DVD-R's...the best? (1 Viewer)

[Citizen87645]

Can't comment on quality but these certainly are the coolest one's I've seen:

http://www.verbatim.com/products/pro...4352D34D71B4EB

 

[Jonathan Carter]

I like the TDK DVD-Rs. The play great in my standalone JVC and Toshiba DVD players and they burn flawlessly on my Pioneer burner in my computer. The best part is that Target always has the 5 packs in dvd cases, not the crappy spindles or regular jewel cases for $10. $2 a disc with a keepcase is a great deal for me since I like to print out covers and put them on the shelf with my regular dvds.

 

[Daniel Kikin]

I have an HP with a DVR+R and DVD+RW writer. A friend wants to give a DVD-R that has files on it. Would that work on my PC?

 

[OwenRubin]

As for brands, "DON'T buy cheap disk" the bundle packs of 25+ for $20-$30 etc. (for brands like Sony, Memorex, Maxell, Imation, to name a few) are cheap disk and will usually have 25% succees rate.

(I DO NOT work for Meritline)

This is not exactly true, as some bulk disks are just fine! I have been buying from Meritline and buy inexpensive disks for DVD-Rs, and have not had one single failure so far. That is 100% good disks.

I had some cheap DVD-Rs that worked great on my G4, but not on my Panasonic DMRE80HS, and their compatibility chart allowed me to order ones that now work on both!

You can buy BeAll for as low as 89 cents a disk if you buy a lot, or about a $1 for 50 or so, and sometimes get free ground shipping, and they offer a 60 refund if they do not work.

I know of other sites as well for cheap disks.

Also, does anyone know: If a DVD-R says it is compatible with the Panasonic DMRE20/30H is it safe to assume it is compatible with the 80 as well?

 

[andrew markworthy]

I tend to buy DVD-Rs in spindles of 50 from the cheapest source possible (typicaly ebay or a local computer fair). Sure, there are some coasters (I reckon about 5% errors, some of which may in any case be my fault), but it still works out cheaper than buying (possibly) more reliable brand name discs at 5 times the price.

However, I generally record from my Sky+ (basically a hard disc recorder), so a bodged recording once in a while doesn't matter, since I've still got the original source material to make another attempt.

For live recordings, rather than take a chance I tend to buy well-known brands just to feel a bit safer.

 

[Michael Reuben]

I tend to buy DVD-Rs in spindles of 50 from the cheapest source possible (typicaly ebay or a local computer fair).

That's been my approach as well, but I'm beginning to have my doubts. The problem isn't just the risk of "coasters". Recently I've had a fair number of discs that burn and finalize just fine, but when I go to play them on some (but not all) standard DVD players, they exhibit a lot of image breakup and instability, particularly in the latter half of the recording as the laser approaches the outer edge of the disc.

I'm not entirely sure whether it's the fault of the media or the players in question. But it's been enough to raise my concerns about compatibility when using cheaper "bulk" media.

M.

 

[OwenRubin]

What do you consider "cheap"?

I just bought 100 "bulk" , but bulk of a real good brand: BeAll (though Meritline) for about a buck each. This is much cheaper than "named" brand at almost $2 a disk, and I have had ZERO failures.

Now, my recorder has an HD, so I copy to the HD and then to the DVD-R, but should that make any difference? I do to record direct from off-air to DVD-R, but it should not matter.

Granted, these are not the 60 cents DVD-Rs, but I had a 25% failure of those on my Panasonic, but was able to use them on my Mac just fine, so still no loss.

 

[Michael Reuben]

but I had a 25% failure of those on my Panasonic

What sort of "failure"? I'm not talking about discs that end up unplayable. I'm talking about discs that appear to be perfectly playable, but then behave like a disc that's scratched or dirty when you take them to other machines.

I haven't had a "coaster" since I stopped using Optodisc.

M.

 

[OwenRubin]

Cool. Care to share your 80 cent source?

But I have to ask: I am buying 4X disks and Meritline ships ground for free, so 99 cents is my TOTAL cost delivered. Have you added in shipping to that 80 cents? Are you buying 4X ot 1X DVD-R's as that too makes a difference to me as I buy the same DVD-Rs for my Panasonic as for my Mac's Pioneer drive.

