what is your thoughts on generic brand dvd-r media?

[DrJeepney]

what is your thoughts on generic brand dvd-r media?
i'm trying to buy backups for my anime at bst-secure, and i'm only willing to pay a cheap price for it, and the seller agreed with my price, but that person will use generic brand dvd-r media. meaning its not one of those brand names like princo, ritek, verbatim, tdk. its a no name brand basically.

[Jesterrace]

Well Princo and Ritek aren't necessarily brand name in the way that TDK and Verbatim are. Princo and Ritek manufacter thier own dye, TDK and Verbatim do not. Anyways in reguards to the super cheap generic varieties, you get what you pay for. I for one would not touch them with a 10 foot pole but it is really your call, while no media is 100%, cheap generic media is much more of a gamble.

[PhilEnfield]

I agree with Jesterrace, the cheap generic stuff is usually BAD news.

You should be able to get backups at BST Secure on Ritek 4 X media, for around £10 for 4 .... a much better gamble IMO

[dcjapanman]

Just a sidenote, my wife picked up some Liquidvideo DVD-R media, and i just knew it was gonna be JUNK. However every single disk burned and played just fine. Far better than most MAXELL disks ive tried.
Take it for what its worth

:)

[Jesterrace]

Cheap media does seem to work well with cheap DVD Players.

[dcjapanman]

Cheap media does seem to work well with cheap DVD Players.
You saying my DVD player is cheap? Huh Tough guy?

Thems fightin' words.... :mad:



Lets step outside...


:p

[Jesterrace]

I'm not saying that your DVD Player is crappy, I was just stating that is what a number of people have reported and a number of people around here have Apex or something similar (cheap player but works great with cheap media) What DVD Player do you have anyways?

[Ogs]

i have to agree with jesterrace it does appear that the cheaper the player the better compataqbility with poor/cheap (and most) types of media

[dcjapanman]

I have 1 Apex, 1 JVC, and 1 Panasonic.

The Panasonic is the High end of the bunch and it hates MAXELLS.

[Jesterrace]

Yeah, the Panasonics are supposed to be notoriously picky. I guess I will find out just how picky they are when my S-35 Panny gets here.

[jase1]

I'm not saying that your DVD Player is crappy, I was just stating that is what a number of people have reported and a number of people around here have Apex or something similar (cheap player but works great with cheap media) So in other words cheaper DVD players have higher quality loaders than more expensive ones :insane:

It is true though. Many Panasonics etc are extremely picky with media. And it isn't just DVDRs -- they are more likely to choke on scratched discs as well.

Whilst people buy good discs for their player, perhaps we should be encouraging people against picky players as well, as these are the ones most likely to start spitting the Riteks etc later on. Think about it -- if they are not working well with some DVDR, then likely as not they'll be marginal with the better discs as well. As the laser becomes less efficient/dirty over time, it'll need to work harder and harder with any disc, until first it'll refuse DVDR then one day it'll just refuse anything. Had that problem with an early Sony.

FWIW the highest quality reader is a writer, and with the price of writers set to fall drastically in future it'll probably be best just to have a standalone recorder in each room instead of a playback-only machine.

[Jesterrace]

I agree. I wasn't trying to insult anyone, I was just making a statement based on people's general findings. ;)

[dcjapanman]

I for one, was not Insulted one bit. I was just joking with you :D

[Jesterrace]

Ah, okay. I just wanted to make sure that there wasn't some sort of misunderstanding here.

[redbaron]

Ritek is the only brand that I have had absolutely no problems with, I also wouldn't touch Generic with a 10 foot pole!

[dragonmaster]

well i would stay away from them too... as in a 100 pack 20 of them didn't get recoize by my burner even... oo well... other than that... it works fine after burn and all.. but some media are picky after they are burned... trying to re-burn them is another story... eh?

[freakit]

I have alot of xbox backup. I noticed that the ones on the princos scratch a hell of alot easier than my riteks. I stopped using cheap media along time ago. The 20 cents extra per disc you pay for the Ritkes compared to the princos is well worth it.

[jase1]

'Tis now, but then having said that if you need the cases I'd go for jewel-cased Verbatim media or similar over any bulk disc these days, Ritek included.

I will say this though. Even if you only use good discs, if your DVD player doesn't play cheap media -- get shot -- the laser is inferior and you are storing up trouble for later on.

And a picky burner plays its role as well.

So my recommendation would be: good media -- good burner -- good player. You can afford to drop any one of these, but not 2 of them.

So, ideally -- Pioneer DVD player, Verbatim (or Ritek I suppose) discs and Pioneer burner, IMHO, is good.

Panasonic (picky) DVD player, Longten DVDRs and Sony burner -- hah! forget it!!

[ThreeD]

Are Princo, ProDisc, GreatAZO, or Ridata any good?

[Jesterrace]

Ridata=Ritek. Out of what you have listed I would trust them the most. They are what a number of us (myself included) use all of the time and are simply the best discs you can find for under $1 a pop. Princo seem to be all over the place and with the number of people who have had them quit working on them (even after taking the best of care of their discs) is enough to put me off of them. Prodisc are "so-so" it depends on what you plan on using them in. BTW you can get Riteks in 50 packs from www.newegg.com right now for $29 shipped. You should hurry though as I'm sure at that price they won't last for long. ;)

[ThreeD]

Ridata=Ritek. Out of what you have listed I would trust them the most. They are what a number of us (myself included) use all of the time and are simply the best discs you can find for under $1 a pop. Princo seem to be all over the place and with the number of people who have had them quit working on them (even after taking the best of care of their discs) is enough to put me off of them. Prodisc are "so-so" it depends on what you plan on using them in. BTW you can get Riteks in 50 packs from www.newegg.com (http://www.newegg.com/) right now for $29 shipped. You should hurry though as I'm sure at that price they won't last for long. ;)
Thanks for the information! :t_up:

[xathras]

I also buy cheap DVD-R media for use for my mates computer from a computer fair and they all seem to work, generally I have found the more modern DVD-R drives have better tolerance rates to them

[Jesterrace]

Ah but it isn't just a question of if they will work but how long they will last. Error rate scans tell you alot about media integrity, so while the cheap discs may work for a year or two, it may not be the case 3-4 years down the road. I for one would like to have my discs work for at least a decade, if for no other reason than to transfer them to the bigger and better format.

[Mr Snatcher]

Whats with all these old posts popping back up :laugh:

JR - that quote above with you trusting ritek the most.....:laugh: not since you became spokenperson for TY.

[TierraDelFuego]

Whats with all these old posts popping back up :laugh:
xathras (http://www.dvdrom-guide.com/forums/member.php?u=2737) seems to have been on a mission to find the oldest post he can reply to - check out the Network forum, there's about 10 of them :)

[Jesterrace]

Whats with all these old posts popping back up :laugh:

JR - that quote above with you trusting ritek the most.....:laugh: not since you became spokenperson for TY.
That was because at the time TY cost 3x as much as Ritek. That is not the case anymore. Now there is only $3-$4 difference per pack between the 8x Ritek and the 8x Taiyo Yuden at rima.com.