Media deals this week - Page 89

Vinpower Digital 25GB 4X BD-R 50 Packs Disc Model OQBDR04LT-50

Bought these the other day from newegg and have burned about 15 discs so far with great results. Cost was about .50 each when I bought them with some weird promo code.
Also bought a 10 pack of these:
Verbatim 25GB 2X BD-RE 10 Packs Disc Model 96921
They were on some super sale as I paid $8 SHIPPED for them. No idea what to use them for though...
Anybody finding good prices on 50GB blu-ray discs?

That "Model OQBDR04LT" code is the Optical Quantum code for logo-top 4X BD-R. I have several spindles of those. Mine have a Philips media code. I've burned/verified about 70 with only 1 coaster that was my fault -- tried to burn at 8X.

I think Optical Quantum, VinPower and Titan are all the same disk.

Interestingly I have a couple spindles of Philips BD-R that have a Ritek media code -- go figure.

100 Pack JVC Taiyo Yuden Premium Line 8X Silver Lacquer DVD-R with 100 Pack Sleeves for $24.99. Offer expires 1/15.

Are these BD-R discs LTH? How do you tell?
Optical Quantum OQVBDR04WIP-H-10 Blu-Ray White Inkjet Hub Printable 4X 25GB BD-R Media. 10 Pack in Cake Box for $9.99 / 20 Pack in Cake Box for $18.98 / 200 Pack in Cake Box for $179.80.

Supermediastore requires a $50 purchase to get free shipping, and if I purchase two of the above, it only brings it to $49.98, off by 2 cents. I usually only buy two at a time.

Anyone know of a cheap filler item from Supermediastore to get the total slightly above $50 and qualify for free shipping?

No, they are not LTH, they are standard BD-R (aka. HTL). I use them and the OQBDR04LT-10 which are the shiny silver Logo Top disks (see above).

If the disks are LTH SMS will say so in the title description. LTH are actually a failure in that only a couple vendors sell them. All JVC/T-Y BD-R are LTH so stay away from them (I never thought I would say that about a T-Y disk). Half of Verbatim's BD-R line is LTH. The other half is standard BD-R. The cost difference between Verbatim LTH and Verbatim standard is pennies/disk in quantity so why would anyone buy them and risk all the compatibility troubles (the last time I EMAIL'd Panasonic, Samsung and LG about LTH support in their BD players I got either a flat out "no" or a "we don't recommend them"). Other than T-Y and Verbatim, I haven't seen any other vendors selling LTH.

Their disk storage binders are usually pretty cheap and useful.

Stick on hub centers are $1.88.


OK, thanks. I don't know too much about BD but I'm looking into it. I think my PC DVD burner is dying. I can't burn any discs including the TYG02 faster than 4X. I might be getting one of the Newegg LG BD drives to replace it.

I have the previous model, WH10LS30. It's a great drive and the prices are dropping like stones on BD burners. I paid $80 for mine. I've burned about 70 of the Optical Quantum disks and have another 80 on hand.

Early this morning I ordered two TY spindles and a SMS 104 disc "wallet" for a total of $59.97.

Ken.F got me looking, but I after reading reviews, I think I'm going to hold out a bit longer for ~$50 w/FS and something that can rip BDs faster than 4X (for my Media Server).

It may take a while for the good ones to get to $50. 4X ripping is pretty good, don't forget there is the overhead of the decrypting software. Some disks are tougher to rip than others and so go more slowly. Almost all BD burners have riplock which limits the BD rip speed. The riplock is there for read stability and keeping the noise down. Once the device has a firmware update there is software that will edit the update to remove the riplock to increase the rip speed by maybe 50-75%.

I took the riplock off my WH10LS30 and on my 9yr old XP box I could do a full disk BD rip in under 35 min. When I got my new Win-7 Dell i7 box with BD reader/DVD writer, I pulled the hacked WH10LS30 from the old PC and put it in the new one. Those same BD now take 45 min to rip and it's the same whether I use the hacked WH10LS30 or the stock BD reader that came with the Dell. The same goes for DVD ripping. My old XP box will rip a full DVD.iso in 9 min, the Win-7 box takes 14 min. My point being there is a lot more affecting the rip speed than the speed of the drive.

So uh.......what's the verdict on Kodak DVD media? I just bought a 25-pack of Kodak DVD+R DL's.......have gotten nothin' but coasters so far.

Out of the "recommended" brands, it seems that Verbatim is the most affordable. Am I correct?

I've been using Sony +R and +R DL media that I bought at J&R for the past year, and for the most part it's worked great. What's the verdict on Sony media?

I burn nothing but Verbatims when it comes to DL media. Early on I tried some cheaper DL brands but I really hate coasters, especially at close to $1+ a pop. Using Verbatims I get maybe a coaster out of 100, if even that. With other brands it was more like 1 or 2 out of 10. Verbatiums may cost a little more but if you consider a couple failures the prices are very similar. I also stick with the 2.4x instead of the quicker 8x, not sure if it's true but I have a feeling the slower discs may last longer before having problems.
AFA Sony media, I've had pretty good luck with the Sony flat white top discs(<$20 at Costco on sale) but I haven't had as good luck with the Sony pearl top discs in my standalones although they are still working fine in my PC. Panasonic standalones tend to not grip the spindle the tightest and the very slippery pearl top Sonys tend to slip causing various problems. I only have access to 16x Sony media, 8x may be better.

