I have ALWAYS used Ritek RiData branded 8x dvd+r's for my lite-on SOHW-8325. I usually order them by the 100 pack 2 at a time through meritline.
So it's time to reorder, and I can't find them anywhere!!
I'm a creature of habit, I've NEVER encountered one problem with them, anyone have any suggestions as to what to start using now?
Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!
Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden.
You can get both from Meritline.
You can get Verbatim locally, but Taiyo Yuden are available from online stores only.
Can't go wrong with either one. :o)
The Lite-on SOHW-832S was a sturdy drive in its time, but it has not been supported for several years. It was the first DL drive Lite-on offered, but it worked poorly with all DL media--as did most other DL drives at the time.
Since no 8X media are being manufactured these days, you may want to consider getting a new Lite-on drive and keeping the 832S as a DVD-ROM drive since it was one of the most stable reading drives around--and still is.
Ritek 16X DVD+R discs may also work with the 832; but the only test results I have are with the older VSOA firmware, not the more recent VSOM. You will likely get the knee-jerk responses to buy only Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim 16X discs, but you will go "just as wrong" with them at 16X as you will with Ritek at 16X on the older drive. Better advice is to consider getting a newer drive such as the Lite-on DH-201A that does a very good job with DL media from several manufacturers and records 16X media from multiple sources quite well.
That's the Lite-on DH-20A. I don't know drive prices; so I don't know if that's a good deal. (The first 2X DVD-R drive could not record anything but DVD-R media. It cost $17,000.)
No need to replace the 832S. If you can use it in an external case, it can be used with laptops or other computers. You might want to buy the DH-20 in an external case, then swap drives. The 832S is so good, I'd hesitate to toss it out. I still use a calibrated model for playback testing.
I've been told that I should be able to use the 16x, even though my drive can only record at 8x. I REALLY LOVE my dvd burner, I haven't ever had to toss a dvd due to bad quality or anything. Think I can use the 16x?
You can try to record 16X media at 8X on your drive, but the recordings will not be as good as those recorded at 8X on a newer 16X drive. The DL recordings on the 832S will be poor on all media, but that may not matter. Some 16X media will work better than others on your drive; so you may have to experiment to find ones that work well. No 8X single layer media are being manufactured any more.
