dvdsteve2000

Best Buy, CC, etc... are very high priced. What is a good deal for these from a 'reliable' retailer? Is it even worth going with the duals considering how dirt cheap DVD-5's are?

Thanks,

~S2

emoxley

I remember reading that the DVD-R DL discs are still having issues. Your best bet is probably to use the DVD+R DL's. Those can be booktyped to DVD Rom, and be more compatible with standalone players. Unless your player is a very new model, it may not play a -R DL disc.

If you want to use the -R DL's, you can try these sites:
http://www.supermediastore.com
http://www.rima.com
http://www.meritline.com
http://www.newegg.com

Best Buy occasionally puts their Verbatim +R DL's on sale (10 pk. for $20)
For DL's, I only use Verbatim brand, made in Singapore. Don't bother with the ones made in India.

Good luck!

WepaMan

I just bought a 100 pack Sony DVD-R spindle for $24 at Best Buy. The +R's were the same price.

Thrush

I'm pretty sure those werent Dual layer.

dvdsteve2000

Thanks guys. OK, I can use +R's also. I figured -R's were the more popular (for some reason), and I didn't know about the issues with the -R's. Thanks for the heads up.

WepaMan

You are correct, damn my ADHD... didn't see dual layer in the topic. I just saw DVD-R's and made the post.

Chew

When it comes to DL discs, I only buy Verbatim+R. It's the only brand of DL I've never had a single issue with.

AGuyNamedMike

Here's an acceptable deal on a Verbatim 20 disc cake box of +R DLs for $35 shipped from Newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817130008

TheBang

For single layer, -R is your best bet. For dual layer, +R is your best bet.

And yeah, I echo the comments about the Verbatim DL discs. Never had a problem with them.

Although this week, Best Buy has TDK +R DL discs on sales, 25 discs for $35. Not a bad price. I generally like TDK media, but have never tried their DL discs.

Double Down

Can you explain why you think -R is better for single layer?

I've been using +R for single layer and have never had a problem, so I'm curious to know why you think -R is better.

hdtv00

Because its slightly more compatible with stand alone dvd players is why I use it instead. Better...who knows, better write strats maybe.

But really like always better always comes down to YOUR actual drive, and how it handles certain media.

emoxley

Actually +R is more compatible with players, if booktyped to DVD Rom.
If your burner isn't capable of booktyping, the -R is better. Here is some info on booktyping: http://www.k-probe.com/bitsetting-booktype-faq.php

Here is a very good read, about why +R is superior to -R. It gets pretty technical. Enjoy!
http://www.cdfreaks.com/reviews/Why-...ior-to-DVD-RW/

Timber

Just look in the ads every week. I think BB has a 25 pack for $34.99 this week. Last week I got a 20 pack for $29.99. Brands aren't important to me anymore as I don't have problems with any of the specific brands. BB or CompUsa usually has a 20 or 25 pack of some brand on sale every week.

emoxley

If you haven't experienced problems yet, you will, a few months down the road. You'll put a movie in to watch, and it will pixellate and freeze. The sound will hang and stutter. You'll wonder why it won't play all of a sudden. These will be the ones burned to sorry media such as Memorex, TDK, Khypermedia, and most store brands of discs.

If you don't believe me, go to the forums at http://forums.afterdawn.com/ and read for yourself, the experiences folks are having, with bad media. Enjoy the read, if you decide to check it out..............

Timber

I burn a lot and about a third-half of my stuff is on Memorex. I haven't run into a problem. I know my old DVD player used to not do the layer change on the DL discs but I'm not sure if that was brand specific.

Oh, are you saying that over time a disc that is good now will go bad on me? That is entirely possible but I guess I'll see.

GHackmann

Yes. Unlike factory pressed discs, burnt discs have a dye which decomposes over time, eventually rendering the disc unreadable. Depending on who manufactured the disc, a disc's lifetime can range from months to decades.

Nearly all discs sold in brick 'n' mortar shops are poor to middling quality, with a few notable exceptions (like Verbatim). Unbranded ones tend to be the worst, but buying a well-known brand name doesn't always guarantee anything. I've seen Sony CD-Rs that broke down while they were still shrinkwrapped.

emoxley

I'm sorry....................

TheBang

I had a whole spindle of Memorex CD-R's turn unreadable in less than 6 months. Never bought them again after that.

mather

With discs going bad over time, actually it's worse with re-writables from what I've read.

DVD Polizei

RW's stay away from. Period. By nature, they suck ass.

As to DL media, Shop4tech has their own media brand, Matrix (+R), which has been doing me just fine and is probably just as good as those others which are more expensive.

GreenMonkey

Agreed

I had a DVD-R pressed by the folks that taped our wedding in Vegas. When we got home I immediately ripped it to two different HDDs and also burned a copy to a Ritek 2x DVD-R (what I was using at the time). The original disk was pixellating and freaking out when I put it in the player only 6 months later.

Even some of the better media can be problematic.