what types of disc are best to record onto?

[Tony Pendrey]

name='Amethyst_Isle']IAVOID the ones in shops like Poundland and 99p shops though as they are basically cheap and horrible.

Not long ago I would have agreed. But the Poundlavd discs branded "Signalex" and the 99p World discs branded "Mr DVD" are both made by Mitsubishi and I have been using these for a while with no problems.



Of course, that doesn't mean to say they won't all be beer mats in a couple of years time !

[Amethyst_Isle]

name='Tony Pendrey']Not long ago I would have agreed. But the Poundlavd discs branded "Signalex" and the 99p World discs branded "Mr DVD" are both made by Mitsubishi and I have been using these for a while with no problems.

I did not know those you listed were by Mitsubishi.



I know there are some lesser brands out there that are rubbish though but never tried the Signalex/MR DVD ones though, I did try some other makes but as I say they were rubbish.



So are the Signalex/MR DVD worth 4 for a £1/99p then ?



Most you can buy drums of them for about £10 for like 100,so financially not worth it unless you get stuck for 1 or 2.

[Tony Pendrey]

name='Amethyst_Isle'] I did not know those you listed were by Mitsubishi.



I know there are some lesser brands out there that are rubbish though but never tried the Signalex/MR DVD ones though, I did try some other makes but as I say they were rubbish.



So are the Signalex/MR DVD worth 4 for a £1/99p then ?



Most you can buy drums of them for about £10 for like 100,so financially not worth it unless you get stuck for 1 or 2.

The ones they used to sell under those brands were made by some other manufacturer that I'd never heard of. I had a lot of problems and actually posted here about avoiding them !



But these Mitsubishi disks do seem to be worth the price.



The other thing I have noticed is that the branded name is quite often not the manufacturer as tgunnel mentioned in an earlier post.

[mrs_emma_peel]

I’ve found Verbatim to be the most reliable of DVD +RW discs … I also use Panasonic and Sony …

but I could definitely recommend Verbatim +RW discs

[Carl V]

I realise this is an old thread, but I've only just come across it and I was always curious about the shelf life of a DVD.



I first purchased a DVD player in 2000 and some of the early pre-recorded discs which I bought in 2001 became unplayable after a few months. Two of the titles were 'The Silence of the Lambs' and 'The Terminator', and although MGM were aware of this problem and offered an exchange, I have lost various other titles within a couple of years. By coincidence, they were all MGM titles - all the others such as Columbia/Tristar, Fox, Universal, Paramount, etc, are still OK even today eight or nine years on.



On the subject of blank media, well I purchased a DVD recorder back in 2004 and most of my discs are Verbatim but I have some Sony and Taiyo Yuden.



However, with the main brands, I would check to see where they were made. For example, Verbatims marked up as 'Made in Japan' are manufactured by Taiyo Yuden which are regarded as one of the best discs for archiving. Whether they have a longer shelf life than the Verbatims that are made in Taiwan, well I couldn't honestly answer but only time will tell.



For what it's worth, the discs I've recorded on back in 2004 are still as good as new, but I have been advised to avoid the ones that are made in India or China, even if they are Verbatim or any of the other well known brand names.

[Lord Brett]

Does anyone know if Sony are subject to the same variations as Verbatim apparently are (though I've never had any problems with theirs). The only ones which have given me probs are Maxell, especially the DVD + RW's, which fortunately I never used for archiving, but were unbelievably poor.

[Carl V]

name='Lord Brett']Does anyone know if Sony are subject to the same variations as Verbatim apparently are (though I've never had any problems with theirs). The only ones which have given me probs are Maxell, especially the DVD + RW's, which fortunately I never used for archiving, but were unbelievably poor.

My first ones were Sony DVD-R and these were made in Taiwan. I've had no problems at all with them. However, some now are made in India just like Verbatim's, so I'm not sure how they'll compare.



Maxell is an interesting one because I have seen those at my local Maplin's but there doesn't seem to be any indication as to where they are made. Personally, if you can get discs marked up as Japanese or Taiwanese, then you won't go far wrong.

[Windyridge]

name='rjd0309']



It will surely happen that a disc you send to a friend will not play in their player, and they'll grouse at you for sending them a "crap disc". When that happens, the best solution that I've found is to send them the title on a Read/Write disc. There is something about a DVD-RW disc that seems to mollify finicky players. (Go figure.) I'd use R/W discs all the time if they weren't so expensive.

Is this still the case two years on? I am recording films on my Sky HD box then recording them onto Sony 16x/1x DVD-Rs with a Toshiba player. Unfortunately, the discs won't play on my Panasonic player in another room. I have tried recording from both boxes, swapping the players over etc but a disc recorded on one just won't play on the other. Will a Read/Write disc solve my problem? Sigh.

