I have been lurking here for a few days and i would like to say that this is a great forum...i have learned a lot...thanks everybody anyway, i bought an external 16x double layer dvd writer for my laptop a week ago from staples i have been using decrypter and shrink and had no problem copying several dvds with staples dvd+r yesterday, i bought memorex double layer dvd+r to make 1 to 1 copies of dvds that are too big...i used decrypter at iso mode read, write...took a little over an hour...did not use the computer well, the two memorex copies of two different dvds will play but they stop and go several times and i get checkerboard like pictures needless to say i was dissatisfied with the memorex and took them back to best buy...the salesperson told me that memorex is a good brand and i should just exchange them...they had verbatim dl for $30 for 3 and i thought that was too expensive i don't know if i just got a bad batch or i did not copy correctly or there is something wrong with my writer...any advise??
What is the make and model of your burner and its current firmware. If you want to use Verbatim dual layers try WalMart the price is cheaper only 20.00 for three. Or you can order online I bought Ritek/Ridata dual layers from supermediastore at 4.50 a disk. Did you try playing your disk on one standalone or more, and did it play on your PC?
arniebear, thanks for your response...my writer is i/oMagic, went to liveupdate for current firmware...dvdrw usb 16x...firmware is A079 now that i updated the firmware, should i buy memorex again? they are 15 for $75 i only made 2 memorex copies and both played on the laptop and standalone but with stop and go and artifacts, i am thinking that i got a bad batch...any other opinions?
IMO I would try the Verbatim, I am not a fan of Memorex and the I/O Magic drive I had wasn't either. Before you spend that amount of money go to WalMart and just get the three, at least if it doesn't work again you are not out a large amount of money.
Stay away from memorex. That salesperson is full of shite and doesn't know what they're talking about. Like arniebear stated if you want to buy locally then verbatum is the only way to go. If you want to buy online then ritek should be ok. Personally I would go with verbatum only either way. Arniebear was being nice and knows how worthless memorex is too. If possible I recommend bitsetting your +r media. I'm not sure if I/O magic burners are capable of doing this but will do some research if you give me the model number. Do you know arniebear? Mort
I agree with arniebear. You can get a 3 pack of verbatim dl for about $20.00 The only thing with the word [bold]MEMOREX[/bold]I trust is their full size dvd cases, LOL. It's hard to screw up cases. That's the drawback of I/O magic drives,they are made by many different manufacturers. I've got 2 of them-internal. BenQ 1620 made my first one,3 months later,staples had the same I/O 16x on sale again for $40 and it was a piece of crap EMPA- made by Middle East FZCO! It did have the live update program and the compatability totally sucked. I'd hate to even try burning an expensive dl dvd in it. That Empa i/o firmware was updated to A07R after the first week out of the box. Can you search for the exact mfg brand name on that I/O magic burner. Since it's external,it may also be an EMPA.
What's up mort? Burn any dl's with that benq yet? I still have nightmares about that empa I/O drive. Even after booktyping the plus media with the "Live Update" program,the compatability totally sucked out the a**!
OK! Still fine-tuning my new machine. I took out the 640c lightscribe and replaced it with my original benq 1620. 3 coasters in 2 days on that hp lightscribe. I've only had 1 ligitamate coaster on my benq this year. I'm almost a single man again. Should be over with next month!!!!!!
my drive is 1DVD16DDBE, paid about $100, have till wednesday to return it...looked it up and the new model is 1DVD16DDME also, another question...i have 2 iso images in my hard disk that i want to play with powerdvd but i can not access them...is there a trick to this?...i am still learning thanks arniebear, mort, saugy, for all the replies...should i keep the drive?
IMHO I wish I could say I had good luck with my I/O Magic, but I didn't, even after I sent it back to mfr. and got replacement it still crashed the comp every time I tried to safely remove it. It was a BTC1008UI and I was lucky I could get 2x out of it and even after firmware update it stunk. They put a crap ALI chipset in it that doesn't agree with anything. They also enclose the drive so you cannot get it out of the enclosure to even try it as an internal. I never knew if it would burn or not. I am with Saugmon it gives me nightmares, it is only 8 months old and just went in the trash. As was stated the problem with I/O Magic is they get their drives from all over and you never know what you are getting, and it is not quality. Did a quick Google on the info on the drive you gave and could not come up with anything on brand. @Saugmon Sorry to hear you had such bad luck with the HP, mine is doing really well not one coaster, yet. Don't know about the future.
Hey gitoy, external burners are out of my league.That firmware is pretty darn close to my EMPA drive. I'll investigate. I know I have helped several people in the dvd-rw room with that exact same model # a while back. I believe they ended up replacing them with regular-quality- dvd drive along with an external case.
@gitoy - looks like the guys have made a lot of headway in this thread. on the media front they've got it sussed too so all i can add is my stock statement - [bold]..Memorex/CMC - don't let them near your Burner.....[/bold] - http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/195438
Open powerdvd and click on the button with a dvd drive on it in the lower right corner of the player faceplate, click on open DVD file on hard disc drive, locate and click on the folder you want to play. Mort Edit: reread the post and I'm not sure it will play ISO's since I mostly use file mode.
