Preferred Blank DVD's?

[tokenganjaclan]

I wanted to come in and give an opinion. As most of you know I've authored 1,000s of dvds ever since the beginning of dvdrs. I ALWAYS bought and stored my stuff on Taiyo media. I always said grab them they are the best. But I CAN'T say use them only anymore. I have stored all my movies proper, out of the light, dust free areas ect!!! But after at least 5 or 6 years MANY of my dvds are totally useless. It seems while the dye used on Taiyo is good for burning they break down super fast as far as long time storage. Many reviews will say they are great but no one really has giving a long period of time on them. I never really burned a coaster with them so for burning they are great if you are worried about bad burns? But for Long storage forget it. The dye just breaks down.

Now on the other hand I have used Sonys for almost as long, even treated them like crap. tossing them in my entertainment center ect!!! But they are the ONLY media thats lasted over 5 years of storage. So if you want to keep you data for along time I HIGHLY say use SONY discs.

[vonhumboldtfleisher]

The good Sonys are TYs though, aren't they?

The number on the underside of the bad discs is GD000321. I know they're not fake TYs because they weren't even sold as TYs.

Here's DVDIdentifier's take on the worst-affected one that still actually loads in a DVD drive (PURPLE DARTS, now completely unplayable from the menu onwards):

[thekfc]

von, according to your info - that disc is a 4X dvd-r TY disc.

The older Sonys were either TY or MCC (Verbatim) EXCELLENT disc. The made in Japan Sony are TY & Made in Taiwan are Verbatim. The 16X MIJ Sonys are TY & the 16X MIT are made by Sony themselves. Although do some outsourcing - just make sure you get the MIJ or MIT Sony.

There are alot of debating about burning at the Max speed. From personal experience & what I have notice/read it is NOT wise to burn at the max speed. At first the burn will look fine & play fine BUT done the road you may encounter problems. The "sweet" spot for most burns is 8X. The difference in time between an 8X & a 16X burn is only about 1 minute.

Also use a good program to burn - I have stop using Nero & now using either ImgBurn or CloneDvd or Dvd Shrink. I still have over 12 burning programs, Nero, Rebuilder, DVD2One, 1ClickDvd, etc. I have disable them all to make sure that they do not interfere with Img or Clone.

DO NOT use paper labels on your disc - It will throw of the balance of the disc if not properly put on. I stopped using them & now use a sharpie.

If you are having playback problems with a disc that have a paper label - remove the paper label, clean the disc & play the disc again.

Fuji, Maxell, TDK, Imation & memorex at one time were good disc - in the age of 4X & 8X when TY & MCC were making the disc for them - now all their 16X stuff are of lower quality.

Enough said:

Verbatim - Stick with the MIT ones. There are also Made in India ones.

TY - Made in Japan.

Sony - Made in Japan (TY) or Made in Taiwan (Sony Own) - There are also -R popping up that are Made in Malaysia. Stick with the MIJ & MIT.

To ensure that your disc are genuine & NOT fake - Run Dvd Indentified & Look in the inner Hub/Ring:

TY - Should start with 2 letters then 6 numbers

Sony - Will say Sony Corporation, say either dvd-/+ & give will you the ver of the disc.

Verbatim - a series of letters & numbers combination

Avoid the B-Grade media.

There are companies out there that will tell you the stuff they are selling are genuine TY or Verbatim when infact they are using fake TY/MCC code.

DO NOT OVER BURN.

Do Not Use Paper Labels.

FYI, Meritline, Supermediastore & CdrDvdrMedia at one time were all own by the same company - COMPTREECN. I do not know if this is still the case. They are all reliable companies & sell Genuine stuff. I do shop with them.

[oldeschool17]

thanks for the info thekfc. Good to know

[venom10463]

von, according to your info - that disc is a 4X dvd-r TY disc.

The older Sonys were either TY or MCC (Verbatim) EXCELLENT disc. The made in Japan Sony are TY & Made in Taiwan are Verbatim. The 16X MIJ Sonys are TY & the 16X MIT are made by Sony themselves. Although do some outsourcing - just make sure you get the MIJ or MIT Sony.

There are alot of debating about burning at the Max speed. From personal experience & what I have notice/read it is NOT wise to burn at the max speed. At first the burn will look fine & play fine BUT done the road you may encounter problems. The "sweet" spot for most burns is 8X. The difference in time between an 8X & a 16X burn is only about 1 minute.

