DVD-R media quality problem

[bezerk]

Hi

I ordered 5 Acer DVD-Rs, they are rediculously cheap !
1. I opened 3 DVD-Rs, all 3 have mechanical damage at about 95% of the disk, like a little scratch, sometimes big sometimes small, but visible.
2. During recording image Prassi reports no problems, but after verifying Prassi reports error on last sector ! On all 3 discs error on last sector :)
3. There are some dark spots visible after recording, allways visible under scratch.
4. All 3 discs can be ripped back to HD with NO problems at all !!
5,6,7,8,9,10. Somebody please tell me what the hell is going on ??!!?

[Commander XJL]

Whats going on is we all better stop being cheap and order the DVD's from Apple for 5 dollars each, they're always perfect. These cheap disks are costing more in the long run

[bezerk]

yes :)
but is error really on the last sector or does prassi mean error happend somewhere from start to last sector ?
If I can RIP files back to HD without errors is it safe to say everything is OK ?

[smoof]

You didn't mention if they played on a standalone.

I've found that some DVD devices are more sensitive than others. For instance the DVD-ROM in my laptop has choked on a DVD while the desktop machine has no problems. My RCA standalone will also handle DVD's fine that my Sony standalone won't.

I also have a theory on the dark spots... I noticed the other day after burning a DVD that there was a dark spot on it and there was a piece of dust/lint stuck on the disk at the same spot. I think it would probably be a good idea to try and blow off all the dust right before putting the disk into the burner. I don't like trying to wipe the disk with a cloth because it either leaves lint behind or makes tiny scratches in the surface (maybe I just need to find a better cloth!).

If you can read all the files back to your hard drive, then it means there were no CRC errors (usually caused by damage on the disk). So you know the disk is readable by that DVD device. If your other DVD readers can't handle the disk, just copy all the files back to your hard drive and burn them on a different brand disk. I've never tried to use the Prassi verify option so I can't really comment on that.

[Commander XJL]

The only problem is that just because a disk is readable on a standalone doesn't mean it ain't a screwed up mess. My DVD's from CDrecordable.com all are readable but they have problems like sound going in and out and picture freezes or pixalation, and the same DVD files burned on to another name brand DVD like Apple play perfect. I've learned my lesson about trying to save a buck and it won't happen again. And don't say its the player I've tried them on 3 standalones and they're junk, a bad disk is a bad disk.

[jdobbs]

I see your point... If I had failures like you suggest I'd jump ship too.

But my experience has been different. Not one disc has failed for me because of defects (out of two large batches), and I've tried them on multiple standalone units from three different manufacturers. No pixelation, no skipping, and no problems reading them back without CRC errors. The couple of coasters I've made were attributed to either using an earlier version of NERO or my own stupidity.

I got the last (third) set of 50 for $1.89. I can't believe any brand will do better than the 100% I've experienced (although I admit it would be nice to burn at 2X). Just thinking logically, why would I want to spend more?

Now if I could only find a single reliable DVD-RW that doesn't crap out after 5 or 6 burns I'd be happy.

[Commander XJL]

How can it be that myself and others are having over half of these disks play back terrible but your not? These disks are unreliable crap, I don't see how yours are all perfect but other peoples are nothing but unreliable junk, it just doesn't make sense. All of my disks burn, but they just look terrible when I play them or they won't rip back to my drive without erroring out. All I have to say to the people that are supposedly burning dozens, or 50 or 100 of these disks without trouble is: You are either affiliated with CDRecordible.com, your not watching your movies all the way through (I feel sorry for you when you do your gonna be pissed), your blind, you think its funny to tell people to buy these crap disks, or you have an angel protecting you from crap media

[easy2Bcheesy]

I have about 3 DVDs out of 20 malfunctioning using the cheap media. It's a pain, but not enough of a pain to stop me using them.

[jdobbs]

sOnyguy -- you're right I'm editing my response. I refuse to get into a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent.

CommanderXJL,

I don't work for cdrecordable.com. I also didn't kill Kennedy and am not involved with any UFO coverups. The fact is the everyone isn't experiencing the problems you are. There are a lot of variables involved:

1. Drive
2. Firmware
3. Software
4. Playback unit
5. The media
6. The interfaces
7. Operator error
8. Any mixture of these.

I don't know what is causing you to get so many failures with the low-end media. It could be the media, but if I had to venture a guess I'd probably lean toward poor quality control at Pioneer rather than the media itself. Either you got an incredibly bad unit, or I got an incredibly good one. Have you noticed all the posts about how many problems seem to disappear with the A04? Of course there's always #7.

