Anyone ever heard of Sonix brand DVD-R's -- Great deal on em

[Hoagie_one]

If they are any good that is.

http://store.yahoo.com/supermediastore/sonix-4x-dvd-r-media.html

[Bob W]

Seems to be some good prices all over for media these days but you never know who really is the manufacturer. Here is another good price for 4x media http://www.yesbuy.net/4xdvdr100pcs1.html

[jgandara]

Bob have u tried those?

[ebenton]

Imation makes a CD labeler kit that they call "Sonix". So I wonder if these are Imation disks? If so, you can look them up in the media section of this website.

[sakamoto]

Last week, before placing my order, I've searched everywhere on the web for any information on this Sonix brand of DVD-R but found none, not even one thread (well, except for vendors who carry the brand). So I decided to take a chance and order 200 pieces.

I have just received them a couple days ago and my first impression of it is that the disc seems to be very light and transparent. You can actually see thru it. There seems to be no coating on the top side. I am a die-hard Princo user and I am used to its solid white top so this is sort of strange for me. I am even afraid to write on it (Sonix) lest it might damage the disc. Packaging was crappy. The discs were shrink wrapped per 100. The Sonix disc has AN32 4X lasered on the inner rim (DVDInfo also reported AN32). I went to search for AN32 and found that there is another brand called "Sky" that has the same media code AN32 (www.yesbuy.net).

The cakes of Sonix I received have QC labels on them with some Chinese characters; that tells me it's from Asia (actually aren't most of them?). Enough of the way it looks. Now how it performs....

I have both Pioneer and Sony burners (A03, A04, A05, A06 & 500A) - all USB2/1394 units. I can tell you right now my Sony doesn't like it (then again it doesn't really like anything I feed it and I still regret that I bought it). With the Princo 4X, at least the Sony will burn it, granted that it'd only do it at 2X. With this Sonix, the Sony would just give me an error (initializing) and eject. I tried different versions of firmware (1.0g, 2.0f, 2.0g) with the same failure. Finally, I hit home with 1.0D firmware. I now can burn at 4X though I have yet to verify its play back. This is the first time ever that I am able to do 4X with the Sony. Now, my friend also has a Sony but his still has the original 2.0C firmware on it and it burns fine but only at 2X.

Next is the Pioneer. As usual, 4X blanks ALWAYS burn at 4X (A05 & A06) and this Sonix is no exception. In fact, it seems to be smoother (I can't explain what that means but it's just a feeling). After a successful burn, I didn't have time to play thru the whole disc (on my set-top players) but I did skim thru all the chapters from begin to end and it looked fine.

That's about the extent of my experience with Sonix so far. I hope this information helps and I will post more when I get a chance to experiment some more. I would have posted this sooner but this forum doesn't let me post until a day after registration.

As mentioned earlier, as of today 10/17, Yesbuy is selling the "Sky" (AN32) media at $63/100. Do a search in all of Dvdrhelp forums for "AN32" and you can find more information there. I am pretty sure it is the same as Sonix as the descriptions fit. I paid $.75 a disc for Sonix from Supermedia. Can't get any better than $.63 if "Sky" is in fact the same as "Sonix".

[Hoagie_one]

I look forward to hearing more about it, be sure to report your findings at the DVD media list to teh left

[sakamoto]

I just wanted to add a comment before someone rushes out to get them "Sky" discs. My friend has just bought some and though Sky and Sonic do appear to be the same with the media code and all, Sky discs got ejected on his Sony 510 (f/w 1.0D) and coaster burning on Sony 500 (f/w 1.0D) - as opposed to all was well before with Sonix.

[Bob W]

I just wanted to add a comment before someone rushes out to get them "Sky" discs. My friend has just bought some and though Sky and Sonic do appear to be the same with the media code and all, Sky discs got ejected on his Sony 510 (f/w 1.0D) and coaster burning on Sony 500 (f/w 1.0D) - as opposed to all was well before with Sonix.

I don't know about the Sky 4x media but I did buy 100 of the Sky 2x. So far I have burned about half of them some on my Sony DRU500ax and some on my Pioneer 105 and not one coaster plus they burn at 2x on both burners (both burners have the original firmware). I'm going to buy another 100 of them since the price is only $57.

