Memorex Media Problems? Or my drive...

[Gurm]

I have a Plextor 504A. Worked like a champ up until last week.

The LAST Fuji 2.4x +R on the spindle had an issue. I don't know if it was the PC or the disc or the burner. The Verbatim I pulled from my stack of singles worked fine.

Then I got a pack of Memorex 4x +R's at Best Buy. They were cheap. But they're not really 4x's, the drive and DVDInfo see them as 2.4x's DAMN MEMOREX. Fine. So...

I have had 3 of them now fail on me at various points in the process.

The first one wouldn't even start burning with either Nero or RecordNow (RN6.5DX, which I don't trust as much as 4.5), it just failed right away with a power calibration error.

Now I've done two movie burns and a data burn. One of the movie burns (from a folder on the hard drive) worked fine. The other one AND the data burn both resulted in "power calibration error" at the END of the burn, and "failed to close disc-at-once session" in Nero.

Are these media just UTTER CRAP, and I should take the bulk of them back to Best Buy and demand my money back (there are Imation for the same cheap price at Staples this week, or maybe I'll just break down and order 100 Riteks)? Or is there maybe something up with my drive? I wouldn't even suspect anything but the media, if the last Fuji on the spindle hadn't gooned up. But it was the LAST disc, and could have been dusty or scratched or whatever.

Mind you, the Verbatims from my pile of individually-wrapped singles (from back before Verbatim started to suck) all seem to work flawlessly.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Quick note - even after the "failed to finish disc-at-once", the dvd's do seem to work properly...

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Bump?

[uberwrensch]

Howdy,

I'm using the same media, possibly. I've been getting the 25 packs of Memorex 4x from Amazon. My burner--NEC 1100A--sees and burns at 4x using DVDecrypter and Nero and Alcohol.

Anyway, when I got my first batch months ago I, too, had issues with it failing to finish and power calibration errors. However, I read somewhere in some forum this dude saying he puts the discs in the sunlight or something like that. Weird, yeah.

Well, I don't put the discs in the sun, but when I place the discs in the drive I don't burn right away. I wait maybe a minute or two before actually burning. Not a single problem thereafter. Go figure.

So, unfortunately this kind of prevents me from making multiple copies within Nero at one sitting--you know the burn dialog where you can specify the number of copies to burn?

Hope that helps.

Uber

[Bob W]

I also bought the 25 Memorex 4X media from BestBuy except in my case they were DVD-R. None of these discs work in either my Sony or pioneer drives so I have been using them slowly in my Panasonic DVD recorder and burning at 1x. I would try another brand of media.

[terrya64]

I use nothing except memorex dvd+r's and they work perfect in my Sony settop player.

[Gurm]

I'm thinking about taking it back and getting the 25-pack of Imation DVD+R's for the same price at Staples, these Memorex have been nothing but terrible... which is odd, because the memorex 10-pack (in cases) I bought when I first got my burner were just fine!

- Gurm

[budz]

Gurm said:

I'm thinking about taking it back and getting the 25-pack of Imation DVD+R's for the same price at Staples, these Memorex have been nothing but terrible... which is odd, because the memorex 10-pack (in cases) I bought when I first got my burner were just fine!

I had the same problem like you with Memorex DVD+R media. I burned one coaster and I returned it to COMPUSA. I purchased the IMATION DVD+R for the same price at Office Depot. I used DVDINFO PRO & found out he batch of Memorex DVD+R I had was manufactured by CMC. The IMATION DVD+R are RICOH and they burn at 8x on my Plextor 708A burner.

[defense]

@ Gurm, sounds like you have a laser problem with your Plextor. The reason it seems like your burner is because of BOTH the Fuji and Memorex issues. Memorex +R disks are not CMC manufactured and are of higher quality then their -R's. The reason bobw has had problems with the -R disks is because it's been said for 6 months easy on the media board that the -R CMC Memorex disks are complete crap.

Also, are you sure the Memorex disks aren't really 4x? I have some Memorex 4X+R disks and they are Ricoh Manufactured. What is the media id of your disks? Also, do they say 4X on the disk themselves? I have to look at one of my Memorex..but i'm almost positive the top side says 4x +R. Even a 4x disk will have a write strategy of 2.4x usually.

