kbsworldi.com/estore/Cata...lProducts.aspx

The designation "EOR" means "Episode on request". They burn a DVD and send it to you, one ep per disc.

Five hundred clams to buy the whole thing

Deal of the decade if your Sams has the same pricing as mine,
Verbatim 50 spindle of 2.4x DLs for $39.88
That's $20 off the regular decent price of $59.95
Don't know if they are clearancing out 2.4x(which I'd personally prefer over 8x) or what, but at that price I had 2 then 4 and I finally decided on 3 in my cart. Still $120 but for 150 great DL discs it just couldn't be beat.
Again I'm not guaranteeing all Sams will have this deal but mine(Shakopee MN) probably had 2 dozen spindles after I bought 3.
Now I'm having second thoughts I should have got more for this great price but truthfully I don't use that many DL discs, basically only in my PC.
Good luck
SKU# 65008 made in Singapore
I'm sure this is in-store only, I didn't see it on-line.

Edit: Wow this is the week of DL deals. Office Depot has a 25 spindle of TDK(Memorex) 8x DLs for $19.99(same price as the Verbs I got) and regular Rs for $19.99/100 and even 4x RWs for $13.99/25. Great prices indeed

Pretty decent for the Verbs what with them being under $1 per, but the TDK pricing isn't that great. I got 50 a few weeks back from Amazon for < $30 shipped. Haven't tried these out yet, so...

FWIW... I bought 100 pcs. of Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 8X Premium discs from SuperMedia.com, and so far, one and sometimes two out of ten discs are bad. This is my first experience with Taiyo Yuden DVDs and SuperMedia, and so far, it's not been a good one.

I just noticed your reply of April 10 to my post on the Tevion-branded media distributed by Aldi. I compared them to real Mitsubishi media, and dye colors and patterns, and codes are exactly analogous to the real Mitsubishi (MCC) media. The one thing that's interesting about Aldi, if you're not satisfied with any of their products, whatever it may be, they give you 2X your money back. If they were selling cheap, rip-off media, they would soon learn that it's a losing proposition. They have too much to lose by doing this. I've never had a bad burn with any of the Tevion-branded media, unlike a recent purchase of Taiyo Yuden Premium 8X DVD-R media.