AFA prices, my last couple of Verbs 2.4x DL blanks were $35/50 which I think is a great deal for great media. Amazon regularly has them just a little north of $40 which is still less than $1 per, a great deal for something that actually works.
http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-96577...6554637&sr=8-2

http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/...77-ends-1-18#0
$35.99/50 shipped from Newegg, doesn't get much better than this for the best DLs one can buy(Verbatim 2.4x +R DL) good though 1/18.

Today I received that 12 January 2012 SMS order.

I was a little surprized to find the 8x TY Premium Line DVD-Rs came packaged in plastic wrap. The original sale listing specified this packaging but I didn't notice it at the time. These have a lot number of GG000344.

This plastic wrap packaging is fine with me. The cake boxes in earlier orders were annoying. I've seldom reused them.

Maybe this plastic wrap will be a cost-saving factor.

I hope that SMS will be able to continue offering these Premium Line DVDs at a good price.

When I used to order the TY Value Line series, that was how they were packaged, which seemed cheap to me. When I get my SMS order, I guess I will have to reuse the cakeboxes from my older TY Premium purchases.

When I looked at the 'Deal' Ken.F referenced (LG WH12LS38 - OEM), all I could see was 'Same Everyday Price But w/FREE Shipping Code'. Then, reading some Newegg reviews, I read about 'Slow' and 'No Firmware Updates'. So, the incentive for an 'Impulse Buy' lost its steam. When I just checked my 'Price Alerts', I had a LITE-ON IHBS112-04 - OEM 'tagged' for $69.98, which according to my 'system', meant the current price, when I created the 'Price Alert', was $69.99 ( - today it's $79.99; and, IIRC, your now 'Deactivated' LG WH10LS30 was originally in the ~$80-90 range), so there must have been some past 'Buzz' on the LITE-ON over at FW or SD.

Thus, maybe ~$50 is too low; ~$60/70 for a currently ~$80/90 BD Burner might be more realistic.

With my 'OCD' personality, I'll have to spend some time over at CDFreaks, make a list / Excel spreadsheet of the 'Recommended' BR Burners and then watch for *SALES*. Just like I did for my first *REAL* LCD HDTV, a Panasonic TC-L32C3 bought in Aug 2011. I already have plenty of DVD Burners (SATA AND IDE), with spares, leaving probably close to a dozen Fully Operational CD Burners and Changers (SCSI and IDE) piled up on the shelf in the Storage Room.


Interesting how the OS affected the speed, even with the ?X more CPU processing power of the new Dell over the 9yr old.

The majority of my desktops are running Win2K SP4. I've been 'Shopping Around' for a copy of XP PRO but most folks want around the same price as for a copy of Win7! Since my Dell 400SC is the latest, with both IDE and SATA capability, a 2.4GHz 'Hyperthreading' P4 and 2GB of RAM, I thought that I'd like to try XP PRO on it. According to your data, it will be faster than any newer Vista or Win7 desktop.

Thanks!

That looks like the same wrapping my 07/29/2010 Meritline order of JVC / Taiyo Yuden (JDMR-VAL-SK) Valueline DVD-R 8X Silver Thermal Lacquer Blank DVDR Media Disc 4.7GB in 100 Pack Qty 2 for $34.99 - GG000339 came in.

Maybe the production line is so sophisticated, and streamlined, that it can identity PREMIUM vs VALUELINE, split them off at a 'V' switch, and then, when each respective pile reaches 100, shoot them off to the same wrapping machine, which then knows which label to apply.

This had me worried, but it appears SMS still sells the Value Line. I thought maybe they were mixing the Value Line with the Premium. Also, the cake box supply is still available at a higher price.

Taiyo Yuden Silver Lacquer 8X DVD-R Media (Value Line) 100 Pack in Plastic Wrap $27.99

Taiyo Yuden Silver Lacquer 8X DVD-R Media (Premium Line) 100 Pack in Plastic Wrap $24.99

Taiyo Yuden Silver Lacquer 8X DVD-R Media (Premium Line) 100 Pack in Cake Box $29.99

Wow this thread has sure been quiet
For anyone looking for +RW discs, doesn't get much better than 50 cents a piece w/free shipping! 30 spindle/$14.99 for probably the best RWs around.
4x Verbatims from Newegg, link courtesy of Woot!
http://deals.woot.com/deals/details/...834-5-coupon#0
Good through 2/29

jjeff, I saw your comment on woot...which of your recorders don't like +RW?

Of all the disc types +RW is the least liked by Panasonic recorders. They didn't start supporting +RW until '06 and even then they tend to act a little flaky in Panasonics. Of course for a Funai +RW is probably the best RW to use, along with +R.
Nothing wrong with the + format, just the way Panasonic implemented it

The local Fry's ad from 2 March 2012 has Verbatim 16x AZO DVD-R 10 Packs at $1.49 each with a limit of five:

If you live close enough to a Frys for free store pickup, then it is a great deal. It's just slightly better than average if you have to pay the 7.99 shipping for 5 items, about 0.31 per disc.

Verbatim 16x AZO DVD+R 100 Packs: $23.49, free shipping (made in India).

Buy.com.

That's more like it.

I cannot determine from the text if that is Premium Line or Value Line disks. I certainly wouldn't make that judgment based on a displayed picture -- I've seen more than one "wrong" pictures in ads.

At least with SMS, they tell you up front in the product descriptor whether it is Premium Line or Value Line

How about this?

Not with shipping at $7.50 (higher as you buy more).