Maxell 16x 4.7 GB DVD-R Spindle (50 Discs) Review

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(More customer reviews)I bought this 50-pack of Maxell 8X DVD-R's because I was impressed with the product description, which said that Maxell used high-quality "metal azo dye." I discovered, however, that, while these DVD's seem to work OK for data-storage purposes, they do not perform as well as I was hoping when used to create video DVDs.
For whatever reason, it is possible to successfully burn and verify a video DVD that is perfectly readable and yet "skips" on some (or most) DVD players. These semi-random glitches seem to occur most often at the outer edge of the disc, and hence are usually noticed at the end of a long movie that fills the entire DVD. And yet the recorded DVD is perfectly readable in the sense that you can use it to produce a flawless ISO image on your hard drive: If you watch the movie from the image rather than the source disc, the movie will run smoothly from beginning to end, without any skipping.
Before I bought these Maxell DVD-R's form Amazon.com, I was using a cheap brand that I bought at Wal-Mart. These discs would exhibit this "skipping" problem about 20% of the time. I was hoping that the Maxell DVD-R's would work close to 100% of the time.
On the contrary, I found that they exhibited the glitches consistently on at least one of three DVD drives - the very same NEC ND-3520A drive that I used to burn the discs. When recorded at 8X speed, the DVDs skipped at the end (outer edge of the disc) on the NEC drive and at both the middle and the end on my PlayStation2. When recorded at 2X speed, they worked fine on my PlayStation2 but, surprisingly, still skipped at the end on the NEC drive used to record them. A standalone Sylvania DVD player was able to play any disc I threw at it without skipping, whether the disc was recorded at 2X or 8X.
I have since bought some Maxell DVD+R's from a local store, and they have been working great for me so far. I don't know exactly why these Maxell DVD's are superior to the ones I purchased from Amazon.com. Perhaps because they are the "+" type rather than the "-" type, or because they have a different manufacturer: I've noticed that, whereas the Maxell DVD-R's I bought from Amazon.com had a "Ritek" manufacturer ID, the DVD+R's have a "Maxell" manufacturer ID. (The manufacturer ID is pre-recorded on the media and tells you who actually made the disc; this will not necessarily be the same as the brand name. Most burning software will allow you to view the MID via a "disc information" option.)
Another anomaly that I've noticed is that, even though the discs appear to be silver or white in the picture at the top of this page, the discs that I actually received in the mail from Amazon.com were gold on top. Incidentally, the Maxell DVD+R's I bought from the local store were silver-topped, like the ones in the picture. (Maybe it's just a glare in the picture?)
The bottom line is that these Maxell DVD-R's will work for you if your intention is to create Data DVDs. (I'm still using the ones I have left over to store data.) But if your intention is to create Video DVDs, my advice is to avoid spending too much money on a gazillion-pack of a particular type of DVD media before you've tested a few of them on the DVD player that you want to use to play your recorded DVDs. Remember that it will not do to check just the beginning of the DVD, because the glitches tend to happen near the outer edge. Instead, try using all of the available space on the disc, so that it records all the way to the outer edge, and then watch the last 5 or 10 minutes to see if there are any glitches.

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Maxell DVD-R discs offer six times the storage capacity of CD-Rs, making them ideal choices for recording digital movies and photos, backing up hard drives, creating multimedia presentations, and developing a host of other projects. Each write-once disc holds 4.7 GB of information--enough for two hours of video in SP mode or six hours in EP mode. The DVD-Rs can also store up to a half dozen hours of high-quality music. Once recorded, the discs will last anywhere from 40 to 250 years, making them a great choice for archiving. The DVD-Rs owe their durability and quality performance to Maxell's choice of metal azo dye recording material, which ensures error-free recording and playback. This particular spindle comes with 50 DVD-R discs, each of which is write-compatible with most 8x DVD-R (not DVD+R) drives and recorders. After recording, DVD-R discs are read-compatible with almost all DVD-R playback devices.

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Maxell 700 MB Color 50pk CD-Recordable Discs (50-Pack) Review

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(More customer reviews)I buy these all the time for my household and they never fail to burn. The colors are great and the surface is easy to write on. I would recommend these to anyone.

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These Maxell CD-R disks are made with premium quality recording surface for noise-free playback. You can record music on computer CD writers and play them back on CD/DVD drives or CD/ DVD players. It supports write speed up to 48x so you can burn what you need quickly. Each disk holds 700mb of data or 80 minutes of digital quality music.

