Posted by Bob on 11/03/05 14:58

On Thu, 03 Nov 2005 08:32:07 -0500, "Karen C."
<karenscribes@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Nope, it's a Phillips DVD+R.

Not all that good in quality. I had some Philips +RW that would not
format at all - had to take them back to WalMart.

>What are your brand preferences?

CDFreaks and I agree completely on the matter of blank media.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=146146 is the media
subforum, complete with survey and more comments than I have time to
read.

Taiyo Yuden is hands down the most reliable brand, but they do not
make erasible discs that I can find. Verbatim is owned by Mitsubishi
Chemical Corp (MCC) and is second in the rankings. Ritek comes in a
distant third.

In general the media made in Japan or made with Japanese quality
control (IOW, a Japanese company) are the best. All the rest are
basically just crap, with some rare exceptions.

But media per se is not the sole criterion - you must match the media
to the drive. Also, when you push the upper limits of your drive/media
it is best to slow down one notch. For example the 3540 is rated on
DVD -R at 16x burn speed and I use Verbatim 16x discs. But I set the
burner software for 12x so as not to push the envelope.

Don't let anyone BS you - you are going to get occasional coasters
from the best unless you burn at half speed. That's why it is
important to run Verify after burning.

>I know that my experience with tapes left me preferring Sony over
>Memorex--or any other brand I tried. Can I assume that should be
>the case with DVDs, as well?

Stay clear of MemorWrecks and most definitely stay away from Sony. I
wouldn't have Sony in my house if you gave it to me.



--

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable
one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore
all progress depends on the unreasonable man."
-- George Bernard Shaw

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