Media Scans: Love them, or Hate them?

[Fandim]

After posting scans on a LOT of various media types, it seems quite a few people like posting every time how worthless scans are.

Personally - I take all scans with a grain of salt, and just post them for informational purposes, not endorsements of various media ID's etc. If nothing more than to see how a certain media ID burned with a certain burner at a certain speed, scanned on a certain drive.. I make no claims that the scans represent any accuracy - hey, I didnt write the software, or build the burner...Just ran the tests.

Scans are easy to come by on CDFreaks, sure, but rarely is it from a consistent source..(everyone just throwing their scans in, etc). I'd like to think that these scans offer a point of view from a steadier source, as I've made a post with archived links, for comparison on the same hardware at different speeds, and media ID's, scanned using the same method, and what not.

So, to get an overall idea if I should even keep posting the scans, I'll leave it up to the members of the community to decide.

How do YOU feel...?

[lordsmurf]

Grain of salt .. used alone.
Combine 3-4 tests to determine media quality.

[mats.hogberg]

Not interested. A scan is just that - a scan of one individual disc, from one individual burn. Had it been the average from 100 discs, I'd perhaps taken another look. Then, not many sales points make manufacturer ID available. So, I have to buy a 10-pack anyway, before I can find out what's "in the bag". Then I head over to nomorecosters.com to get the "bottom line". If I was unlucky, I know that for those 10 discs, I have to keep below 4.2 GB, if I'm lucky, I know that I can buy more of the same next time I'm out of discs, if they are still available (and on sale) then. As you can understand, I'm no "heavy consumer" - I might have another opinion, had media quality in some way been related to my profession.

/Mats

[Fandim]

Just for the record - lol - I voted for grain of salt..Not the 'taken as fact'. heh heh. If anyone has a particular kind of media ID they want me to scan/test, just PM me with where a 5pack etc can be purchased, and I'll try to get a scan done.

[chas0039]

They have proven extremely reliable in directing me to problems, and equally good at confirming a lack thereof. They are certainly not the Holy Grail, but they do tell me a lot about what is going on. Also they are very good at directing me towards media that will be lokely to work well with my burner. In my opinion, one of the things this site lacks is a place to post media scans. Some of use know of fandim's work but to the new user it is inaccessible. CDfreaks has this and it is very usefull.

[pompoi]

Scans along with surface scan & transfer tests do influance my media purchase.

[Fandim]

The only problem I have with an area strictly for posting scans, is a lot of the people who post scans on CDFreaks etc, have very serious problems with their hardware configuration, or dont properly label their posts/scans.

Then there are always the people who try to only post the best scans possible, burn under quoted speed, for some kind of wierd 'my burner is better than yours' ego thing. And it becomes kind of a free-for-all frenzy of posts, and can even mislead newer members into thinking that the scans should be taken as fact, etc.

As it is right now, a few members here post scans on a regular basis, and is almost more reliable, knowing their hardware config, and seeing the good scans, as well as the bad...

Honestly, the boards on CDFreaks.com just give me a headache sifting through all those scans, half of them done with the wrong settings and such, so I rarely even post my scans there.

Seth

[lordsmurf]

I agree with fandim's assessment of cdfreaks.
Some real nerds there, waste of time to read their posts.

[RickTheRed]

They should be taken with a grain of salt but overall,
they will help you choosing the right media for your burner.

I do not look at cdfreaks for the same reasons.
I look at online reviews.

[fritzi93]

Lord Smurf summed it up well. And I don't bother either with looking at the scans they post at cdfreaks. [Yawn] Others sections there are valuable, however, like firmware pages.

[sunderland]

sorry for butting in but could someone give me a programme for ID my media codes thanks

[Fandim]

You can use.. DVDInfo Pro, Nero CD-DVD Speed, and DVD Decrypter...just to name a few. I'd recomend DVDInfo Pro, or the freeware (With advertising, but not spyware or adware), DVDInfo. CD-DVD Speed is free, too, as is Decrypter.

