Is it TRUE?, Princo!

[Mdanner423]

Hey,

After reading and reading, I have heard all about Princo's going bad after months. Why and How does this happen? Even keeping them in a dark cool place they degradate? Do they not have to go to some sort of standard or anything? I am archiving about 50 vhs tapes to DVD that are home movies, I have one copy on Princo and one copy on soon to be Ritek G03, has anyone had a Ritek go bad on them yet? Ive always thought of DVD-Rs lasting much longer then VHS tapes, but months is horrible!

[defense]

First, it's simple, DON'T BUY PRINCO. Who cares why it happens..it just does happen to many. That should tell you to consider other options...ESPECIALLY if you are talking about valuable home VHS tapes. But to answer your question it has to do with the quality of the disk in general. I learned a lot of times things that are "cheap" money wise, are also CHEAP QUALITY WISE. However, this does NOT always hold true. There are also times were things are "INEXPENSIVE" and are of Excellent Quality. ACCU & Ritek appear to be the two blank DVD media which is equal to the standard, more expensive media manufacturers. The reason those Princo's do what they do is probably because of CHEAP manufacturing and crappy dye/ and dye methods.

Alot of people on here refer to ACCU and RITEK as "CHEAP" media, but I think that is a very poor choice of words, because they are far from "cheap." ACCU and RITEK are "INEXPENSIVE" forms of media, and have great Quality. Choose one of those two brands and you should be happy.

[SLK001]

As far as I'm concerned, Princos are crap, have always been crap and will probably always be crap. If you really value your collection, consider paying a little extra for media with some standards.

[Dcent]

What about those Princo "made by TDK" (Princo Data/Video General use 2X)

... had no problem until now !

Shouldn't we see the REAL manufacture with AdvIndo ?!

[LanEvo7]

Those "TDK" made Princo's are not made by TDK. Princo stole TDK's ID and put it on their crappy media so it would burn at 2x. I don't even think there is a difference between the 1x and 2x Princo media. Its just a difference in speeds because of the fake tags. My Cendyne 105 came with Princo's, but I've learned my lesson regarding cheap media from CMC CDR's.

BTW, Cheap describes quality. Inexpensive describes price. People just like to use both words interchangably.

[defense]

BTW, Cheap describes quality. Inexpensive describes price. People just like to use both words interchangably.

Not quite...if you refer to a person as being CHEAP, you definitely aren't referring to Quality. Cheap is used to describe a monetary value AND Quality. What people need to realize is that there is A TITANIC difference between the two words. To say that Princo media is CHEAP AND CHEAP would be a very accurate statement.

[LanEvo7]

Not quite...if you refer to a person as being CHEAP, you definitely aren't referring to Quality. Cheap is used to describe a monetary value AND Quality. What people need to realize is that there is A TITANIC difference between the two words. To say that Princo media is CHEAP AND CHEAP would be a very accurate statement.

Well, we were all talking about DVD MEDIA, so cheap would be refering quality. Your definition is right, but thats closer to a dictionary definition.

Also, Quality does not mean compatibility. Princo's discs have great compatiblity, but it is of poor quality. Certain discs are of great quality, but poor compatibility. The best discs have the best of both worlds and also the most expensive.

[spidey]

Hey Guys.

I am definately a little confused on this. I had thought that Princo's were thought of in good regard as a good cheap media. Have any of you definately had them go bad out of the blue ? All the reviews I've read and the normal user ranting seemed to say get those or ritek's ?

I'm definately concerned as I've put alot of stuff on Princo's, and if the things go bad in a few months, I'll go nuts.

If anyone has any more info or concrete examples, I'd love to hear them, and we should update the dvdr media review board.

The discs that I have are identified by this.

00 42 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 50 00 02 98 0C 13 .B...@....P.....
76 78 80 00 03 50 52 49 4E 43 4F 00 04 00 00 00 VX...PRINCO.....
00 00 00 00 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 ................


Thanks Guys

[Bob W]

I went through a batch of 100 Princo 1x with zero burn problems and none have gone bad to my knowledge.

[dbaker6165]

i dont know what u all r talkin about.. i have had my princo dvd-r's since january and they dont seem to mess up for me... Then again I actually care about my dvd's and I alone is allowed to touch my dvd's and if they scratch its my fault... I have not had any touble with my dvd-r ... not even a buffer underun... I use the sony dvd-r.... but i will check into this since alot of people in this forum seems to hate princo with a passion... thanx all!

[i-on-s]

I bought a 50 pack of princo for like 25$ and ive burned about 28 so far and have'nt had one coaster or bad story about them yet. They are the white top 1X discs

i guess i have gotten lucky so far

[Joe328]

I used about 4 100 spindles 1x. No problem at all. But don't use the 2x there are a few bad batches. They write but not all drives can read them.

[LanEvo7]

I haven't actually tried the Princo's first hand, but if you read the DVD Media list, more than one person has problems with their Princo's becomming unreadable/semi unreadable after a period of about a year.

[dcsos]

Anyone elso have the following:
I get great burns with PRINCO, but IDENTIFICATION of the WHITE UNBRANDED 1X BURNT DISCS takes at least two times as long in at least 3 settops tried...
That is the Princos are good media they don't stutter -once they play -and they're alway recognized...but sometimes take 25 seconds or more to read as "A DISC" in the settop world..

I'VE EVEN seen the identical phenomenon- with good burns in a -PC PLAYBACK SITUATION?

50 princos good here no deterioration....
(DVD-R's and the DRU-500 using NERO or DVDxCopy))

[Mdanner423]

Hey,

Thanks for all the responses. Looks like I'm going to make a copy of all the princo's onto RITEK's just to be on the safe side. Then for future projects I will buy Ritek whenever RIMA gets them back in stock,they seem to have the best deals, but there seems to be a shortage of these discs.