dvd brands (princo?)

[mogul411]

Whats everyones preference as far as dvd-r's go to play in their set top players? Has anyone used the Princo's? Not *completely* generic, but found a place that has them for like $69/100

[Rich A]

Originally posted by mogul411
Whats everyones preference as far as dvd-r's go to play in their set top players? Has anyone used the Princo's? Not *completely* generic, but found a place that has them for like $69/100

I've been using the Princo 4X DVD-R for some time now. Never had a coaster, and they work fine in my stand alone DVD player ( a Sampo) I usually pick up a cake box of 50 for about 60 bucks at the local computer fair when it comes to town. I've gone through about 200 so far. I assume that price is for the 1x right?

[mogul411]

Originally posted by Rich A

I assume that price is for the 1x right?

Crap, youre right.....didnt even notice that. Ahhhh well. Other than the speed burning, Im not losing anything by picking up the 1x right?

[Rich A]

Originally posted by mogul411

Crap, youre right.....didnt even notice that. Ahhhh well. Other than the speed burning, Im not losing anything by picking up the 1x right?

I have some 1x but I now only use them when I need to use them as "data" discs. Something where I'm going to be leaving the session open so I can add data to it. The reason is that if you are doing a full DVD with at least 4 GB of movie content, that just takes too long. Like about an hour at 1x. I do a LOT of DVD authoring, and sometimes have to burn 4 or more at one sitting. Using 1x would mean the burner will be working for 4 hours as opposed to 1 hr at 4x. If you are doing only a single DVD every once in a while, then 1x would be fine.

A note to keep in mind. "burners" of all types (DVD and CD) can work better with certain brands than others, and also work better within those brands at various speeds. I once had some 4x DVDs (don't remember the brand) and although they did burn at 4x the result didn't play perfectly. However when burning the same manufacter's 4x at 2x or less they then played back perfectly. Shop around the web for a company that offers "sample packs". That's what I did. I found that the best that worked with my Pioneer A05 was Ritek (1 thru 4x) and Princo (1 thru 4x). There were some others that were more of a "name" brand like Sony, Memorex etc., and they all worked fine, however they were also much more expensive.

Here's a link to an on-line place that has decent pricing (not the cheapest but pretty good) and a wide assortment. They are also good for getting information about what works with which drive etc. http://meritline.com/dvdrblankmedia.html

If I remember correctly I think if you search their site, you'll find a "sample" pack you can get of one or two of each product. Once you find which disc works best for both burning and playback on your player, then shop around for the best deal for that type.

One word of caution. Some people sell "pirate" discs. Maybe pirate isn't the correct term but here's what they do. Every disc has data codes burned to it to identify it. Let's take for example the Princo line. And let's assume the Princo line of discs work well for you. Some of the off-shore disc manufacturers will use sub-standard dyes and manufacturing to produce a disc that is inferior to the Princo. During the manufacturing press process they use Princo's ID code. So you think you are using a Princo disc but are actually getting a cheaper and inferior "copy".

You can protect yourself by buying from reputable and established vendors keeping in mind if the price is WAY low or too good to be true, then it probably is a "knock off".

Sometimes I'll get together with a few guys at the shop and place an order for 500 to get the best "deal" on good discs from some web based retailer I know to be okay. Something to consider if you have some friends who are also using DVD-Rs.

[mogul411]

Thanks for the great info!!