[Gurm]

They say 4x, but the write strategy is 2.4x, and Nero won't let me pick 4x to burn.

Laser problem on the Plextor, you say? That really sucks. Might be time to cash in on the ol' warranty.

- Gurm

[defense]

They say 4x, but the write strategy is 2.4x, and Nero won't let me pick 4x to burn.

Laser problem on the Plextor, you say? That really sucks. Might be time to cash in on the ol' warranty.

Man, that's really an oddity. I can understand the box saying 4x and getting a different speed disk inside by mistake...but your disks say 4x. I would of just returned those as soon as I saw that....but if you got a small quantity..like 25 or less...it isn't the end of the world.

Do those disks have a Ricoh manufacturer id gurm? And just curious...what was the media id of the Fuji disks that didn't burn?

Fuji has some solid manufacturers of their media...same as Memorex with their +R format disks. Seems too peculiar you'd have the same issues with two brands of solid media, and have it more then once. My first DRU-510A had a defective laser...so it's defitely possible. The laser also could be out of alignment...but if you see this happen again..i'd definitely send it in quick and get that warranty into affect.

[MysticE]

As was said you must have an identifier app to know who really makes the discs. DVD Info, or DVD Decrypter, Nero and many others will work. Grab CD Speed (it identifies) and run a transfer rate test on your burns. When you find a brand that reads well stick with it. Verbatim for one uses at least 4 sources for their discs (Taiyo Yuden, CMC, Ritek, MCC) so saying Verbs work doesn't really help.
http://www.cdspeed2000.com/

Find a disc that shows well in the read test and stay with it. One size does not fit all.

A great result should look like this (it doesn't have to be quite so perfect):

[budz]

defense wrote:

Gurm, sounds like you have a laser problem with your Plextor. The reason it seems like your burner is because of BOTH the Fuji and Memorex issues. Memorex +R disks are not CMC manufactured and are of higher quality then their -R's.

The memorex DVD+R 4x speed media I purchased from COMPUSA the day after thanksgiving were in deed CMC. Used DVD INFO PRO to find out who the manufactuer was and it said CMC. I am not the only one who had these crappy memorex DVD+R 4X speed discs. On other forum sites the same thing was posted about memorex DVD+R 4X SPEED being manufactured by CMC. I got a full refund from COMPUSA and purchased IMATION (RICOH) DVD+R 4X speed from OFFICE DEPOT for the same price of the memorex. The IMATION burns 8X on my PLEXTOR 708A.

[defense]

@ budz, if you do some research you'll realize like many others..the media id of a disk means pretty much zilch in many instances. Just because the media id says one manufacturer..doesn't mean that manufacturer actually produced those disks. If I ask you right now who manufactured those Memorex disks you're referring to...I guarantee that you'll be wrong. I was just asking the media id because I was curious.

I hadn't heard that Memorex had CMC produced +R disks until now. You're the first person AFAIK who has claimed to purchase Memorex 4x +R CMC media id disks. The other hundred or so people who have posted on the media section have said their +R Memorex have a RICOH media id while the -R's have a CMC media id. My experiences have also been the same. All of my Memorex 4X +R disks which I purchased in 10 pack jewel cases all have a media id of Ricoh.

I think you may be confusing the two formats. If by chance Memorex does have CMC manufacture some of their +R disks,...then that goes with what I said many months back..which is that you can't say one specific brand is solid and one is crap and go on that alone forever, because on any given day it can change.

If, in fact Memorex does have CMC producing some or now all of their +R media..then they've probably pulled a Verbatim and are being penny wise, dollar foolish. The long term consequences would be more adverse to Memorex because unlike Verbatim, Memorex would have CMC manufacturing their -R and +R disks...so their reputation would go straight down the toilet. At least Verbatim still has a few solid media manufacturers of their media.

[Gurm]

Is it bad when DVD Info Pro (latest version) says the manufacturer ID code cannot be read?

I'm beginning to have DEFINITE suspicions about this Plextor drive.

Too bad, since Plextor seems to be one of those "ship us your drive with some money and when we get damn good and ready we'll ship it back to you refurbed" companies.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

Ok, maybe NOT. This gets weirder and weirder!

