Just found this: Verbatim 16x DVD+R/-R (100 ct) at OD for $37.99 http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/messageview.php?pos=110&catid=18&threadid=50 8625
Are these any good? Bobby -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Greg Sevart Sent: Tuesday, August 16, 2005 9:36 PM To: The Hardware List Subject: Re: [H] Inexpensive blank DVD media > At 06:40 PM 8/16/2005, Greg Sevart typed: >>Spend a bit more money and get some actually good discs. The Ritek/Ridata >>stuff is pretty crappy anymore. They were good when their G04 media first >>came out, but have been plagued by quality control and poor dyes ever >>since. > > I use Ritek DVD-R G05 8x disks & have never had a problem. My Pioneer A08 > with 3rd party firmware easily burns these at 16x & I save $15 to $20 per > hundred as compared to buying Ritek 16x disks. > Have you performed PIE/PIF and PO scans on these discs after some time has elapsed since burning? A simple "successful burn" is not nearly sufficient to determine if the burn was a quality burn. A successful burn can easily become unreadable within a week or two (but usually longer) if the burn quality itself was poor. Or, the error rate might be such that many readers are either unable to read the disc at all, or have to train down to produce accurate playback. The Taiyo Yuden and MCC discs and dyes significantly outperform Ritek discs in a the majority of burners and firmware. This becomes even more important in RW and dual/double layer discs, where buying anything other than MCC is being foolish. (consider this: Verbatim/MCC 2.4x DVD+R9 DL discs can be successfully burned at 8x and produce excellent scan results) [Disclaimer: The overwhelming majority of my personal experience is with -R media.] Interestingly, you do touch on something I've seen both in reviews and in burns and scans I've performed myself. A modern drive with modern media produces a terrible result when burning at low speeds. While conventional wisdom might suggest that burning an 8x disc at 2x would result in a better burn, the PIE/PIF and PO scans provide extremely strong evidence that the newer dyes and drives just don't work well at low speeds. Indeed, I've seen better burns on 8x media when written at 12x than when written at 4, 6, or the even the rated 8x. In short, if you want your discs to have as long of a shelf life and readability as possible, buy a quality burner, use quality media, and burn the discs at least at the rated speed. Greg
