Comments

farss wrote on 6/21/2006, 2:42 PM
If they're anything like the archival gold DVDs I've been using they are not designed to play in STB DVD players. The gold layer is not as reflective as aluminium, i.e. the lower powered lasers in STB DVD players will not be able to read the disc. This is not what they're made for. The gold will not oxidise unlike Al.

You use these disks to make archival copies, 20 years from now you should still be able to copy them to a disk that a STB can play, I hold out no such hope for disks with a reflective layer of Al.

Also the dye layer in these disks is thicker, you have to burn them at no more than 4x.

Bob.
RalphM wrote on 6/21/2006, 6:58 PM
Thanks Bob,

I can't even read (play) these on the computer DVD drive that burned them. Are you saying that I should ber able to use them to make a duplicate but not necessarily play them?

Ralp[hM
farss wrote on 6/21/2006, 8:47 PM
Yes,
you should be able to read them in PC based DVD drives, you should possibly be able to play them as DVDs in a PC.

The main purpose though is for archiving the files, say 10 years down the track someone wants a copy. You pull the gold archive one out of the draw and copy it to a normal DVD.

If you cannot even read them on the DVD burner that created them something is wrong, try a slower burn speed and if that doesn't work contact the supplier. The ones I'm using down here certain can be read on my Sony burner.

Bob.
RalphM wrote on 6/21/2006, 9:32 PM
I'll try a slower burn speed tomorrow - the bad ones were burned at 4X; I think the good one was burned at either 1X or 2X.

Interestingly, if I open one of the "failed" discs, I see the VOB files etc. If I copy the files and rename them with a mpg extension, then they open in Vegas, but play for only about 15 seconds, even though the file is over 1GByte in length.

What brand do you use, Bob?

Thanks,

RalphM

farss wrote on 6/22/2006, 2:07 AM
I use ones from www.prodisc.com.au

Please be careful, this Prodisc has no relation to Prodisc Taiwan, in fact the local guy had registered the name before DVDs were invented.

You'll find some good articles on independant testing of various media types on that site also.

Bob.
riredale wrote on 6/22/2006, 7:01 AM
I certainly don't plan to be around in 100 years to test all my media, but in a casual search on the web I see lots of articles touting that their DVD-R brand uses a stable dye layer that tests show will last for "over 100 years."

In other words, I don't see an issue here. Just use regular high-quality media. I suggest Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R blanks, available for about $0.30 in quantities of 100.
farss wrote on 6/22/2006, 7:21 AM
Sure thing, if you feel that your work isn't worth an extra $3.00 so it might be around after you are.
Some of the material I've worked with is already 100 years old, an extra few dollars spent on optical media seems a pittance today, in 100 years time I wonder how wise saving that amount of money will seem compared to the loss of a valuable piece of history. You don't think it's a valuable piece of history, I doubt if many at the time of any great event in history thought it was going to be an important event either, let's leave it up to history to decide what's worth keeping and what goes out with the trash.

And for the record it's not just the dye layer that's the problem.

Oh, and if you think $5 is expensive for an archival grade DVD, you really don't want to know what a CD-ROM approved for medical records costs.

Bob.