The Verbatim I just burned 100% successfully comes up fine in DVDInfo, and is indeed a RICOHJPNR00.

Ok, maybe you can't do it on a blank disc, because one of the Memorexes I burned came up...

CMC MAG F01

Wow.

Ok, so these are just going back. They're just shit media.

The Fuji that burned wrong was the bottom on on the spindle. I went through a 25-spindle with NO problems, the bottom one could have been scratched, or dusty, or what-have-you.

I'm gonna exchange this media before I get too bent out of shape.

- Gurm

[Gurm]

This helps confirm BUDZ' contention that there are, in fact, CMC +R's from Memorex, and that they suck donkey ****.

- Gurm

[DeleriumMDK]

CMC is now doing Memorex DVD+R's?! Ok...question. How many discs did you buy, and was it a spindle? I'm still seeing the 10 packs in DVD cases, usually for $20 at my local wholesale place and they appear to be identical to the last 2 of these 10 packs I picked up...are these packages safe, its just the spindles that are CMC made? I love these 4X Memorex +R's so much and I'd hate to have to stop buying them out of fear that I'm gunna be getting CMC discs.

[Gregg]

I've burned a dozen of Memorex 4X DVD-Rs on my SONY DRU500AX f2.0c at 4X without any problems so far. Got them from Best Buy for ~$60 the spindle of 50 pcs.

Enjoy!

[JasonK]

Memorex DVD-R are the only media I have had problems with.

[defense]

@ Gurm....that really does suck that Memorex has CMC manufacturing their +R disks now too. Well, like I said a long time ago....you just can't say "X" is great and "X" is shit....because at any time it can change. I don't know what Memorex gets per disk..but I'm sure they get more per disk from CMC then they do Ricoh. Too bad they don't give a shit about quality though.

I can't believe CMC has so much market share and they are so crappy. My crappiest disk experiences have all been with CMC manufactured disks as well.....unreal.

As far as DVDINFOPRO goes...some drives like the Sony and Ricoh drives can read from a blank piece of media....your Plextor doesn't..that's why it has to be burned first.

[Gurm]

Yeah, I just burned 3 discs in a row onto RICOH-manufactured Verbatim media. D'oh!

- Gurm

P.S. The media I bought from Memorex was a SPINDLE of 25 discs. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like at least for these spindles, Memorex is using CMC now.

[GKar]

All the Memorex +R 4x I have used (over 200) have burned fine and were all RICOHJPNR01. Never run into one that was CMC. Maybe a regional thing?

[ipgpe13]

I just picked up a couple of 25 packs Memorex DVD+R from Staples in NY, on sale. Both spindles are Richo and I burned a couple already at 4X on my Sony drx500ulx.

I bought a 50 pack of these at CompUSA a few months ago which were Richo as well. I have had no problems with ther Memorex 4X from Richo.

[Gurm]

It's either a regional thing or a "Best Buy wanted umpteen million spindles by the day after tomorrow so we shipped shitty discs" thing.

Either way, I'll be returning the discs and giving them shit about this.

- Gurm

[klintman]

what firmware is the plextor running?

[Gurm]

1.01, which to all appearances is the latest.

Like I said, if I tell it to burn at 4x it fails right at the beginning.

Nero won't even let me pick 4x at all, and fails at the end.

The discs that fail at the end seem to work ok... *knock wood*

- Gurm

[noki]

i have used Memorex + media and all have been Ricoh.

budz
how do you know what speed the Imation DVDRs are before you buy them? i cannot see any speed indications on their wrappers (spindle or individuals). that's why i stay away from them; and the workers at the stores don't know either. OfficeMax has 25-pak spindles for $19.99 this week here. great deal if they're 4x but i don't want any 2x stuff.

[Gurm]

At less than a buck apiece, I'll take 2x!

And I'll just save up and order some G04's.

- Gurm

[QuaiBoy]

Or buy the Imation 2x and set them burning when you are about to leave the house. I keep TDK 2x that I get cheap for that purpose. Then buy G04s or TY for quick backups.

Just a thought,
-Evan-