What mainstream tools/methods can the average user use to determine the quality of different DVD media?

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(in reply to 1UP)

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quote:

ORIGINAL: 1UP
What mainstream tools/methods can the average user use to determine the quality of different DVD media?

Hi and welcome to our forums...Thanks for your nice question, i had this question at my mind sometime now, i will try to answer shortly: there are many utils and many drives at which you can "test" quality of different DVD media (always burned, not blank). The biggest problem is that every consumer drive will not give same results with other, so the measurements are only "valid" to the used reader...

To overcome this "problem" you have to buy Pro testing equipement, 60.000+ Euro....

More at this subject at a seperate thread.

(in reply to 1UP)

Thanks for the friendly greetings and replies.

Do you have any plans to conduct an updated media roundup, perhaps with just NEC and Lite-On burners?

(in reply to 1UP)

With NEC/Pioneer 108 for sure...Yet we haven't released LiteON SOHW-1633S/SONY DRU-710A reviews

(in reply to 1UP)

The word 'objectively' poses a real challenge in your question.

To me there are two ways:

1) Test an unburned disc alone in a specialized tester (expensive, not available to consumers)

2) Burn a certain number of same discs in the TOP 10 sold burners (latest firmware) and test their readability in the TOP 10 most sold reader/writers. Combine the results statistically.

I don't think there is any other way to do it objectively and even the two above may need to be combined, because they test different things.

IMHO, just testing in a CATS analyzer is not enough, although it's probably the best single test that one can do to find useful results about burned media (i.e. burner + media combined) quality. It does not test pure burner or pure disc quality alone (unless tested in mode 1, as described above).

(in reply to emperor)

More or less Halcyon has explain what should be done to have an objectively view upon each media quality...

(in reply to Halcyon)