Cheap DVD+R Media at Bestbuy.com

[JoJo the Great]

Bestbuy.com has 50pack memorex DVD+R 16x for $15. Just thought I'd share. Sorry if this is the wrong forum for this.

[budz]

Yuck@Memorex media!

[JoJo the Great]

my poor a$$ can't be picky

[budz]

my poor a$$ can't be picky

Wait a few months/year and see if those memorex media will be readable. :P

[solidsnake]

i think staples had it at this price for a couple weeks last month. But there are always 15 dollar 50pk dvd media in the papers

[Prot]

Memorex: blech!
Staples has Sony on sale for same price.

[lordsmurf]

Memorsux
Never buy it, at any price. Not even worth taking for free.

[cyflyer]

my poor a$$ can't be picky

why bother joining these forums if you don't take advice from those that know FAR MORE than you about these things ? Heed the good advice given or give up trying to burn dvd's.

[krupted]

what bothers me is that companies are still allowed to manufacture discs that dont work. i could understand the first few years of cdr making, but come on there should be at least a minimun spec grade that at least allows most of the cheap media to hold up for some time, say least 5 years.

cheap media is an industry wide scam. cheap dvd's simply dont work, i dont understand how they can still sell them. most people i talk to think burning dvd's is a waste of time because they dont read or the skip most of the time. its sad.

[lordsmurf]

The problem is not to "hold up" but rather to burn good to begin with and have a good enough reflectivity to play most of the time.

Anyway, stupid people buy them. That's why they still sell.

[ROBERT BLACK]

Regardless of whether cheap generic media sells or not, they're still should be a minimum standards guarantee set by the industry. It's just about enough that we have to be extremely careful of proven brand names for fear that they''ll outsource to the lowest grade manufacturer on the planet with the next available shipment. I have to check media codes everytime I buy a spindle to be certain I'm buying quality product.

[Jester700]

Given that TY-made Sony +R media is regularly available at Staples for $15 per 50 on sale, I'm into just stocking up when needed. For last batch I even had a $10 off coupon - 150 TY discs for $35 ain't bad.

[RLT69]

my poor a$$ can't be picky

Yes your poor ass can be picky just get off you ass and do some research.

If you, like everyone, READS the ads you will know that EVERY WEEK some 50 pack of blank DVDs are on sale for $15. The following brands go on-sale on a regular basis:

SONY
FUJI
VERBATIUM

Typically BestBuy and CompUSA will have one of the above brands on sale - either in a 50 pack for $15 or a 100 pack for $30. Is some instances 25 packs for about $8.

So check the ads on Sunday and you'll know what brand is on sale. If you wait you will find a decent brand on sale.

Remember NEVER pay more than $15 for a 50 pack or $30 for a 100 pack.

:P

[Weeji]

What brands are considered "decent" that go on sale for $15 for 50?

[RLT69]

What brands are considered "decent" that go on sale for $15 for 50?

Tha brand name is irrelevant. It's the manufacturer Id that you're after. Unfortunately you pretty much need to buy a pack take it home and run DVD Info or DVD Indentifier on the disc to know what kind of media you have, that or do search on the product codes.

As other have pointed out, Memorex uses crap manufacturers. SONY, FUJI, VERBATIUM are usually good but it depends on the manufacturer they use.

Check out http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm for more details.

[TBoneit]

One other thing that could help. Look for the country of origin. Made in Japan should be fine no matter who. Verbatim is usually pretty good where ever it is made. Last disks I bought were Sony MIJ that are TYs. Before that I bought some Made in Taiwan Verbatims that are OK. OTOH many of the MIT aren't very good. I have had bad luck with Riteks DL discs unless I keep them under 7 GB and the whole point of a DL disc is to get 8+ GBs on it.

I should also mention that it depends on the burner. I have a Pioneer DVD recorder (531H) that works best with the Sony Discs.

[SCDVD]

There are a huge number of recorded DVDs sitting on people's shelves that will turn out to be a very sad surprise in the future for the people who recorded them. In many if not most cases, people who record them just stick them on their shelf to use at some future time. They just simply assume they are good. But then, one fine day they decide to watch the DVD and surprise! - it's no good. That's what the media hucksters are counting on. They have long since had people's money before the truth is known. I'm convinced that this crap media issue is much bigger than is yet know to most people.

[ROF]

my poor a$$ can't be picky

Wait a few months/year and see if those memorex media will be readable. :P

Going on five years now and my Memorex media reads the same today as it did when I burnt it. Good quality media at a good price. Staples has a 50 pack on sale for $14.88

[SCDVD]

I suggest caution to those who are reading this thread. The predominant opinion that suggests caution with respect to junk media represents a great deal of collective wisdom and experience. Ignore their advice at your own peril. There are those on this forum who enjoy "recreational equivocation". If someone says "A", they will say "B" just to get some kick out of the reaction. Others have some weird need to be an "expert" on everything when they are really full of hot air.

[ROF]

I suggest caution to those who are reading this thread. The predominant opinion that suggests caution with respect to junk media represents a great deal of collective wisdom and experience. Ignore their advice at your own peril. There are those on this forum who enjoy "recreational equivocation". If someone says "A", they will say "B" just to get some kick out of the reaction. Others have some weird need to be an "expert" on everything when they are really full of hot air.

