Moisés Cardona – The site of Moisés Cardona

Announcing PAQCompress v0.5.13

August 2, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone, today I have released PAQCompress v0.5.13:

This release adds paq8px v204.

You can download this new version on GitHub by clicking here.

Enjoy!

PlexDisc DVD+R on LiteOn (PLDS) DU-8A5LH 3

Burning the PlexDisc DVD+R Disc on the LiteOn (PLDS) DU-8A5LH

July 31, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

Today, we’ll take a look at how the PlexDisc DVD+R discs burns in the LiteOn (PLDS) DU-8A5LH. This drive was taken temporarily out of a Dell laptop and is a 9.5mm drive:

PlexDisc DVD+R on LiteOn (PLDS) DU-8A5LH 1

PlexDisc DVD+R on LiteOn (PLDS) DU-8A5LH 2

We will be using ImgBurn to perform the writing and verification. It reports the media code to be OPTODISC-R16-00 and supports writing at up to 8x here.

This drive seem to not support setting up the DVD+R Book Type manually but it seems it does it during the burning process:

The drive burns these discs using a CAV strategy, starting at 3.3x and going all the way up to 8x:

The disc verification was successful at this speed:

We can also confirm that the drive changes the booktype to DVD-ROM in the burning process:

Here is the disc burned surface:

PlexDisc DVD+R on LiteOn (PLDS) DU-8A5LH 4

It seems to be burned fine by looking at it visually, with a few rings on it mostly at the beginning. The drive seem to perform some quality tuning in the burning process as it sometimes reduced the speed for a few seconds.

Quality Scans

We’ll now see how well the disc burned in this drive at 8x by doing a surface quality scan on the same drive and on the Toshiba-Samsung SN-208AB drive. I’m currently out of town, and the Samsung drive is the only one I have that can perform scans at this time.

LiteOn DU-8A5LH

The disc was scanned at 4x:

Samsung SN-208AB

The disc was scanned at 4x:

This Optodisc-produced disc burned fine in this drive as we can see on the above graphs. It does seem to have a quality issue before the 3.5GB mark but this seem to be related to the disc itself, as the burns on other drives also reported a similar spike on that area. Regardless of this, the LiteOn drive can successfully burn and verify this disc with excellent results.

Conclusion

This LiteOn slim drive can successfully burn this disc at a speed of 8x. The burning quality is excellent. This drive came with a Dell laptop and I took it out to test these discs on it. It seems to be a good quality burner. It is quiet and can also set the disc book type automatically.

You can purchase these discs on Amazon at the following link:

Hen with Chicks

July 30, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

This past Sunday, I went to a restaurant to eat. While waiting, I saw this family of little chicks with his mother hen.

Photos taken with a Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with the firmware ending in AUF5.

Movies added, removed, and coming soon at Redbox – July 27, 2021

July 27, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

Today is the last Tuesday of July 2021. This week, we got 4 movies on DVD, 2 on Blu-Ray and 1 on 4K UHD. Let’s see them below:

Movies added

DVD

Blu-Ray

4K UHD

A Quiet Place Part II

Back Again

Blu-Ray

The Avengers (2012)

Movies that can no longer be reserved

DVD

An Elephant’s Journey
Death of a Nation
I Think We’re Alone Now
Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!
Mandy
Minutes To Midnight
Scorpion King 5: Book of Souls
The Legend of Halloween Jack
The Padre

Blu-Ray

Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!

Movies Coming Soon

August 3rd

DVD: Take Back
DVD: Here Today
DVD: Don’t Breathe (Back Again)
Blu-Ray: Those Who Wish Me Dead
DVD: Those Who Wish Me Dead

August 6th

DVD: She Ball
Blu-Ray: Luca
DVD: Luca

August 10th

DVD: Queen Bees
DVD: Finding You
DVD: Profile
DVD: Batman: The Long Halloween Part 2
DVD: Occupation: Rainfall
DVD: The House Next Door: Meet The Blacks 2
Blu-Ray: The Misfits
DVD: The Misfits
DVD: Till Death

August 17th

Blu-Ray: Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
4K UHD: Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard
DVD: Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard

August 24th

DVD: Jurassic Hunt
DVD: Habit
Blu-Ray: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
DVD: The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It
Blu-Ray: Peter Rabbit 2
DVD: Peter Rabbit 2

More upcoming releases

Blu-Ray: Spirit Untamed
DVD: Spirit Untamed
DVD: In The Heights
Blu-Ray: In The Heights
DVD: The Gateway
DVD: Zola
DVD: F9: The Fast Saga
Blu-Ray: F9: The Fast Saga
4K UHD: F9: The Fast Saga
Blu-Ray: The Forever Purge
DVD: The Forever Purge
Blu-Ray: Space Jam: A New Legacy
DVD: Space Jam: A New Legacy

Marvel “Super Used Movie” Sale at Redbox

July 26, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

Redbox is currently having a Marvel Movie Sale titled “Super Used Movie Sale”, with each film being available for just $1.99. This applies to both the DVD and the Blu-Ray versions.

Do note that some kiosks may only have a fewer selection of films and some of them can be bought only at the box. An example is the first Avengers Movie and the Avengers: Age of Ultron film, which will not be shown in the app, but some kiosks may have them. Also, you may find the Avengers: Infinity War Blu-Ray on some kiosks as well, while the app only allows the purchase of the DVD version. For Ant-Man and The Wasp, you can only purchase the Blu-Ray version on the app while the DVD version may be at the kiosk.

