I don't get it. Why do people buy a new dvd writer then spend 50 cents on inferior media & then wonder why it doesn't write the way they want it to?

The media I use is inexpensive today (didn't used to be) but a true brand name but I have used a couple hundred disks of it & refuse to change it since it works right :-)

Because some people are just cheap.

So we can tell them they are cheap

Because ... there will always be a market for rubbish ;)

Cheap does not always mean bad though. ;)

The Prodisc and Nan-Ya latest 4X dye's are superb and as cheap as chips! :tup:

Great for data or video.

Why War? (http://www.no.no.no.com/)
The Why Files? (http://no.no.no.org/)
Why do people use Cheapo dvd media?
Why cause as Lazza said it works for them thats why.:D

because they dont do any research before they buy and they think all disks are basically the same so they buy the one that is cheaper.

There are several reasons that are mentioned above. 1. Some people can get any cheap peice of crap to work for them and so they go off and tell people that it is great media without bothering to do research first. 2. As mentioned some people simply don't do any kind of research first and then only come here after it doesn't work. 3. A number of them are used to CD-R discs where it doesn't matter quite as much which brand you get and don't know how different things are for DVD-R.

Originally posted by NotAHacker
Why War? (http://www.why-war.com/)
The Why Files? (http://whyfiles.org/)


Will you PLEASE stop posting political statements. They have no place in this forum.

Originally posted by Templar
Will you PLEASE stop posting that liberal rubbish. Political statements have no place in this forum.:furious:

Political statements have no place ... "liberal rubbish" ...

Anyone else finding this post more than a bit ironic?

All nice and polite now. Thanks for stemming my right wing outburst.:tup:

I bought some cheap cds when they first came out but noticed later the data disappeared. Hope that doesn't happen with cheap dvds.

ive got some discs that are unreadable now that where perfectly readable about 18 months ago. theyre mostly princo discs..

use only ritek, verbatim and pioneer discs now..

I was trying to make a point but maybe if I simplify it for you guys you will get it. :D
Why do people buy Apex?
Why do people buy Liteon?
Why do people buy Compusa brand stuff.
Like Laz "Cheap does not always mean bad though."
It it works for them more power to them!!!

nah, i don't complain about my apex dvd player. it plays everything i put in, even a hard drive. hehe

The cheapo Blank DVD like princos work very well in my APEX and Panasonic
DVD palyer...I always have 100% success...4X burning speed with my 8x Plextor DVD burner with the cheapo media like you guyz said....and it palys flawlessly in my PS2, XBOX and DVD players...!!! I used to have some coasters with my Sony DRU 500A before upgrading the firmware to 2.0h...but with my plextor 0% failure....!!!!

Another way of putting the question could be:-

Why do people buy cr@p DVD players with el cheapo lazers that can't read many DVDR's?

As NotAHacker said, plenty of cheap products that are far superior or equal to their dearer competition in hardware. There is no golden rule at the end of the day that makes more sense than - Find what works for you. :)

And please, no political nonsense on the forum guys & gals. A place for everything and here ain't it for that stuff!

Or you could ask why do people spend 3 hours trying to get their 49 cent dvd to play when they could have spent 30 cents more & it would have worked fine. Therefore their net salary trying to get it to work per hour is ten cents :-)

cheap discs might burn ok but when it comes to playing them on consules it's a different story.i bougt 3 ps2 games for xmas they were the dataright yellow.they are the bigest pile of crap that i have had.all three have now been binned i have other ps2 games on ritecs and they are fine.so the moral of that story is..........don't by cheap it's not worth a bad reputation.
regards machinehead

been the same for the last few years when blank dvd cost £4 each if a one cost £3.50 then peeps would buy the cheepest.
now that its only a few pence diference it's still exactly the same .

People may buy cheap media for testing purposes, i just bought 50 dvd-r for £19 off the net. I can remember when 1 dvd-r was more than £7. For 38p you don't care if they lose data if you're only using them to do a quick test before burning onto more expensive media. Yes you may suggest using dvd-rw but what if your dvd player or console doesn't read dvd-rw?

However in my opinion these 38p discs are great. Used to buy ritek, but were too expensive. Started buying ice disks (the later versions of them) and they were fine (however the early versions of the ice disks. the two layers that construct the dvd-r often seperated - no problems with the new versions). These 38p disks, princo dye which in my opinion is fine for most things, and white topped - best value for money dvd-r in my opinon - better than bulkpaq

Let's face it, most dvd-r's are now cheap.