Thanks for the warning. We'll ignore your posts.

[TBoneit]

ROF and last week it was Sony MIJ Tys at the same price. Haveing had problems with Memorex DLs (Ritek) I'm trying to stick to MIJ or at least Verbatim. 5 years ago Memorex may have had better media too. I have original 1X Princos that work great too. But the newer ones seem to be garbage. The 4X I tried were not very good.

[ROF]

I did get a bad batch of memorex about a year or two ago. I've used it since then with both 8x and 16x and haven't had any problems. I also had problems with Sony several times. There really isn't a media available that I haven't had some sort of problem with. Sometimes it was the drive that didn't like the media so I'd pass it along to someone else who could use it or I would use it in a drive that agreed with it.

I have yet to have a single disc just die on me after a successful burn. I define success as being able to recount all data burnt to the media in whatever form and whatever playback mechanism it was intended for. I do not rely on some silly software test read out or other faulty measure of a burn. I leave those to the "hot air" people SCDVD posted about. The true test of a burn is to recall all data burnt in the matter it was intended to be recalled. I've never had one just go bad after years of sitting on the shelf. I'm not saying it can't or won't happen but after years of burning CDs and DVDs and taking care of my media and properly storing it I have yet to have any issues with a successful burn of quality media. Including Memorex.

[RLT69]

ROF wrote:

The true test of a burn is to recall all data burnt in the matter it was intended to be recalled. I've never had one just go bad after years of sitting on the shelf. I'm not saying it can't or won't happen but after years of burning CDs and DVDs and taking care of my media and properly storing it I have yet to have any issues with a successful burn of quality media. Including Memorex.

So then how excactly does this square away with your argument that VHS tape is better than DVD? Wasn't the point people were trying to make - that if you take care of the DVD media you won't have problems with it years to come.

But back the original point which you are missing. As lordsmurf points out:

...have a good enough reflectivity to play most of the time.

Yes your dvd may play fine right now on your current player but fast forward a couple years and a new dvd player. Will you DVDs work then??? If the media you are using now does not have good reflectivity, if there are problems with the dye, then your DVD will most likely choke on your new player. Some dvd players are more forgiving then others and some DVD players are more finicky.

Using quality media - you reduce the risk of this.

[SCDVD]

RLT69, your logic, reasoning and advice is good. But please, don't rise to the bait of those who are just looking to argue / sound like an "expert".

[ROF]

ROF wrote:

The true test of a burn is to recall all data burnt in the matter it was intended to be recalled. I've never had one just go bad after years of sitting on the shelf. I'm not saying it can't or won't happen but after years of burning CDs and DVDs and taking care of my media and properly storing it I have yet to have any issues with a successful burn of quality media. Including Memorex.

So then how excactly does this square away with your argument that VHS tape is better than DVD? Wasn't the point people were trying to make - that if you take care of the DVD media you won't have problems with it years to come.

Read the post you are referencing. I wasn't referencing the VHS Tape or the DVD I was refering to the environment the seller was distributing to. In those conditions a closed system of playback is better than an easily scratched, highly susceptible to dust surface of optical media.

[ROF]

...have a good enough reflectivity to play most of the time.

Yes your dvd may play fine right now on your current player but fast forward a couple years and a new dvd player. Will you DVDs work then??? If the media you are using now does not have good reflectivity, if there are problems with the dye, then your DVD will most likely choke on your new player. Some dvd players are more forgiving then others and some DVD players are more finicky.

Using quality media - you reduce the risk of this.

While this is true quality media is defined by media that performs well for you. If it performs well for you, it has to be considered quality media. Some people claim MIJ TY's are the only good media. That might be true for them but may be completely untrue to someone else. What works for you at a price you can afford is and should be considered quality media.

[Gen-An]

Quality of media isn't exactly subjective. You have to consider mechanical characteristics of the disc (things that Focus Error/Tracking Error tests rate) and evenness of the dye on the disc. The better manufacturers will consistently have good physical properties for the discs they make. Then there is the dye itself. Not every ODM has equal R&D capabilities; the edge clearly goes to the Japanese companies here (TDK, Mitsubishi, Maxell, Taiyo Yuden, and to a somewhat lesser extent, Ricoh). In addition, we must cosider how well the MID is supported on various burners. Again, the Japanese makers' discs tend to have better support from the drive manufacturers.

[lordsmurf]

ROF doesn't know what he's talking about, he just likes to argue. I doubt he believes his own dribble, and there are many times where he cannot maintain a belief for longer than one week (all DVDs work, VHS is better than DVD, no DVDs work, blah blah blah).

Flamebait is all it is.

Let's get back to the discussion, which was trying to educate a newbie on why Memorex is to be avoided, and how he can use those same dollars for something better.

If you want to shop by brand name, only buy SONY or VERBATIM media, 8x or 16x. They are on sale every week for $15-20 per 50-pack, or $7-12 per 25-pack. Have patience, do some planning, and buy what you need to last you until the next sale or later. It's really just that easy. Also consider taking advantage of price-matching between stores, if you can only make it to the closest stores around you and not the ones across town.

And then there is always online buying, from amazon, newegg, supermediastore, etc. Either get SONY or VERBATIM here too, or TAIYO YUDEN.

There are more options, but only if you're willing to learn and can comprehend it. That's where media ID and other things come into play.