Few questions about printable media,media quality, and burning strategy

[Tsunamijhoe]

I was told that my verbatim DVD-R 16X Printable MCC would not last as long when i print on them in terms of storage life,is this true (use Epson R300 with cheapo ink)? I read the threads about longeveity on this site and would think that they were made for this,so no need to worry,am i right in my conclusion?

Secondly,i wanted to test my media quality and read the media test for noobs,and used nero dvd-cd speed to do it on my pioneer 110D,but got some really bad results for the verbatim discs.. How vital is it to use either a plextor,benQ or a Lite-on for the test as suggested in the test guide? Is the result reliable when i ran the tests on the drive that burned the discs? I got very high PI errors at 16X burns in the 900 range average,and about 1.13 average in PI failures.. I did the same test on same medie on same drive with discs burned at 8x and got a bit lower PI errors in the 500 range,and higher PI failures about 2,1. Last but not least i tested my Traxdata 4x DVD-RW and Traxdata 8x DVD-R (Ritek G05 dye)and they pass with flying colors according to the test, meaning PI errors lower than 60 and PI failures under 1.. Are these results reliable,and therefore an indication of readability in terms of storage life?

Last but not least, does one get better results in burns when writing at lower speeds,or do the discs need to be burned at nominated speed to get best burn results,not only test wise,but also playability wise?

Any answers would be appreciated

[Tsunamijhoe]

anyone?

[VegasBud]

Tsunamijhoe,

Printing on printable dvds won't affect the media longevity. The surface you print on sits on top of the upper polycarbonate layer of the dvd "sandwich".

A few years ago I bought a LiteOn drive because everybody was using them to test PI/PO of their burns. After lots of burns/testing, I lost interest, and the LiteOn died. About the only thing I found it really useful for is predicting when a RW disk has had enough. If you investigate it (many do), that's fine, but one of the reasons there is ECC on the dvds is to correct Inner Parity (PI) and Outer Parity (PO) errors, so it's kind of academic. No, it has no effect on media longevity.

Some people swear by using lower burn speeds. I just burn at whatever the drive and media support, and haven't run into any problems over the years. Feel free to do it whichever way you think best.

[Tsunamijhoe]

Thank you very much for that insightful answer,i will burn away at full speed,and keep on printing on them,as i thought i could.. One question more however,the ink used for printing if one uses 3rd party ink, the reason people told me not to do it was because the ink could "corrode" the print layer,and thus render the disc unusable,is there any hold to this claim?

[VegasBud]

Tsunamijhoe,

Third party ink is fine, and will not damage the dvd, impair it's useability, or shorten it's longevity.

[Tsunamijhoe]

thanks dude