Buyer’s Guide for Writable DVD Media
Buy Only DVD-R or DVD-RW
Our DVD burners in the lab only write to the DVD-R/RW (general) format. Do NOT
purchase DVD+R, DVD+RW, or DVD-RAM. These three formats are incompatible
with our burners. Also, do not buy DVD-R for authoring (also called DVD-R (A)), as
these are also incompatible. DVD-R (A) is not seen much nowadays is much more
expensive than DVD-R (G).
Buy Quality, Name-Brand Media
Not all DVD-R media is created equal. In fact, differences in the quality of media
between different manufacturers can be huge (much larger than any differences between
manufacturers of CD-R media). Media quality affects both how compatible your discs
will be with other DVD drives as well as the frequency of failed burns. However, even
the highest quality media may occasionally fail while burning or exhibit some
compatibility (refer to the bottom of this page for a discussion of DVD-R compatibility).
In general, media with an established name-brand will be of high quality. Maxell,
Verbatim, Pioneer, Mitsui, Sony and TDK all make quality media. Some cheaper brands
that are not as good are Ritek, Memorex, and Imation. By far the worst media is the
generic, unbranded media that is usually the cheapest priced media you can find. These
generic discs are often sold in large quantities on spindles and are usually sold on the
Internet. Generic unbranded media is notoriously incompatible with both computer
DVD-ROM drives and set-top DVD players, and the failed burn rates can sometimes
reached as high as 30-40% (which pretty much negates any money you saved by buying
the cheapest). It is best to stay away from generic media altogether.
A note about Apple media: Apple does not actually manufacture their media, but rather
buys it from another manufacturer and sell it under their own brand. Apple generally
buys their media from a high-quality manufacturer, so they can be lumped in with the
most dependable media (last I heard they bought from Mitsubishi, who also makes
Verbatim, so Apple and Verbatim media are essentially the same). However, about a
year ago they switched manufacturers without notice, and some people who had been
happy with Apple media found that it was suddenly incompatible with their DVD player.
As I said before, there is nothing wrong with Apple media, but you may want to stick
with a company that actually manufacturers their media to always be sure of what you’re
getting. (And yes, Apple media can be used in PC DVD burners without a problem).
A note about counterfeit Maxell Media: Last July, a report was published in DV
magazine that tested the compatibility of different writable DVD formats and brands.
Maxell media was found to exhibit the highest compatibility, which lead to a sharp
increase in demand for Maxell media. Recently, an unscrupulous manufacturer has taken
advantage of this and began selling counterfeit media that claims to be Maxell but which
is in fact cheap, low-quality generic media. These are usually sold as “Maxell
Unbranded” or “Maxell OEM,” and are sold at the shadier discount computer stores on
the web (meritline.com was the main culprit, but they seem to have removed them from
their store). Maxell is aware of this and are cracking down, so hopefully this will go
away, but to be safe you should only buy from reputable dealers (I recommend
taperesources.com).
Labeling DVDs
Do NOT put paper labels or any other kind of adhesive labels on a writable DVD. Most
often, a label will render your DVD unreadable. While paper labels are fine for writable
CDs, the data pits on a DVD are much closer together, making the disk much more
sensitive to wobble. A paper label, even one that is evenly attached, is usually enough to
unbalance a DVD and make it unreadable. Right now, the only option for making nice
DVD labels is to but special printable DVD media and use a disk printer.
Compatibility
There is a lot of spurious data flying around about the compatibility of DVD-Rs in set-top
players. Many tests have been performed, but usually these tests have obvious biases
(such as the ones performed by DVD+R manufacturers), flawed methodology (such as
not taking into account other factors such as media brand), or are just plan stupid (taking
a disc to Best Buy and trying it in 10 different players). The best test was the
aforementioned DV magazine test conducted by Ralph LaBarge in July 2002. The
general conclusion and accepted conventional wisdom is that DVD-Rs will work in about
75-85% of consumer set-top players. DVD players manufactured after 2001 generally
have a 90% compatibility rate, while older players are more likely to not be compatible.
This test did not take into account DVD+R, but LaBarge is currently conducted a test
including these as well, and preliminary results suggest that the compatibility rate for
DVD+R is virtually the same.
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