Preferred Blank DVD's?

[Guest HAZ74]

Hi,

I want to get more into trading & was wondering what you guys use as blanks for burning/backing up DVD's? I've got some from fujifilm that are okay. Is there a preferred brand? Does the color of the DVD make any difference? I see some are gold-ish & others look different.

Thanks,

h

[Guest Sleepman]

Hello, when trading i like to use the same brand silver tops nexxtech dvd+r (dvd+r writing is more advanced

and came after dvd-r) they are inexpensive and i buy them about 100 at a time. For backing up well for now

i also back them up on nexxtexch. Nexxtech is not the type of media you ultimately want to store you dvd-r

on if you want them to last. I am going personally to be switching over to taiyo yuden.

Taiyo Yuden dvd-r and dvd+r are reportedly the finest blank media you can buy. It's worth the price if you

want to keep your movies for a long time. Otherwise dvd-r break up a lot faster and beging to pixelize.etc

How long before standard dvd-r become corrupt im not really sure ive hear 2 years to 10 years, regardless

it would be a good idea to invest in quality blank media, such as verbatim or silver top taiyo yuden.

www.supermediastore.com/t...media.html

[Guest Thekfc]

Try only using the below 2:

TY: Taiyo Yuden. You can get them online. If you prefer to shop in store, the Sony brand MIJ 16x -R with a white octagonal spacer are TY, the MIJ 16x +r are NOT TY. If you can get hold of the Sony MIJ 8x they are TY. The Fuji MIJ 8x are TY as well as the Maxell MIJ 8x, but this don't hold true for the 16x.

Verbatim: MCC Best Buy or any of your 'favorite' store.

Try to stay away from the others, stick to TY & MCC.

[magicpoe]

Taiyo Yuden.

I also recommend Taiyo Yuden.

If I were to recommend a brand I'd say Taiyo Yuden.

I'd buy them here:

www.supermediastore.com/media1.html

A rule of thumb I've discovered is if a store name appears on the DVD, ie Best Buy, Office Depot, or any other store name, and you have those DVD's in your hand, take the container of DVD's you have in your hand and place them directly back where you picked them up from. Then, walk away.

If you are forced to buy any DVD's at a store I'd recommend Maxell or Sony.

[Guest Thekfc]

Here is a little guide on what is what, I will mostly concentrate on the 16x.

First the best 2:

TY (Taiyo Yuden);

They MUST be label MIJ (Made in Japan) period.

Sony -r 16x With the white octagonal spacer. The +r are not TY. (The Sony MIJ +/-R 8x are TY)

Panosonic -r 16x (The +r are NOT TY but Ricoh) The 8x -r are also TY

Datawrite 16x -r (and some 8x +/- r)

Plextor +r 16x (all the other speed are TY)

TDK +r 16x (also +/- r 8x)

That's (TY house Brand)

Verbatim +r 16x (Europe only) The lower speed MIJ are TY.

Fuji +/_ r 8x ONLY

Maxell (+/-r 4x ONLY, they are still around)

MCC (Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation):

Verbatim all are MCC except the MIJs which are TY

Infinity +/- 16x

Office Max +/- 16x

Datawrite -r 16x

Iomega 16x -r (the +r are CMC)

Memorex 16 x +r ONLY (Be VERY careful as the vast majority of Memorex are lower quality-See Below)

BRAND NAMES

FUJI:

-r MBI, Prodisc or Ritek

+r Philips or Prodisc

HP:

-r CMC

+r CMC or Philips

Imation:

-r CMC, MBI or Optodisc

+r MBI, Optodisc or Philips

Maxell:

-r MXL, Prodisc or Ritek

+r CMC, Maxel, Philips or Ricoh

Memorex:

-r CMC or Ritek

+r CMC, Prodisc, Philips, Ricoh & if you are lucky MCC.

TDK:

-r CMC & TTH

+r CMC, TDK or Yuden (TY)

Philips:

-r CMC

+r Philips, ritek & if you lucky MCC.

SONY:

-r TY (MIJ w/ white octagonal spacer) & SONY

+r Sony (own brand)

STORE BRANDS:

Best Buy

Dynex -r (Ritek) / +r (Ricoh)

Circuit City

Nexxtech (CMC or AML)

Compusa

Princo

Office Depot

-r (Ritek) / + (Ricoh)

Office Max

-/+ r MCC--Hope it stays that way

Staples

CMC

Playo (AML or UME)

These are just for the 16x unless noted.

