|
|
|
Problems with FUJI DVD+R 16x
|
|
|
moz65
Newbie
|
3. May 2008 @ 06:01 |
Link to this message
|
Hi!
1st time poster here, would appreciate any advice. I just recently started backing up my DVD collection on my new Macbook. I started off by testing a couple of Fuji 16x +R discs, without any problems. So I bought a spindle.. guess what? Duds every one, so far! I'm getting unreadable discs that my machine spits out, or 'pixelation' in certain scenes as if the discs are dirty (they aint)Naturally I'm suspecting the media. Do these symptons sound familiar to anyone? Are FUJI discs generally known for being sucky?
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
Senior Member
|
3. May 2008 @ 08:33 |
Link to this message
|
moz65- I'm not currently sure who actually makes Fuji's Dvd Media for them now ? But if you happen to Find some Fuji Dvd media that says Made In Japan on it Then it should be taiyo yuden which is regarded as about the Best you can Get ! But guessing from your problem's decription I would think that you probably got some Made in Taiwan Fuji ( Taiyo Yuden to my knowledge no longer makes Media for Fuji ) So here's what I would do in your situation my friend ! If buying media locally at a Brick and mortar store and You want the Best quality I would go for Verbatim in Which is Like Taiyo Yuden The best you can get!!! , You could also Try Sony which is Pretty good itself ( especially the Made in Japan ones- Taiyo Yudens again - But they can also code out as Sony too ) The Made in Taiwan ones are pretty good too ! - And if you were buying online -from Supermediastore.com, Meritline.com or Rima.com then Taiyo yuden Hear we come !!!! There are other companies out there but the three above have pretty good track records with most members here at afterdawn.com so why risk it ? They often run sales & specials with free shipping !!! which is what you want especially if buying in bulk !!! becaue when ordering anything the low price can be offset by the Shipping charges especially on heavy Items ! Also Having stocked up on Verbatims awhile back I have'nt bought any recently and Although Most Verbatims are made in Taiwan like any Multi-national company Verbatim has either Plants or Oem Contractors Making Media all over the world ! Singapore - For DVD+R DL for example ! , Taiwan, ect.. Lately Some Members have repoted that some Verbatims (MII= Made in India ? ) are showing up !! These are genuine Verbatims but Not supposedlyas good as the Taiwan made ones? Not having actually Used them India made Verbatims I can't say from experience ! Though Personally I would Stick to the Taiwan mde Verbatims if I could or if not Buy Taiyo Yudens or Sony's Hope this helps Somewhat and Good Luck!!!!
FeetZ Up ! Head Down !
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
3. May 2008 @ 12:55 |
Link to this message
|
What's the brand name,model #,and current firmware version of your dvd-rw drive?
How fast you burning them? Slow it down to 4x.
I haven't seen any 16x fuji media. Their older 8x speed had several manufacturers and you had to watch carefully to pick up the good fuji and not the crap fuji.
Can you get the MID codes for the couple that you tested and the MID code of the spindle you purchased.
Your burner's firmware may need updated to be able to handle those fuji +16x. Look for the latest update.
Test those socalled pixellated/dirty discs on some other drives:Stand alone players,pc drives,and/or game consoles. See if they verify the same issues with those backups or it may be limited to 1 certain drive that's having issues with your fuji backups.
Make sure the drive that burned them,plays it to near original in quality.
HP a1118x-b/athlon 64-3300+/BenQ 1650 BCDC/LG 8163B/Modded Wii/Epson-R300 and Ty Watershields!!! |
|
moz65
Newbie
|
3. May 2008 @ 14:51 |
Link to this message
|
Thanx for the very informative replies guys!
I went out and got a Taiwanese Verbatim 16x and it seems to have burned a flawless copy! I say 'seems to' as I have yet to watch the copy all the way through, but the problems the Fuji discs were giving me all seem absent. My guess is I got lucky with my first couple of Fujis and unlucky with the spindle.
As for the MID codes, I seem to need some software to find them, I hope there are Mac versions. I'll get on it and post the results. I did try burning a Fuji at 4x but it actually ended up worse - the copy started on my Mac dvd player in the middle of the film! The menu, start etc are there but for some unfathomable reason it decides to start on scene 18. I've tried the failed copies on 2 different Macs and on my Pioneer (which plays other copies fine), with varying degrees of problems. Bottom line seems to be - go with slightly more expensive Verbatims in future! I had *no* idea this was such a jungle..!
|
AfterDawn Addict
|
3. May 2008 @ 16:15 |
Link to this message
|
I haven't messed with a Mac since 1985, LOL!
