[b]Crappy Media with Perfect Results????????[/b]

[jtoolman2000]

I've used many brands of DVD-R media on my Gateway P4 / 2400 / 512 ram with a Matshita DVD-RAM 1x Drive and been using mostlyNero 5 ( updated to latest NOT V6 ) using the basic DVD/Video standard settings. Recently I purchased two 50 disk packs of the most generic media you can imagine. Tan shiny tops - nothing printed on them. Other than 3 bad burns that I can atribute to my own stupidity. That is, performing all kinds of other crap on the computer when I should have just left things alone, I've burned about 75 DVD-Rs of an instructional training video that I produced and sell. ALl burned perfectly well with Nero. No one has written me about incompatabilities with their player, whether computer or stand alone.

How can this be???? I read so many instances of this bad media, this coaster, this disk stutters, this disk freezes, this disk won't play on my standalone but will play in my friends!!!

Believe me, I'm an NOT as expert in this field and many of the members of this forum are. So what is it about my simple set up that has allowed me to basically do this almost effortlessly.

[defense]

first, what is it you are saying because you say you have a DVD-RAM drive but you are burning DVD-R disks? Which one is it. DVD RAM is completely different then DVD-R.


IF you mean you have a DVD-R drive and are burning DVD-R disks, which disks have you been burning so successfully for so cheap?

You didn't mention the name of the disks or where you purchased them.

If you searched this forum you would know that not all disks have these issues you are referring to and MANY inexpensive disks work wonderful for many.

[dicktheprick]

defense, nice quote, one of my favorite movies

[jtoolman2000]

My Matchita DVD-RAM does indeed burn to DVD-RAM as well as to DVD-R and CD-r/rw. Most of them do. It just will not burn to DVD-RW or +R!!!
I know what I have in my machine. My point is that I've used over ten different makes of DVD-R from thje crappiest to the well know name and reputation media. Never had a problem other than through my owen fault. So I must be in the small percentage of the "Lucky" ones who have a system that is apparently able to consistenly produce perfect disks everytime with any media.

Lucky me Eh!

[jtoolman2000]

Sorry I forgot to mention thet media name. The damn things have no name at all! I got them from Ebay and another lot from the 321studios.com store. Same folks that sell DVD+Copy.

And by the way,, I'n NOT trying to be an ass. I'm just amazed with as many negative problems I read about this and that, I just wonder why I am not experiencing the same thing.

[SLK001]

I, for the life of me, cannot understand why someone who is trying to make money on his efforts (by selling to other people/corporations), would ever use cheap, generic media like you did.

Let me tell you what we do at my company. When we receive "crap" from a vendor that is under $500, we simply "eat" it, and put that vendor on our "shit" list (not the official term, but this is what I call it). This vendor will not be contacted about why his product is "crap" (not worth the effort), but will simply be replaced by a better vendor. You may not be receiving calls, because you are being placed on this type of list. When you finally have no more business, maybe you will then understand.

Or, maybe you got lucky, and the batches you received were more carefully made that the majority of them (I doubt it). Plus, burning at 1X will affect the final outcome of the quality.

This is not a criticism, mind you, but just an observation. Run your business as you see fit.

[defense]

@jtoolman...I am not familiar with DVD-RAM drives so I was unaware that they were more Versatile then solely the RAM format. Your post was also very bland which made me think that someone with any knowledge at all would make a more specific type question...so I figured you were confusing the formats.

Now that it's apparent your drive burns DVD-R as well as DVD-RAM the answers to your questions are probably simple.

First, as SLK said...I too am surprised you'd be selling something on crappy disks knowingly. You haven't had any complaints..that's great....hopefully that trend continues for you. Now as far as bad media goes...i'm not sure why people like yourself seem to think your some lucky special individual who is completely unaffected by things that everyone else is affected by...that doesn't make too much sense does it?

It obviously doesn't make much sense and there is a more logical reason behind why you haven't had issues that you are aware of. The first thing I would guess would be that you are getting at the very least DECENT media. You should use a tool on this site called DVDINFO...download it and test the media id's....then post them. Getting ANY MEDIA OFF OF EBAY is a crap shoot so buy you purchasing media where you have no clue what the manufacturer is doesn't make much sense to me when you can get more reputable media/generic from an online store which at least is constant in what brand you get such as Lead Data, etc.

And the more probable reason you aren't experiencing issues is because you aren't maxing out the disks space. You said something about you making an "INSTRUCTIONAL" DVD? what's the size of that instructional DVD? If it's less then 4 GB's like It probably is...then that's the main reason. I would say over 90% of anybody that's posted results about how bad their media was...had their issues occur towards the later chapters of their movies. That's where the data is more sensitive.

And one last thing to note...I remember reading something a while back regarding DVD-RAM drives which said something to the effect that they burn from the outside in on media. Standard DVD-R and DVD+R drives burn from the inside out...but apparently DVD-RAM drives burn the opposite....they burn from the outside in. I would still think with bad media...you'd be prone to issues....but the burning process is different for DVD-RAM drives apparently...and the majority of people here have either DVD-R or DVD+R or MULTI-FORMAT drives...but NOT DVD-RAM drives.

So these three things are the reasons as to why you haven't seemed to have any issues as of yet....but if you don't think issues CAN OR WILL occur because you are so special...well....good luck to you.


@dicktheprick.....oldschool was definitely a funny ass movie.....that part with the dart damn near killed me....the guy's not even trying to help the guy take it out of his neck...and that damn "smirk" was just a trip...that whole movie was crazy....definitely an "INSTANT CLASSIC." :P

[Philbiker]

jtoolman2000,

It's not just you. I've used DVD-R discs that are considered cheap or unreliable or garbage here for projects as well. The brands I've usedare K-Hypermedia and DVDPro. I burn at 1x and have made exactly 3 coasters so far, all three of which were entirely my fault. I have not had problems with any disc and most of the projects I've done so far have been near 4G.

I suppose the fact that I refuse to print labels, only using labelling pens may help.

Also, perhaps Matsushita DVD-RAM/R drives like ours are more tolerant of certain media than many other drives. (I suspect this is the case)

All I know is that I've been as lucky as you, and burning to media that cost under 80¢ is sweet.

Also, for computer data, DVD-RAM is absolutely the greatest thing ever.

[jtoolman2000]

Thanks, I knew I wasn't the only one that was have absolutely no problems with burning DVDs. As far as the comment made previously about my business practices,,, I am a hobbyist who is very good at what he does. I decided to share my knowledge in my hobby field and created 11 diferent Videos. All of them are at least 4.2 GIGs. All where captured to my HD with Pinnacle Studio 7. Authoring was in TMPGenc DVD Author. TS volumes ( AUSIO and VIDEO ) where created and burned with NERO with 100% failure rate barring the 4 failures, buffer underrun problems,,, all my fault. I've used $4 media to $.80 Media.

My customers are very discriminating and the word will get around if I even put out one bad disk. They will put in the so called S**T list themselve. No doubt about that. I ask everyone of them for a feedback statement and I have 100% satisfaction. I will replace the product or refund anyone their money within 24 hours for any reason. So far I have 0 instances of dissatisfaction. I know have a distributor for my products. I do worry about compability and are creating a list of everyone's drives that are playing my disks. This will help me to stablish the % of my disks playabillity. I agree that my weird DVD-RAM/R drive maybe be responsable and it seems to play and write to anysort of brand I through at it. Except for + and RW disks.

Thanks to all
Joe