I have some suggestions for anyone backing up their movies. I have been backing stuff up for a while but still consider myself a newbie. A few suggestions would be, stop trying to cut corners or find some fast way of doing things. Run as few programs as possible. avoid opening new progs when burning DVDs. I use an external NEC burner via usb 2. I decrypt to external drive and shrink to local drive on my laptop. I stopped using NERO due to too many errors with the external drive. I now burn with RecordNow DX and it works flawlessly. I also use Princo white top 4x dvd-r's and have had great success with them too. I decrypt the movie with decrypter, shrink it with dvd shrink and then burn it afterward. Patience is the key. hope this helps.
Very good advice! RecordNow has always been one of my favorites due to it's stability and few conflicts. I've only one comment and that has to do with Princo media. I realize that you didn't make a universal recommendation of them and you've had good results with them but there have been a great many folks who've had untold problems with them so I'd recommend that anyone looking at Princos do themselves a favor and consider something else such as RiDATA, Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim's Metal AZO
I agree with you, but blank media should be chosen on a person to person basis. Many times we chose based on reviews and find something completely different. Such as my experience with princo. My guess is that many times its not actually the media that is the issue, but the software of the burner and/or its compatibility with princo.
This post interested me. Mainly the part about the media. I see so many people on here reccomend RitekG04 media. For the life of me I don't understand why? I would have to agree with miloshe on this one, and I know I am a still considered a newbie on this forum, but I have been backing up DVD's for over 3 years now, and have been working in the computer field for 12 years. Point being I would always recommed finding a media that works best for you. I have used just about every media out there with very little problems from any of them. With the exception of Memorex(I stay away from them) I belive if you have everything on your PC installed correctly and working properly (firmware, drivers, & proggys up to date) then you shouldnt have a problem. Take the time and read threw the guides and post's in this forum on how to back up your DVD's and you shouldnt have a problem. It seem's like everyone has tunnel vision when it comes to the media. Now that dosen't mean I would go out and buy the cheapest low grade media out there either, but if it works for you and plays in all your stand alone players fine then hey why not use it? Right now I am using Prodisc which I have never used before. I have burned about 10 DVD's on them so far and they have been perfect. I like them because I can print directly on them with my Epson Photo R200. Like I said before the only disk's I have ever really had a problem with is Memorex, and they seemed to burn fine the problem came when playing them in stand alone players they would skip, jitter, and sometimes just freez up. I would say take a chance and try different type's of media just to see whats out there and what you like best. Also most DVD Writer manufacturers list some where on there web pages what brand of media works with there writer. So if you take alittle time and investigate you won't go wrong.
G04 gets recommended because there have been a great many people who have burned hundreds of them with outstanding results. I personally don't find that difficult to understand. Absolutely and if it works for you that's all that counts. I recommended known quality media that's the least likely to give problems to possibly save some folks the heartaches I've seen many others go through with mediocre media. That's a completely valid personal experience yet a perusal of our Media forum will turn up an undeniable amount of posts regarding problems using low grade media such as Princo or CMC despite the users having quality equipment, updated firmwares and the correct techniques. Most all these problems were solved by moving to high quality media. Not always. In many cases all those qualities still can't make up for a substandard dye. Another consideration is that even though the initial burn may go through fine the data integrity of the low grade dyes is oftentimes lacking. Again, a perusal of the Media forum will turn up many instances of cheap media turning up error and playback issues several months down the road. I think all of us would agree that there are no absolutes when it comes to media. Some folks have good luck with low quality media, many don't. I wouldn't deny for a second that I'm predjudiced against low quality media but it's a viewpoint that can be easily qualified and is shared by a great many users with experience equal to you, miloshe and I
Dang Nephilim, LOL I don't want anyone to get me wrong. I did say I would recommend the higher brand media, but some people (very few) still have problems with even good media. Milioshe is having good results with Princo media which a lot of people on here would say that's not good media, but if it is working for him/her then they should go ahead and stick with that. Miloshe to really check how good these disks burned you could run it threw Nero tool kit/ nero info tool that will let you know if there are any errors or not on these disk's. I will agree that not everyone will agree on what media is the best it comes down to personal prference. V/R,
Got a bit long winded didn't I? There are certainly some some poor souls that seem to have bad juju no matter what they try. That's when I tell them to arrange the candles differently, adjust the lighting down a bit further and and keep chanting to the burning gods
