DVD media - What to avoid?

[MarcosJP]

Hi guys!
Please, could you guys tell me what are the best (and worst) DVD media available? As I live in Brazil and have found those discs nowhere here , I would like to get a very clear picture of what I should buy and what I should definitely stay away from. I've seen some rather expensive DVD-R from Pioneer and some Memorex cheap ones. What must I look at when I choose a DVD-R media to work with, either for my personal home videos or for professional work?
Thank you all for any hints.
Marcos, Brazil.

[leebo]

This is just my opinion, but here goes:

Panasonic media is said to be the most compatable.
Apple media is said to be just as good, and costs about $3 less (US).

Personally, I've found compatability is just as dependant on your authoring software and your burning software.

I have both the Pioneer A-03 and the Pioneer DVR-7000 set top DVD recorder. Using the set top recorder, I have had very good compatability, even with the cheapest media.

I have "authored" a DVD with the set top, and made copies of that DVD using the A-03.
Using Prassi burning software, I was not able to make fully compatable copies.
Using Nero 5.5.8.0, I was sucessful.

[Lamont Cranston]

My advice FWIW is to stear clear of the generic DVD-Rs. It has been my experience they do not play well on all standalone DVD players. I have a Panasonic that is particularly fussy. I just sent back my last batch (and final) of DVD-Rs to cd-recordable.com because they would no play at all on my Panasonic but played flwalessly on my Sony. There was an append on the DVD Players (at the left) report the exact same problem with his latest DVD-Rs from recordable,com. If I author and burn with identical hardware and software and use an Apple or Pioneer DVD-R it plays flwalessly on both the Panasonic and the Sony. My advice is to use one of tne name brands like Apple or Pioneer etc. It is not worth the few bucks you save in the end. I am using a Pioneer AO3 Firmware v1.68 to brun and Ulead's DVD WorkShop to author.

[AntnyMD]

I'd like to second the suggestion to stick with name-brand media and avoid generics for now. I have two settop DVD players (a 2000 JVC and a 2002 Daewoo) and one portable (RCA, purchased this year).

My portable RCA is the pickiest of them all, so I measure all compatibility against it. For background, it plays standard VCD and SVCD perfectly (except Terapin-recorded discs -- always goes out of sync); plays XVCD and XSVCD also, but not miniDVD.

When it comes to DVD-Video, it did not recognize anything on the Meritline brand DVD-RW. Neither did my two standalones. I blame myself for this one -- the discs do not say anything about being practical for DVD-Video applications. These discs play fine in the DVD-RW as DVD-Video. I own the Pioneer A04/104 in a LaCie Firewire enclosure.

My second purchase was the DVDPro DVD-Rs from Meritline. I bought ten. Of the three I've burned so far, there is compatibility on all my machines, but to varying degrees. Each machine reacts to the discs differently .. so I consider all three burns to be coasters. The JVC will recognize video data being present on the disc, but will only play the menu. The RCA portable played the discs one time each, then refused to recognize them as DVDs at all. The Daewoo accepted these discs without question.

My other purchase was Apple brand DVD-Rs. They burn at 2x (all the others burned only at 1x) and play flawlessly in all three players. Althought they're $4.99 each when purchased in packages of five, they do work as expected and advertised, not one has turned out as a coaster, and they are the prettiest discs I've seen so far. I love them to bits, I just wish they had a double-sided version.

I bought three of the double-sided DVD-Rs from cdrecordable.com to test based on one good report I read on another thread here. I find them to be very good, in that they play on all my DVD players, they are double-sided! and I havent made a coaster on any of them. I have discovered on discs with multiple tracks, the last two tracks will freeze (stop/start) on my portable player. Because of this issue I will only use them for porn, since I never watch porn flicks from beginning to end anyway. At $5.95 each when purchased individually, the cost per side being around $3, makes them the cheapest yet compatible discs I've bought. I'm going to buy more now actually.

[leebo]

I will only use them for porn, since I never watch porn flicks from beginning to end anyway.

But what about the build up of drama and mystery? When you skip to the end you miss out on charactor development. If the girl swallows, you'll never know what events led up to it!

If she takes it in the behind, aren't you curious about her motivation???

Other things you might miss if you skip around:

How did they meet?
What back story do the charactors have?
Does the guy get the girl in the end?