DVD-R Questions

[supersega]

Hello. Just joined here with some DVD-R media questions. A week ago, I bought some Memorex DVD-Rs (yes, I know... CMC is the devil) at Walmart. Brought them home, and tried burning the first one on my PBDS DH16W1S drive which has never had any problem burning media before. No dice, hrm. Did that about 10 more times and eventually found a working burn. The data on it was a Persona 4 ISO masterpatched for my PS2 TEST unit. It was working, I was happy. Played for about an hour, and on a loading screen, it just froze. Turned it back on, laser wouldn't even twitch. Seems this terrible quality media killed my laser. That was the backstory. Now, the questions...

1. What chance do I have of going back to Walmart and returning these for a partial refund?
2. To replace them, what do I get? Was looking at Verbatim AZOs, Taiyo Yuden silvers, and JVC Gold DVD-Rs, but I'm not sure.
3. Has anyone heard of this brand of DVD-Rs? They are duplication grade, so I'd assume they are okay.


If you do have any suggestions, please keep them under $20 for a pack of 50 if possible. Thanks in advance!

[DB83]

1. If you do not try then you never know
2. Verbatim AZO (not life series) every time.
3. What ?
4. Bad media does not kill a laser but your laser could have been dying before. Test it with known, good disks.

[supersega]

1. If you do not try then you never know
2. Verbatim AZO (not life series) every time.
3. What ?
4. Bad media does not kill a laser but your laser could have been dying before. Test it with known, good disks.

Thanks for the response! On 3, I had hyperlinked some "duplication grade" Tiger brand DVD-Rs and wanted to know if it was bad. Good, known discs didn't work. I already took the laser out and replaced it with one I had lying around, so that heart attack is over, lol.

[DB83]

3. Assume nothing. Unknown 'brand'. 'Unknown' sellers. No reviews. Possibly good for coasters. Who knows.

[supersega]

Cool, thanks.

[jjeff]

1. What chance do I have of going back to Walmart and returning these for a partial refund?
2. To replace them, what do I get? Was looking at Verbatim AZOs, Taiyo Yuden silvers, and JVC Gold DVD-Rs, but I'm not sure.
3. Has anyone heard of this brand of DVD-Rs? They are duplication grade, so I'd assume they are okay.


If you do have any suggestions, please keep them under $20 for a pack of 50 if possible. Thanks in advance!

1. As said I'd try. My guess is they might refund your money for the junk spindles but they don't do anything about your burnt out laser.
2. As said, Verbatim AZO, none less. At $10.80 a 50 spindle shipped, why mess with anything else.
http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-Branded-Recordable-50-Disc-95101/dp/B00081A2KY/ref=sr_1...s=verbatim+azo
If you like shinny top discs and don't mind spending a but more, the DataLifePlus(not just Life which is more CMC junk) can still be had for less than $15/50 and note the DLP's are even a step above the regular orange label AZOs.
http://www.amazon.com/Verbatim-DataLifePlus-Printable-Recordable-95186/dp/B000AV4MB2/r...s=verbatim+azo
3. "duplication" grade doesn't really mean anything, it's like video tapes that were junk calling themselves HG, I'd be very suspicious of those "no name" discs. Especially when you can get AZOs for less(shipped).

As said it's doubtful that a bad disc totally destroyed your laser but a laser on the brink of going out, a disc like the ones you tried could have been enough to push it over the edge.

[redwudz]

A hard to read optical disc or a hard to write optical disc can overheat a marginal laser. If you pull out the disc you may find it's a bit warm. I see that fairly often with scratched discs.

If you are curious about who really makes your 'Tiger' discs look at this page for programs that should identify the maker: https://www.videohelp.com/dvdmediaform.php?dvdinfo=1#dvdinfo

There aren't that many manufacturers of optical discs, but a distributer can put any name he wants on one.

[lordsmurf]

Walmart accepts returns on half-eaten boxes of cookies. Literally, I've seen it.

I think you dud burns are an easy in.

The drive dying was probably just coincidence, not causality.