i imagine that this has been discussed before, but can anyone tell me what the best brand of cd-r's are for VCD's on stand alone dvd players. i figure that this has some personal bias, but thats ok. if there is "one certain brand" that works best on most dvd players can anyone point them out? thanks Nathan
Your question is almost impossible to answer for the following reason: Stand-alone DVD players with a dual laser pickup (those supporting MP3) should be able to read all brands of CD-Rs without any difficulty. On the other hand, players with a single laser pickup (most, if not all, players before 2001 model year) do not officially support CD-R/CD-RW. Therefore no certain brand of CD-Rs can be played on most of these players for sure.
I have an inexpensive Sanyo, single-laser dvd standalone that plays *any* brand of cd-r that I care to turn into a vcd. So, you might want to choose a brand simply based on standard quality factors. K.A.
But if you're looking for a brand that works on most players, even those that are extremely picky, you'll be wanting CDRs from Princo Co. .
ok, let me ask you this. what brand name have you had the best success with in terms of burning vcd's and playing them on stand alone dvd players? also, how long do CD-R's last if taken care of(not left in the hot sun, kept out of the dust)? also, i've read that the silver and gold CD-R's are much better than blue or green. is this really true? one last question, what is your experience with PNY's black CD-R's? they look like playstation dics on the bottom. basically what i want to know is what brand/color of CD-R's do you buy, and why?
You're right, fallen_br, for some completely-unknown-to-me reason, Princo discs are the *only* discs that my friend's Sony dvd player will accept for vcds. Everything else is a washout - you can hear his player's laser frantically search for data, not find it, then show "No Disc" in the lcd display. And this is using the finest, most pricey discs too. The Princos, on the other hand, in my area, are only available as the 'no-name' generic type, with no label, no buff protection (scuff-resistant upper surface), and are dirt, dirt cheap. Not to mention in *extremely* limited supply too, by my local Walmart who is phasing them out (they are rated at 16x), for a *new* type of dirt, dirt cheap no-name variety (they look identical), which are rated at 24x. The trouble is, these new cheapos are made by "Ritek", not Princo, so it would appear I'm going to have to scoop up what few Princos I can still find, and *fast*. Which leads me to a question, fallen_br: Do you know of *any* other (hopefully available) discs that could be Princos? (Any brand, any price, any colour, any......). My friend will be S.O.L. (sh## out of luck), once these few Princos are gone. As it is, I have to reach *w-a-a-a-y* into the back of the shelves to pull out the (rare) Princo 10-pak. To nmace85: The black discs (e3works, Memorex, etc) all work fine as vcds. I've had NO problem with any of them. At least as far as my Sanyo dvd player is concerned, *any* brand/colour of disc works well, so I can't recommend any particular brand over another. Longevity-wise, even my earliest vcds still work as well as the day I made them. As I say, maybe you'll just want to choose a well-known brand that has, perhaps, a good top-coating (buff/scratch protection), and avoid the cheapie no-name stuff (which I, unfortunately, must use for my friend's Sony machine). But you know? Even the low end Princos play perfectly on his machine. (Go figure). Keep on doing what you're doing - store and handle them carefully and keep them out of the sunlight. Perhaps a better question might be "What particular discs should I *avoid*?", because there are a few horror stories in here about certain discs that lose their ability to be read over a period of time. Good Luck. P. S. : (Home-made VideoCDs are *way cool*, eh? I'm doing up the whole first season of M*A*S*H 4077 - the tv series, right now.) -- Mike, The Klingon --
That's a bit strange since the SmartBuy brand is owned by Prodisc, but perhaps they oursorce from Princo.
cd-rw.org, you're correct... I haven't used ProDisc or Princo but I keep getting the two names mixed up. SmartBuy is ProDisc and not Princo.
The following was reported at CDFreaks.com: "April 04, 2002 Complaints against Princo and Postech in the USA In the USA Philips has filed complaints for infringement of Philips patents covering CD-R Disc technology. One complaint has been filed against Princo Corporation of Taiwan and its U.S. based distributor Princo America. A second complaint was filed against Postech Corporation of Taiwan and its U.S. based distributor LEDA distribution. All CD-R discs manufactured by Postech and Princo infringe upon Philips' essential CD-R disc patents since both companies have not entered into the appropriate patent license agreements with Philips. Consequently, the importation and sale of CD-R discs from Princo and Postech into the United States constitutes infringement of Philips' United States CD-R disc patents." It seems that Princo CD-Rs work on most DVD players may be due to the fact that they did not follow Philip's CD-R standards strictly to avoid the royalty payment.