Seth

[sunderland]

thanks fandim will give it a try

[chas0039]

The only problem I have with an area strictly for posting scans, is a lot of the people who post scans on CDFreaks etc, have very serious problems with their hardware configuration, or dont properly label their posts/scans.

Then there are always the people who try to only post the best scans possible, burn under quoted speed, for some kind of wierd 'my burner is better than yours' ego thing. And it becomes kind of a free-for-all frenzy of posts, and can even mislead newer members into thinking that the scans should be taken as fact, etc.

As it is right now, a few members here post scans on a regular basis, and is almost more reliable, knowing their hardware config, and seeing the good scans, as well as the bad...

Honestly, the boards on CDFreaks.com just give me a headache sifting through all those scans, half of them done with the wrong settings and such, so I rarely even post my scans there.

Seth

You have summed up pefectly why I would like to see a section specifically devoted to scans on this forum.

[RickTheRed]

chas,
Why would it be different here?
What would you suggest to avoid the problems
that Fandim described?
I would hate to see another mandatory kprobe scan section. This is only good for liteon business.
I would suggest cd-dvd speed. Free and no obligation to purchase a liteon drive.
Opinion?

[chas0039]

RickTheRed,

I would also not want to limit it to Kprobe, although I have seen some problems with CDSpeed. I would also want to see Plextools and DVD Info Pro.

We could never stop all problems but this forum does seem to have a few posters who are reliable and trustworthy and less prone to bias. These people don't currently post scans over at CDfreaks, although I noticed fandim is there now so maybe this will change. Regardless of the problems, scans are useful when I want to see what a new media might look at if burned in my drive. Fewer people here seem to mess with hacked firmware so we would probably see more conventional burns.

The media section here is just not of any value other than to provide a directory of media codes. I have seen a wide variation of burn quality, all of which would play on some player or another so "playability" really tells me nothing.

We have problems in all of the forum sections here. That has never been a criteria for for inclusion or not. It should be whether or not it provides a source for useful information that adds to the general body of knowledge. Having scans scattered all over the forum is not as useful and helpful as centralizing. They are already here; no one suggests banning them; I am simply saying they should be easier to find.

[fritzi93]

The media section here is just not of any value other than to provide a directory of media codes. I have seen a wide variation of burn quality, all of which would play on some player or another so "playability" really tells me nothing.

All too true, sadly. http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm is much more reliable. The testing procedures are consistent, which is obviously not the case for the media section here. I don't pay attention to the comments or compatibility ratings, they are too much at variance with my own experience.

[RickTheRed]

Having scans scattered all over the forum is not as useful and helpful as centralizing. They are already here; no one suggests banning them; I am simply saying they should be easier to find.

I agree.

[Fandim]

I've been a member of cdfreaks for awhile...but no, I dont post scans there..just FYI.

Seth

[Skith]

One thing to stress, Scans can not, and should not be directly compared between different drives, even drives of the same brand/model. Scans done on one drive should only be compaired with other scans done on that same (physical) drive.

They can be useful for finding which media a drive may like (as stated in a few posts above). If you read from many of the more experienced users, there seems to be an agreement that transfer rate tests are more practical, as a drop in read speed is more likely to indicate a problem. What is interesting is when you get results from a PIPO scan matching with a transfer rate test (high number of errors at a spot where a slowdown occurs).

I posted, and followed many scan threads (especially concerning the modified Nec 3500A firmwares) untill I found the right match for the media I use.

My advice, don't get over concerned with scans, unless you have lots of POF popping up :O

[stiltman]

If it plays on my computer and on my standalone, Then the scan usually doesn't mean much at all. I just do a CRC test of the DVD/CD if I don't get an error and it plays, then it works for me

[mats.hogberg]

I'll go even one step further: "if I don't get an error and it plays, then it works for me" - take out the "I don't get an error and"!

/Mats