The fact is that mine works. Yours doesn't. You figure it out.

jdobbs

[s0nyguy]

Wow :rolleyes: that comment came from out of nowhere. you been smoking somthing jdobbs

[Commander XJL]

Like I said before, the same files work on other DVD's, and tons of people are having problems with this media with all types of drives. If you think its something other than the media you are smoking something, and I'm sure you did kill Kennedy too. I will try updating my firmware to 1.80

[wakebrder]

I'm gonna have to side with jdobbs on this one. All my pixelization/freezing problems are gone (on cheap media>> cd-recordable.com included) since my UPGRADE TO FIRMWARE VERSION 1.80:eek: Was that ummm #2 I think. I don't think anyone is on this board is in a position to call someone a liar no matter what they happen to be smoking :D BTW, I am the CEO of CD-Recordable.com and I've never had a single problem with our products:rolleyes:

[smoof]

As far as the A03/A04 debate goes. I have the A04 firmware 1.20 and out of five CD-Recordable.com disks burned, all of them had CRC errors when reading the files back to the hard drive (and the reads were done on the A04 and two other DVD-ROMs).

Wakebrdr:

Since your the CEO, maybe you could expedite my refund on the order I just returned!

[wakebrder]

LOL:)
Seriously, since I upgraded my firmware to 1.80, I haven't had any problems. Maybe cd-recordable's quality control is shit and you guys got a bad batch of discs:confused: That's about the only explaination I can think of given the wide range of results with this media. I ordered the 30 pack 4.7 + 2 "free" 9.4 double sided discs and I will say that the double sided ones are crap. My JVC standalone will not even read these. Luckily they were free :rolleyes: I guess the bottom line is, just stick with the media you have the best results with.

BTW, smoof "the check is in the mail".

[Commander XJL]

Well I updated my firmware to 1.80, did no good at all, these disks are total shit, and I've burned disks from two seperate batches now. I'm gettting rid of them as soon as possible and sticking with Apple, I've learned my lesson in an ugly way

[Commander XJL]

Hey wakebrder,

Can you rip these disks back to your hard drive without errors, or do they error but play ok on standalone? I only care about playing. I've burned 3 disks since my firmware upgrade, one would rip back to my drive without erros but 2 wouldn't. The two that wouldn't I don't know if they play perfect I haven't checked yet but I'm going to.

[bezerk]

I just burned 10th RIDATA DVD-R.
They burn at 1x, but so far not one had errors !

[wakebrder]

Commander XJL, They play perfectly on my JVC XASA70BK, but I haven't tried ripping them back to my HD. I'll give it a shot tonight and let you know the results. Like I said before, I was having all kinds of problems before the firmware update. Sucks that it didn't help with any of your problems. I agree that Apple/Pioneer media is by far the best, but if a movie takes up 2 DVDRs, @ $10 + 2.5 hrs + $2 rental, I would be better off "re-purchasing" that title if it got damaged.

EDIT:
Ripped back to HD with no problems. I'm using Nero 5580 selecting DVD Video and just dragging my files into nero's premade VIDEO_TS folder + uncheck joliet. Setup is P4 1.7, XP Pro, 512 DDR RAM, Pioneer A03 w/1.80 firmware. All is fine with this batch as well as Meritline, and Judysdeals. Good luck.

[Commander XJL]

wakebrder dude,

are you burning with Nero you mean? If so, whats the procedure for burning with nero, I've never burnt a DVD with nero, everything else though

[wakebrder]

I would suggest getting the latest version 5.5.8.0. Then just select new, DVD Video, uncheck Joliet option, and copy/paste your files into the Video_ts folder. (Nero will create AUDIO_TS/VIDEO_TS folders automatically) then burn. Works for me.

[Commander XJL]

So your burning as an ISO or UDF? And you drag the vob and info files into the new window and Nero creats the VIDEO_TS folder for you?

[TRILIGHT]

You will see what he's talking about when you select the DVD Video template in Nero 5.5.8.0. The project automatically makes the VIDEO_TS folder. You just drag your VOB's over into it. If you have a JACKET_P folder, you can drop that into the project and it burns fine.

For those wondering about media and/or firmware, I have a DVR-104 drive with firmware 1.10. (I'm not upgrading because I say "if it ain't broke, don't try to fix it! :) ) All of my burns have been flawless on CDRECORDABLE.COM media. No problems at all! You either were unfortunate enough to get a bad batch (which I'm sure they'd replace) or you're doing something wrong or have a bad hardware setup. I've burned about 20 so far (some single-sided, some double-sided) and have not had any trouble with the media at all.

