Blank DVD-R for $2.50

[SAT4N]

You guys all have seen the meritline link, and as of this morning it looks like they dropped the price on their 25 pack to $62.25. I ordered these online and got them the next day, and have had no problems with them. Is this the lowest price out now?

http://meritline.com/25pac47dvbla.html

[ryutran18]

when buying dvd-r's what does it mean when itz v1.1 and v2.0. would both work for my pioneer 103. firmware 1.55?

[SAT4N]

I think it just means v2.0 can go 2x (potentially)

[SciFer]

I checked http://www.pricewatch.com/ and found them as low as 2.00 w/free shipping. But there is a difference in quality. I found this out when I used ReMpeg to shorten the main movie size down to fit a DVD-R. If I burned it to "Pioneer" DVD-R or DVD-RW it would play flawlessly and a standalone. But if I burned it to different brands or generic (DVD-R and DVD-RW)it would play but with errors (digital noise, distortion and would sometimes freeze up. I tried all the burning software available with the same result. Infact if you use neoDVD it will try to start burning process but will almost immediately start to close the session, and if you are using a DVD-R you now have a coaster. But there is a lawsuit forming against Pioneer for not properly disclosing and misleading product advertising about recording at 2X when infact the Pioneer A03 will only burn 2X with THEIR higher priced media, stating that it has to be a certified manufacturer. You get all the facts at http://pub16.ezboard.com/fdvdwritersfrm9 .

[SAT4N]

It shows $2.00 on the bottom for the lowest price but the actual store shows more like $5. Can you send a link to the exact place where u see this?

[SciFer]

here you go: http://www.shop4tech.com/ but you have to tell them you saw it Pricewatch.com. type in search: "DVD-R"scroll down and you'll see it. 1st place http://www.shop4tech.com/ 877-533-2423. 2nd place http://www.qtccdr.com/cgi-bin/index.cfm 714-285-0902. Hope this helps.

[SAT4N]

I never could find anything less than Meritline's, which has now gone down to $2.29 each for their blank dvd-r media. I just ordered some more! :)

[ryutran18]

at maritline, can u buy less or do u have to buy them in bundles of 25

[SAT4N]

There's other options, and still for cheap. Individually they are about $2.50

http://meritline.com/47dvgenpurme.html

They seem to have good prices on higher quality media too.

[SciFer]

The lower priced media (the purple ones for $62.25) have given me nothing but problems. When you burn more than 3.5gb you start to have errors. The media quality is not consistent throughout. I have a Pioneer A03 and a Panasonic 311, using all the burning software possible. But their "gold" media, which cost a little more, is more reliable (http://meritline.com/47dvdisgenpu1.html). I suggest spending a few cents more for quality assurance. Note: gold discs cannot be compared to Japan's discs media reliablity/quality but does the job (you get what you pay for).

[SAT4N]

I've burned over 50 of the generic ProDVD purple dvd's from meritline with no problems and no coasters. Perhaps you need to update the firmware on your burner? They dont burn at 2x of course, and if they're cheap (down to $2.29) and work (for me), thats all I can ask...

[uberlame]

I've had probs with a >4GB DVD title on one of the cheapo purple discs as well. Burned fine and loads up, but anomalies like picture disappearing or freezing occur. The exact same project on Pioneer or Verbatim media plays flawlessly...

[SAT4N]

OK here's a couple of questions. These anomalies, are they showing up while playing the dvdr in a standalone? If so, then it could just be your standalone not being fully compatible with that brand of dvd-r, which happens a lot because of no standards out yet, I guess. If this happens in your DVD-ROM, then that brings up a whole different subject. If you see anomalies, what would then happen if you copy all the files back to your harddrive, and use powerdvd to watch the movie from the harddrive. It should work fine, because the files are the same. But most likely you are experiencing problems with this media because of your standalone. So this brings me to say, yes Pioneer and other expensive media work better and are more compatible, and everything else is hit and miss. Thats not really the fault of this meritline brand of dvd-r, its just another generic brand. Most likely any generic brand you get will give you the same problems. I would expect all these things to go away when there is a dvd-r standard and the dvd standalones support this standard. Just my two cents...

[uberlame]

Thanks fer the thoughts.

The probs occur on a 1GHz Dell and a G4.


None of this will mean squat once BluRay is mainstream... Except that we'll be trying to acquire and use cheapo BluRay media... :)

[SciFer]

SAT4N, the problem lies with the media & not the standalone player. When I try to copy the files from the DVD-R or run the "Disk Verifier" from Ontrack SystemSuite it FAILS everytime. I've even used different DVD-Roms & different computers having the same results. Maybe there's some bad & good batches. These "anamolies" happen when I play on my Pioneer standalone and my PS2. There's some other low cost DVD-Rs I'm trying out now, I'll post my results/findings if anyone is interested?

[SAT4N]

Yes, now i am interested, because my great DVDPro blanks from meritline are giving me trouble in even some dvd-rom's. The other cheapies from cd-recordable.com can be had in bulk for $1.99 apiece. You have to buy $150 worth of a multi pack with some other goodies in it. I may do this if these work better...

http://store.yahoo.com/cd-recordable-dot-com/dvvalpacin47.html

[nfl2k2]

$2.50 is a good price:p

[jcraven]

I've had the same problems - cdrecordable.com will take them back as long as you don't write on them but it takes weeks for them to ship replacements. I stumbled into www.sticertified.com - they have 5 for $20 with jewel cases, I've burned 12 so far with no errors (I burn with a Pioneer A03 and verify every round, then play on a standalone Sony. Cd-Recordable is good if you divide a movie to two disks and it's less than 3.5 per side, anything larger and I almost always seem to run into problems. If anyone finds a better deal please let everyone know.

Doom9 - any chance you put a "Poll" or rating system on your site so visitors could post various DVDr suppliers with prices then rate the quality so we can sort all these different suppliers out and find the best for our buck?
Thx

[TheMovieGuru]

I found this site selling the DVD-R media for $2.20 and since I found it I have purchased 2 of the 100 packs from them. The quality is great, they are very sturdy and I have not had one fail yet. Play in all standalones I tried and played well in ps2.

Here is the site I found in case anyone would like to know:

http://7925.adahost.com/dvdr/index.html

Movieguru :D

[SciFer]

Checked out site, wish they had printable surface media. There are some made by Ritek that are gold with white printable surface. I've been testing them. As soon as I get feel confident about the results, I'll post them.

[Derrow]

Just burned American Pie 2 on a Princo DVD-R. I paid 5€ for that one.

Movie played perfect up to the 90min. Then suddendly my player stucked.

I tried to play it then on my PC and again the same problem at 90mins.
Had a look then at the last VOB file, and noticed it isn't readable at all.
I even can't copy it to my harddrive. I get an error message, that the file is corrupt.

Tomorrow I'll go back to the store and return that media, and exchange it against a new one.

[bumblebe]

Seems pretty cheap $2.20 per disc...
I thought only the PIONEER media was x2 compatible

[lucindrea]

a little bit of info about the differnt types of media ... BTW .. not mentioned here ( because the recorder is newer than the article ) .. the panasonic lf-d310/311 is 650nm

http://www.taperesources.com/dvd_media.html