[sakamoto]

Can't go wrong with $.57 a pop though ever since I had a taste for 4X, I can't go back. Few months ago, I was paying $1 each for Princo 2X. But I must say, at a slower speed, playback would be more stable.

I just came back to supermedia for a lookie and their price for the Sonix 4X has dropped down to $72/100. So far the Sonix that I burnt played back fine on my Apex 1500 & Panasonic players. I did a lot of chapter skipping and forward/rewind on the disc and it seemed to take it pretty well.

This weekend I will test it on the rest of my set tops. I am just happy that I found some cheap media that would burn 4X on the Sony 500A. I have an urge to hoard up some more but I still have 150 left. By the time I am done, the price probly drops down even more.

[sakamoto]

Could this be the same Sky?
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/skymedia/index.html

[Bob W]

Could this be the same Sky?
http://www.digit-life.com/articles2/skymedia/index.html

WTF something thats not made in Japan or China, impossible.

Well I like the 2x Sky DVD-R and so does my Sony and Pioneer burners. Now I'm almost out of them so I think what I'm going to do is buy the 4X Sky for $0.63 per 100 and hope they work as well as the 2x did for me.

[sakamoto]

Bob, my friend just gave me 3 Sky 4X blanks to try out. I compared its media info and Sonix and they are exactly the same.

The first two then went in my Pioneer A05 & A06 and I had no problems burning & playing back.

The third went in my Sony 500A/1.0D and for 6 min. the drive was making this spin-up/spin-down noise struggling while the drive's orange light stayed lit (normally when writing this light goes on and off) and the progress bar stayed still. I could feel that it was suffering and didn't want to risk damaging it so I aborted the burn and ended up with a coaster.

My friend has the Sony 510 and with the 2 f/w versions that he tried, the drive just simply rejected the disc. I could imagine it's like-wise with the Sony 500A & all f/w versions (except 1.0D) since I have already went thru this with Sonix. A note with Sonix discs: when burnt with Pioneer I have no or little problems reading back (re-rip using DVD-ROM) while if burnt by Sony, re-ripping success is from 0 to none.

I am thinking of getting them 4X Sky discs for $.63 too but it'll strictly be for the Pioneer. I think I will put away my Sony until there's a cure for it.

Please post what you find when you get your 4X Sky. Thanks.

[Bob W]

My Sony DRU-500ax has no problems with the 2x Sky discs. The rev on my Sony is 2.0f I think.

Bob, my friend just gave me 3 Sky 4X blanks to try out. I compared its media info and Sonix and they are exactly the same.

The first two then went in my Pioneer A05 & A06 and I had no problems burning & playing back.

The third went in my Sony 500A/1.0D and for 6 min. the drive was making this spin-up/spin-down noise struggling while the drive's orange light stayed lit (normally when writing this light goes on and off) and the progress bar stayed still. I could feel that it was suffering and didn't want to risk damaging it so I aborted the burn and ended up with a coaster.

My friend has the Sony 510 and with the 2 f/w versions that he tried, the drive just simply rejected the disc. I could imagine it's like-wise with the Sony 500A & all f/w versions (except 1.0D) since I have already went thru this with Sonix. A note with Sonix discs: when burnt with Pioneer I have no or little problems reading back (re-rip using DVD-ROM) while if burnt by Sony, re-ripping success is from 0 to none.

I am thinking of getting them 4X Sky discs for $.63 too but it'll strictly be for the Pioneer. I think I will put away my Sony until there's a cure for it.

Please post what you find when you get your 4X Sky. Thanks.

[Airr]

Ordered 100pack @ $72 from Meritline.

So far over 30 4x burns with no probs using a DVR-105.

Plays fine on every standalone player I've tried so far....haven't tried Xbox or PS2 yet.

AIR.

[valterroque]

I am from Europe and used sky CDrs before, and have the experience of
after some time some of the "paint" of recording layer not be there anymore.
Maybe they got better in quality.
I also got myself a SKY DVD-RW the othet day and its make by Princo.

[Legolas]

does anybody know if these discs work well on pioneer A03 too?