About those 1st couple test discs that were ok:
Were they from a totally different batch?
Burning backups on a regular pc can be a jungle. Media quality,Burner quality,and then getting to playback on various players and other dvd drive. The originals are dvd-rom format. Our backups,are on plus or dash format. Then there's the RW's, DL's,and ram.cfm" class="forum_link" target="_blank">Dvd-ram. Dvd backups are harder to read and the drives that have issues with them,show the symptoms of: Freezing,skipping,jumping,no disc error,and pixellation. That player is telling you there's something wrong with it.
There's a slew of things that can cause those issues. Get the quality MIT verbatim or Taiyo Yuden and they'll eliminate most symptoms. Fuji has had These manufacturers in the past:
Tiayo yuden- Excellent
Ricohjpn-Very good
Prodisc-crapola
Fujifilm-Crapola
Fuji isn't the only brand name that outsources their media to a lot of different manufacturers. Most brand names do: Maxell,TDK,HP,Memosux,sony to some extent,Philips,Panasonic.
Some fuji were made by Taiyo Yuden in the older 8x speeds. That's when you look at the shrink wrappers for Made in Japan. This works for Sony and Maxell as well. Those MIJ spindles are getting very scarce,so look at the odd stores like Walgreens,Sears,Kmart,neighborhood drug stores.
Sony is also some pretty good stuff,just make sure the paper wrapper says Made in Taiwan or Made in Japan if you're lucky. Anywhere else,look at other spindles.They're also pretty easy to get. Spindles of 100 for under $25 and spindles of 50 for under $15
|
Senior Member
|
3. May 2008 @ 17:14 |
Link to this message
|
|
saugmon- Could'nt have said it better myself - Yup!!! Have'nt used any Fuji other than Some MIJ except for an accidental purchase from samsclub of a 50ct.cakebox of Fuji printables It was $10.00 and you guessed it if memory serves me right they coded out as Prodisc-crapola - So I have'nt really Used them except for experiments were I did'nt want to ruin a good Blank if it did'nt work !!!! - Good advice is good advice !!! Good to hear you around !!! Keep on Varmint Dancin' and Good luck!!!!
FeetZ Up ! Head Down !
|
|
moz65
Newbie
|
4. May 2008 @ 05:47 |
Link to this message
|
Hi Saugmon!
Thanks again for your interest.
The first 2 successful copies I made were indeed from a different batch - I bought 2 single discs separately for testing before buying a cakebox. They worked fine, all the cakeboxers have had problems. I haven't seen any Fuji 8x around in my local stores (I'm in Sweden) but as I wrote in my previous post the Verbatim worked fine so I'm going to go with them from now on.
Unfortunately I haven't found any Mac software for checking the MID codes on the Fuji discs, though I'd really like to as I'm curious to know. If anyone reading knows of any Mac software please do let me know :-)
The store I bought the FUJI cakebox from said to bring it in and they'll do a test burn on one of them and see what happens. If it fails then they'll contact Fuji for me and I'll have a shot at a refund; otherwise no deal, I opened the sealed cakebox=I bought them. Life is unfair!
|
|
Negritude
Member
|
5. May 2008 @ 04:23 |
Link to this message
|
Once again, please tell us the moel number of the drive in your Mac. In OS X, click the Apple in the left corner, then go to "about this mac" and then click "more info" to bring up system profiler. Then click on "disc burning". The make and model should be there.
In order to see media codes on a Mac, download a program called DVD Media Inspector. It was written by a Japanese dude, so there are no English instructions, but it works and is self-explanatory, if bare-bones:
http://homepage.mac.com/raktajino/dvdmed...ector-1.0b1.dmg
|
|
moz65
Newbie
|
5. May 2008 @ 05:53 |
Link to this message
|
Thanks Negritude!
My Macbook has a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E Media drive.
I inserted one of those troublesome blank Fuji discs from my cakebox and System Profiler says it is a RITEK F16.
It also tells me I have write speeds of 2.4x, 4x and 8x. I usually just set DVD2ONEX to burn at 'Max' and let it take care of the speed itself (though I did experiment burning a Fuji at 4x with no luck). I've only used 16x discs so far but surely that shouldn't be a factor?