Failure for me is:
1). Disc fail to record at all. This happened for several generic disks I tried which were cheaper, and only 1 in 10 recorded on the Panasonic, while they had no problems on my Mac's Pioneer drive. I do not buy them anymore.
2). Disk records but won't playback of playback with major problems. I have had only a few such failures like this, Both these failures are as you say, seem to record but do not play back properly. Both failures were with Verbatim brand disks, so I do not buy those either.

With the BeAll, I have used about 40 (so far) and ALL have recorded and played back well. OK, I have not viewed 100% of all the disks, but play back random sections of them after recording on several players and no problems. By the way, if a disk fails, I send them back to Meritline and they will replace it or refund. I am VERY pleased with this source and quality.

 

[Michael Reuben]

No, I've been using 1X discs, except for the TDKs, which are 2X (and are more expensive). At that price, I may just give the BeAlls from Meritline a try. Even though my recorder can't take advantage of the faster speed, maybe they're better manufactured.

To answer your question: Most of my discs come from rima.com. And no, shipping isn't free.

M.

 

[OwenRubin]

I know what you mean. The price for 4X is great, their customer service is great, and the free shipping, even though ground shipping, is still a good deal. I am closer to them than you and get them in 3 days as well which is amazing, but to NY might take a bit longer, but just order in enough time to account for the delay in shipping.

I am not allowed to post a URL yet, so go to meritline.com and then click DVD-R under Media, then in the very large list click BeALL DVD Media in the second column. (you might also find other kinds here too, and they each list a compatibility chart for your equipment) and then scroll down for the different ways you can purchase it. I buy from the one at the top right.

For me, to be able to use the 4X speed on my Mac is a great advantage so I can buy more product and get a cheaper price. They are a bit more expensive if you buy less, but still a good deal. I'll check out your source as well.

Nice exchanging info with you Michael. We ALMOST have the same last name I notice!

 

[Michael Reuben]

You have the last name that everyone wants to give me. It's the much more common spelling, except for sandwiches.

M.

 

[OwenRubin]

It must be an east/west thing, because everyone here does just the opposite, and assumes I spell it like your. That is funny. Of course, in my case, the also assume the "Rubin" is my first name and Owen is my last, and that would be spelled Reuben.

 

[andrew markworthy]

I'm not entirely sure whether it's the fault of the media or the players in question.

I suspect it's the players. I've only had limited experience of this, but I recall taking some DVD-Rs to a friend's house. None of them would play - really high quality discs, the cheapest of the cheap discs, discs with 3 hours' of material on them, discs with only 30 mintues on them.

 

[Michael Reuben]

None of them would play - really high quality discs, the cheapest of the cheap discs, discs with 3 hours' of material on them, discs with only 30 mintues on them.

Not so simple here. The very same players can handle many of my DVD-Rs, including both cheap media and more expensive. It seems to be completely hit and miss.

I do have one player that simply refuses to recognize any DVD-R, but I'm sure that's the player, since it was one of the very first models released.

M.

 

[OwenRubin]

For me, my older player, a Pioneer Elite DVD/LD combo player has the most problems of any DVD players. When it plays, it does a great job, but when it misses, it misses big time. Most DVD's burned on my Mac would not play audio on this machine while it would play elsewhere.

But so far, the BeAll disks have played on all 4 machines I tried. But what causes the problems? I have no idea.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Ok, instead of making a whole new thread, ill post my question here. Just bought a few 16x dvd-r verbatim brand.Usually i buy 4x 8x dvd-r , so will these still burn on my drive or not ?

 

[Steve Berger]

I've gone through a few hundred with no failures or problems yet, but I don't trust the manufacturer a lot, so I limit my burns to 8X. Whether it works with your drive depends on the firmware and the burning software used. I use DVDDecrypter (or use ImgBurn which is decrypter without the ripping function) to burn ISO files.

 

[Xenia Stathakopoulou]

Thanks Steve, i use nero with dvd shrink.Ill just have to wait to see what happens whenever i use them.