Most companies DO NOT make their own media, instead they outsource to one or more companies. Some have improve (i.e Office Max-from Fujifilm & MBI to MCC), while others have gone down (i. e. Fuji & Maxell from TY & MCC to Prodisc, Philips Ritek & CMC).

Also some companies may outsource the -r from one comapny & the +r from another (one being excellent & the other crap)

Your input is appreciated.

[Guest Isfahani]

That is a very good breakdown. I only use TY or the CMC Verbs (not Prodisc, you can tell by the font on the spindle top, serif font with a slight rectangle opposite side) +R's, These work really nice with my LiteOn burners.

The problem with those generic house brands is that while you have a fiar chance of getting decent media, what if you don't... and unless you keep up with the crowd at cdfreaks.com you won't be able to tell which is which... It's like being a disc hunter!

On a side note -I think from now on I am only going to trade with people that use the top grade media, I am getting really pissed off that I send TY silvers (which should last years if not decades) and get these bargain bin cheeepshit discs in return, (even if you paid retail for them, they're still crap) forcing me to rerip and reburn dozens of discs... If you don't have to do this, then why should I?

Brand Names Don't Mean a Thing, it's who manufactures them!

[Guest Thekfc]

I only use TY or the CMC Verbs

That looks like the MCC (not CMC) Verb, excellent/top quality media. The only CMC Verbs are the 8x Pearl White, Verbatim stop using CMC-the currently only use TY & MCC-Both excellent media.

The problem with those generic house brands is that while you have a fiar chance of getting decent media, what if you don't.

Folks should just do what we do, avoid them & stick to the goods ones. That was the main reason that CMC upgraded the quality of their media, everyone was avoiding them, including some companies.

On a side note -I think from now on I am only going to trade with people that use the top grade media,

That is perhaps the best thing I have read all week, I just wish that everyone would follow your lead, or a least a good amount. There isn't that much difference in price between TY/MCC & the crappy media, actually they are the same. I usually buy TY/MCC on sale $25 for a spindle of 100, sometimes even less if I use a coupon.

forcing me to rerip and reburn dozens of discs

Same here, I have had to rerip & reburn dozens of discs. Now before I trade, I always ask the person what media that they are using, I tell them I use the best media & expect the same in return.

Brand Names Don't Mean a Thing, it's who manufactures them!

That is something alot of people don't seems to understand.

[Guest TheManInWhite]

There is an old thread that's worthy of revisiting. Also, it'll be made a sticky thread.

[Guest oldeschool17]

I use Verbatim DVD-R Shiny 8x, 4.7gb. These are made in Taiwan, so i dunno if that has any indication of quality control.

[Guest Milkyway]

I've great use of Traxdata DVDs, as they provide both DVD5 and DVD9 in excellent quality (after the burning process). neat label!

[thekfc]

oldeschool17, the Verbatim you use are excellent media, they are some of the best, stick with them if possible.

Milkyway, the Traxdata ones are either Ritek or Ricoh also good, the last ones I tried were the 8x, I haven't tried the 16x yet.

There are also the Verbatim MII (made in India) disc, the one I have used are great but I haven't had them long enough to know how they hold up but using the MCC dye & quality control should keep them up at the top with TY.

[HAZ]

I was using memorex but I'v switched to vrbatim after reading this thread

[Winfred]

I only use Verbatim and so far, none of my DVD+R or DVD-R have any problems.

[oldeschool17]

oldeschool17, the Verbatim you use are excellent media, they are some of the best, stick with them if possible.

Milkyway, the Traxdata ones are either Ritek or Ricoh also good, the last ones I tried were the 8x, I haven't tried the 16x yet.

There are also the Verbatim MII (made in India) disc, the one I have used are great but I haven't had them long enough to know how they hold up but using the MCC dye & quality control should keep them up at the top with TY.

Thanks for the nod. Ive used up that spindle and now use the Verbatim 4.7gb 16x/120min w/ AZO dye spindle now. Ive only had maybe 2 coasters so far(due to my fault,not the disc). So far so good.