As for DVD Media Inspector, thanks but I already tried it and it doesn't work. It says the driver can't read the media! The options are greyed-out too. I think it needs an update, I've read other Mac users comments about having the same problems.
I bought a box of Verbatims yesterday but I see they are Made in India - not sure if that's a good sign. Anyone know?
|
Moderator
|
5. May 2008 @ 07:43 |
Link to this message
|
Main PC ~ Intel C2Q Q6600 (G0 Stepping)/Gigabyte GA-EP45-DS3/2GB Crucial Ballistix PC2-8500/Zalman CNPS9700/Antec 900/Corsair HX 620W
Network ~ DD-WRT ~ 2node WDS-WPA2/AES ~ Buffalo WHR-G54S. 3node WPA2/AES ~ WRT54GS v6 (inc. WEP BSSID), WRT54G v2, WRT54G2 v1. *** Forum Rules *** |
|
moz65
Newbie
|
5. May 2008 @ 07:48 |
Link to this message
|
|
Thanx Creaky. Think I'll play it safe and swap them for... something else.
|
|
Negritude
Member
|
5. May 2008 @ 09:33 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by moz65:
Thanks Negritude!
My Macbook has a MATSHITA DVD-R UJ-857E Media drive.
I inserted one of those troublesome blank Fuji discs from my cakebox and System Profiler says it is a RITEK F16.
Yeah, the Matsushita or more appropriately nicknamed Shita drive is definitely one that you should only use the highest quality media with, namely Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden. Anything else is a crap shoot (pun intended), and I'm petty sure that it doesn't have a write strategy built-in for RITEKF16, so take those back. Those are 16x disks, so if you only have up to 8x burning speed that means your burner doesn't recognize or know what to do with them. You can't use those, sorry. The problem isn't with the media, it's your drive. It can't handle everything. You have to buy media that has a code your drive recognizes. That explains why you're getting the bad burns. Problem solved!
Also, make sure to check to see if there are any firmware updates for the drive. Go back into system profiler and look for the firmware revision, then search on the Apple site under the support tab for firmware updates.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 5. May 2008 @ 09:38
|
|
moz65
Newbie
|
5. May 2008 @ 11:58 |
Link to this message
|
Ah, thanks!
I naively assumed that the legend:"Compatible with 1x to 16x drives and recorders" on the FUJI box meant that they would work on my Macbook's 8x drive. Steep learning curve here!
Interestingly enough, the first odd (non-cakebox) FUJI discs I tested worked out fine, and they were 16x. It was only when I started on that cakebox that I started getting duds. So maybe media is a factor too?
The firmware revision for the Shita drive is ZF1E but I can't see anything for it at Apple's updates... but then again I'm not really sure what I should be looking for! Can you give me an idea how it should be labeled please? :-)
|
|
Advertisement
|
|
|
|
Negritude
Member
|
7. May 2008 @ 00:25 |
Link to this message
|
Originally posted by moz65:
I naively assumed that the legend:"Compatible with 1x to 16x drives and recorders" on the FUJI box meant that they would work on my Macbook's 8x drive. Steep learning curve here!
Interestingly enough, the first odd (non-cakebox) FUJI discs I tested worked out fine, and they were 16x. It was only when I started on that cakebox that I started getting duds. So maybe media is a factor too?
The firmware revision for the Shita drive is ZF1E but I can't see anything for it at Apple's updates... but then again I'm not really sure what I should be looking for! Can you give me an idea how it should be labeled please? :-)
The wording on the media is generic. It will burn at 16x on burners that support it, but that isn't all burners.
Fuji uses different manufacturers for it's media, so the code can change from spindle to spindle. You never know what you're going to get, so one spindle might burn well, and another like crap. Also, the codes for +R and -R are different, so that can cause a problem too. It all just depends. Laptop burners tend to be more limited in what they can handle compared to desktop burners, and the Matsushita drives that Apple uses are generally not the best. Like I said, just stick with Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden, and you'll be OK.
Don't worry about the firmware update thing. There isn't anything available for your drive. It's stuck at it's current capabilities. If you plan to do a lot of burning, and you use your laptop in your house a lot, instead of just traveling, buy an external desktop DVD burner, or buy a regular DVD burner and put it into an external enclosure. That's the only way you'll have more flexbility as to what you can burn. Laptop burners are really not designed to do that much.
This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. May 2008 @ 00:28
|
|
