problem with writing onto Memorex DVD+R DL media.

[Nift]

Hi all,

I just bought a spindle of 15 Memorex DVD+R DL (2.4x to 8x) discs for $20.00 at Fry's. A great deal or so I thought.

These discs are registering as RITEK S04 using BenQ's QScan 1.0 utility.

I have a BenQ DW1620 burner with the latest firmware (B7W9).

I'm getting a write failure burning a video DVD. The files are coming from a hard drive in the form of VIDEO_TS directory.

My burner is working like a champ on CDs and SL DVDs. This is my first try at burning DL DVD.

Is it the drive or is it the media?

If it's the drive then could BenQ DW1655 do better?

I am also getting a rejection of this media from Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.7.7.5

Can anyone shed some light on this?

Thanks.

[Ian]

Memorex's 8x DVD+R DL (RITEK S04) discs are fairly new. As the BenQ DW1620 is getting a bit old, it probably does not have support for this media. For the same reason, I don't think a BenQ DW1655 would do any better.

It may also be the media too. I have yet to find a drive that gives good results with these discs.

[DrageMester]

RITEK S04 is present in the firmware strategy tables for BenQ DW1655 firmware BCDB, BCGB, BCHB (and probably BCIB).

I don't know how good actual performance is, however.

[Nift]

Thank you Ian and DrageMester.

Not a very happy news (I wonder if I can take the spindle back?).

I wonder what media does work well with my drive?

After reading quite a bit of the threads on this forum I'm still confused as to the media that will work.

Also, since my drive is getting long in the tooth what is a worthy successor to replace it?

Any thoughts on that?

Thanks.

[SithTracy]

Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden work well with just about every drive.

[Ian]

If you're looking for decent DL media, Verbatim is your only real choice.

[Scour]

If you're looking for decent DL media, Verbatim is your only real choice.

Full agree

[Nift]

Hello again,

I took your advice and bought Verbatim DVD+R DL.

It shows up as MKM 001 from Qscan 1.0

I just ran a test on one of the blank media in QScan and got a "This media is Not recommended at this speed" message (using both speeds 4 & 2.4). Although the graph never went above the Focus and Tracking Error threshold lines.

The Smart Test was OK at both speeds.

I think I made a mistake in my initial post. I actually used QScan 1.0 for my testing. I can't get Nero CD-DVD Speed 4.7.7.5 to test my blank media; The Start button is grayed out on Disc Quality and Advanced Disc Quality test screens.

I'm beginning to get frustrated as to what the frigin' hell is going on? Is it the test software, is it the media, is it the drive?

Is QScan reliable? or should I just ignore the verdict and burn this disc anyway?

Any comments or suggestions?

Thanks.

[DrageMester]

Scanning for Tracking Error and Focus Error on blank media can sometimes be helpful in judging media quality, but it usually gives much less information than scanning burned media.

If you're interested, you can read my thread with some examples over at CDFreaks:

Tracking Error (TE) and Focus Error (FE) testing