WoW! Awesome news, Telstar, thank you. Almighty1 (i sent you an email)-- thanx also for the info about SmartBuy. There are no SmartBuy products in my area (Nova Scotia, Canada). By the looks of things (Telstar's update), I may have to grab the few remaining Princos available locally ASAP. (And to think, I could have bought 100-spindle-packs a year ago for $48 Canadian, which I guess is about .08c American <gg>.) I'm reluctant to send off for discs in the mail because I risk ending up with a lot of unuseable coasters (in my friend's machine) if they *aren't* princos. If available locally, I can just try a few out first. Ah well, everyone's input is certainly appreciated. -- Mike --
A_Klingon: Most of the Jensen CDRs are Princos, (or were last time I checked), if you can find those, you should buy a sample and ID them first, since some are Ritek. Also, some Pine CDRs are Princos, but Pine uses every single brand of taiwanese CD on the market so they're not reliable for this. Princos are getting really hard to find in the US, but should still be available in CA, I believe.
Postech made CD-R's for Prime Peripherals and Memorex BTW http://www.package2you.com has a 24 pack of 12X 74min Smart Buys CD-R for $4.50.
Yep, thnx, fallen_br - will add Jensen and (potentially) Pine to my list of 'maybes'. Haven't seen any Jensens (I don't think), but a local store (Office Depot) carries wads of those Tawainese Pines - trouble is, they're all 50 or 100-paks, meaning, a *lot* of coasters if they *aren't* Princos. Anyhoo, I have a simpler overall solution - as I've already told him - my buddy will (eventually) just have to add an additional, very inexpensive, (on-sale or discontinued model perhaps), single-laser dvd player to put alongside his Sony. (They're plummeting in price anyway), then he can use practically *any* disc I make him. Sony makes great dvd players - why are they so damned picky about discs? (Rhetorical question, no need to reply). <gg> -- Klingy --
A_Klingon, Didn't get your e-mail. You sure you sent it to the right email address since I didn't think email addresses were allowed or listed on the forums anywhere. I made a mistake, I was trying to say SmartBuy is made by ProDisc and not Princo. Wow, 0.08c US is cheap!
(I was only kidding about the .08c Can.) The difference between our dollars is at an all-time high (Can vs. US). Sam, I simply 'Replied' to your email which should have automatically routed my message back to you. I have hotmail and outlook express all intertwined together, so maybe something buggered up. I have you as "clonexxxxx@hotmail.com" (numbers x'd out), but I'll put you into my address book and reply manually instead. Sorry for the delay. (M$ sh##, what can I say?) -- Mike --
(Come to think of it.....) You *did* drop me a post, right? I have it right here. If not, someone may be doing a wee bit of scamming here, pretending to be you. I'll hold off re-replying until I hear from you in here, ok? (Good god, what's the world coming to? We're talking simple email here, not cutting-edge technology) <g> KA
I don't know if it's an All time high but I remember when I was in Toronto during 1987, it was $CDN1.30 per $US1. Today, it's $CDN1.57 per $US1. Nope, wasn't me who sent you e-mail and my name isn't Sam since the problem is I don't think you can even get a e-mail address of another person let along even post it since cd-rw.org himself or other mods will modify your post and delete the email address as it's against forum rules. Ofcourse, I never figured out why e-mail addresses aren't allowed to be posted. Not to menion that I own and run my own ISP and don't use hotmail.com except for incoming efax.com attachments. All my email would have my name (vince) followed by wurldlink.net and my cheers signature in it.
I must apologize. I got you mixed up with another member (Samri)in another forum topic. A result, I fear, of working 10-12 hours a day,6 days a week, then scooting home for a brief break to brew a coffee and check emails, etc. (At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it). Please be advised however, that I have recently undertaken extensive therapeutic councelling by professionals, in an attempt to avoid this sort of thing from happening again. (They tell me I'm making solid progress; my drug dosage has been halved, and I should be out by Friday). Yeah, I remember at one point back in the early 70's, one Canadian dollar was worth $1.02 American. (I should have stocked up). Best Regards, -- A_Confused_But_Improving_Klingon --