Bad Media or Bad Handling of media?

[TBoneit]

I started thinking about this, due to some carelessness of mine tonight...

Usually I am very carefull to only handle media on the outside edges, But I got careless and got some oil from my hand on the recording side of the DVD....

So I got to thinking and wondering how many people that have problems on the last parts of the recording on the disk are possibly handling the disk wrong. Maybe fingers on the Top and Bottom of the disk leaving fingerprints for the laser to try and record through...

What do you think?

Cheers

[Bob W]

That was not the problem I have with the Verbatim discs I bought at BestBuy, they were just bad media.

[LanEvo7]

As long as its not too thick then its fine. Of course you should wipe it, but generally if you can see through it then the laser should too. Its probably just crappy media.

[garryheather]

Considering how small the pits and lands are on a DVD, it's best if the recording side of the media is absolutely spotless before recording to it. Even the smallest amount of dust or grime on the disc can be quite a bit of lost data, and although the error correction should compensate for a lot of that, it's a good idea not to have to resort to that when playing back. A little dust or a fabric fibre can leave quite an unburnt "mark" on the disc after burning when it's blown away. Invest in a can of air duster and white cotton gloves like the snooker people use, guys !



The media problem, worse around the outer edge, is usually down to poor quality control of the dye or how the disc is spun. When the dye is applied, the disc is spun up to a high speed and the dye applied as a dribble to the inner edge, where centrifugal force is relied upon to distribute the dye across the surface of the disc.

If the disc is not spun correctly (say it wobbles as it rotates) or the dyes consinstency is wrong, the dye can be applied thicker, or occasionally, too thinly, to the edge than it should be, and then you start seeing your problems. Don't forget most drives calibrate at the beginning of the disc expecting the media to be consistent. If it's not, you're cruising into Turd Terrace...

[TBoneit]

Strange, I buy My verbatims their too (Best Buy) and they all work flawlessly, Except the one where I had a brain spasm and hit the rest button for some reason. That one was a bad burn...