Hi. I bought some Verbatim DVD-Rs 16x DataLifePlus (95079). I burned 3 at 8x, 3 at 12x, 3 at 16x, and 1 at 24x. The ones at 8x and 12x constantly had artifacts and skips or lockups on my crappy DVD player. The 16x ones played nearly 100% fine with only the occasional pop. The 24x one was pretty good too, just a little worse than the 16x one.

All DVDs played fine on my computer drive.

I'm curious if anyone might know why the ones burned at 8x and 12x play worse than the ones burned at 16x or higher? I've heard burning too slow can be as bad as burning too fast, but 8x and 12x don't seem overly slow for 16x media.

Drive is the ASUS DRW-24F1ST

I used Prassi Ones for some, ImgBurn for others. The software didn't seem to make any difference though. I'm going to test another drive tomorrow to see if it's drive dependent, but I suspect it may have more to do with the media.

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I don't know if I just got some bad Verbatim's or what. Now, they appear to skip unless I burn them at 20x with the ASUS. The lower I burn them, the worse the skipping gets. I bought some crappy Memorex at Walmart and burned them from 8x to 16x and they seem to always play fine. I'm going to get some more of the same Verbatim's and also another burner to compare.

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I rebought the same ones and now they work ok. I notice the code on the bottom of the ones that weren't working so good is 5820, the ones I just got are 5788. The 5820 ones I got from Rima, the 5788 ones from SuperMediaStore if anyone is interested.

Burning optical media is a balance between good burner and good media. And age is a factor for both.

For example, a marginal burner and good media will often produce a marginal burn.
And the inverse is true, marginal media, good burner.

It takes lots of testing, with plenty of constants (not variables) to discern what's going on. Too many people make knee-jerk reactions that the disc is bad when it is not.

Not only is 12x not too slow, but it's generally suggested over 16x on 16x media.
24x is never suggested.
8x can vary, depending on the burner.

Remember that 16x Verbatim (MCC) media works well, even in realtime (slower than 1x) DVD recorders.

Asus has never made great burners. I have one myself, for ripping/reading only. Even at that task it acts fluky. It's not a good burner. That's what my Pioneer is for.

Software will almost never make a difference. Only something buggy like Nero is a problem, not Prassi. However, look into using ImgBurn (v2.5.5.0, not newer! spyware!) instead.
Download: http://www.digitalfaq.com/forum/dvd-...dvdshrink.html

I wonder how long that spindle of discs has been at Rima. MCC 16x media has been around for 10 years now. Although media shelf life does allow for unburned media to survive that long, it's not ideal. There has also been speculation that the discs have changed slightly over time, with a few more coasters than normal about 4-5 years ago.

The crappy/cheap DVD player can also be a problem, not the discs. Some DVD players are really finicky.

I've long since ripped all my discs to drives, and watch DVD images from a WDTV. The discs are in a closet, as backup to the images.

LordSmurf, I’ve recently adopted a personal policy to try to watch discs (instead of rips) as often as possible to support the use, manufacture and sale (and ultimately continuation) of DVD/Blu-ray players, as I’ve come to believe the future of optical media lies more in continued player manufacture than in disc manufacture.

Do you think there’s value in continuing to play your discs? What do you think of this policy or viewpoint?

I don't feel nostalgia for discs, aside from my own burned creations 15+ years ago.

The mere act of hunting for a disc, when you collect and make enough to fill a closet -- literally -- is the pits. Having a spreadsheet of the ISO on drives is much nicer. I can actually enjoy a show, with zero effort. Beforehand, it wasn't uncommon to get frustrated finding a disc, and no longer being in the mood for it IF it was found.

Lasers and players have finite lifespans, so best not to tempt fate with them anyway. Make them last as long as possible!