Nero "Disc Quality" test?

[tac7]

Can anyone shed some light on the validity of the Nero "Disc Quality" score test?

After backing up a DVD the other day, I noticed a faint circular band in the middle of the disc, which I've never seen before on any Verbatim +Rs. So I ran it through Nero's DVD-Speed program, and the disc got a 43 "Quality" Rating.

Subsequently, I started checking other discs burned over the last year with a Samsung PC writer ($55), and found the quality ranging from 40 to around 95, including a Verbatim +R DL at 90 . One "0" rated disk was burned with that writer a few days before it failed from very heavy use. Since then, I have been using a new AOpen ($99), and a new LG ($36) burner, but the "Quality" ratings of the disks burned with both of these units also only ranged from 40 - 95.

Checking some Verbatim -R disks, the rating was even worse, ranging from 20 - 28 only, while a couple of Sony -Rs rated 77. On the other hand, all of these discs rate 100% ("Good") with the Surface Scan, and they all play perfectly well on several different tabletop DVD players.

Interestingly, discs burned with a tabletop Pioneer 640 DVR consistently rated in the 90 - 95 range, and with the exception of one disc, the ones burned with a tabletop LiteOn 5005 DVR rated in the 83 - 95 range.

I could only get the Nero "Quality Score" tab to work in the PC with the AOpen writer installed, but not in the PC with the LG writer (the "Start" button remains grayed out), so I don't know whether the LG writer would have read the discs differently than the AOpen, and given the discs a different rating.

[piano632]

I always get bad score ratings on my DVD's too no matter how good the quality of the discs. I suppose it has a lot to do with the drive used to check them. I use a Lite-On ROM drive, but I suppose you really need certain writer drives to get more accurate results.

[SCDVD]

You will probably get a range of opinions on Nero's disc quality test. But your observation regarding the faint circular band on the burned media strongly suggests a problem with the media. You should not see any visual variation in the appearance of the dye on a burned disc.