Hi

Just wondered if anybody has had problems with Panasonic Branded DVD-RAM discs?

I am just in the process of having a few of these discs replaced if I can as they have started to show signs of corruption. On viewing a recorded programme the picture starts to break up in several places (digital corruption). I have tried to clean them of dust/dirt/marks etc but nothing helps and it does appear to be in the same areas of the discs no matter what I record.

I have noticed of the recording surfaces of these discs there appear to be dark spots appearing.

I have to say I am a little disappointed as a lot of my discs are showing these spots, they are nearly a year old, but I understood they should be very durable and last for around 100,000 rewrites.

Just wondered if this was a common problem, and if they are better alternative brands to use.

I think it is a shame that DVD Recorders cannot recognise bad areas of a disc and not write onto them.

Thanks for your replies.

I have (well had until I threw it) a Maxell disc that started to do similar things. It took me a while to relaise that it was always the same disc. It would start corupting at about 20 minutes into an SP recording and be bad for about 10 minutes before returning to normal. I couldn't see anything on the disc like dust or marks etc. I'd had the disc over 2 years by then and decided it didn't owe me owt so slung it. It's the only problem I've had with 20 discs and no problems with the 10 Panasonics I've got.

Just had a thought.

I think my machine can format discs, can yours? If so it may be worth a try to see if this will tell it which areas are damaged in the same way as you would a computer disc.

Not sure if reformatting will do anything, but I have done it a few times to see if it makes any difference as it had appeared on 4 discs out of 10 now, and does not leave me with much confidence on the quality and life expectancy of these RAM discs.

Some of the discs just have one or two dark spots on them and a few have considerably more, a quite alarming amount.

I did wonder if the dark spots could actually be the chemical dye breaking down, as I assume they are constructed like most other DVDs, not seen this on other media, but.

For me this was a great step up from VHS, but if this discs are only going to last a year of fairly ordinary use then it is very disappointing.

I think you must have a bad batch. I've had Panasoic and Maxell DVD-RAMs for several years with no problems. They are gewnerally used for recording and re-recording rather than archiving.

If they have marks on them try and get a refund.Try e-mailing Panasonic help centre for advice on your batch.

As a matter of interest I have been using RAM discs for years (Ever since the RAM machines became available) both Panasonic brand and a cheaper brand. I have very many of them and have not had one fail yet in any shape or form.......

check this out..

http://www.ramprg.com/en/a/main.html

click on 'defect management' on left
Last edited by srpsrp : 24-12-2006 at 11:35

Hi all, i have been using panasonic ram discs on my dmre55 for a while they have been ok then i would put one in the machine with a film on,it would self check then say the disc is unformated i put the disc in another new machine dmrex75, it would read the same i have had to bin a few discs,so i dont know if the discs are dodgy or my dmre55 is going on the blink, or some how doing something to the discs, i thought the e55 and discs would last longer than the 2 years i have had them.

Unfortunately , the defect management facility is absent from DVD recorders.

There is good reason to say that if these disks are not performing to specification that they should be returned for replacement.

DVD-RAM discs are very sensitive to dust and are best used in a cartridge. I had some problems and although the discs didn't look particularly dirty I cleaned them very carefully with a very soft clean damp cloth and then dried with a very soft dry cloth- always wiping radially from the centre to the edge of the disc. I got a much better result with the Panasonic "dust check" software utility on my PC afterwards and no more glitches on my E50 or ES10.

I believe the reason why the DVD-RAM read after write checking is suppressed on DVD recorders is mainly for throughput reasons. With read after write checking a 2x DVD-RAM drive/media combination can only manage just about 1x write speed and it would not be possible to support Chase Play etc in XP mode. With 3x media/drive there is more in reserve and with 5x more still but I don't think the implementation has changed.