MooMooMooMoo

I finally got 1 of the 2 returns from the Black Friday sale replaced today. What worries me is that when I called, I wasn't sure which I was returning as most of the discs were very scratched, & I decided that as irritating as that was, I still wanted to minimize mailed returns. So I chose to play the discs, & only returned the 1 dvd that skipped & the blu-ray that was scratched & that I didn't have time to play. When I called them, I was told they could only put 1 title on the RMA anyway, & they would replace all discs that I sent back ("don't worry, we always do it that way"). Well the current status is........ I returned 2, & only got a replacement for the 1 she wrote down. Will call tomorrow. GRRRRRRRRRRR.

The moral of the story is when placing an order with Fox Connect, Expect customer defective returns & you won't be disappointed!

MooMooMooMoo

Amazing, they didn't screw up; they claim that they're still awaiting stock from a November issue..........

At best their communication is terrible.

MooMooMooMoo

Finally got the replacement for Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea. It's more scratched than the one I returned.

MooMooMooMoo

Here's a quality scan of the replacement dvd. For those not familiar with error scans, this is God Awful, & the red means total failure in those areas.

thetao

You're saying that if you watched that film in a DVD player, it either wouldn't play through entirely or would show one or more visual glitches? The complaints you've posted about manufacture quality prompted me to start looking at my own collection with more scrutiny just a few weeks ago. I don't use Nero, but my interpretation is that your 19 spike in red means "well outside of spec" but not necessarily that it won't play. One reference I found suggested disregarding very high single values, although that still leaves you with PIF values of 10+.

FWIW, of the couple dozen disks I've tested, Fox DVD's do seem the most consistently mediocre, but some recent buys from Universal and VCI look many times worse.

MooMooMooMoo

2 comments:

1. The first copy of Voyage completely froze at the layer break. It's the ONLY disc that's ever froze in my Oppo. I haven't played this one.

2. The disc is really scratched.

thetao

The replacement is scratched? Ugh.

MooMooMooMoo

Yep.

MooMooMooMoo

Another RMA, another month + wait for a replacement................

Manzana

Wow, MooMooMooMoo. I haven't seen a quality scan for a long time. I used to do those all the time on my BenQ drives until BenQ stopped making them. I probably have an Optiarc 7200S, but I don't know if the results are as good as the old BenQ drives. Unfortunately time issues have tossed that project overboard. I have a directory full of many dated quality scans of various discs I have.

The part that makes me mad is I bought a couple hundred Playo DVD+Rs from Staples (they were made by MCC), and a year later they've rotted and gone unreadable. I didn't have warning on most of the stuff I lost (quite a lot), but the remaining stuff that's alive I need to back up, but this thing called work keeps preventing me from dealing with it, so I'm basically losing a couple hundred things and can't do a thing about it. I know you're scanning pressed DVDs which I did too on the suspicious DVD-18s. I remember some DVD-18s having pretty awful scans like yours. I just ran out of time to deal with it, and sadly I don't even have or know whether any Blu-Ray drives are capable of doing the same quality scans reliably.

MooMooMooMoo

I got into this because the first dvdr-s I ever bought (Maxell branded Ricohs) all went bad in less than 6 months. The dye faded.

triste realtà

So far, I've had nothing but the cheapest dvd+r (Teon 8x, Nexxtech 8x, Staples 16x, being unaware of issues with cheap media) all burned at 2.4x and have never had any go unreadable even after years. The only time one pixelated was when I had scuffs that were my fault but the same thing happens with factory pressed for me.

Presently I am looking for a good price on Verbatim Datalifeplus or Taiyo Yuden 8x dvd+r silver, made in Japan blanks cause I want to go back to 8x. (Yes I read that burning faster makes for better track stability but I had a bad experience at 4x and never ever had any bad burn with 2.4x and they lasted like I said.)

I strongly suspect Fox had issues with multidisc set assembly line because of a review on Amazon saying all discs in a set were scratched.

statcat

I still have playo dvds and they all read fine and play well. They're from 2005-2006 maybe.

triste realtà

I should add that the reason I want 8x is cause the Staples 16x (confirmed CMCs) are sometimes not read/picked up by older players and burners. They say "searching" or "cannot play". I think it's a problem with reflectivity. Newer media is lighter and reflects less back to the pick up?

But every single one of them are read by my newer player, at least a year later so far, some probably more like 2.

(For the ones that went bad: did you leave them in sunlight, heat or humidity?)

Also, I've opened almost all my fox dvds and none of them were scratched except for the howling double sided disc on the bottom because of the middle piece flapping against it. My floater was fine but the top of the case was cracked like it was crushed inwards under the security sticker. (I'm having way more problems with a Legend Films Cult Horror Collection at the moment.)

MooMooMooMoo

I don't know if it's a counterfeiting issue or something else, but I have found that the same sku comes in varying qualities from different retailers. These days I ONLY buy my TY 8X+'s from Media Supply. I get the best results burning at 4x, & for reasons that I can not figure out (it truly makes no sense to me WHY this is the case, but it is, & the difference is not subtle), the "Shiny silver" discs give MUCH BETTER quality scan results then the white printed surface discs. Here's a link to the specific discs I've been using for the last year or so, I will say I haven't bought a new batch in at least 3 months, & this stuff changes frequently, but I've always had good luck with these Discs from Media Supply in particular:
http://www.mediasupply.com/tyddvd-r4-7s-8x-50.html

A lot of times if you sit on the page for about 5 minutes, they offer to reduce the price 5% if you buy.

It appears today's price is $41 per 100 delivered. They'll often get $3-4 cheaper then that if you're willing to wait.