My Discs don't work!
Very rarely we have customers contacting us saying they are having trouble with the media they have purchased. The first thing to ascertain is that the media you have purchased is compatible with the equipment you are trying to burn it on. Below is a brief explanation of the different types. Secondly, if the disc is a newer version, your older drive may not be able to burn it properly without a firmware update (see below). Sometimes drive makers will stop releasing firmware updates when they consider a drive to be obsolete and in this case it is best to stick with older style media. For example, some older 4x drives will not and cannot burn some of the new 16x media, even at 4x. Likewise, some later drives can struggle with very old 1x media. It's important to try and match the disc to the drive where possible.
The first conclusion that most people jump to is that the discs are faulty or that they have a 'faulty batch'. This is most likely not the case. Failure rates in modern media are very low indeed and faulty discs will usually be visibly so. A bloom on the suface or blistering is the most common defect. If the surface looks smooth and clean then it's likely the problem is elsewhere. In fact, 99% of the discs we take back as faulty are 100% fine when we test them. It's worth keeping in mind that the more expensive the media, the more compatible it is likely to be when writing and playing back. Having said that, you can often get better, slower media for less than a high speed budget make.
In terms of writing speed, this is often written as a multiple, like 4x or 16x. Basically a 1x disc of 120 minutes, will take 120 minutes to write completely. A 2x disc, half that time, or 60 minutes.A 4x disc, half again. A 16x 120 minute disc can be completely written in 7 minutes 30 seconds! You must decide if your time is more important than your money!
Firmware
Firmware is programming that is inserted into a programmable memory area of your drive, thus becoming a permanent part of a drive. Every blank disc has a 'dye'. You may have heard of Ritek G05 etc. Ritek G05 is a dye type. If you put in a Ritek G05 disc, or a CMC MAG AE1 disc, or a TDK G02 disc, your drive must have a piece of software that tells it the very best way to burn that dye. If it doesn't, it will approximate, based on what it knows and you will get bad results, often resulting in slower burns and poor playback. When the new 16x discs came out, one of the common dyes was TTH02. Many drives did not have the knowledge of how to write to this dye so results were poor. This does not mean that the dye is bad (it's very, very good). It just means that the hardware could not use it properly. In this situation, your drive needs to have it's software updated. This 'software' is called firmware and can be updated with a firmware flasher. Every company has its own methods to allow you to do a firmware upgrade. A firmware upgrade can add new functionality to your drive. Also bug fixes and improvements are done by firmware upgrades. Please note, firmware is nothing to do with Windows or any burning software such as Nero etc. It is very important to read the firmware flashing instructions carefully to avoid damage to your drive. We can often give you a link to the firmware page of your drive's manufacturer if you require. Just email us the make and model no. and we'll try to help.
Types of Media
DVD-R
A DVD Forum (the industry body that controls the development of DVD formats) approved recordable DVD format. Format allows single-layer data to be stored on each side of the disc -- in other words, one side of the disc can hold upto 4.38 gigabytes of information (NOT 4.7GB what the disc labels claim -- 4.7GB is achieved by tweaking the numbers and using 1,000 in calculations between megabyte and gigabyte, when the correct number to be used should be 1,024). This poses a problem when backing up pressed DVD-Video discs that can hold dual-layer worth of data per side, 8.5GB. Those discs need to be split to two DVD-R discs if all the information has to be preserved from the original disc.
Dual-layer DVD recordables entered the markets in Q2/2004.
DVD-R is technically slightly less advanced than its competitor, DVD+R. But outsells it's rival in the UK.
DVD-R , is a write-once format. DVD-R's "sister format" is called DVD-RW which is essentially a re-writable version of DVD-R.
DVD-R discs can be read with virtually any PC DVD-ROM drive and with most of the regular, stand-alone DVD players.
DVD+R
A propietary recordable DVD format, developed by DVD+RW Alliance. Format currently (10/2003) allows single-layer data to be stored on each side of the disc -- in other words, one side of the disc can hold upto 4.38 gigabytes of information (NOT 4.7GB what the disc labels claim -- 4.7GB is achieved by tweaking the numbers and using 1,000 in calculations between megabyte and gigabyte, when the correct number to be used should be 1,024).
Dual-layer discs that can hold 8.5GB entered the market in Q2/2004. However, dual-layer discs can't be burned using the old DVD+R writers that support only single-layer burning (==all DVD+R capable burners made before 2004 or so).
Single layer discs pose a problem when backing up pressed DVD-Video discs that can hold dual-layer worth of data per side, 8.5GB. Those discs need to be split to two DVD+R discs if all the information has to be preserved from the original disc.
DVD+R is technically slightly more advanced than its competitor, DVD-R, but DVD-R still leads DVD+R by rather wide margin in terms of blank media sales.
DVD+R is a write-once format. DVD+R's "sister format" is called DVD+RW which is essentially a re-writable version of DVD+R.
All most common recordable DVD formats, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R and DVD-RW can be read with most stand-alone DVD players and with virtually all DVD-ROM drives.
DVD-RAM
DVD-RAM (DVD–Random Access Memory) is a disc specification presented in 1996 by the DVD Forum, which specifies rewritable DVD-RAM media and the appropriate DVD writers. DVD-RAM media are used in computers as well as camcorders and personal video recorders since 1998.
The term DVD-RAM is a misnomer based on the false assumption that RAM means the opposite of ROM (Read Only Memory). However, RAM stands for Random Access Memory (computer chips) and DVDs can inherently not use the random access method.
Compared with other writeable DVDs, DVD-RAM is more closely related to hard disk technology, as it has concentric tracks instead of one long spiral track. Unlike the competing formats DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+RW and DVD-RW, you do not need special DVD burning software to write or read DVD-RAMs on a computer. DVD-RAMs can be accessed like a usual floppy disk or hard drive.
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