Will INFODISC & RITEK work in some DVD Player?

Newbie Forum
#1

My DVD+R(W) luck has run-out. I have learned the hard way that even though there are “brand names” they are really reselling same DVDs from a lot of the same blank discs manufactures, and some of the manufactures make crap.

I have been fooled by Memorex. :doh:

The Issue:
The two disc types from Memorex: DVD+RW (by INFODISC) and DVD+R DL (by RITEK) that do not play well on my DVD Player (ProScan PS8680Z) – skips from one scene to beginning of another chapter, and pixilated (corrupted image - squares) type problems. If I put same discs into my computer DVD drives (tested with 2 DVD drives) everything is fine.

Questions:
1) In the future I plan to get another DVD Player, is there any hope that these two bad types of DVD+R(W) will play as expected? Or… is the problem usually in the above issue so bad with the media that no DVD Player will ever be able to playback these types DVDs?

2) Is the PI/PO test the primary test for determining severity of the errors?

Recommendation:
From reading the forums and newsgroups it seems that the Plextor burner is the least part of the problem. The problem that I see it exists between the bad DVD media and the DVD Player (or am I mistaken?).
Can someone recommend DVD+RW and DVD-/+R DL that would work with ProScan PS8680Z?

It may be too specific inquiry – so how do people find out what is the best media (the manufacture) for their DVD Player when all that is available on the blank disc packaging is “brand name” and MID is only known when you open up the package?

Specifications:
DVD Player: ProScan PS8680Z
DVD Software: Nero 6.3.1.25
DVD Burner: Plextor 716UF (1.08 firmware)

Two (bad - so it seems) blank discs for my ProScan DVD player:
DVD+RW (by INFODISC)
DVD+R DL (by RITEK)
For other newbies information: These two are known as poor quality DVD that are source of a lot of problems.

#2

I’m not that sure what works best with plextor, but the media you have been using in not the best. Error scanning is not the end all determining factor of a good disk, but it can be a usefull tool to see how well a certain media is doing on your burner. You can often know the mid before buying though.
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia
It will give you an idea of what mid’s various brands are using, as well as the liklly hood of getting a particular one (to some extent). If 60 people got one mid, and only 2 got another mid, odds are most of that media are the mid that got 60 reports.

Their is no best media. Three things matter, does your burner like it, does your firmware support it well, and does your player like it. Ritek is suposed to be very good for playstation backups. I can get decent results on some but not all of my burners with it. My best advice is, buy media in small quantitiys, try diffrent firmwares, and get a combination that scans well. +r bitset is the most compatible.
As far as players, I cannot say which are the most forgiving/best readers, but those cheapo apex seem to do a pretty good job, believe it or not.

#3

Ohks, from my experience with RW, it’s not exactly the best choice because of the lower reflectivity and HIGH ERROR after rewrite/poor handling then rewrite. Some players do have difficulty with even a good RW burn, so from this, I can only say that you might need to investigate the quality of your burns first, try a speed graph of it as well. Then move on to known good DVD+RW and see how your results compare. If the player still pixxelates well, ur dvd player doesn’t like RW. I recommend personally the +RW with RICOHJPNW11 MID and also MKMA02 (under the Verbatim Label) or SONYS11 (under the Sony Label). I wouldn’t really bother with others, i have had PHILIPS041 and they are variable in burn quality and longevity, and OPTODISC sumthin 04 and those were utter crap.

Lots of cheapy china players don’t mind the R/RW a lot, they will play it regardless of bitsetting or not - like 4 of my DVD players :slight_smile:

(and ripit … seems like i been posting many times before/after you :P)

#4

Seems I always miss that one (RW)… While most of the advice I gave generally applies to all disks, I have to agree with lui_gough. Rw disks are not the best for media files. Disk are far too cheap (for those of us in the US and other countries that are lucky enough to get good cheap media) to mess with the problems that rw introduces for general use. Get yourself a good quality pack of +r media and start experimenting. Try diffrent firmwares if avalable, scan to see how they come out. Try diffrent burn speeds (the rates speed is usally the best). I only have an aopen, an nec, and a liteon burner (and have some experience with benq through friends computers that I built).

#5

BTW - never buy Ritek DL ! They are a mega problematic disc with very high quality fluctuations, better to invest the extra $1 or so for an MKM which are better, but lately had had a bout of “less-than-perfect” discs

#6

Thanks to everyone who replied.

videohelp.com will be a great asset for me when making my next blank DVD selection. It is thanks to great sites like cdfreaks.com and videohelp.com that allow people to make more educated purchases. This is the last time I purchased any Memorex rubbish - I guess for them profits trample quality.

Hopefully in future the DVD discs that I burned will work in some DVD player.

cheers :slight_smile:

#7

If your stuck in an area that doesn’t have a decent variety of media, then don’t totally throw the towel in on Memorex…IF you can find some that are made in India you’ll have better luck. The real crap Memorex is made in Taiwan and isn’t worth the price of a roll of toilet paper. But the made in India is Moser Baer and is usually pretty decent media. Just my 2 peso’s.

#8

I can agree with that. Memorex has developed a pretty bad reputation in the past for using whatever they can get cheap, including some pretty crappy media, but if it is made in india, then the only thing that it could be is mosier baer and mb is pretty good media.

#9

Yo-

If you do not have the capacity to bitset your +R medias to DVD-ROM then would suggest trying some GOOD (Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim or Maxell)
-R medias that may be more compatable with your player-

Remember “Crap Media = Crap Burns”

Mike