Free Matrix 4x dvd-r media from www.shop4tech.com

[jomo]

dear boys and girls,

I was emailed today by this guy from www.shop4tech.com who is offering their house brand "matrix 1-4x dvd-r" for free and they also pay for shipping to you on the testing. he told me that they need to have more feedback from different users on different type of testing in order for them to improve their quality to be better or at least the same as TDK product. well, I did my test already with this product, and I really like it especially on the price. for those users who would like to have free media testing before you buy it, send your email to steve@shop4tech.com and enclose your mailing address as well as who to attention to.

good luck

:devil:

[SVCD4Me]

Thanks jomo. Prices look good, hopefully they will send me some to try out.

[jomo]

don't think too much, I just think these two companies meritline.com and shop4tech.com are the major players in the market of dvdr media products. By the way, these two companies have the best reputation and also in term of what they carry on dvdr products are very much cover everything in the market.

[markrb]

Meritline actually has a rather poor rep here. Just try a search on them.

I am not sure about shop4tech, but I think their rep is good.

Personally I like Rima.com, but I haven't bought from them in some time as there have been really good retail deals lately.

Mark

[quantum]

My experience with Meritline was a negative one. No tracking number, poor packaging, no response to emails.

One look at their website should tell you something. All their disk prices advertised "as low as...", then you have to follow a link to find that price only applies if you buy 500. Very cheesy IMO.

Rima has been excellent every time after a dozen orders.

[jomo]

our company had spend over 5000 already with shop4tech.com on different products for last 6 months. and seen like our buyer really like them then any company out there!! personally, I think as long you are getting a fair price and also fair service then that is consider a good company.



:devil:

[flaystus]

Jomo was recently on the dvdrhelp forums also, as far as we can figure he actually works for shop4tech and was simply using the board for free advertising, eventually he changed his name to shop4tech. He was banned from the board after more blatant advertising and simply created another account and PM'ed people to do his advertising when he figured out we would not take it. Just an FYI, personally I have no problem with the free disc offer. Its a nice way to have people check out your media and see what they think, but just beware.

for more info you can check the dvdrhelp forums and seach for post by jomo.

-Flaystus

[SVCD4Me]

Originally posted by flaystus
Jomo was recently on the dvdrhelp forums also, as far as we can figure he actually works for shop4tech and was simply using the board for free advertising, eventually he changed his name to shop4tech. He was banned from the board after more blatant advertising and simply created another account and PM'ed people to do his advertising when he figured out we would not take it. Just an FYI, personally I have no problem with the free disc offer. Its a nice way to have people check out your media and see what they think, but just beware.

for more info you can check the dvdrhelp forums and seach for post by jomo.

-Flaystus

So F'ing what? Beware of what? He was nice enough to let everyone here know of a way to get free DVD-Rs to test out. I, for one, greatly appreciate it. I don't care what you say he may or may not have done on another forum.

Who are you, flaystus? Maybe you are just the competition... Does it matter to me? NO! Do you have anything good to share? NOPE!

[flaystus]

Its cool man, calm down. I'm just letting everyone know about what happened on another forum with him. I'm not saying boot him, heck his being alot better behaved here, maybe he learned a few lessons along the wya. But he has been known to simply use his account to post prices and bash shop4techs competition in the past. Everyone here can run the forum anyway they want, but I just figured it would be a nice thing to take some of his claims with agrain of salt. Just do a search on his name on this forum, and notice how many of his post ammont to ads on the board.

And I agree that the free disc offer thing is a good idea.

As far as who I am, you have a point. I'm just another completely anonymous guy on the internet, you have no way to tell. I don't even post here that often, but if you find me on other forums you'll quickly see I'm not one to just make stuff up or someone who bashes people for no reason.

As far as saying big deal, its only a small step between a guy posting his companies prices and getting messages on the board offering 5000 free min. on AOL.

anyway everyone have a good day, let me know how those disc work out.

[Toona]

so has anybody used these Matrix 1X-4X DVD-R's. I was thinkin about ordering some but want a little more feedback than I've been able to find. I have a DRU500A and the latest firmware, but if you have any other drive I would still like to hear some other experiences. Thanks

[jomo]

want to try if they are going to work, just send your email to them for sample requesting at steve@shop4tech.com then they will send you the media


good luck

[SVCD4Me]

Well, I sent that guy an email on July 13th. He replied and asked me to answer some questions and I sent that email on the 15th. I got an email yesterday the 24th (group email with unknown recipients) asking how it went and if I posted my results. He did acknowledge that some people may not have received any samples yet. I sure hope that I get some to try out. I won't buy any until I get some samples to burn and compare to my Ritek G03. There was also a phone number in the email that offered a discount if I did order any.

