Well i see everyone here is almost an expert at this but i just have a question i have been seeing that some blank dvds are well recommended while others are considered crap like memorex, but i recently bought a 50 spindle pack of Windata brand dvd+r's and have worked well out of 25 i have used so far none has come out messed up is it really the media that sucks or the burner on ppl computers??
I agree with Joshewa. The most common problem is a compatibility issue with the drive and the disc. If a disc brand always has a poor quality recording or does not work at all in a drive but then shows improved quality after the drive has had its firmware updated, quality is not involved at all. There was nothing wrong with the disc; nothing wrong with the drive. They were just incompatible with each other until the drive manufacturer figured out laser power settings for that disc and added them in the next update. The confusion over quality versus compatibility is very common and explains why some people on this site love one brand that someone else with a different drive detests.
Problems arrise when when someone may have luck with a spindle,but then buy a different spindle/different spindle quantity/differnt speed rate/and opposite format.
1)The faster 16x media may need a firmware update on a DVD-RW drive. +8x Windata may work for you,but switching to +16x means it's a totally different MID code.Drive may not be programmed to Know how to burn them properly.
2) Burner quality: All 4 of my BenQ's will burn anything I slap in them.I've used UME/AML/MBI/and Cmags and no problem burning them. Some drives will have a higher chance of issues with the lower quality media.
3) Stand Alone Playback: Some stand alone players will pick apart the lower quality media.That is where the majority of issues will occur. It's those picky stand alone players,usually older players with a lot of wear and tear on them. They'll pick out the low quality media by giving us bad playback like: Pixellation/Freezing/Skipping/Jumping/and no disc errors. Usually slower burn speed/lower compression/reduced backup target size/or a combination of all those to help with playback.
With the lower quality manufacturers I had no trouble burning,I did have trouble on a few stand alone players.
Playing low quality backups in a couple stand alone players,you may be ok and get a near perfect picture. Pass those backups around to family/friends,and the odds of them having issues with be higher.
Another critical part with low quality media: It's all those little errors everyone gets on their backups.Impossible to get a backup with 0 errors.We try to keep them to a minimum. Too many errors or errors in the wrong spot-you may get crc errors. They may play ok on stand alone players,but try re-ripping them for an extra copy. That's where the media quality and burner quality shows,re-ripping backups for extra copies.
Try re-ripping a backup,using your normal dvd backup process. You don't have to go through with the burn. Just encode it back onto your harddrive. Any major issues with your backups,and you may see that crc error.
Scan your backups to see how well they scan. Programs like nero's disc quality test is what I use for my Benqs. Lite-on drives use K-Probe. Plextor drives use Plextools. Also dvdinfopro is another program to scan your backups.
