Anyone find HP 16x DVD+R (Philips C16) horrible?

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#1

I did a search to see if my question had already been asked. I found the thread which lists user rated ‘best longevity media’ and actually found this crappy media listed as #14. I’ve had nothing but horrible experiences with this media with my LG-4163B. Horrible read rates 3x or lower, many bad sectors, and when a bad sector is hit, event viewer shows non stop errors and dvd decrypter will eventually stop erroring out. Not sure if it’s my drive or discs, was about to upgrade but the problem doesn’t seem to exist with Verbatim; high read rates, no issues. Also the dye looks really weird, almost banded… not sure if this is a sign of cheap and/or poor manufacturing but one post from a google search seems to think so.

What do you guys think? I went through 6 or 7 last night trying to do some backups, errors while writing lead out and sporadic errors in Nero @ 16x. I bought a 25pk a couple of days ago, but I’ll certainly be returning them ASAP tommorrow.

Any impressions of the media? Just gave up on nero cd/dvd speed… hit two errors @ 96% (on the outer rim) and read stuck at 0x.

I’m really worried about media I already burned (inc. this disc that flunked the test)… particularly in readibility and longevity for archiving. I won’t be using the discs again, but for the stuff I already burned… should I reburn my media?

#2

Sorry to hear about your problems with this media!

Are you running with the latest firmware? Have you tried upgrading the firmware on your LG 4163B?

#3

Probably just an issue of poor compatibility, between the media and your drive’s firmware lack of support for the media. While I’m not suggesting it’s Verbatim or TY, it is probably more an issue of your drive not ‘liking’ the media. Nearly all HP media is CMC btw, so if you had to exchange them you might get CMC the second time around. I haven’t used the Philips C16 media code but I did see someone that had good results with it in the past couple of weeks, I can’t recall the burner.

Regardless, the fact remains that you are having problems, update your firmware and if you still have problems take them back. If readback tests are failing, by all means reburn the data.

#4

Thanks for the quick replies.

Yes, I’m running 1.05 firmware. Never experienced this problem until these things. Scoobiedoobie, I would agree that it’s in part due to the LG’s poor compatibility. However, I’m noticing a common problem between the 4 dvd-roms in my place (LG, generic on Dell Server, DVD-ROM on Inspiron 1150 notebook, and Thomson Xbox DVD drive)… They all perform poorly when trying to read the HP. Moreso, only the xbox was able to read the last file (outer rim) on any of my 10 discs! A couple of the discs can’t even be read by my lg period, when just a short while ago, I was able to rip to PGCs off the very same DVD! Event viewer is till racking up errors… so I thought, this has to be a drive problem. But then I slipped in my much older verbatime backup of episodes and played like a charm; first track, last track, and anywhere in between…

I really wish I never bought these darned discs… I’m never going the cheap route again.

#5

burn slower and set the target to 4300 or even 4200?

#6

It’s not burning, though that gave me a fair share of hockey pucks last night (though better this than a false positive that leads me to delete data of HDD that cannot later be retrieved from the disc).
It’s reading/ripping of sucessful burns (most less than 4200) from yesterday… I’m trying to salvage all files so I can subsequently shred these discs.

Guys, avoid this discs like the black plague. They mike ritecs look like a premier brand. I don’t want anyone to go through what I have with 4, count 'em, 4 different dvd drives.

LG 4163B - Read Errors, Error blocks in MS Event Viewer, errors in Nero CD/DVD speed, can’t copy many files from multiple discs (particularly those on outer rim)

Samsung CD/DVD SM-323B - Same

Sony CDRW/DVD CRX830E - Same

Thompson DVD - Same

UPDATE: Ironically, the reader with the poorest compatibility (Thompson) seems to be able to copy the media; doing it as I type, so the plan is to copy all media to my Xbox HDD and then get it back on my pc via FTP. Tommorrow , I"ll buy some Verbatims and let this be the end of this nonsense. I thought about taking HD up on their ‘limited lifetime warranty’ but it seems all they’ll do is send me the same discs… heheh… lessons learned.

#7

I understand what you said but if you set your target lower and burned slower you may not have your problem now?

#8

I see what you are saying. I guess expecting a disc to burn at it’s rated speed is neither here nor there, but for what it’s worth, these burns never got past 10-12x in Nero while burning.

#9

I would burn at 8x and beside verbatim or TY never burn too close to the edge, I would set to 4200 ( I would check where it start falling and set target before that)

#10

Thanks NightTran, I appreciate your feedback. Thinking forward though, don’t you think the most logical choice would be to just not use this media? I mean, the price difference is neglible, and when one has to burn at half the rated speed of a dvd plus not even fill it to its rated capacity, it sort of negates any worth in that media, IMO. I’ve never had a problem with a single Verbatim (or Maxell for that matter; ritek?) burning at 16x or successfully reading data on the outer rim. Perhaps you were suggesting this so that I could salvage what ever optical media I had left? Luckily, I used my last disc of a 25pk last night (after 5 or so coasters) and I have a fresh unopened pack that I’m taking back to Office Max tommorrow.

Thanks for all your prompt help, this is really an awesome forum.

Caveat emptor.

#11

I agree with that, but you already have it that is how I just try to save it, all of my copy is TY or YD 8x + and -, non verbatim either it is good but not consistance :slight_smile: ( I think I spell wrong :-))

#12

Well, this depends on the particular disc. :stuck_out_tongue:

#13

You are missing the point here. The drive/firmware likely has poor WRITE SUPPORT for the media, therefore burning the discs with low quality. Firmware changes rarely ever have any bearing on a drive’s ability to read a given disc. I’m not very familiar with that drive’s firmware but isn’t there a version 1.06? Keep in mind that bad results do not necessarily mean bad media, that’s very often far from the truth as burn speed, firmware/drive support can make the difference between any given media burning great and burning horribly. Not to say that this is among the best media around but it would likely perform fine with some burners/firmware.

#14

I understand and yes, that’s the latest version of firmware according to the LG USA site. It could be mainly to do w/my burner. Still the dye looks cheaply done, unlike any dvd+r discs I’ve seen before. And as far as one of your points related to burn speed… IMO, if the media claims 16x and performs poorly at 16x on many burners, than I feel it’s simply bad media. Buying a 16x burner only to burn at 8x is analagous to buying a Lamborghini to drive in a school speed zone all day.

#15

Yes there is. I’d post a link, but I can’t remember where I got it :o

Edit: here you go, courtesy of The Firmware Page: A106 firmware.

If you look at the URL, it’s from an LG site, so it’s OK. :slight_smile:

#16

My Maxell branded PHILIPSC16 is quite decent :slight_smile: [see attachment]

Still though, I’m told Maxell discontinued PHILIPSC16 because of quality issues, so it might not be the best MID out there. That also might be a reason why it’s no longer manufactured :stuck_out_tongue:

maxell_philipsc16_scangraph_12X_solidburnoff_wopcon_benqdw1650bchc_august25.06(2).png641×532 49.6 KB

#17

I had Philips.C16 from Infiniti in their Samurai range (Infiniti uses A grade stuff). There were many discs where there were visible burn holes where it looked as though no data had been recorded. This happened on two seperate 25 piece spindles and I’m sure from two different batches (bought months apart). Just my experience with these discs.

#18

What were the scans like?

#19

Unfortunately I had an NEC 3540A, and the scans were, to say the least, poor - but thats probably the drives scanning (I havent got any of the scans now). Ive reburnt all the discs now. Do you know when they were discontinued from production?

#20

I don’t, but [B]dakhaas[/B] might be able to give you a general timeframe.