[parlyle]

Wow, am I confused. I just bought the Samsung DVD-VR300, with the VCR/DVD combo. I want to archive all of the VHF tapes I have. There are hundreds. I was looking for blank media to archive these and am overwhelmed at all of the choices of DVD's. What do I look for in a DVD? Is it brand name, or what? I am totally confused. Thanks for any and all responses. Lyle

 

[gsxrboy]

 www.nomorecoasters.com

 

[Jay Davis]

Your confused. Some of us have been doing this a year and we're still confused(speaking for myself). Suggest reading the various threads. None are flawless. Today someone is asking about Taiyo Yuden. Only one recent thread noting problems with them. Maxell sells them as their own. Paid 80 cents a month or two ago.


If transeferring anything precious(home videos of the kids) I would stick with Maxell TY or MX(they also make their own). The package says made in Japan. TY or MX and some numbers will appear in the inner ring of the disc. There's a software program that can identify who made the disc. I think it's called DVDIdentifier. Anyone correct me if I'm wrong.


I would stick with name brands. Maxell, Memorex, Pioneer Prodisc, Ritek, Fuji. Buy a small quantity (5 to 15) and try them out. If they burn without problems try to stick with them. Depending on where you buy you'll pay 40 cents to 80 cents for R media and 60 to $1.20 and up for RW. BB, CC, Staples all have one or the other on sale every week. Just bought 50 +RW at CompUSA for 60 cents. Paid $4.00 a year ago.


Anybody else please chime in. I'm far from being an expert.

 

[Kelson]

DVD burning is relatively new and still evolving so there are lots of compatibility issues between burner-media-player. Some minor, some major. You are going to have to experiment to find which best works for you.


My pet peeve, as of late, is compatibility issues between DVD-R and players that may only be a couple years old. What ever brand of blank disk you buy, if it burns/verifies on the recorder it will probably play perfectly on the recorder. Where brands and burn speed become important is when you try to play it on a settop player. A recent player will be very compatible with DVD-R/RW and some models are compatible with both -/+ formats and play everything perfectly. "Older" model players (say over 2 yrs) may give you problems and not play certain brands of DVD-R or anything burned over 1X. This caused me a lot of grief until I finally bought a new inexpensive player which plays everything.

 

[JeffWld]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jay Davis Anybody else please chime in. I'm far from being an expert.

The biggest problem with recommending media is that different burners (either computer-based or standalone) behave differently with various media brands. One thing I know is that Panasonic burners have the most limited capacity to adapt write strategy for varying media types.


The second problem arises from the endless round of OEM changes. At present, anyone buying a Maxell DVD-R spindle could wind up with Maxell's own, Ritek, or TY. Maxell DVD+R buyers could get media made by either Ritek or Ricoh. Even trusted manufacturers like Verbatim surprised people who discovered that some of the Verbatim-branded media was CMC Magnetics OEM.


Users might be wise to lobby manufacturers to start printing the media ID code on the packaging. I'd certainly support that kind of initiative, even though the manufacturers wouldn't.

 

[Mr2Spyder]

I have three DVD burners (two NEC and a lite-on) and have burned on all three machines successfully with three different media brands (Maxell, Panasonic and Khypermedia). I think the key factor is hardware related and not the media. All my equipment is new (2004) and the burnt discs play flawlessly on my set top DVD players. Just to be safe I have decided to use only Maxell and Taiyo Yuden as they seem to be the most reliable based on what I have read on different forums. The only thing that concerns me with cheap dvd-r's is the "disappearing media" phenomenon. Some people claim that the dye used in cheap media degrades over time and the discs will not play in a few months or years.

 

[Kelson]

I'm pretty much in the same camp as SPYDER wrt naming hardware as the biggest factor. I'm still waiting for the DVDR-HDD I have my eye on to come down in price before I take the plunge so all my burning so far has been PC-based. I have a new LiteOn 8X multi-format burner, a new Panasonic USB 2X burner and a new Sony NS575 multi-format player. I've burned around 100 disks, mostly on the LiteOn, at 1-4X speed (now mostly 4X): Maxell 4X-R/+R, Memorex 4X-R/ 2X-RW, Ritek 4X-R/-RW. That includes a lot of re-burns on the -RW. Not a single coaster, yet. They all have verified after the burn and they all have played perfectly in the Sony.


For my money I like Ritek -R/RW. I can get a 100-spindle of Ritek 8X-R from NewEgg for $49 shipped. By the time I work off my current supply they should be down to $40.

 

[parlyle]

Quote:

Originally posted by gsxrboy www.nomorecoasters.com

When I asked for information on the ratings of DVD's I was blown away by this site. If ever anybody wanted to have question answered concerning DVD's, this is the place to go. I don't know how everybody who's a part of this forum does it, but it's the most comprehensive collection of informative human intellegence known to mankind. I"m just humbled to be a small part of this.

Thanks: Lyle

 

[Kelson]

What's the story with your Packers? Time for Brett to hang it up?

 

[JeffWld]

Quote:

Originally posted by parlyle When I asked for information on the ratings of DVD's I was blown away by this site.

Don't get too excited. While this site has some worthwhile information, it also has it's share of inaccuracies as well as a certain amount author bias regarding media which is not substantiated via any test data. In addition, some of the media status data is up to several years old and doesn't reflect the realities of the changing market.


As always, take that grain of salt with most of the web info out there.

 

[John Alan]

Depends on your drive. Some drives (machines) like one brand of disc that may not work well at all in a different drive.


Seek answers from those who have the same drive as you do. Then get a few of each of the top 3 or 4 suggestions and see which works best for you. That's the best advice I can give to anyone having burning problems and looking for the "best" brand of disc.


Some manufactures change their discs or sources from time to time which can complicate the issue. I have an E-100 and have never burned a coaster with Maxell 4X discs! Before that I had great luck with RiDATA 4X discs with about a 95% success rate. Every other brand I've tried has been below that mark. Verbatim and Sony have also been pretty good.


I've also never burned a coaster with any brand of 1 or 2X media. But those all dub at 1X in an E100.


Above all, good luck!

 

[gsxrboy]

Hehehe to expand a little on my brief post above.. I have gone thru 100 Ritek G04 whitetops @ 100% success rate..


edit - Discs burnt on a powerbook and a pioneer dvr510

 

[parlyle]

Quote:

Originally posted by Kelson What's the story with your Packers? Time for Brett to hang it up?

I really don't have any favorites where we live. I originally came from a small town called White Bear Lake, Minn. So, I guess thats where my roots are, (Go Vikings) but I work and live in Wisconsin (Go Packers). I guess that when you asked for the "story" of the Packers, I guess you could say that they had it for a while, but lost it, and I don't know if they will ever be the dominating force that they had in the past. As far as Farve goes, I think that he is showing that time catches up with all of us, sooner or later, and it's just how much we realize it when it happens. He hasn't.

In a nutshell, that's the story from fly-over land.

Lyle

 

[Jay Davis]

Blaming the hardware....See the FUJIFILM thread. I've also read this problem on other threads. One spindle is fine but the other stinks. How do you account for that. KARMA Or, lack thereof.


As for the Packers - GO BEARS- But I disagree with the Packers not being a contender again. That'll be like getting as bad as the Bears. They haven't been a contender for at least 17 years. No vision. No desire to pay for good players or coaches(that Linebacker from Miami is the exception that proves the rule). Management doesn't care if they go to the Superbowl ever again. They still fill all their seats.