Media deals this week - Page 84

I placed an order Saturday for the TY/JVC -R 8X silver from Supermedia- so far no order confirmation from them, only from PPal. Is this normal with SMS?

^^It is if you use Paypal. There are three options when you checkout:
Google Checkout,
Paypal,
or
Supermedia Checkout.

I use the last one.

If you had printed out your invoice from the SMS website that invoice would give you the order number.

I get a verification straight from PayPal that the payment was made, plus an e-mail from SMS documenting the sale. Then when they ship the package, I get another e-mail with a tracking number.

Maybe the additional messages got sent to your spam folder? Just a guess.

Like the others, I also ordered the 200 TY for $50. Got the order yesterday, and was very happy to receive batches GG000338, which should work on all my Panasonic recorders. Since 2011 all I have been getting from SMS was GG007xxx, which doesn't appear to work on 2003 and earlier Panasonic recorders. This last shipment was a surprise!

I also noticed that it didn't come with the round paper notice on top of the spindles, allowing me to view the batch number without opening up the spindle.

I placved an order for a spindle of these yesterday. I'll let you know how well they work in my EH55 and my DVD duplicator.

Did anyone order more than 200? I tried, but it said they didn't have enough to send 400.

My two spindles came today, this time with a FedEx packing list but delivered by the Postal Service??? My spindles didn't have the paper at the top. These spindles are GG007091.

I STILL haven't gotten my shipment from Supermediastore. When I have ordered from them in the past, I have usually gotten my order in one or two days. I called and asked about it, and was told that FedEX ground sometimes passes off deliveries to the U. S. Post Office, if they are small enough, and light enough. In the case of my order, apparently, I fit the requirements, so they passed it off. This means that I can expect it some time this week, or early next week. I guess I should not have gone with the free shipping.

Looks like Supermediastore has gone to a hybrid shipping method, at least for smaller free-shipping orders. Both of my last 2 orders of 200 discs each (Verb 8x DVD-R in one order, TY in the other) both initially shipped out via FedEx, then were turned over to USPS in Kansas for transport and deliver the rest of the way. One advantage to living out here in my particular No Man's Land is that I did get them within a day or two of the handoff.

The high price of fuel is probably driving direct marketers like SMS to use more "creative" shipping methods to be able to continue to afford to offer a "free shipping" option. I also notice that the minimum order amount for free shipping is $50 now, except for certain specials. Wasn't it previously $25? (Or am I confusing this with Amazon's Super Saver Shipping?)

The Recession that officially ended two years ago is still cutting into everybody's bottom line.

That's right. (My 4,000th post is one of my shortest.)

You are correct. Customer service at supermediastore told me that if I had chosen any other shipping method other then free, they would not have passed the box to the post office.

I agree that creative shipping proceses like this one is a means of maintaining the free shipping option at the lowest possible cost to the vendor. (I don't think anyone really believes the recesson has ended.) The minimum order for free shipping has indeed increased, and I wonder just how long free shipping will be offered.

It's annoying, but not a deal-changing issue. As long as the quality of their products remains the same, I'm not too concerned. If the cost-cutting results in quality cutting of the DVDs, THEN I will be angry, and they won' tlike it when I gate angry! (Really, they won't care at all if I get angry...)

Congratulations on #4,000!!

@Church AV: Not only might free shipping be threatened, but as more state governments start licking their chops over sales tax nexus laws, we could see online shopping become not much better than the bricks-n-mortar business model.

My DVDs arrived yesterday. Using some content on my EH75, I started burning disks early yesterday evening, right after work. The results were less than I had hoped for.

The first disk failed outright at the very end of the dubbing process, after almost an hour of writing. It hung for a long time, and then failed going into the finalize step. The next four completed, but they took a very long (and variable amount of) time, and they all had an interesting characteristic. The finalize step got to 99%, and then hung, for over ten minutes each before it completed. They all seem to playback properly. The times were 44 minutes, 30 minute, 57 minutes, and 62 minutes. The actual amount of content wasn't the same, so some variation in the time was expected, but the 30 minute burn had the most to copy, so it made no sense from that point of view.

I don't know exactly what to make of the next piece of information. I have a policy of using my duplicator to make a copy of everything I burn these days. I put each of these Ritek disks into my (new) duplicator and the all four failed! There is a "test and copy" function that reads and analyzes the source disk before it performs the copy. In all four cases, the test failed, but not until the very end of the disk, where they had hung during the write process.

Are the disks really bad, or is the duplicator just not liking them (DVD-R DL)? As I said, the duplicator is new, so it should have the newest firmware in it, but I just noticed that the Supermediastore web page on that unit does not list DVD-R DL disks as supported. Funny, it didn't complain when I put them in the machine and pressed the button.