[Liquid]

Nevermind, just found an extra bunch of DVD-Rs under my bed for now.

________

screplays

[oldeschool17]

Get 16x if your dvd burner supports it. Honestly, i cant tell much from those pages. Maybe if you go to the store and write down the model# and then compare them to reviews online.

[gfanikf]

Basically the Sonys I got from BB are most likely not that good (I have to say I've never had a lot problems with Sony or Verbatim). I've had few problems with them down the road and lots with other companies. DVDs will skip or the pic will break up. So If I use TY, the disc will read and play better than anything else on the market or I have used before?

Also what should I use for Dual Layer?

Also what is a really good cheap player that handles DVD-R media well the old players sucked at it. I just want something for a small tv in the bedroom.

[thekfc]

You should stick with TY or MCC (Verbatim) disc - they are currently the best ones out there. The Sony disc are good but sometime they do some outsoursing. If anyone can get their hands on the 8X Made in Japan Fuji, Maxell or TDK disc - they are excellent media - TY.

For Double Layer disc use the Verbatim made in Singapore - NOT the made in India ones also the Sony DL (Made in Singapore) - not the Sony DL Made in Taiwan. Both the Verbatin DL MIS & Sony DL MIS are manufactures in the same factory.

I have given away my "cheap" dvd players, currently my Philips DVP 3040 will play anything I throw at it - including Divx files. It cost about $40.

[Senor Quack]

Just wanted to chime in re: dual layer burning. Personally I use Nero for burning everything EXCEPT dual layer discs. For that I use freeware called ImgBurn (designed by the same person that created DVD Decrypter). I find it does a much better job burning dual layer discs in that the resulting disc plays on more stand alone players. In other words even if I DON'T use premium media like Verbatim dual layers, I'm much more likely to get a disc to play in my machines if I burned it with ImgBurn.

Also, in the U.S. you can get really good deals on unbranded (blank top) TY discs from vendors like Supermediastore, Meritline or american-digital.com. This is the route I always go as I have a thermal printer to print titles on my DVDs so I have to have blank top discs. I believe Am Dig sells blank top dual layer TYs as well.

[thekfc]

If anyone have an OfficeMax near them, they are having a great sale on Verbs this week. 100/$19.99, the lowest it have ever been. Or you can order online or do a price match to another store near you that carry them.

[Guest ekisha]

philips is also good.

________

CHEAP AIRSOFT HIGH QUALITY

[vonhumboldtfleisher]

I have about five or six TY100s, none more than four years old, none played more than six or seven times, and they has speckling all over the playing area. Useless. On the other hand, I have a battered- looking DVD-R with a picture of Goofy printed on it that's held a good copy of GALLANT DUO for four years.

I always use Verbatim now, but nothing's foolproof.

Oh, and this should probably be moved to the General forum.

[venom10463]

I have a battered- looking DVD-R with a picture of Goofy printed on it that's held a good copy of GALLANT DUO for four years.

Me too:D:p

[thekfc]

I have about five or six TY100s, none more than four years old, none played more than six or seven times, and they has speckling all over the playing area. Useless. On the other hand, I have a battered- looking DVD-R with a picture of Goofy printed on it that's held a good copy of GALLANT DUO for four years.

I always use Verbatim now, but nothing's foolproof.

Oh, and this should probably be moved to the General forum.

Can you guys run dvdindentifer on those disc & see what they are coded as?

Also, look in the inner hub/ring of the disk - in the clear part there should be a series of letters/numbers that looks like this GG000xxx what are theses numbers?

I am curious as I too had some disc from a couple of years ago that I thought were TY but they turned out to be fake TY. Just as there are bootleg movies - there are bootleg disc.

There are also some companies selling "High Quality" TY02 disk - these disk are NOT genuine TY disk but fake TY disk - they are just "borrowing" the TY code.

For TY the code on the inner ring/hub should be either:

-R:

8x = GG00xxxx

16x = GH00xxxx

+R

8x = TG00xxxx

16x = TH00xxxx

If they do not have these coding on the inner hub/ring - They are NOT TY.

[thekfc]

philips is also good.

Depending on which ones you get. If you lucky enough to get the MCC ones which are the same as Verbatim. There are also some Philips that are Ritek available BUT Philips have switch over to CMC. So it depends on your luck of the draw / roulette.