From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from lists.gentoo.org ([140.105.134.102] helo=robin.gentoo.org) by nuthatch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1E6JWh-00001u-3R for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:56:07 +0000 Received: from robin.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.4/8.13.4) with SMTP id j7K2rKlQ026922; Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:53:20 GMT Received: from rwcrmhc12.comcast.net (rwcrmhc12.comcast.net [216.148.227.85]) by robin.gentoo.org (8.13.4/8.13.4) with ESMTP id j7K2gDIH001922 for ; Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:42:14 GMT Received: from [192.168.0.123] (pcp04370732pcs.nrockv01.md.comcast.net[69.140.218.245]) by comcast.net (rwcrmhc12) with ESMTP id <2005082002422801400qc054e>; Sat, 20 Aug 2005 02:42:28 +0000 Message-ID: <4306988F.10804@erols.com> Date: Fri, 19 Aug 2005 22:42:23 -0400 From: Matt Randolph User-Agent: Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.6 (X11/20050723) X-Accept-Language: en-us, en Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Linux mail X-BeenThere: gentoo-user@gentoo.org Reply-to: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org MIME-Version: 1.0 To: gentoo-user@lists.gentoo.org Subject: Re: [gentoo-user] DVD recorder recommendations References: <9acccfe50508182123235014b5@mail.gmail.com> <11fc6a2505081912421e9dc248@mail.gmail.com> In-Reply-To: <11fc6a2505081912421e9dc248@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Archives-Salt: 895cc6ab-7f81-473f-bb2b-6c3cbb348390 X-Archives-Hash: c632d33f115a5b3ed2596e2a4882ff1a Sean Johnson wrote: >I'm pretty stuck on Plextor drives. I've found them to all be very >reliable, and will tend to read damaged disks that other drives choke >on. > >Just my 2c. > > > I could have bought another brand for less, but my Plextor has yet to meet a brand of disc that it couldn't burn. I haven't had any bad burns yet either. One thing you might do is check http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters to read up on whichever models you are thinking about buying. This site lists reviews and blank media compatibility reports for nearly every drive under the sun. Check to see how picky the drives you like are and read the reviews. If you find one that will burn perfectly on every type of media that has been tried in it, that's a major plus. Many drives have trouble writing to inexpensive discs. When you find a promising drive or two, look to see if any of the reportedly compatible media can be bought at your local shop. Better yet, look for some you can buy in bulk on the cheap through a shopping engine (I like pricewatch.com). Be sure to verify that the media you intend to use will play in your set-top DVD player too. Find your DVD player at http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers and look at the player's media compatibility reports to do this. The compatibility lists for the players aren't always as complete as they are for the burners--especially for older players--but it is better to have looked than not to have. It's a lot of leg-work, but it beats buying a drive that will only burn expensive media, or that won't burn any of the brands of discs that work in your set-top box. When you find a drive/cheap-media/player combination that works, you can save a lot of money by buying the discs in bulk, even if you have to pay a premium for a more capable burner. When you find a good deal on a DVD burner, and that burner will record a wide variety of brands of discs, and among those varieties of discs are some that you can get cheap, and those cheap discs will play in your set-top DVD player... well, then start digging out your credit card already! What more do you want?! Just my 13 cents. P.S.: Seemingly identical blank discs can be made by different manufacturers even if they are the same brand/speed/model-number. Don't buy bulk media unless you're ABSOLUTELY sure that it is going to work for you. You might ask the vendor if they will sell you a sample disc to test first. Who knows? It could happen. -- "Pluralitas non est ponenda sine necessitate" - W. of O. -- gentoo-user@gentoo.org mailing list