I'm pretty new to using this type of media, I think I am posting this is the correct area. I have yet to burn anything onto a DVD, and I was just going to buy some. I see a lot of people favor Verbatim, but which type. Like what is DataLifePlus, hub printable or even lightscribe? My burner is rated at 16X, does that mean the speed I use to burn? I notice some disks say 1-6X, why would you want to burn slower?
Sorry for my sad ignorance, I just want to learn this.
@Mangia.......... first off........ welcome to Afterdawn! I think you're getting a little confused about media. It is very important to start off with quality media.... media that is made correctly and recognized by most DVD burners and players. You can stop many problems by just buying quality media. Here is the rule: MIJ (Made In Japan). Look at the box or spindle and make sure it says MIJ on it. Sony, Fuji, Maxill are some brands that does have MIJs but you have to make sure that it says so on the label! Taiyo Yuden is the best MIJ..... in my opinion..... but only bought online store like supermediastore.com, rima.com, meritline.com and other reputable online stores. Or you can buy Verbatim.... a top notch quality disk but is made in Taiwan/Singapore and the only exception to the MIJ rule. Cheaper stuff will cause problems like:
pixelations, skipping, freezing, and not being able to play or read the disks after a period of time (deteriorates!), and compatibility. So if you start by buying quality media you avoid these problems.
Your burner is a 16x machine.... which means you can buy the newer media but again, make sure it's quality media! Rule here is to burn at half the rated speed of the media...... like a car..... the speedometer can go up to 160MPH, but do you want to drive that fast???
And again...... if you use quality media you can burn at 16x if your drive and software recognizes it properly! but that comes with experience and testing of disks to see that your drive can burn at faster speeds with certain media! That's why it's safer to burn at half the rated speed of the media! this way you can be assured of a quality burn that will last on quality media!
ok...... now what is DataLifePlus..... that's a brand of Verbatim....which members here have opinions on it being good! and some not so good. It all depends on your drive. Hub Printables are disks that you can print right on top of with a printer.... directly on top of the disk, but you have to have a DVD printer! Those are printers that have a tray and you put the printable DVD on that try and it will print right on top of the DVD. A LightScribe disk is a disk that can be printed on by the laser of the drive, the drive has to be a LightScribe drive. I hope this explains a few things and clears the darkness........
Hub printible:
LightScribe:
silver inkjet printible:
and here is some Newbie advice that I often tell new members:
I suggest you go to the GLOSSARY tab and learn the lingo. your DL burner is capable of burning DVD9s which are Dual Layer Disks (DVD+-R,DL) check out the glossary for more terms: DVD-9, DVD-5, DVD+R DL, and so forth..... this way you'll get first hand knowledge of what's what.
now you want to know how to use your burner..... I suggest, you being a newbie, to go to this guide page and learn all you can:
http://www.dvdplusvideo.com/tutorial007.html check everything out..... the guides, the software, the FAQs. this will start you off to doing everything. and if you want to read more:
http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/183136 this is a little more advanced for a newbie but it will make you grow and learn! adn here are some more tips of the trade for a newbie:
1. use good media will stop many problems you might run into. Verbatim, Taiyo Yuden, Maxell, Sony..... look for the ones Made In Japan. the exception to this rule is Verbatim.
2. burn at half the rated speed of your media (if the disk is an 8x media speed then burn at 4x). This will stop reading errors from your player.
3. Don't burn too close to the edge of the media. 4484MB is the max and on good media you can go as close as 4400.... to be sure I only go up to 4384MB just in case and I use Taiyo Yuden where I know my buddies go up to 4400 without any problems.
4. keep your firmware up do date..... this will make your writer recognize all the disks and burning speeds and other improvements with the software of your drive.
5. keep the source disk free of finger prints, dust or scratches. this will prevent a lot of reading errors that could/will make your drive slip into PIO mode which will slow your system down...... if that ever happens, you need to reset your drive to turn your DMA on... here's how: http://my.afterdawn.com/alkohol/blog_entry.cfm/231/dmaissues
thank you so much for the clarifications. I will definitely check out all those newbie guides. About the hub printables, should I not use them at all since is doesn't apply to me? Can DL disks be used on a non DL drive? And since by burner is 16X, does that mean I have to always use 16X disks or can I use less?
you can use printible disks even though you don't print on them but why would you when you can buy the same disk but non printible and save money?! You need a DL burner to burn DL disks! Can't get around that. And if you have a 16x burner then you can burn to any disk 16x or below!~ just not DL disks since you don't have a DL burner! put your make and model # in the search on this website and find out more about your burner: http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters