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Maxell 648200 700 MB 80 min CD-R (100 Pack) Review

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(More customer reviews)I have used several different brands of cd-r's for burning "backup" copies of music CDs and saving data files, and I have not found any that were consistently as good as these. Other brands I have used had a higher number of faulty discs in the package - some as high as 10%!
Also, don't be scared by the size of this pack! 100 discs might seem like overkill, but believe me once you start to use them you will find that 100 go pretty quickly!
Bottom line, these Maxells are good quality at an excellent price.

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You can count on premium quality recording surface for noise-free playback with the Maxell 648200 CD-R 700 pack. Just put a disk in your computer and start recording. Each disk holds 700MB of data or 80 minutes of digital quality music. Playback your saved items on CD/ DVD-ROM drives or CD/ DVD players. The disks support write speeds up to 48x.

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Zinwell ZIN-5005HD "ZinTV" 3-in-1 Networking-Ready 1080p Full HD Multimedia Player/Streamer/Torrent Downloader, Free Internet TV/Radio, Black Review

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(More customer reviews)I have the Zinwell and a pair of Western Digital TV Live so I'll compare and contrast.
Setup is super easy with both. Connect to your TV or receiver via HDMI cable, attach an external hard drive (not included) and go into the menus to configure your audio and video option. You can also connect these to a wired network and Western Digial has certified a number of USB wireless adapters that require a bit more knowledge to setup. The documentation from both companies could be a lot better so I'll call this one a tie.
The WDTV Live is a bit slower to start up but directory changes are much-much faster than the Zinwell. I suspect because the WD indexes and caches directories of any external drives while the Zinwell has to reread it each time. The difference in speed is absolutely huge. Basically performance wise the Zinwell feels really-really doggy to me. Advantage WDTV Live.
The WD has a much cleaner and better looking interface compared to the Zinwell's ugly menus over a /Linux/like/file/system/. I can live with ugly as long as it works but in 2011 I shouldn't have to. Advantage WDTV Live.
The WDTV Live outputs 5.1 audio in DTS format over HDMI, toslink or coax; the Zinwell outputs raw bits or stereo over HDMI. If your Receiver supports DTS then advantage WDTV.
The Zinwell's remote is a tad better but much larger. Both media players work seamlessly with Harmony remotes. Advantage Zinwell.
Both play nearly every popular audio and video format either from your own external hard drive or across a wired network. However both struggle trying to play hi-def video across a network connection. I find that hi-def vidio from an external hard drive works pretty well with the WDTV Live but never could get the Zinwell to output anything but stereo without the sound breaking up. Advantage WDTV Live.
The Zinwell promises access to the full DVD/BD menus but I never could get menus to work and found the separate audio selection button to be stubborn. With the Western Digital you do have to get used to using the "options" button to access audio and subtitle choices but they work. Slight advantage WDTV Live.
Bottom line the network media player market is still immature with many newer products coming down the pike but for now I consider the Zinwell a no-go for my needs.

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ZinTV (ZIN-5005HD) is an advanced "Networking" multimedia player that brings full high-definition movies with fidelity audio to 1080p Full HD display. It can play media files stored on any USB storage devices (NTFS/FAT-16/32/EXT-3/HFS+ format) and can enjoy Free & best Internet TV/Radio stations from 210 countries

