Anyone know about CD/DVD quality?

[Oeditpus Rex]

Friend sent me a CD he burned of Mary Gauthier's "Mercy Now" (freakin' outSTANding alt-country artist, btw), and after like four plays it's already skipping. He burned it onto a CD-R from Office Depot.

Last night I settled down to watch a bootleg DVD of "Special Bulletin" (the one about the nuclear terrists on the tugboat in a Charleston, S.C. harbor) that I got via eBay, and it burped so badly that it shut down my DVD player. That was maybe the fifth time I've watched it.

So I'm wondering — are store-bought blank discs crap, or am I just unlucky? I cleaned my DVD player and CD drive with a cleaning disk, but it didn't help. :shrug:

[democracyindanger]

1. Home-burned DVDs

can be sketchy. Burning a DVD on your PC is not the same as professionally-burned discs--pros use "glass masters" and industry-standard machines. The best DVD burner set the average consumer can put together will never reach the same standard that an industry house will put out.

The blanks can be part of the problem, but the software figures as well. And then the DVD player itself can figure into the equation.

No real advice, except don't use those disc-cleaning things. More likely to scratch your lens than 'clean' it, IMO.

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. Thanks — and that prompts another question

What to clean 'em with, then? I keep a can of compressed air handy to blow out dust, but is that enough?

[CanuckAmok]

2. OT, but "Special Bulletin" was pretty great.

The end was amazing.

[Poiuyt]

3. I know that the brand of blank DVD makes a difference

Memorex, which seems to be the most common, is the worst. They almost never work in a stand alone DVD player. I've had the best luck with Verbatim and Taiyo Yuden.

[BlueJazz]

4. Amen on Memorex....I used to have problems galore with the..

..damn things...shit quality...I think that's why they're always on sale...

[Nevernose]

6. I've had serious problems w/ Sony DVD players

They don't even like store-bought discs, much less anything burned. Friends have experienced similar problems with similar Sonys, too, across several generations of technology.

[KitchenWitch]

7. Me too, I thought it was just my Sony DVD player

(it was one of the first ones marketed)