DV MAGAZINE - Compatibility Study
Jerry Jones
considered to be a string of dull issues, I picked up the July 2002
issue at the local Borders because this article is worthwhile.
The 'DVD Compatibility Test' was written by Ralph LaBarge who did a
pretty good job given his available resources.
He (and five independent companies) tested a fairly decent range of
players, disc brands, etc.
DISC BRANDS:
1. Maxell - 80% DVD-R pass rate
2. TDK - 76% DVD-R pass rate
3. Sony - 76% DVD-R pass rate
4. Mitsui - 73% DVD-R pass rate
5. Apple - 73% DVD-R pass rate
6. Imation - 71% DVD-R pass rate
7. Ridata - 69% DVD-R pass rate
8. Verbatim - 69% DVD-R pass rate
9. Panasonic - 69% DVD-R pass rate
10. Vivastar - 63% DVD-R pass rate
11. Memorex - 59% DVD-R pass rate
12. Pioneer - 58% DVD-R pass rate
12. Ritek - 51% DVD-R pass rate
"If you choose off-brand media, record them at the lowest speed
possible - 1X for DVD-R and DVD-RW, and 2.4X for DVD+RW."
"Using slower recording speeds increases the overall compatibility
rating of off-brand media."
COMPATIBILITY BY MEDIA TYPE:
1. DVD-R for authoring 3.95gb: 96%
2. DVD-R for authoring 4.7gb: 67%
3. DVD-R for general 4.7gb: 66%
4. DVD-RW 4.7gb: 58%
5. DVD+RW 4.7gb: 56%
"DVD-RW and DVD+RW are still the LEAST compatible of the media types."
But LaBarge explains the compatibility issues improve DRAMATICALLY
when the range of players is expanded to include only 2001/2002
models:
COMPATIBILITY BY MEDIA ON NEWER PLAYERS
1. DVD-R for authoring 3.95gb: 100%
2. DVD-R for authoring 4.7gb: 94%
3. DVD-R for general 4.7gb: 93%
4. DVD-RW: 89%
5. DVD+RW: 80%
PERFECT PLAYERS:
1. Apex AD660
2. Microsoft XBox
3. Pioneer DV333
4. Pioneer DVDV7400
5. Pioneer PDVLC10
6. Sony DVPS330
7. Sony DVPS360
8. Toshiba SD4700
LaBarge goes on at length about how difficult and labor intensive it
is to do a meaningful study of this issue.
He offered the following caveat:
"If I had the time, money, and staff to do a more complete test that
included multiple copies of each media format and brand, as well as
multiple units of each player make and model, I would consider
publicizing the raw data-but as the raw data stands, it's prone to
misinterpretation."
The article is very lengthy - includes much more than the highlights
I've mentioned above - and it's definitely worth picking up a copy of
this issue of DV MAGAZINE just to have the article for reference.
Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net
Mike Kujbida
<huge snip>
> The article is very lengthy - includes much more than the highlights
> I've mentioned above - and it's definitely worth picking up a copy of
> this issue of DV MAGAZINE just to have the article for reference.
>
No need to buy it. As I posted the other day, the article is available at
www.dv.com (for the next two weeks apparently). Just register (free) and
download it. Print it off if you need a hard copy.
Mike Kujbida
Larry Jandro
tapped on a keyboard and said:
> No need to buy it. As I posted the other day, the article is
> available at www.dv.com (for the next two weeks apparently).
> Just register (free) and download it. Print it off if you need
> a hard copy.
You can subscribe to the magazine for free. Much easier than looking
at a web site while sitting on the throne. ;-)
--
Larry Jandro - Remove spamtrap in ALLCAPS to e-mail
Are you a Sound/Video/Lighting/Staging Freelancer..?
If so, think about joining our mail list.
Send an e-mail to: avfreelance...@topica.com
(Requests from Yahoo, Hotmail & @HOME will be rejected.)