I saw someone ask earlier about reliable RW media. I have a TDK DVDRW disc that has been erased and re-used TONS. (I always test my project before final burn to DVDR) The TDK disc has not given me any trouble after repeated quick-erases and burns (all in Nero 5.5.8.0)

[jeffnoone]

trilight
Just got a batch of DVD-R's from Cd recordable, including some of those double-sided discs

Do you know how to label those double-sided discs?
I've thought of approved-type marker in near centre, or a tiny round label that would fit in centre, but haven't done one of the doubles yet

Any sugestions, or do you leave unmarked

Jeff

[jdobbs]

TRILIGHT,

Thanks for the tip. I'll order a couple of the TDK DVD-RWs and try them out. I've tried several of the low-end brands and one high end. They all seem to work great for 5-6 burns, then they get an error and die. I have a beautiful collection of highly reflective mini-frizbees.

jdobbs

[TRILIGHT]

@jeffnoone

I haven't really found a great way to label the double-sided ones yet. I've been using a fine-tip Sharpie marker to write on the clear center part. I write what it is with a dash and "Side 1". I don't write on the other side since, obviously, it is side 2. I specify more information on the cover I make for the case.

@Jdobbs

Hope it works out for ya! The TDK RW was a lot more expensive but, like I said, I've used the hell out of it without a single problem yet.

[Taxidermista]

Originally posted by jdobbs
TRILIGHT,

Thanks for the tip. I'll order a couple of the TDK DVD-RWs and try them out. I've tried several of the low-end brands and one high end. They all seem to work great for 5-6 burns, then they get an error and die. I have a beautiful collection of highly reflective mini-frizbees.

jdobbs


Jdobbs, I have burned 48 movies on my Verbatim DataLifePlus DVD-RW and it's still working nice. :)

[brashquido]

Now I'm more confused than ever! :confused:

What DVD-R unit should I go for? A03 or A04? What's the difference?

Are cdrecordable.com's DVD-R media any good at all, or is it just subject to bad batches?

Has anyone used the Princo DVD-R media with the Pioneer A03 which blank-cd-cdr.com state is for use specifically with the A03.

http://www.blank-cd-cdr.com/product/dvdr.html

Please help!

[Commander XJL]

The cheap media problems are happening to people with all types of burners and players, just search the forum, like I said before a bad disk is a bad disk, the Princo's are the worst of all I hear, I'm tellin you if you get cheap media your taking a real chance, just be more selective about your projects and buy the Apple DVD's for 5 dollars a piece

[jdobbs]

CommanderXJL,

You sure seem to be pushing those Apple disks on every thread you can find... Is your real name Steve Jobs?

[Commander XJL]

I've used Maxell and TDK and Pioneer, but the Apple disks are prettier and they work perfect and cost less

[TRILIGHT]

Well, I burned two more this weekend on the cdrecordable.com generics and they turned out perfectly. I also took about 5 or 6 of them to a friend's place this weekend. He has one of those Sony "all-in-one" units. I don't know the model but it's silver and comes with surround speakers. Anyway, I tried them out and they play fine on his player. We watched two of the movies all the way through. No skips or anything. I'm definitely sticking with the cheap-o's! :) They work great for me.

[Commander XJL]

You must have one of those cheap media angels protecting you, too bad me and so many others don't

[xsirxx]

Where did you find your cheap media angels? Do they cost money? If so, how much? And is it possible that if they cost to much, can I borrow yours? Thanks!

[TRILIGHT]

I got them free with my order. LOL! :) I'm kinda curious, are you guys using A03/103 drives on Windows 98 or something? Seems most of the problems I've heard of came from people with A03/103 drives and/or they were using the unstable 9x code.

[Commander XJL]

I'm using AO3 with Windows XP, tried two different firmware updates, and tried the disks on 3 different standalones. I'm using firmware 1.80 now

[xsirxx]

I have a panasonic and a pioneer, the pioneer is by far the worst drive of the 2. I couldnt stand the bad burns comming from the pioneer, so I removed it and bought a panasonic. I used the same machine and win2k installed. I found the discs at meritline to have 5 of 25 bad. I burned the same info on 2 discs, one that was bad and one that was good. Its just a guess which ones are good or bad. I now buy 3.50$ discs and havent had a problem, but they are new, so im going to give it a bit of time :)

[Commander XJL]

what 3.50 disks?

[easy2Bcheesy]

The rule of market economics will win out here. If people buy the cheap media, and everything works out OK, they will buy them again. If the cheap media sucks for too many people, they won't sell ergo they'll go out of business.

Personally, I'm using a Pioneer A03, 1.80 firmware, and about 3 out of 20 of the unbranded media have been faulty for me. This was *slightly* higher on average with Princo branded DVDs, so I won't buy them again.

As a matter of interest, where can you get the Apple media in the UK?