While the Internet has served as a great accomplishment of mankind, a communication marvel equal to the Renaissance of ages ago, it's also served as one of the worst methods for finding accurate information. Finding reliable data is literally harder than finding a needle in a field of haystacks. A large chunk of the modern Web, with it's moonlanding-denial and Paypal scam sites, is a pile of cyber-manure. The same can be said for self-proclaimed "experts" that infest anonymous user forums, whose primary activity is to insult and libel others.
It's sad to think these individuals, from their keyboard pulpit, are actually able to influence and otherwise dissuade otherwise smart folks from using sound information.
Take the case of digitalFAQ.com, a site that earnestly attempts to give free information to those who seek help with digital media topics, primarily in digital video. Enormous amounts of research go into the creation and maintenance of the data used in various guides. Of these dozens of guides are several geared towards demystifying and independently "ranking" (reviewing) blank CD/DVD media. It's information given for the purpose of being used as buying advice by otherwise unsuspecting consumers. The site is not influenced by any company or funding, it's an independent operation with information supplied by a few dedicated supporters. While all of them are serious hobbyists and/or media professionals, no ego-driven proclamation of "expertise" is ever given.
Now, most people can see the site for what it is, a tool that is there to help.
However, a few overly egocentric people out there believe that their personal opinion is the most important one on the entire Internet. In most all cases, they are upset because lesser-quality media (namely CMC and RITEK disc) are not listed at the top of the chart. They have an exceeding bias for unknown reasons.
The person referenced twice in this forum in the stickies, a user known by several aliases themed around the word "dolphin", is one of these individuals. His opinion is flawless in his mind, and anybody that disagrees is an idiot. His information is suspect, his self-proclamation to guru status is suspect, his devotion to mediocre BenQ burners is not surprising, his assurance that media quality always changes is flat out wrong, and his attitude is that of a teenaged child. He spends hours online griping about his how singular experience is more important than any body of research.
The only thing that this gentleman has gotten accurate is where he states the overall combined stats of DVD media tests does not 100 percent precisely reflect the personal experiences of the owner (or any of the other testers, for that matter). Why is this? Quite simple, really. The information is collaborated and unbiased. Only a biased review performed by yes-men would match across the board. However, even with minor disagreements in the group, the overall data does reflect the overall experience of the group of testers, as well as the world in general. Just look around online, sites such as videohelp.com, and you'll see the results tend to match pretty closely to wide-open experiences of the masses. Notice how certain media are almost always suggested on most sites (Mitsubishi, Sony, Maxell), while others tend to bring up "problem" posts in user forums (Ritek, Princo, CMC).
When it comes to "thinking twice" about information, please do. Weigh the options of respectability and genuine desire to assist.
The information found at www.digitalfaq.com/media is there for you, the casual CD/DVD media user that does not have time to research thousands of discs on dozens of burners. It's not biased, company-sponsored or otherwise "unclean" in any way.
There are some other sites that collaborate in various ways (uncontrolled user submissions, mostly), as well as private organizations that sell their studies. Any of those would be good alternatives too. In fact, read all of the them, perform some tests yourself, and draw your own conclusions. What you need to avoid are personal opinions you see in forums or on blogs.
Happy burning. I hope you have a coaster-less experience.
It's sad to think these individuals, from their keyboard pulpit, are actually able to influence and otherwise dissuade otherwise smart folks from using sound information.
Take the case of digitalFAQ.com, a site that earnestly attempts to give free information to those who seek help with digital media topics, primarily in digital video. Enormous amounts of research go into the creation and maintenance of the data used in various guides. Of these dozens of guides are several geared towards demystifying and independently "ranking" (reviewing) blank CD/DVD media. It's information given for the purpose of being used as buying advice by otherwise unsuspecting consumers. The site is not influenced by any company or funding, it's an independent operation with information supplied by a few dedicated supporters. While all of them are serious hobbyists and/or media professionals, no ego-driven proclamation of "expertise" is ever given.
Now, most people can see the site for what it is, a tool that is there to help.
However, a few overly egocentric people out there believe that their personal opinion is the most important one on the entire Internet. In most all cases, they are upset because lesser-quality media (namely CMC and RITEK disc) are not listed at the top of the chart. They have an exceeding bias for unknown reasons.
The person referenced twice in this forum in the stickies, a user known by several aliases themed around the word "dolphin", is one of these individuals. His opinion is flawless in his mind, and anybody that disagrees is an idiot. His information is suspect, his self-proclamation to guru status is suspect, his devotion to mediocre BenQ burners is not surprising, his assurance that media quality always changes is flat out wrong, and his attitude is that of a teenaged child. He spends hours online griping about his how singular experience is more important than any body of research.
The only thing that this gentleman has gotten accurate is where he states the overall combined stats of DVD media tests does not 100 percent precisely reflect the personal experiences of the owner (or any of the other testers, for that matter). Why is this? Quite simple, really. The information is collaborated and unbiased. Only a biased review performed by yes-men would match across the board. However, even with minor disagreements in the group, the overall data does reflect the overall experience of the group of testers, as well as the world in general. Just look around online, sites such as videohelp.com, and you'll see the results tend to match pretty closely to wide-open experiences of the masses. Notice how certain media are almost always suggested on most sites (Mitsubishi, Sony, Maxell), while others tend to bring up "problem" posts in user forums (Ritek, Princo, CMC).
When it comes to "thinking twice" about information, please do. Weigh the options of respectability and genuine desire to assist.
The information found at www.digitalfaq.com/media is there for you, the casual CD/DVD media user that does not have time to research thousands of discs on dozens of burners. It's not biased, company-sponsored or otherwise "unclean" in any way.
There are some other sites that collaborate in various ways (uncontrolled user submissions, mostly), as well as private organizations that sell their studies. Any of those would be good alternatives too. In fact, read all of the them, perform some tests yourself, and draw your own conclusions. What you need to avoid are personal opinions you see in forums or on blogs.
Happy burning. I hope you have a coaster-less experience.