DVD formats

Widetrack wrote on 5/28/2005, 7:53 AM
Does anyone have any specific suggestions on what brands of DVD writables to buy? Or any brands to avoid>

I just burned a project to a JVC DVD-R out of DVDA v. 3 and my players won't play it. I'm re-rendering to MPEG 2 out of Vegas and downloading Nero for burning.

Could it be the media? There's a lot of French all over the box.

Comments

johnmeyer wrote on 5/28/2005, 8:04 AM
Lots of user-submitted information on media here:

DVDrHelp Media Search

Also, this guy's site used to be REALLY useful, but he's gotten a little strange, and some of the info is a little suspect now. However, his media FAQ is still pretty good, although a little outdated:

Media FAQ
Widetrack wrote on 5/28/2005, 8:07 AM
BTW, these are 4x discs. Is that a problem?
RBartlett wrote on 5/29/2005, 12:14 AM
Verbatim (upto 4x speed) and Taiyo Yuden have my vote. Panasonic discs (made in Japan) have been TY based (so far, in my experience) for calling on in an emergency.

In the main I'm referring to the white or silver top varieties.

TY is quite expensive as the minimum consigment is quite large unless your reseller is of the mind to split the 100s. Silver tops ink printed surfaces are semi reflective where you don't print.

Associates swear by the medical industry (ie longevity) variants from Verbatim. Both for compatibility and non-volatility confidence.

So far both these brands have kept their reputation by not contracting out their brand to generic manufacturers. (well Verbatim did use a plant in Malaysia whose white-top DVD-Rs bubbled up with Epson inks but these were replaced gratis to those that had this issue, and the discs kept playing if you didn't object to the surface flaw, FWIW).

Believe me, there are other good brands but the risks are higher and the probability of the media performing differently between consignments is against you. IMHO. Price and availability is usually factored into the decision.

This information source also seems to know what it is talking about:
BestBurningSWReviews (apologies if this site is has anything other than original information)
Quote:
1ST CLASS MEDIA
Almost flawless burns with 95-100% reliable results:
TAIYOYUDEN, YUDEN, TYG01, TYG02 = Taiyo Yuden = (-R)(+R) ... be aware of fakes
MXLRG01, MXLRG02 = Maxell = (-R)(-RW) ... be aware of fakes
MCC = Mitsubishi Chemicals = (-R)(-RW)(+R)(+RW)
TDKG02, TTG01 = TDK Corp = (-R)(-RW) ... be aware of fakes