Is Memorex Media really just crap?

[BB_Mike]

When I first got into this little hobby, about 4 months ago, I did as much homework as I could on which media to use. I even did some sample testing with single DVD purchases. I found that the Memorex DVD+R worked great in all of my players.

Recetnly I stepped up to 8x and ran into a MAJOR problem... only the problem isn't noticable until the last 10 minutes of viewing the back up!

So, I began searching for the answer.

From what I've read here and elsewhere, Memeorex media is pretty much worthless. Well, that wasn't the concensus here about 4 months ago.

Is there not a one media suites all solution?
Is this really rocket science here?

The Backup guide is very helpfull, but 2ndary to finding the correct media. So, perhaps a sticky post can be created with this in mind. If there is a FACTUAL post regarding media and the results had with it, could you please post me a link to it.

Thanks for reading.

[cynthia]

I have been using Verbatim for a long time now. 1x, 2x, 4x and 8x media and there have been no problems. The only need during this time has been to update the original Nec firmware to cover the new Verbatim releases as they have emerged.

[BB_Mike]

Thanks Cynthia.

I am now using the NERO tool to analyse Disk Quality. Do you know of any post on here where people actually post the screen shots of the results from this analysis, or at least the data obtained?


This would be an outstanding way to find out which media truely is "better" than the others!

[BB_Mike]

This is the report I get after analysing a backup DVD.

Media is a Memorex 8x.

The graphical representation went away after I moved the window, so no screen capture. But I can tell you taht the "PI erros" got really really high towards the end of the disk. Direct relation to the pauses seen at the end of the viewing.

General Information
 Drive: DVDRW   IDE1008         
 Firmware: 0059
 Disc: DVD+R (CMC MAG E01)
 Selected speed: Maximum
PI errors
 Maximum: 149
 Average: 21.58
 Total: 73209
PI failures
 Maximum: 42
 Average: 0.48
 Total: 1621
PO failures: n/a
Jitter: n/a
Scanning statistics
 Number of samples: 3393
 Average scanning interval: 42.10 ECC
 Glitches removed: 2

Happy trails.

[cynthia]

This is just one - there are many other discussion places;

http://www.dvd-recordable.org/index.php

[BB_Mike]

Well, I went ahead and upgraded my DVD burner's firmware since they had another one available. So, I'm at 159 instead of 059. I went ahead and did the EXACT same analysis shown above. Check this out:

At 1Gig into it, the Pi erros goes nuts for a moment. And then again at the end. This is how the DVD player reads that same DVD as before.

great... what was copied just dissapeared... what a day!

I'm just going to try and add extra files to the end of the DVD and hope it is just the "end" of the DVD that has the problems... What a mess.