The first Pioneer DVD-RW I bought for my old pioneer A03 was £25 from Currys. The price of a Pioneer DVD-R at the time was £15.

Even 1 year ago, I was paying £2.25 from Ritek G04 at the computer fairs.

So now, I am willing to pay 10-15p more to get a disk that isn't going to jump from the start to the finish and spoil the movie.

That is true. There was a HUGE difference in price between cheap media and quality media a year ago, so I could understand why in the past people were willing to give it a shot. Now with virtually no savings I don't understand why people keep doing it (unless they haven't done thier research first).

There is another question. Why do some people insist on buying drives that are incompatible with a wide range of media?

Yes, Riteks tend to work well on most drives, and they're compatible with most players.

But just as you guys would suggest people don't buy Prodiscs, CMCs or Optodiscs, surely it should also follow that you should recommend people don't buy Optorite, BTC, some NEC etc etc DVD recorders? Same principle.

A good burn is not just about a good writer or a good disc. It's about getting a good synergy between the two. A Pioneer A06 with a Ritek disc is a good synergy. A Prodisc with an NEC 1300A is a bad synergy. But that same disc may burn very well on a Pioneer A06.

It's something people don't seem to discuss too much. Put 15W40 in a Zetec engine, bad move. Doesn't make the oil crap though does it? Same oil in a 15-year-old Escort, job's a good'un :)

Originally posted by jase

also follow that you should recommend people don't buy Optorite, BTC, some NEC etc etc DVD recorders? Same principle.

A good burn is not just about a good writer or a good disc. It's about getting a good synergy between the two. A Pioneer A06 with a Ritek disc is a good synergy. A Prodisc with an NEC 1300A is a bad synergy. But that same disc may burn very well on a Pioneer A06.

I don't agree with that!! To say only buy pioneer is just as stupid as this post that start this whole thread!!! Why just because you where to pay too much money for something means it good?:confused: I think a lot of people had that option about plextor and look how their dvd burners turned out! No I think that statement and this thread is just stupid!! But thats just my 2 cents!!

... and where exactly did I say only buy Pioneer?

As an owner of NEC, Toshiba, Philips and LiteOn hardware, I'd be a bit hypocritical to say that!!!

And if by implication you're also calling the second part of the portion you quoted wrong as well, then I suggest you try burning different discs on different drives. You are mistaken if you think that media X will work just as well with drive Y as drive Z, it doesn't work that way.

FWIW, the latest Pioneer drive doesn't particularly work well with Ricoh-coded DVD+R media. Now, despite the fact that the 107 is a very competent drive, it would not be a good idea to buy one if that was the main media you used.

Likewise, the NEC 2500A doesn't work well with Ritek G04 media. So, if you want to use Ritek G04 media, as it stands at the moment it isn't a good idea to buy an NEC 2500A.

Just as a "good" disc can be thought of as a disc that works on a wide range of hardware, so a "good" drive is one that works with a wide range of media.

But if you find that your Optorite burner works well with AN31 media (I'm not saying that is the case, it's just an example), then you've found a good match. Far be it from anyone else to tell you your combination is wrong.

What I *am* saying (and I'm speaking as someone who agrees with you that blindly slagging off "cheap" media is counterproductive) is that if you *are* going to suggest getting brand X media, you should also be specifying the drive to go with it. So, instead of saying "MBI sucks" you should really say "MBI sucks on my Benq drive". If enough other people say "MBI sucks on brand X,Y,Z" then yes, then you can say MBI sucks. If, however, everyone is complaining about MBI on Benq, and the one or two people lost in the crowd who are saying that the discs work OK on an MSI, then we can clarify things to be more useful, namely that MBI suck on a Benq writer but might be OK on an MSI and other burners.

If you end up with a picky burner, you are restricted as to what discs you can write. If you have incompatible discs, then you have the reverse problem. Ideally, surely, you want to widen your options as much as possible? There might just be one type of DVD player out there which doesn't like your favourite discs burned on your favourite burner.

I stand corrected I miss understood your post.:blockhd: Please forgive me for me for that. I totally see your point in your second post!