I think I'll stick with the Verbatim +R DLs from now on since the T-Y JVC ones are no longer available. Oh, I noticed that in Europe, there are two different JVC-R DL products available, but not here.

That is a wise choice, IMHO.

Amazon has Verbatim dvd +R DL 50ct. spindles for $47.99. I don't know if that's a good deal or not for +R DL media,since i buy so few of them.They also qualify for free shipping. Just thought id'e let you know. G.

That's easy for you to say since it was you who brought these to my attention!


That's a good price, but without knowing if they are made in Singapore or India, the cost savings isn't worth the gamble. The Singapore ones are the ones I want, not the India ones.

I was surprised when you mentioned those discs, especially considering your previous sig
I've been known dabble in less than top shelf regular R discs(and I've had excellent burn success but I do worry more about longevity) but when it comes to DL media I only use Verbatim 2.4x(I'd probably buy 8x but 2.4x is widely available and the general consensus is slower is better for standalones).

I've never had a failure with Verbatims(unless you count the time I physically bumped my DVDR during finalizing a Verb DL disc and it promptly failed). Compare this to my first spindle of DL discs(Windata 8x +R DL) where I couldn't even get my older Pannys to burn them(my EZ-28 could but not my previous x7 EZ series). I had about a 50% success rate with my PC and the Windata discs but since then one is now unreadable and a couple others skip badly or lock up.

I would probably try the Ty - DL media if they were still available because I really don't like + discs in my Pannys but since they are no longer available I'll live with the quirks of the Verb +DL discs. My usage is ~ 30 DL discs/year, 10 on my Pannys for material much over 3hrs long and 20 for PC copies of DL discs I really care for. I can get about 4hrs 57 min of my favorite speed(FR2.7) on a DL disc.

OK guys, let us not forget my original response was directed at mickinct who was asking if anyone knew where to find DVD-DL . I found those and replied. Personally, I wouldn't touch them. Not just because they were Ritek but because they were DVD-DL. Any DL media I use has always been Verbatim 2.4X DVD+DL. I generally paid $1.25-1.50/disk.

Now I use Philips BD-R at $1/disk. That's the equivalent of 5 DVD-R or 2.5 +DL. Hard to beat and because BD-R has a solid-state write-once recording layer, there appears to be a lot less variation across the brands.

where r philips for $1/each bdr?

http://www.supermediastore.com/categ...ice&maxView=50
I've also been using the Optical Quantum disks which have a Philips media ID. I've burned about 50 with only 1 coaster that was my fault -- shouldn't try to burn a 4X disk at 8X.

My blank DVDs arrived Monday 8/29, all A-OK- though the cardboard box did look a little rough. They were shipped from California to Hutchins, TX via FedEx, and from there by "smartmail" to my post office.

Yup, SMS are masters of using just enough packing to keep the item from getting damaged, but it sure looks touch-and-go. And yet, everything I've ordered from them has come intact.

I placed an order yesterday that was shipped out via what looks like a UPS analog to the FedEx smartmail system. UPS takes it so far, then puts it into the postal mail system. Maybe the USPS has cut some deal with UPS and FE to try to stanch its rapid decline in business. (How many of us sit down with the checkbook and a roll of stamps to pay bills these days?)

I have a follow-up to my Ritek DVD-R DL story. After the events listed here, I decided to try duplicating the disks in my trusty CopyPal. It does not do test-and-copy, but it says it does -R DL disks. Well, all the -R DL disks I had made copied just fine with the CopyPal. There were no large time differences between the disks, and they appeared to work just fine. When played back, there was no pixelating, studdering, or drop-outs. I don't know if I can make any real conclusions from a sample so small, but the disks appeared to work as advertised.

SuperMediaStore appears to have the premium JVC/TY 8X DVD-R 200 packs on sale again for $50 with free shipping.

CHECK this listing , i've got some from him. http://www.ebay.com/itm/100-JVC-Taiy...item336b465624

$50 for 200 disks, and $25 for 100 disks, both with free shipping, is, let's see, the exact same price per disk.

Thanks for the heads up, both of you.

I'm going to order 400, I'm getting tired of waiting for AZO Verbs to drop to $20 or less shipped, thanks for the tip I'll just have to live with the smudges
Oh it wasn't mentioned but my Supermedia email mentions 200 free paper sleeves with the 200/$50 special(I got 400 sleeves with my 400 order, promo code FREESLVS2). It one ups the Ebay deal plus no need to deal with PayPal which is mandatory for the ebay dealer.

Glad I checked this thread. Thanks for the info. Just ordered 200 & had them shipped to my Aunt in CA. Final cost with tax $54.35. Plus her cost to ship to me in HI. These are only used in my Panny E-500H and 200 last me about 8-9 months.

Just out of curiosity, why don't you have them shipped directly to you?