X-bit labs

Started by: Thefumigator | Date 07/20/05

Comments: 9 | Last Comment:  07/31/05

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1. And the scratch test? I would like to see 2 DVDs totally scratched with the same scratch method and see if the scratchproof DVD can still be readable while the other normal one is damaged permanently.

Scratching two different CDs the same exact way is somewhat hard by hand, but I would like to see a test too. How about a fingerprint test, where you dip both your thumbs into melted chocolate and let them drip off for a minute and pressing your thumb onto a scratchproof disk and a non-scratchproof disk at the same time? :D.

2. Didn't anyone tell the author that different drives give different scanning results, therefore making this test and this article, COMPLETELY useless?

3. Some of the comments in the article makes no sense. Like this one:

"Usually if there is a problem with the system being unable to read the disc, you usually should blame the wearing out of the disc surface, which is inevitable if you are using it a lot."

A disc surface is not "worn" out. In fact, if handled like it should, nothing ever touches either surface of the disc. Least of all during playback, and no matter how much you use it.

4. What the hell was the point of this 'test' if the scratchproofing system was never put to the test?!
I was waiting for media durability tests but they never showed up. Can I have the 15 minutes of my life I just wated back please!

5. This 'scratchproof' system is just a lame fix for the fundamental problem of not enforcing a caddy on optical media. I mean, how much does it really cost consumer for adding a UMD/mini-disc style plastic case at the factory? For retail software, it certainly costs much less than the software on the discs.

Caddies are not practical.

Besides, DVD media are already resistant to scratching - even in the CDR days, scratches on the bottom didn't matter. Now that DVD has the actual data layer in the middle of the disc, and not on the top like CDR's did, it's almost completely safe and you'd have to accidentaly throw the DVD beneath a lawnmower to produce really bad scratches.

Actually, you don't have to damage the data layer of an optical disc to make it unreadable. A scrach at the protective coat can make the laser distort the focus, thus make the data unreadable. Besides, losing half of a disc's surface area that could have been made readerable just to save a few cents for users isn't practical either.

6. I don't think it helps using a firmware revision for the LiteOn drive that is 5-6 revisions out of date considering a firmware update takes 60 seconds to update once it has downloaded.

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