Has anyone received any samples yet?

[mj0012]

I received my sample two days ago (five discs, which was nice) so I can say that the offer was real. They were shipped Media Mail, so it may take a few days longer depending on where you live. As for the discs themselves, they aren't as good as I hoped for. Most of them looked in good shape, although 1 of the 5 had some weird marks on the top that looked like someone squirted Elmer's glue all over it (the record side looked fine, however).

So far I haven't had much luck in burning them. I'm using a Toshiba SD-R5002 so I'm limited to 1x or 2x burning and not the 4x that they're listed as. At first the 5002 wouldn't even recognize the discs, but upgrading to firmware 1033 fixed that. However, whenever I actually tried to burn the discs nothing seemed to happen. I tried Nero 5.5.9.17, Nero 5.5.10.42, and a copy of VOB Instand CD+DVD that came with my drive. I tried three different discs and used each program once. Each time I would do a simulation followed by writing to the disc at 1x. Each time both the simulation and the writing would complete with no errors. However, nothing would have been written to the disc. The record side didn't look like it had been burned and the 5002 said the discs were still blank. I tried burning without a simulation and it did seem to write to the disc this time, but not even the 5002 could read the disc; it just said "CRC error". I also tried burning at 2x once, but it failed at the end of the simulation. I'll try a few more things but it's not looking hopeful about burning the Matrix 4x discs in an SD-R5002.

Has anyone else tried these with the SD-R5002? If anyone got them to work let me know. And by the way, I tested an old Supermedia 1x DVD-R in the drive just to make sure that the firmware update hadn't fried the drive. It burned fine and could be read by all my DVD-Rom drives, and Supermedia are some crappy discs ;) So I know it has something to do with the media and not the drive dying.

I must admit I appreciated the opportunity from Shop4Tech to test the discs for free. I hope this trend continues, and I hope that it doesn't lead me to the conclusion that I have a picky drive :p

[SVCD4Me]

I also have the SD-R5002. :scared:

[mj0012]

Really? Well tell me how it goes for you once your discs show up. I'm going to try a few more things (like downgrading to firmware 1032) just to see what happens, but I'm not holding out for a miracle. I really can't understand why it doesn't seem to actually be burning the discs, but I'm sure there's an explanation somewhere.

[SVCD4Me]

Well I received mine today via USPS Media mail. I popped one in and the drive doesn't even recognize that there's a disc in it. The green light flickers for a little bit then goes solid green. Nothing though, won't recognize it. I'm not going to start messing with firmware on my drive. Ritek's work fine and so do cheapo DVDPro (Princo) so I highly doubt it's my drives fault.

[mj0012]

Unless you're really squeamish about it, I don't think that updating your firmware to 1033 should cause you any problems. You can download the latest version from Toshiba's official site and it comes with a Windows installer that does all of the work for you. Since it's an official release it won't void your warranty if you're worried about that. I figured it was worth upgrading the firmware as it looks like the 4x discs are going to be easier to find than 1x-2x discs soon. If you're interested I can post the link here. And like I said before, with 1033 installed my SD-R5002 still burns to 1x SuperMedia discs so I don't think it should break anything that's currently working.

[SVCD4Me]

Wow, I didn't think firmware would keep a drive from recognizing a disc. Anyway I followed your advice and I'm in the middle of burning a disc now. I will wait until I do a few and post my findings. Thanks for the advice mj0012!

[SVCD4Me]

I burned 2 of DVDs so far. Both burned at 1x. I selected 2x for the first one but it still took an hour to burn. Both movies play fine on my Pioneer DVD-434. I have never had a problem on my stand alone DVD with any Princo, Ritek, or now Matrix. That being said, I don't think I will be purchasing this media. Below is a link to see what K Probe shows when analyzing the disc. I'm not too familiar with how much PI and PO actually matter... All I know is that a commercial DVD shows damn near perfect scores, Ritek's are decent, Princo's are kinda OK, and Matrix are not so OK. You can see the results from each disc below.

