Sony 8x DVD-R Storage Media Review

Burn Baby Burn!
Overall
5

Summary

Burn anything quickly…

Pros

Fast, Reliable, and Sony…

Cons

None at all!

I have been using this Sony DVD media for a year or two now, and I have always had nothing but success with this brand of media. When I went to Fry’s Electronics I was looking for some DVD media that was reliable and would not cost too much. Even though the Sony brand was a bit more than what I was willing to pay for, I still went ahead and purchased because I knew Sony would not let me down (I was not sure about some other brand media).

ABOUT THIS MEDIA

The particular 8x DVD media I purchased was priced a bit higher than I was willing to pay for but since it is Sony, I just could not resist. I paid about $40 for a 50 pack spindle. My new Sony DVD-DL Burner is rated to burn up to 16x, and luckily this media has burned up to 8x. This was amazing for me because my old Sony DVD-RW could only burn up to 4x and this new drive and media cut my burning time in half. It used to take me about 35 to 40 minutes to burn a full DVD, but since I purchased my new drive and this media to go with it, I can burn a whole DVD disc in about 15 minutes. This Sony media was the first 8x media I have purchased and used so far, and it will burn at 8.0x without any problems.

EXPERIENCE

All of the discs I have burned using my new drive have performed very well and without skips and stops. So far I have burned movies and data on this media, and I have not noticed any lost data or low-quality movies. There are Sony logo and some other text on the label side of the disc, but they are light enough so that it can be fully covered by your custom labels or writing easily. I would have preferred a blank label so that I would be able to customize it my way, but this is good enough for now.

The dye (on the burning side) is dark purple unlike some of the cheap media I have used and seen. Usually, Sony DVD media is a bit higher in price than other media with the same features. Since I wanted high quality and a good brand of media for my home movies and backup needs, I purchased the Sony brand even with the high price tag. I mostly use Nero Burning ROM to burn and copy my CD’s and DVD’s, but for movies, I use DVD Shrink (a freeware application) that allows me to copy a regular high-quality movie to any 4.7 GB DVD-R disc. Both of these applications allow you to choose the appropriate speed at which you want to burn the disc.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I have used the Sony brand DVD media for about a year now and I have not experienced any problems while burning or after burning with them. I would recommend this particular brand of media if you want to be sure your content will be secure and safe on this media. If the price is not an issue for you, then I would highly recommend this DVD media for your daily needs. But if you want a good deal, I would suggest other brands with similar features and speed.