Bulk spindles of DVD discs - ok ? or stick with brand names

[logopro]

Hi all,

I know this is a general question and things differ much from brand to brand,
but I wish to know how many of you use the bulk spindles of DVD media and do they even compare to brand names like Sony and Maxell etc, which are so much more expensive ?

thanks in advance.

Mark

[SVCDummy]

I used to buy only Apple 2x media and Maxell DVD-R's.

Then I took a chance on a spindle of generics from PC Club which (on average) were a little less than HALF the cost of the other 2 brands I had been using.

I've only made 2 coasters in the many, many, many generic disks I've burned and when you take those 2 failures into the cost it still works out to less than half the cost of the major brands.

175 generic DVD-R's later... I'll not bother with major brands again.

That is however, only MY opinion and there may be better reasons provided by others for you to use the majors.

[Red96TA]

250+ generics from PC Club and only 1 bad disk....

go for it!!!

[Jimkis2000]

In my experience, I've actually had more problems with so-called name brands than with generics. Burning DVD-Pros and Accu, no problems. With Memorex and Imation, expensive coasters. This is using Panasonic burner in my computer and a Panasonic standalone. So I don't see the point in spending the money for name brands. Best results I've had with any media have been Be-Alls -- not the cheapest but certainly very reasonable.
So you don't always get what you pay for when it comes to digital media.

[i_am_dave]

Only thing I have bought in bulk is Verbatim. Had no problems with them so far.

My only concern is data life. Will a generic be playable 5 or 10 years from now?

[thayne]

Only thing I have bought in bulk is Verbatim. Had no problems with them so far.

My only concern is data life. Will a generic be playable 5 or 10 years from now?

Ritek DVD's have a 100 year rating, where memorex is only rated for 50.

All I use now is Ritek DVD+RW that I get in 50 peice spindles for $1.65 Ea.

[grunteled]

Where do they come up with these ratings? I mean how many DVDs pressed, burned or otherwise have been around even 10 or 15 years? What do they concider good, 10, 20, 30% dataloss?

My point is take those numbers with a grain of salt. They are manufacturer provided and the criteria for the numbers are often unknown.

G

[Solarjetman]

Where do they come up with these ratings?

I would gues they test them like many other products by running them 27-7 through DVD players. If it runs for 1,000 hours, and if the average DVD is played 20 hours a year, that would be a 50 year life.

They could also measure the decay of the pigments and extrapolate the amount of time it would take for it to decay past the point a reader could use it.

But you are correct, I too would take it with a grain of salt. But it is still better than VHS because ten years down the road, you can make an exact duplicate. You can't with VHS.

And after all, if you are still using that same disk 50 years in the future, I think it would be time to upgrade your comptuer!!

[txpharoah]

Stick with name brands, just realize RITEK and PRINCO and OPTODISC are brand names too, however these are companies that PRIMARILY make media, so if you are new to this, it's just the YOU'VE never heard of them.

Companies like IMATION, MEMOREX, SONY and FUJI just buy these name brands in bulk and stamp their own logos on them. Those companies actually make very little of the own products (though they do make some, just not blank media). They just buy other stuff and stamp their pretty logo on it, and most consumers never know the difference.

APPLE is a great brand, and though they don't make their own discs, they only buy the best, including PIONEER, MAXELL and MITSUBISHI. They're always a safe bet.

Don't get DVD PRO and HOUSE BRAND and PIODATA and other crap like that. This is the part where you've got to read and learn. There's a huge list of media in the DVD MEDIA list on the navigation bar on the left, and a forum dedicaed to DVD MEDIA. Sorry, but you're got to read it to learn. That's how I learned (by reading, not necessarily this site though).

[poopyhead]

my experiences in generic media..both CD-R and DVD-R seem that cheapo versions seem to be equally good as the more expensive ones...i've been using cheapo, 1x princo DVD-Rs...and have only made 1 coaster out of nearly 100.... 1 coaster was purely my own fault, as i crashed the comp during burning...otherwise, it's great...and only $0.81 each.

i've had much longer CD-R experiences....i've had cheapo (even generic, silver topped, non-branded whatsoever) CD-R that have lasted at least 3+ years.....while those taiyo uden "made in japan" discs gave me some problems during playback (blockiness glitches)..so even the expensive brands aren''t immune to problems...

in fact, as txpharoah pointed out...those expensive brands just stamp their names on media manufactured by other companies...so, it could be the case where you buy a DVD-R that was stamped with some big brand name, but ended up being manufactured by cheapo pinco and other brands....hence, those "made in XXXXXX" info is pretty important..as japan>taiwan>mexico seems to be the case...

