Memorex 8.5GB 8X Double Layer DVD+R (50pk Spindle)
by Memorex
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List Price: Our Price: $30.00 You Save: $9.99 (25%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of Memorex 8.5GB 8X Double Layer DVD+R (50pk Spindle)
Customer Review: Very reliable on properly maintained systems
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought the Memorex dual layer discs despite the spate of negative reviews simply because the price of the next cheapest brand was prohibitive. At first I was really upset with the discs. As I tried to burn DVDs I got error message after error message telling me that there had been a media error. I happily sat all these discs off to one side. Eventually, after about 15 successfully burned discs, I had a stack of 10 failures. But then I started trying to use these discs on future burns, and I eventually was able to successfully use all of them.
Each person's experience will, of course, be different. Their success or lack of success will depend on a host of factors, including the age of their DVD burner, whether their firmware is up to date, what kind of material they are burning, their computer and operating system, and so on. But my own experience is that there really is nothing wrong with the Memorex Dual Layer discs. In my case the problem seems to stem instead from hardware or software problems on my computer.
In other words, I believe many people are blaming the discs for the problems when in fact the problem is more likely something else. My own suspicion is that these discs -- and probably any blank media -- will work more happily with more up to date systems, including software, hardware, and firmware.
So, if you are wondering whether this is a perpetually flawed product, my experience that it is not. My belief is that many of those giving the Memorex discs such dreadful reviews simply haven't adequately troubleshot the failures. After reusing discs even after notifications of media failure, I ended up having only 3 out of the first 50 Memorex discs I had used. This compares favorably with the failure rate I've experienced with 4.7 GB discs.
Customer Review: Cheap, but you get what you pay for...
Summary: 3 Stars
Yes, it's true that burn speed is a factor. The slower you burn these, the longer it will take, BUT their longevity/reliability improves. Unfortunately, not all DVDs are created equal. Switching between layers proves more troublesome for some drives than others, and the difference between discs can be significant. I have owned/burned Sony DL, Memorex DL, and Verbatim DL. I've never had any trouble out of Sony or Verbatim. I have had moderate and usual trouble with the Memorex.
I gave the Memorex 3 stars because they do work and are, by comparison, VERY cheap. Then again, if they cost half the price but fail twice as often... What I noticed was not that the discs failed all that often -- less than 5 failed discs out of 50 -- but that the discs weren't recognized by the very drive that burned them once completed!
I bought this spindle to back up a bunch of my DVDs that were DVD-9s and did not want to compress them to single layer DVDs. I successfully (other than the 5 I mentioned) wrote the video files to the Memorex discs, but the drive failed to read from the media after I finished. Because the layer change took a fair amount of time when writing, I imagine that the hangup was seeing the second layer.
All was/is not lost, though, because both my PS3 and Oppo DVD player recognized and played the movies...at least all that I have tried so far. So, the problem may not present itself for all users in all applications. I no longer have the DELL laptop that I used these on and haven't checked the discs on other computer DVD drives, but I imagine that my powerful desktop would do better with them.
But I took away 2 stars because reliability is EVERYTHING when you're talking about blank disc media... If you can't trust them, what are they worth?
Customer Review: Windows default burning function won't work with this DVD
Summary: 5 Stars
I was suspicious when I purchased this DL DVD discs, received them and made the first try due to different reviews here. But I have some HD movie files that won't fit those 4.7G ones that I have been always using. This is the best deal I could find online, so I decided to give it a try.
Bung, it failed twice in a row, that was a strike, since I burned more than 100 DVD disks (4.7G) myself and never failed one before. So I thought OK, got the wrong stuff this time just as the other reviewers said. :( And I am always lazy to return any items I bought online. So I just left the remaining 48 discs there, do not bother to touch them any more.
Today I happened to read the reviews from another site, and realized that I used my newly bought laptop window 7 default DVD burning functions on those disks, it is not very reliable. Even I reduced the speed to 4x as many mentioned in their reviews, still it failed. (It worked on my other 4.7G DVD disks before.) It is a new machine and I have not got the chances to install all the software on it yet.
I installed my old Nero back and wanted to give it one more chance. It was fun to watch the program running in fact. I saw the write speed starts with 2.4X, 2.9X. I thought, gosh, how long it gonna take? Good things is it turns to 3.9X and most parts in the middle it actually uses 6X. The program adjusts the speed for me automatically. :) It takes altogether 28 minutes for me to burn a 8.3G file on one disk, only 22M free space left. And here comes my first self made DL DVD disk!
The software I used is 2007 Nero 8.3.6, not very updated, but good enough for me to use. And I should not blame these DVD discs when they first failed me. :P I am happy with my purchase now.
Customer Review: Whats the fuss?
Summary: 5 Stars
First, I need to give you my crappy system specs so you understand.
2.8 ghz pentium d
4 gigs ram (max system will allow)
iomega double layer dvd burner
Now you see a glimpse of what i have to work with. I point this out because i see the reviews on these disks and i'm perplexed. I just upgraded my burner a couple months ago, only because my 2 year old daughter put 5 disks at one time in my old one and the drawer became . . . um, unreliable at best. Ive purchased and used around 300 memorex dl's over the last 2 years, most on the old burner, and about 50 on the new one. I have had a total, 3 failures, and one was when the power flickered during a storm last year, so maybe it counts and maybe it doesn't. My new burner works at 8x speed on dl's, and i haven't had one failure on the new burner. So as i said, i am perplexed how so many people have problems. I see it all over the place though, with all different brands. I have a suggestion however, try burning at half the speed your currently burning, and if the problem goes away, you know its your system and not the disk. Perhaps the verbatum brand is better, but i've never had a reason to spend the extra money. The disks i burnt almost 3 years ago arent having any problems, and the ones i'm burning now work great. 2 burners, a semi-ancient system, 300+ disks and 3 failures. I don't think i could ask for much more out of s product. I introduce the most important piece of advice anyone who wants to burn dl's can take. DO YOUR HOMEWORK ON THE BURNER. It seems the more you spend on the burner, the more unreliable they become. I spent [...] on mine, and its been perfect. Customer reviews on these drives should be your best friends.
Customer Review: Most of the time they do not work.
Summary: 1 Stars
I have been using this product for over a year. I usually buy them 50 at a time because they are a more affordable brand. Unfortunatley I have learned that you get what you pay for. When using these discs in the past I have thrown away as many, if not more that I have kept. When burning on them I frequently will get unrecoverable burning errors and have to throw the disc away. The last batch I bought were completely defective, I went through about 10 bad discs before deciding they were all junk. I sent the remainder of them back to Amazon and they are in the process of exchanging them. So, in the meantime I have purchased and have been using Philips DVD+R DL's and haven't had a single coaster! They are a bit more expensive, so I only buy 25 at a time, but boy is it worth it...no waste! I kept buying the cheaper Memorex ones thinking that maybe the software I was using or my burner were malfunctioning, because sometimes they WOULD work. But now that I have tried the better Philips brand, I know that the Memorex discs are pretty much worthless. I have also used Memorex DVD-R single layers and have always had good success with them, it's just the DL's that are bad. So, basically, don't buy these unless you only want about 1 out of 4 to be good. If you pay $35 for 50 of them and only get half of them to work (and thats being generous) then you are actually paying $35 for only 25 discs, which is what you will pay for the Philips. My advice: don't buy these...sorry Memorex. Maybe you need to make some improvements on the product, then re-release them as "new and improved", then I might go another round with you. Thanx.