[Mr Sloane]

name='Lord Brett']Does anyone know if Sony are subject to the same variations as Verbatim apparently are (though I've never had any problems with theirs). The only ones which have given me probs are Maxell, especially the DVD + RW's, which fortunately I never used for archiving, but were unbelievably poor.

Must agree I bought 10 Maxwell DVD-RW 4 have errored on first use.

[rjd0309]

name='Windyridge']Is this still the case two years on? I am recording films on my Sky HD box then recording them onto Sony 16x/1x DVD-Rs with a Toshiba player. Unfortunately, the discs won't play on my Panasonic player in another room. I have tried recording from both boxes, swapping the players over etc but a disc recorded on one just won't play on the other. Will a Read/Write disc solve my problem? Sigh.

As others have already said here, first check to make sure that the discs are compatible with your player. For example, one of my players will only play DVD-R discs, and will choke on a DVD+R. But this is clearly stated in the Owner's Manual.



If your recorder gives you a "recording speed" option, make sure that you record your discs at the slowest possible speed (usually 4x). This ensures more reliable data writes.



Don't waste your money buying "16x discs" when you're going to end up writing to them at 4x speed anyway.



I've mailed discs to literally hundreds of people worldwide, and the most reliable discs that I've found are the ones sold under the Verbatim brand name.



(Using one of the disc utilities that allows you to read the disc's Manufacturer ID shows that these discs have the ID of "MKM-001-00", indicating that these Verbatim discs were actually made by the Mitsubishi Chemical Company, which also makes high-quality discs sold under the Sony and Taiyo-Yuden brand names.)



But when all else fails, I've found that using a DVD-RW disc will work when nothing else will. Perhaps this also has something to do with write speed, as my recorder writes to DVD-R discs at 4x speed, but writes to the DVD-RW discs at 1x speed. So perhaps the reliablility of the data writes has something to do with the slower write speed?

[Windyridge]

Thank you rjd

[Windyridge]

name='rjd0309']As others have already said here, first check to make sure that the discs are compatible with your player. For example, one of my players will only play DVD-R discs, and will choke on a DVD+R. But this is clearly stated in the Owner's Manual.

If only I had taken your advice and read the Manual at the start, I would have seen that I need to "finalise" discs in order for them to play on other DVD players. Hurrah! Cheers

[JohnB_Toronto]

name='ChristineCB']GOOD POINT, Wolf. I always forget that Macrovision encrypted some VHS tapes with this signal and most VHS players observe this.



Maybe folks here can supply a list of those DVD-VHS decks that have hacks to turn off Macrovision observance.



Or a google phrase to search on, in case you haven't purchased yours?

You need what is called a "Digital Video Stabilizer". Get this kind, which is a black box and runs on a single j-cell for about 5 years. Mine is now about 20 years old and still plays perfectly (yes - 20years ... it was also perfect for transferring tapes to tape). Look for them on eBay and in online Chinese electronic stores.

http://hzjin.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008800580683/pdtl/AV-switch/1017646426/Digital-Video-Stabilizer.htm



Get this "deluxe" model only as a last resort if you can't find the cheaper and more basic model.

http://checkhere22.com/stabilizer/



It sits between your VHS tape player's output and your DVD recorder's input and it removes the Marcrovision from the video signal as it passes through. Sound is unaffected by Macrovision so the stereo sound cables bypass the box and feed directly into the recorder. Only the video line is fed through it.

[Captain Oates]

name='JohnB_Toronto']You need what is called a "Digital Video Stabilizer". Get this kind, which is a black box and runs on a single j-cell for about 5 years. Mine is now about 20 years old and still plays perfectly (yes - 20years ... it was also perfect for transferring tapes to tape). Look for them on eBay and in online Chinese electronic stores.

http://hzjin.manufacturer.globalsources.com/si/6008800580683/pdtl/AV-switch/1017646426/Digital-Video-Stabilizer.htm



Get this "deluxe" model only as a last resort if you can't find the cheaper and more basic model.

http://checkhere22.com/stabilizer/



It sits between your VHS tape player's output and your DVD recorder's input and it removes the Marcrovision from the video signal as it passes through. Sound is unaffected by Macrovision so the stereo sound cables bypass the box and feed directly into the recorder. Only the video line is fed through it.

I find KTvision's 'Smart Scart' is the simplest way of removing Macrovision signals - you simply connect this between the player and recorder:



See: ISPRO



Not cheap for scart lead though - £40

[JohnB_Toronto]

name='Captain Oates']I find KTvision's 'Smart Scart' is the simplest way of removing Macrovision signals - you simply connect this between the player and recorder:



See: ISPRO



Not cheap for scart lead though - £40

Yep - that's exactly what you do with a Stabilizer - last time I looked, the simple, no-name, black box types were selling for about $25/£12. The ones with proprietary names do exactly the same as the basic ones but they usually have a power cord so you don't need to change batteries.