[TBoneit]

I stick with bulk spindles of brand name disks myself. I've been using Verbatim & TDK in bulk and never have problems.

I Steer clear of no-name unbranded disks. I Learned my lesson with CD-R unbranded disks.

I burn 4X with 4X media and never have glitches in playback.
Search the forum for how many posts deal with bad playback on disks over 4GB useage. They seem to be low cost bargain disks or in some cases I suspect someone using patched firmware to burn 2X on 1X media.


I don't have to test my disks as soon as they are burned anymore as I know they work. You get what you pay for.

Good Luck

[tonyp12]

You did not tell if you need 4x DVD+R or not.

But if you do, both Target and Bestbuy had/have 4x for $1.50 each
for brand name TDK.

So why settle fot bulk, when the good stuff cost the same.

[poopyhead]

So why settle fot bulk, when the good stuff cost the same.

bulk doesn't quite cost the same....$0.81/DVD-R for bulk....if you burn nearly 100 DVD-Rs / month, i.e. me, then the price will add up....

------------

cheap media (i.e. price) doesn't always indicate quality....i'm sure they may not be as durable (but i've had my share of good quality, expensive branded media go bad)....

if you do get cheapo, bulk media, which i suggest you do if you plan on burning a sizable amount of them pretty quickly...if you only burn like 1 DVD-R/month...then, go for the more expensive ones...it's not good to keep the blank media just lying around if you buy in bulk and use rarely...

however, i've never had any significant problems with cheap media...always take really good care of them..(i.e. some common sense applies....1) don't play for 10 hrs straight..let them cool off...they are for archival purposes (i.e. not continous play, but once-in-awhile play) 2) keep them in sleeves or CD protectors...they go straight from these protectors to the DVD player and straight back... 3) no exposing to dust, scratches, sunlight... 4) apparently, in another forum...media should be stored vertically (something to do with warping) 5) apparently, cheap jewel cases may cause damage to your media because you will need to put extra pressure on the center ring of the media to pop it out of the jewel case....

if these guidelines aren't followed, of course cheapo media will have a higher chance to get ruined...but it's all common sense...so, most of the time anyone mentions cheapo media screwing up...they most likely didn't take good care of it...(and yes, even those cheap jewel cases may cause damage)

on a side note, i've left cheap media in the sunlight, scratched up badly, went through washer, collecting dust...guess what...they work even after a couple of years...so cheapo media can be resilient

[Bob W]

The only media I have had problems with have been "brand" names, like Verbatim and Apple. I will stick to Ritek 4x DVD-R or even Princo 4x and save some bucks.

[ASB]

I use Ritek x4 disks with my Cendyne A05 unit and have had no problems.
Have purchased from Meritline and Shop4tech with no issues.

[TBoneit]

Pooppyhead, you say 81cents for cheap media but what speed? When someone mentions that price I start thinking 1X.... Corrrect me if I'm wrong.

I just bought TDK on sale at $1.37 per with tax 4X speed. I've used em before and they are still working fine all the way to the edge.

Myself I would have trouble getting what I want done in the time I have to do it at 1X burn speed. So for me it is spend the little bit more for quality 4X and Burn in 15 minutes or don't don't get everything done.

Cheers

[BJ_M]

gone through maybe 10,000 riteks g03's here , bought in bulk , 500-1000 at a time .. plus couple 100 apple disks and some pioneer authoring disks..

no problems at all ..

[poopyhead]

Pooppyhead, you say 81cents for cheap media but what speed? When someone mentions that price I start thinking 1X.... Corrrect me if I'm wrong.

Myself I would have trouble getting what I want done in the time I have to do it at 1X burn speed. So for me it is spend the little bit more for quality 4X and Burn in 15 minutes or don't don't get everything done.

yes, they are 1X princo DVD-Rs for $0.81. however, that's at regular price...no sales.

btw, i've always prefered to burn at slow speeds...even though hacked firmware allows my pioneer to burn at 2x on any media...burning too fast can lead to some burning errors...

also, this really depends on how much you go through. on an avg. month, i might go through 100 of these...so the difference between $1.40 vs. $0.81 ends up being about $720/year.

personally, i don't see too dramatic of a quality difference between big brands and cheapos to justify the increase cost, as they are all "made in taiwan."...unless those TDKs are all "made in japan." only main difference is burning speed, and so far...my cheap media has faired just as well, if not better, than any name brand media i've used, including taiyo udens.