I’m going to be honest: I have not seen the Marvel movies except for Iron Man 1 and 2 and the first Thor movie, so this sale is worth it as you can basically own the movies for $0.01 less than renting the Blu-Ray version and $0.14 more than renting the DVD version. You can bet I took advantage of this sale:

Redbox Marvel Weekend Sale July 2021 1 — DVDs

The first Avengers movie was made available at the kiosk this past Tuesday, but can only be rented at the box and only the Blu-Ray version is in stock. Maybe Redbox will update their app inventory to include this title to buy or purchase.

You have until August 2nd to go and purchase the Marvel movies. The only movies that seem to not be available for sale so far are the Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange movies.

My guess is Redbox wants to liquidate inventory while also making space at the boxes for the new movies coming in the following weeks. August is sure to bring hit movies to the box every week!

Will you buy any of the Marvel movies on sale?

Burning a SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Disc in the Pioneer BDR-2212 drive at 4x

July 25, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

Today, we will see how well the Pioneer BDR-2212 can burn the SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Discs at a speed of 4x:

This drive can burn these discs at up to 8x but we will focus burning it at 4x this time:

The burning process was successful:

Data verification was also successful:

Here’s how the disc surface look after burning it:

SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Burned in Pioneer BDR-2212 at 4x

The surface looks smooth and identical to the 6x and 8x burns.

Quality Scans

We’ll see how well this disc burned in this drive:

From the above scans, we can see that burning at 4x brings better results except on the layer break, which is worse than the 6x burn. The LiteOn and LG scans maintained good numbers on the first and second layer, but the increase in the layer break is unexpected. The disc, however, is still completely readable with no slowdowns.

Conclusion

While the Pioneer BDR-2212 can also burn this disc at 4x, we have to be careful about the burn quality around the layer break. It seems it is better to burn these discs at 6x in this drive to get an optimum burn.

Burning a SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Disc in the Pioneer BDR-2212 drive at 6x

July 23, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

Today, we will see how well the Pioneer BDR-2212 can burn the SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Discs at a speed of 6x:

This drive can burn these discs at up to 8x but we will focus burning it at 6x this time:

The burning process was successful:

Data verification was also successful:

Here’s how the disc surface look after burning it:

SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Burned in Pioneer BDR-2212 at 6x

The surface looks smooth and identical to the 8x burn.

Quality Scans

We’ll see how well this disc burned in this drive:

SpeedX BD-R DL Pioneer BDR-2212 6x 13 — Scanned in the LiteOn iHBS112 drive

SpeedX BD-R DL Pioneer BDR-2212 6x 14 — Scanned in the LiteOn iHBS112 drive

From the above scans, we can once again see that the LG drive scanned the disc better. It did present a bit of elevated numbers once it was reaching almost the end of the first layer, and it reports a bit of high numbers at the start of the 2nd layer. The scan on the LiteOn drive also shows the elevated numbers in the layer break and the rest of the 2nd layer scanned good. The disc is completely readable with no slowdowns.

Conclusion

The Pioneer BDR-2212 can also burn this disc reliably at 6x. The numbers are a bit less than on the 8x burn which should make the disc work better on sensitive drives. The difference between the 6x and 8x burn is about 5 minutes, so you can choose this speed if you prefer a bit better quality burn over the 8x.

Burning a SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Disc in the Pioneer BDR-2212 drive at 8x

July 22, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

Today, we will see how well the Pioneer BDR-2212 can burn the SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Discs:

This drive can burn these discs at up to 8x. We will be burning it at that speed:

The burning process was successful:

Data verification was also successful:

Here’s how the disc surface look after burning it:

SpeedX BD-R DL 50GB Burned in Pioneer BDR-2212 at 8x

The surface looks smooth altough with the usual dark part of these discs.

Quality Scans

We’ll see how well this disc burned in this drive:

SpeedX BD-R DL Pioneer BDR-2212 14 — Scanned in the LiteOn iHBS112

SpeedX BD-R DL Pioneer BDR-2212 15 — Scanned in the LiteOn iHBS112

From the above scans, we can see that the LG drive scanned the disc better. The Pioneer drive always seem to do a better burn at the 2nd layer than at the first one. Regardless, the LG drive did report higher numbers just at the moment of the layer break. Even through the LiteOn drive scanned worst the first layer, the disc is completely readable with no slowdowns.

Conclusion

The Pioneer BDR-2212 can burn this disc reliably at 8x, but some drives may scan the disc worse than others, possibly due to its different optic mechanisms. An 8x burn takes about 25 to 30 minutes and the data verification takes about the same time. Overall, it takes about an hour to burn and verify these discs.

Lenovo Y510p Replacement Fan from Rangale 1

The Lenovo Y510p Replacement Fan from Rangale

July 21, 2021 Moisés Cardona Comments 0 Comment

Hi everyone,

Today, we will be seeing a replacement fan from Rangale for the Lenovo Y510p laptop. This is my 3nd replacement fan as 2 has already failed previously:

The last replacement fan actually lasted a whole year, which at least was something. I’m not sure how long the new one will last, but we’ll see since it’s a different brand than the last 2. This fan also comes in a nice branded box, unlike the generic past one.