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Logitech Squeezebox Radio Music Player with Color Screen (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a long time owner of Squeezebox products and was pretty excited to find out about the little table top Squeezebox Radio model. I picked one up and thought I would share my thoughts.
The first thing you notice is how much heft this little player has. It is really well built and the fit and finish is superb. It has plenty of weight and solid rubber feet so that it won't skid around on your night stand or table top. The screen looks great and all of the buttons have a nice solid tactile feel. Compared to many other cheap wireless network streaming radios, this device feels an entire order of magnitude better in its construction quality. The only disappointment here is the lack of back lit buttons, for using the radio in low lighting. It's also worth noting that the entire radio has a high gloss finish that will be a magnet for fingerprints. Looks great though!
The biggest challenge for most consumers with this device will be the initial set up. You need to create an account at [...] in order to set up your new Squeezebox Radio. The device uses this connection to play free internet music services as well as download software updates, etc, to the Radio. I already had a Squeezebox account so this was not a huge challenge for me, but it might be for some people who might be confused that they need to set up an account before they can use the device. There is an option to set up the account from the device itself. Don't do this (it is slow and tedious)! Go to the website and set it up in a few seconds and then just type your login and password on the device.
Other than the laborious task of entering my full email and password for [...] the rest of the setup is very easy. The Squeezebox Radio supports push to connect wi-fi set up which is common on many newer model wireless routers. It's similar to programming a garage door opener. Simply point the Squeezebox Radio at your wireless network and for 120 seconds it will try to connect with the push to connect functionality. Then just push the connect button on your router and it's automagically all set up.
Once set up the Radio will update its firmware and reboot, a process that takes a few extra minutes. After that you are good to go.
In addition to the many built in free online services, you can also play your own music through the Squeezebox Server application. I run the Squeezebox Server application on my HP EX495 Windows Home Server but you can also run Squeezebox Server on any Mac, Windows PC or even Linux box (there are even installable distributions for many Network Attached Storage units). This allows the Squeezebox Radio (and any other Squeeze players) to access all of the music on my home network. It's absolutely wonderful to be able to take the little table top radio anywhere in the home and listen to your entire music collection.
Sound quality is very good, easily enough to fill a small to medium sized room. It gets quite loud with little to no distortion and the controls are easy to use to change tracks, change volume, etc. Wireless strength is superb. I get a full signal anywhere within about 40 feet of my router, and the radio works anywhere on my suburban property with no audio hiccups or dropouts.
In addition to the intuitive controls such as "home", "play", "stop", "back", etc, the unit also features six programmable "preset" buttons similar to what you have on a car radio. Setting these up is a bit more of a challenge than you would expect. You are supposed to be able to hold these down on any song, album, playlist, etc, that is being displayed in the radio menu and have it added as a preset. Unfortunately some items don't add correctly and must first be programmed as a "favorite". It turns out that you can only add favorites for some items (such as playlists) from the Squeezebox Server web based menu, which is quite inconvenient. I don't doubt that Slim Devices (the arm of Logitech that makes these devices) will fix this soon enough.
Other minor glitches include some weird alarm behavior (it will show the time of the alarm when it is going off but strangely won't show the current time, which is annoying if you have hit the snooze button a few times and need to know what time it is), some auto dimming issues (the auto dimming works great but gets almost TOO dim in a dark room to see the radio) and a few other very minor nits.
Slim Devices have a long history of enhancement and improvement of device firmware, so I would expect a lot of these issues to be worked out in the coming months. Additionally there will soon be a battery pack and small infrared remote for the Squeezebox Radio available as a $[...] add on purchase. Personally I think at $[...] the Radio should include these items, but considering the great sound of the radio, the high quality screen and the superb fit and finish it is justified that this device costs as much as it does.
Also worth noting is that if you have an iPod Touch or iPhone you can get the iPeng application $[...] from the Apple App Store which makes controlling and programming your Squeezebox Radio an absolute breeze. iPeng is really a must have if you have these devices and want a wonderful pocket control that works from anywhere in your home. Beats the pants off of what Sonus has to offer!
//Update 1 (Nov 2nd 2009)
Yesterday my SB Radio lost all of the preset buttons which is most annoying. It also turns out that many of the requests for fixes around the alarms functionality have not been addressed and don't appear to be scheduled to be addressed in the next release or two of the software. If your primary use will be a night stand alarm clock I would recommend holding off for now until Logitech addresses alarm functionality issues. If the issues are not resolved I will reconsider my four star rating as it should then be a three star product.
//Update 2 (May 13 2010)
Logitech has not only not fixed many of the initial annoyances with the SB Radio, but newer firmware has in fact made the product less stable and reliable. It still does an admirable job of playing your local music library if you run the SB Server on a PC or Mac in your home, but the network streaming functionality seems to be having issues and I've found the alarm to be terribly unreliable. I would now under the current circumstances rate this only 3 out of 5 stars. It's really a shame too, as the "Slim Devices" that originally brought us these problems was very open and communicative about issues and what was being done to fix them. Logitech has little interest in relaying useful information to its beta testers, err, customers and instead gives us the run around with if and when issues will ever be remedied.

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Logitech Squeezebox Radio brings a world of music—free Internet radio, subscription services, or your personal digital music collection—to any space in your home, over your Wi-Fi network.

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