DVD-ROM Media

freshmasterfresh

What is the best format and retailer for single and dual layer DVD-ROM media? Many forumers have a good experience in this field, and I'm sure a lot of us could benefit from such a discussion.

Quintile

freshmasterfresh wrote:

What is the best format and retailer for single and dual layer DVD-ROM media? Many forumers have a good experience in this field, and I'm sure a lot of us could benefit from such a discussion.

Like which brand of blank DVD-R's we buy, and where we buy them from? or something else?

freshmasterfresh

That would be my chosen topic. There could be other worthwile information I haven't thought of, though.


Perhaps useful things to do with coasters?

Kriz

protip: no matter what brand you buy, no matter how fast your media/burner can go, burning at a slower speed always significantly reduces your chances of making a coaster.

I read somewhere that the fastest recommended speed for single layer is 4x. I don't know how much truth there is to that, but whatever. I'm not in a hurry.

loflo

I have a 16x Pioneer DVR-111D burner that I bought for A$45 (~ US$35), and I use single layer Verbatim DVD-Rs that cost around A$25 (US$20) for a spindle of 50.

I usually burn at 8x, sometimes 12x if I'm feeling frisky.

I've yet to burn a single coaster with this burner + media, so I'm sticking to it.

I haven't burnt any DL discs.

Quintile

I've bought many different brands of DVD-R's, and the worst are Memorex because the DVD Drive in my iMac couldn't catch the disc and suck it without me pushing, and it took over 30 minutes to burn a data DVD.

The best brand I've used are Sony, a full data DVD takes about 10 minutes to burn, and the DVD drive sucks it in like a vacuum (and I like the very plain, basic white cover to the DVDs... much better than colored or strange designs).

Generally though, I just buy whichever 50/100 pack is on sale at Wal-Mart

Zeon

I like maxell. Havent burnt a coaster that wasnt my fault, only ever trying to do dvd movies.

legion

I'm not terribly picky about SL discs, but I do tend to favour genuine Taiyo Yuden DVD-Rs. They're great quality, but many others are good too.

When it comes to DL discs though, the vast majority of them are total garbage. I only bother buying Verbatim DL discs at this point. My experience with them has been consistently excellent up till now.

I'm not sure if their quality is going to stay quite so high for much longer though, since it's rumoured Verbatim is going to start outsourcing to India for their DL discs, whereas all their DL discs so far were manufactured in select Taiwanese plants. Time will tell, I guess.

Sixfortyfive

Kriz wrote:

protip: no matter what brand you buy, no matter how fast your media/burner can go, burning at a slower speed always significantly reduces your chances of making a coaster.

Incorrect. It varies depending on the media and burner involved. 8x and 16x speed usually gives me good results with CD-Rs on my setup, but quality actually decreases a bit if I take it all the way down to 4x or 1x. This is something you usually have to test yourself in order to figure out what's ideal for your setup.

Also, even though you may have good results with one brand of media doesn't mean you'll have good results every time. Most brand name media (Maxell, Verbatim, Fuji, Sony, etc.) is actually manufactured by a number of different companies in different countries and can vary quite a bit in quality despite having near identical packaging. For example, Fujifilm CD-R's made in Japan usually come from Taiyo Yuden factories and are generally regarded to be very reliable. A stack of Fuji CD-Rs with near idential packaging and appearance but manufactured in a different country are actually pressed by a different company and might perform differently.

Additional reading:
General blank media FAQ
the difference between DVD+R and DVD-R
DVD-/+R media recommendations
DVD+R media recommendations
DVD-R media recommendations
Taiyo Yuden FAQ

Pojaco

rima.com

xta

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2006/december#thu-14-archival_media

a good link on why dvd+r is better

Sixfortyfive

xta wrote:

http://daringfireball.net/linked/2006/december#thu-14-archival_media

a good link on why dvd+r is better

Good article. I'd just like to add that you should check to see if your DVD burner is capable of changing the booktype on DVD+R media. This can increase the compatibility with standalone DVD players. My PS2 tended to perform well with DVD+R media set to a DVD-ROM booktype, decent with DVD-R media, but poorly with DVD+R media with a DVD+R booktype.