What's the best brand of blank DVD-Rs?

[black_biff_stadler]

I've almost blown through an entire 50-pack of Dynex16x/120-minute/4.7 GB DVD-Rs in the last month since I use SP for all my sports recordings. It's kinda necessary since football games are mainly shown from medium shots and long shots and small-looking players running fast look like crap at any lower quality.

I plan on getting a 100-pack to take me through the season. Any suggestions?

[MetalJunkie]

Aren't they all about the same? I think quality depends on the recording device.

[XJDenton]

I think nowadays there isnt much difference.

[3xodus]

I have always heard that Imation dvd's are better for burning video games due to their higher quality die set or something. I'm not sure if this still applies today though. I'm doubly unsure that it applies to movies or tv shows.

[YtseBitsySpider]

Verbatim.

And PAY for them.
There are clones.


there are better than Verbatim but that's what I use.
www.afterdawn.com

these people are experts in all things burning you may find a good comparitive study here

[black_biff_stadler]

Okay I bought a 100-pack of Verbatim DVD+Rs but I don't fully know the difference between a DVD+R and a DVD-R. The clerk basically said it only mattered if trying to play a DVD in a CD player for audio only and that some brands will only play the audio from one format and not the other but he sounded way shaky in his delivery. Help me out since I can't open these til I know for sure that I in fact have the one I'm looking for.

[Zook]

Whoa whoa whoa, hold the phone. They make BLANK DVD-R's now?!

[black_biff_stadler]

I'm not exactly sure whether this is serious or not but I just recently started recording DVDs so please forgive me if I said anything of a n00bish nature.

[Zook]

I'm not exactly sure whether this is serious or not but I just recently started recording DVDs so please forgive me if I said anything of a n00bish nature.

No worries, I'm just screwing with ya. I thought it was funny that you asked what the best brand of BLANK DVD-Rs were when new DVD-Rs always come blank anyway.

[black_biff_stadler]

I knew that but was just overly thorough in my wording to the point of redundancy. Any way, are there any major differences between the DVD+R and DVD-R formats? I need to know before I open this big ol' 100-pack of DVD+Rs and get stuck with $37 worth of shit I don't want.

[Nick]

Taiyo Yuden has traditionally been the best them.

[YtseBitsySpider]

^^agreed for audio files^^ but you can only get them online now, and even then they're hard to find...ACTUAL ones.

Negative R and Possitive R is like VHS v.s Beta.

I use the -R always and forever...less difficulties....you make less coasters...and they'll play in every thing.

Just my two cents.
Return the +
And get the -

Verbatim is the best brand you'll find in the store.
Their quality extends to their 700mb (CD-R) as well.

[El Barto]

^^agreed for audio files^^ but you can only get them online now, and even then they're hard to find...ACTUAL ones.

Negative R and Possitive R is like VHS v.s Beta.

I use the -R always and forever...less difficulties....you make less coasters...and they'll play in every thing.

Just my two cents.
Return the +
And get the -

Opposite for me.  Always been a + guy with poor success when experimenting with -.

As for brands, I haven't found any that I consider to be superior, but have found plenty of terrible ones.  Don't recall if it was Memorex or Maxell, but one of them really sucked,  so I've adopted a policy of no disks that begin with M.  Other than that,  they all tend to be decent, but that's about it.  I've burned hundreds of movies onto all brands of disks, and I've found the long term reliability of most brands to be pretty crappy. 

[Xanthul]

I always use -R for no particular reason. For what it's worth, this is what Wikipedia says:

Although most DVD writers can nowadays write the DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW formats (usually denoted by "DVD±RW" and/or the existence of both the DVD Forum logo and the DVD+RW Alliance logo), the "plus" and the "dash" formats use different writing specifications. Most DVD readers and players will play both kinds of discs, although older models can have trouble with the "plus" variants.

[black_biff_stadler]

Thanks Xanthul! What I really need to know then is what y'all would do if y'all were in my shoes. I don't wanna end up being stuck with $40 worth of coasters.

[Xanthul]

Nah I don't think you'll have trouble either way, check the specs of your recorder and player just in case and make sure they can use +R and you're good to go.

[Genowyn]

I've always had the most success with Verbatim discs, but I use them to burn ISOs, not video or anything else.

[Sir GuitarCozmo]

As for brands, I haven't found any that I consider to be superior, but have found plenty of terrible ones.  Don't recall if it was Memorex or Maxell, but one of them really sucked,  so I've adopted a policy of no disks that begin with M.  Other than that,  they all tend to be decent, but that's about it.  I've burned hundreds of movies onto all brands of disks, and I've found the long term reliability of most brands to be pretty crappy.

I consistenly had problems with Memorex blanks for years.

[njdtfan]

Taiyo Yuden has traditionally been the best them.

This

[YtseBitsySpider]

I've always had the most success with Verbatim discs, but I use them to burn ISOs, not video or anything else.

i used to burn ISO's and data files (avi mp3 etc etc)

rarely any problems with verbatim

[black_biff_stadler]

Okay. I'm about to break open my $40 100-pack of DVD+R's and need to be totally sure that I'm not gonna fuck myself out of the money on an unreturnable (once opened) product. I have a bargain basement GPX D190B DVD player and from the wording on its page on the actual GPX website, I think it supports the DVD+R format but the wording is a tad ambiguous since the character string "DVD+R" doesn't actually occur although it appears to clearly be implied through space-saving wording. Here's what the specs area for it says:

   
    2-channel DVD player, plays DVD +/- R/RW, CD, CD-R/RW, JPEG CD discs
    Progressive scan
    NTSC
    Multi-language on-screen display: English, French, & Spanish
    Aspect ratio: 16:9. 4:3
    Component video output
    Coaxial digital audio output
    Composite video output
    Stereo audio output
    Volume control on A/V out and via remote control
    AC power:  dual voltage with built-in AC cord
    Remote control requires 2-"AAA" batteries (not included)
    Included:  remote control, RCA A/V cable

I think I'm worrying for nothing but when $40 is at stake it just makes more sense for me to ask a collection of people I've known a good bit of the last five years.

Thanks to whomever can give me the piece of mind so I can finish getting caught up on moving the 20+ hours of football games I have on my DVR onto discs 

[Fiery Winds]

You'll be fine.  When written like that it means it supports any combination of +/- and R/RW.

[black_biff_stadler]

Thanks man! I'll try to bake and mail you a funnel cake one of these days.

[Progmetty]

I like Sony's blanks be that DVDs or CDs.
But I kinda rarely use discs for backing-up data anymore. I buy a 500gb external HD every year or so, did it 3 times so far over the last 4 years. Around 140$ for the best ones (Toshiba). It's not that expensive over that much time, storing it isn't a hassle like discs and it's definitely more reliable and lives longer than discs.

[Chino]

I get a few hundred Memorex ones at Costco for dirt cheap. Never had a problem with them.

[black_biff_stadler]

Well well. I make a promise of funnel cake and look who all shows up