Matrix burned at 1x (1x selected) (http://mywpages.comcast.net/jamesburley2/Matrix%20burned%20at%201x%20(1x%20selected).JPG)

Matrix burned at 1x (2x selected but didnt burn 2x) (http://mywpages.comcast.net/jamesburley2/Matrix%20burned%20at%201x%20(2x%20selected%20but%20didnt%20write%20at%202).JPG)

Princo at 1x (http://mywpages.comcast.net/jamesburley2/Princo%20burned%20at%201x.JPG)

Ritek G03 at 1x (http://mywpages.comcast.net/jamesburley2/Ritek%20burned%20at%201x.JPG)

I don't have a file saved for a commercial DVD but I can guarantee the PI doesn't go above 5 or 10 and the PO doesn't go above 1 or 2.

Ritek
PI Max = 27 PI Avg. = 3.53 PO Max = 3 PO Avg. = .669
DVDPro (Princo)
PI Max = 54 PI Avg. = 6.83 PO Max = 5 PO Avg. = .692
Matrix
PI Max = 175 PI Avg. = 23.692 PO Max = 62 PO Avg. = .701
PI Max = 198 PI Avg. = 15.103 PO Max = 198 PO Avg. = .660

Anyway, try them for yourself and come to your own conclusion. Note that the Princo I checked is about 8 months old and the Ritek is about 3 months old, however, I don't think age was a factor in either.

[Toona]

thanks for the info really appreciate it!!!

[jomo]

if I remember correctly, these medias were made by shop4tech and some company in Asia, and they are still in the testing stage of making some good disc in order to fit all drives out there in the market, and burn at the speed that was described as they had advertised. However, I had good experence with their Matrix on my pioneer 105 and 106 drive and I will give it a try again on their new coming shipment sometime this week which they claim the media will work for sony series drives. I will post my feed back again for you all to share with their new media on my friend's drive later. by the way, if you want to try their new batch media send them an email who will get back to you.

:devil:

[jomo]

matrix media had really changed from their last batch, I got some yesterday and did some testing on my drive. the media itself was not like before physically and others because I had seen many others had complaint about their look, burnning, and playback. guess what, they all had changed now. very impress!! by the way, they had lower their price to $0.97 per unit deliver on 100 pcs.

[HeraMan]

I received 5 test disks from Steve @ shop4tech.com. Unfortunately, none of the disks were even recognized as useable with my Sony DRU-500AX. Not sure what was going on there. They did have some kind of weird blurring on the top, maybe they were overheated in transit.

[flaystus]

I noticed a weird blurring also on the ones I was given to test a while back, how long ago were those disc sent to you? They just sent a new batch out to a friend of mine (that didn't even ask for a new batch, thought that was cool) that seems much better on our Pioneer burners, but I have no idea how much better for Sony they are. I'd be interested to hear though. Also they didn't seem to have the same discoloration of the top near the center as the first batch. Oh yeah and the one I tried worked about 10x better then the previous ones also, maybe the manufactuer is on to something here. I hope they keep up the good work.

[atreides93]

Originally posted by SVCD4Me
So F'ing what? Beware of what? He was nice enough to let everyone here know of a way to get free DVD-Rs to test out. I, for one, greatly appreciate it. I don't care what you say he may or may not have done on another forum.

Who are you, flaystus? Maybe you are just the competition... Does it matter to me? NO! Do you have anything good to share? NOPE!

Actually I think its great that someone notified everyone here that jomo is actually an employee at shop4tech. Its important to know that because when he gives opinions you have to realize he may be biased...and probably is :) Hard not to be when you're talking about the place that puts money in your wallet.

Let's try not to jump down someone's throat for posting ok?

[SVCD4Me]

Originally posted by atreides93
Actually I think its great that someone notified everyone here that jomo is actually an employee at shop4tech. Its important to know that because when he gives opinions you have to realize he may be biased...and probably is :) Hard not to be when you're talking about the place that puts money in your wallet.

Let's try not to jump down someone's throat for posting ok?

I didn't see any proof that he works for shop4tech, but the way his posts are worded it does seem that way. I don't care if he does. If anyone was to read the thread they could see real results along with jomo's advertisements. I wouldn't just take someone's word for it that a media is good because they say it is, and just because someone puts the word out about a media he has faith in doesn't mean he should get singled out and accused of anything. I don't think it was necessary to warn people just because he may work for them. He was offering a way to get free discs to test out. I may have jumped down flaystus' throat for posting, but his post was useless and provided no input except to crap on the thread about testing free media. Perhaps next time you can try to get to the root of the problem instead of just the mean words directed at it.