[ale] DVD media/hardware tests

[Geoffrey]

Dow Hurst wrote:
> Questions:
> Is there any reason to believe that certain polling processes like 
> "autorun" on RH 9 can cause problems in burning CD/DVD discs?

There was a dicussion regarding this issue on the cdwrite list and as I 
recall, it is possible for the auto mounting processes to screw up a burn.

> Has anyone run into media speed or composite coating difference causing 
> media read or seek errors between different DVD drives?

I have burned coasters when burning at a speed higher than the media was 
identified.  I think that cdrecord has been modified such that it won't 
burn at a higher rate than the media is though.

> 
> Will polling processes in Gnome or KDE cause problems with ripping, 
> encoding, and playback of music?  Funky random dropouts throughout 
> playback or regular problems such a blips or distortion that is 
> repeatable on playback and seem to have been part of the ripping 
> encoding process?

That brings up an interesting point.  I've not thought about it 
affecting music playback.  I generally don't use the automount/autorun 
processes anyway.  I prefer the old CLI mount command...

> 
> What are the best quality most consistent DVD and CD media on the 
> market?  What would you bank your data on?

I've not got any experience with dvd yet.  With cd-r I've had good luck 
with just about everything.  TDK, Iomega, Verbatim, even some nonamed 
disks that had no labels on the case or the disks themselves.  I can't 
recall the last time I burned a cd coaster.

<snip>

> Thanks for any ideas and help on getting a reliable set of burns on 
> reliable media.  I need to be able to count on the quality of the data 
> on the discs.  TIA,

This is pretty interesting.  I've still not installed my dvd burner into 
the box I intend it to stay in.  Once I do, we might start doing some 
comparison burns.

-- 
Until later, Geoffrey	esoteric at 3times25.net

Building secure systems inspite of Microsoft