Best Place To Get DVD Media (and best brands)?

SteveC

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My mom, my sister, and I bought my dad a Sony DRU-500AX for his birthday, and I need to find a good place to get the blanks. Also, does anyone have any recommendations on which brands are the best, and which to avoid? Their stand-alone player plays both DVD-R and DVD+R, and I'm looking for at least 2x (or 4x if they're cheap enough).
 

Mercutio

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I got a boatload of Ritek 2x discs (-R/+R) from allmediaoutlet.com for something like $.80 each. I use those at home.

Bad experience: Imation +Rs. 50% coasters. Blech. They were the first things I bought, and when I got them, I thought my burner was broken at first.

I found some 12-packs of Verbatim 4x +Rs at the local Sam's Club (@ $1.80 each). They were great but I couldn't find them when I went back for more.

At work I've gone through A LOT of 2x KHyperMedia +R discs. OfficeMax sells spindles of 25 for $49. I don't pay for those, but Office Max is the only B&M store where I can find DVDR spindles.
 

SteveC

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Thanks, Merc. I'll probably buy a pack of the Riteks, and see how they work out.
 

Pradeep

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Hypermicro.com

Sony 500A in external firewire case.

DVD-R: I've had good results with the Lead Data 1x (which actually burns at 2x) - now $79 for a spindle of 100, they were $69, the Ritek G03 (2x rated) which they don't sell anymore, and the Ritek 4x ($1.89 each) which work well, albeit expensive. All of the above work in my X-Box, Apex AD1200, and Cyberhome 500.

DVD-RW: Haven't used any.
DVD+RW: 2.4x Verbatims work fine.
DVD+R: 2.4x Verbatims OK, Memorex gave me coasters but I think this was due to Nero being a POS for DVD.

It looks like Hypermicro is out of stock of the G04s, apparently there is a major shortage of media right now.
 

Mercutio

Fatwah on Western Digital
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Happen to be looking at a jewel case just now: Those are Verbatim 4x -Rs, not +Rs. It's easy to get them all confused...
 

SteveC

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Pradeep said:
...but I think this was due to Nero being a POS for DVD.

I've heard this about Nero, but is it just bad with video DVDs, or is it all bad with data DVDs as well?

It's good to know that the Lead Datas will burn at 2x. Thanks.
 

Mercutio

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Nero is fine for DVDs. It checks that you're burning Video DVDs with a Video_TS.IFO and checks that IFO for syntax errors. That's not a bad thing. It keeps you from making DVDs that won't play.

Just the same, I use InstantCopy and DVDMovieFactory 2 for my DVD video burning needs (plus TMPEGenc if I want 2 or 3 movies on one disc)..
 

SteveC

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Mercutio said:
Nero is fine for DVDs. It checks that you're burning Video DVDs with a Video_TS.IFO and checks that IFO for syntax errors. That's not a bad thing. It keeps you from making DVDs that won't play.

OK, that's good. I'll just make sure he has the latest version (he probably hasn't updated it in a while).
 

Mercutio

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Oh. You need a retail copy. The one that came with your LiteOn (or whatever) Burner won't do the trick. That's a big, important detail I forgot, isn't it?
 

freeborn

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Hello,

I have 2 of the Sony DRU500A, the internal version of the drive you bought your Dad. One is in my lab system at work and the other in my home system. I've been using the Ritek 4X -R and the 2.4X +RW from AllMediaOutlet and the only coasters I've made have been from computer lock-ups. Truthfully, I have not tried other brands of media but these have worked fine for me. One bit of warning though, it does not appear that there is a protective layer above the reflective layer on these discs. I use adhesive labels on all of mine though so its a non issue for me.

Free
 

Pradeep

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Mercutio said:
Nero is fine for DVDs. It checks that you're burning Video DVDs with a Video_TS.IFO and checks that IFO for syntax errors. That's not a bad thing. It keeps you from making DVDs that won't play.

Just the same, I use InstantCopy and DVDMovieFactory 2 for my DVD video burning needs (plus TMPEGenc if I want 2 or 3 movies on one disc)..

I've never been able to make a DVD Video disc with Nero that will playback on my X-Box. Exact same files, burned with RecordNow DX, work fine. I used to love Nero for CD burning, but I have my doubts re DVD.
 

Mercutio

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I don't have an XBox so I can't test that, but the copies of "Lilo & Stitch" and, um, a movie that's less wholesome than that, both work fine for playback in nero and my JVC changer. I was using IFOedit to strip out boring parts and did the burning from Nero. I'm using Nero 5.9.9.0, or whatever the latest version was three weeks ago.

BTW, Nero 6 is supposed to be out in May sometime. I'm looking forward to that.
 

SteveC

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Mercutio said:
BTW, Nero 6 is supposed to be out in May sometime. I'm looking forward to that.

As long as they don't make it look anything like Easy CD Creator 6. I just recently saw it running on someone's computer, and if you thought 5 was bloated, it's nothing compared to 6.
 
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