I've seen various comments here in the past weeks indicating that for
the best results with DVD-R recording, you should avoid B-Grade and
only settle for A-Grade blank discs. But how to tell?

I understand you can tell by looking at the numbers around the hub of
the disc, but that doesn't help me in ordering a spindle of 100 over
the internet. I can't look at the hub! Descriptions don't seem to
indicate...

For example, if you go to http://www.allmediaoutlet.com/ and check
their blank discs, they have Princo 4X DVD-Rs. From what some of you
have said, I should stay away from B-Grade Princo. But A-Grade Princo
work great. So, how can I tell which AllMediaOutlet is selling?

I want to make sure I get some GOOD blanks, but figure I should buy in
quantity of 100 on the internet to get the best price.

Any assistance will be appreciated.

John

This B-grade/A-grade Princo distinction is a bunch of crap. Are we some kind of
junky buying dope off the street and not knowing what we are getting until after
we buy it? The fact the Princo supposedly has two types, one being junk, and you
never know what you are getting until after the fact, means I for one am never
going to buy this junk. The fact that one batch of Princo is good and one is
crap, makes them both useless in my opinion.

"Cranston" <Cranston@no.net> wrote in message
news:020820032147236263%Cranston@no.net...

On Sun, 03 Aug 2003 05:51:52 GMT, "SimMike-" <simmike@comcast.net>
wrote:

Ritek also has a crap disc as does melody and many others which is
why you see posts slamming both ritek and princo and other brands and
others saying no problems at all.

Once you find a store that sells ritek, princo, melody etc etc etc and
you don't have any problems then stick with that store for peace of
mind.

There was a very big discussion about this just over a month ago about
grades and what numbers on the media are good and others not so good.
I started a thread of what numbers I found to be stable and others
joined in from all walks of life. They all posted the various batch
numbers on the media. Some posted the crap batch numbers. And so on.
Worth a read.

SimMike- wrote:

Then you'd better get out of the game since virtually all DVD media OEM
manufacturers produce different grades of media depending on requested specs, price
point, and intended market. As with any manufactured product, you are responsible to
weed out the crap from the acceptable.

Jeff Wildman <JeffWld@hotmail.com> wrote:
How do I tell? Two packages both say the same make and model, neither says
one is grade A and the other is grade B. I need to know before I buy.
Then it turns out some brands fraudulently identify themselves as made by a
different manufacturer than the one that made it, and some media disintegrate
in months.
What about those of us who have a life to live, and can't afford to
spend the rest of our lives researching DVD media?
If it takes lots of hours to research media to keep from getting burned,
then counting the value of time, media is extraordinarily expensive.
If additional time is lost going back to return bad stuff, and additional
time must be spent continually rechecking disks to make sure they haven't
rotted and additional time must be spent making multiple copies, we have
a diabolical device for achieving negative productivity.
This is about the flakiest situation I can recall seeing in over 30 years of
working with computers.

What manufacturers have an understanding of what integrity and reliability
are - it's their job to do quality control.
What retailers do their homework - it's their job to sift the wheat from chaff.
Where are independent tests of error rates?

If the industry can't get its act together then consumers should
set up an independent testing organization and publish a database of results
on a website so they can patronize the quality and boycott the crap.
Or better yet set up a labelling system funded by manufacturers that lets them
put a quality rating on the package so long as it meets verified criteria.
Maybe we should require putting the actual original manufacturer on the label
so we can see that before we buy, and better yet require the label to show
what error rate was measured.
Or if the world of DVD is nothing but sleaze then maybe it's time to
boycott it and leapfrog to a different technology that's done right
from the start.
DVD technology has been around for about 6 years; if they're so incompetent
they can't get their act together in that amount of time, how can we have
confidence they will ever figure out how to make it work?
For rewritable CDs there are 3 incompatible formats, for rewritable DVD
there are 3 incompatible formats.
What clowns are running this show?

Where do I buy a rewritable backup technology designed and manufactured by
people who have a clue what quality, compatibility, and reliability are?

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Walter Epp <NOSPAAMfor7gen@idiom.com> wrote in message news:<v8kjmv4h8lu0pjss8d2299jmnck472nmqc@4ax.com>. ..
The industry as a whole is not to blame. The buying public created
this mess. If so many people weren't supporting sleazy retailers in
their endless quest for "cheap media", all the fake and substandard
media wouldn't have an audience. Far East knockoff/counterfeit goods
exist in virtually every type of product, including electronics,
watches, car parts, etc.

The DVD media industry does have its act together. As a consumer, you
don't have to spend any time doing research on DVD media. It's as
simple as buying name-brand media from an authorized dealer.
Considering that name-brand certified media has dropped to reasonable
prices, there is no longer an issue of spending time on research.

JeffWld@hotmail.com (Jeff Wildman) wrote:
Not true.

Sony has admitted that some of its disks will disintegrate:
http://www.dvd-recordable.net/module...oad&name=News& file=article&sid=556&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Other name brand disks have been found to disintegrate in 4 months, and
one user reports:
"I used to believe in the branded/unbranded quality argument until I bought a
batch of duff TDK CD-R disk that had uneven coverage of dye on their surfaces
and simply didn't store data."
"I tried a few branded media from Memorex and Mitsui early on, but I found that
their levels of compatibility on different DVD drives was pretty poor. I wish I
could believe that big brand media would solve the problems, but my past
experience with TDK CD-Rs suggests that their quality control wasn't up to much"
http://www.dvdoctor.net/cgi-bin/ubb/...ML/002546.html

Multiple users report Verbatim quality suddenly dropped dramatically, eg
"The 15 Verbatim 4x DVD+R I bought at Best Buy were all
defective on the dye area of the disc."
http://www.dvdrhelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=170740

In compatibility tests, Taiyo Yuden was next to last, below Ritek:
www.dvdtoday.com/Recordable%20DVD%20Test.htm

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