Also use a good program to burn - I have stop using Nero & now using either ImgBurn or CloneDvd or Dvd Shrink. I still have over 12 burning programs, Nero, Rebuilder, DVD2One, 1ClickDvd, etc. I have disable them all to make sure that they do not interfere with Img or Clone.

DO NOT use paper labels on your disc - It will throw of the balance of the disc if not properly put on. I stopped using them & now use a sharpie.

If you are having playback problems with a disc that have a paper label - remove the paper label, clean the disc & play the disc again.

Fuji, Maxell, TDK, Imation & memorex at one time were good disc - in the age of 4X & 8X when TY & MCC were making the disc for them - now all their 16X stuff are of lower quality.

Enough said:

Verbatim - Stick with the MIT ones. There are also Made in India ones.

TY - Made in Japan.

Sony - Made in Japan (TY) or Made in Taiwan (Sony Own) - There are also -R popping up that are Made in Malaysia. Stick with the MIJ & MIT.

To ensure that your disc are genuine & NOT fake - Run Dvd Indentified & Look in the inner Hub/Ring:

TY - Should start with 2 letters then 6 numbers

Sony - Will say Sony Corporation, say either dvd-/+ & give will you the ver of the disc.

Verbatim - a series of letters & numbers combination

Avoid the B-Grade media.

There are companies out there that will tell you the stuff they are selling are genuine TY or Verbatim when infact they are using fake TY/MCC code.

DO NOT OVER BURN.

Do Not Use Paper Labels.

FYI, Meritline, Supermediastore & CdrDvdrMedia at one time were all own by the same company - COMPTREECN. I do not know if this is still the case. They are all reliable companies & sell Genuine stuff. I do shop with them.

While it's good to burn at 8x, you can also burn at 12x too.

If you want to decide which burn speed to use... download cd/dvd speed and run variou tests at different speeds. Look at the chart for which speed have a straight line, to many jagged lines will result in deterioration over time.

[venom10463]

von, according to your info - that disc is a 4X dvd-r TY disc.

The older Sonys were either TY or MCC (Verbatim) EXCELLENT disc. The made in Japan Sony are TY & Made in Taiwan are Verbatim. The 16X MIJ Sonys are TY & the 16X MIT are made by Sony themselves. Although do some outsourcing - just make sure you get the MIJ or MIT Sony.

There are alot of debating about burning at the Max speed. From personal experience & what I have notice/read it is NOT wise to burn at the max speed. At first the burn will look fine & play fine BUT done the road you may encounter problems. The "sweet" spot for most burns is 8X. The difference in time between an 8X & a 16X burn is only about 1 minute.

Also use a good program to burn - I have stop using Nero & now using either ImgBurn or CloneDvd or Dvd Shrink. I still have over 12 burning programs, Nero, Rebuilder, DVD2One, 1ClickDvd, etc. I have disable them all to make sure that they do not interfere with Img or Clone.

DO NOT use paper labels on your disc - It will throw of the balance of the disc if not properly put on. I stopped using them & now use a sharpie.

If you are having playback problems with a disc that have a paper label - remove the paper label, clean the disc & play the disc again.

Fuji, Maxell, TDK, Imation & memorex at one time were good disc - in the age of 4X & 8X when TY & MCC were making the disc for them - now all their 16X stuff are of lower quality.

Enough said:

Verbatim - Stick with the MIT ones. There are also Made in India ones.

TY - Made in Japan.

Sony - Made in Japan (TY) or Made in Taiwan (Sony Own) - There are also -R popping up that are Made in Malaysia. Stick with the MIJ & MIT.

To ensure that your disc are genuine & NOT fake - Run Dvd Indentified & Look in the inner Hub/Ring:

TY - Should start with 2 letters then 6 numbers

Sony - Will say Sony Corporation, say either dvd-/+ & give will you the ver of the disc.

Verbatim - a series of letters & numbers combination

Avoid the B-Grade media.

There are companies out there that will tell you the stuff they are selling are genuine TY or Verbatim when infact they are using fake TY/MCC code.

DO NOT OVER BURN.

Do Not Use Paper Labels.

FYI, Meritline, Supermediastore & CdrDvdrMedia at one time were all own by the same company - COMPTREECN. I do not know if this is still the case. They are all reliable companies & sell Genuine stuff. I do shop with them.

While it's good to burn at 8x, you can also burn at 12x too.

If you want to decide which burn speed to use... download cd/dvd speed and run various tests at different speeds.

Look at the chart for which speed have a straight line, to many jagged lines will result in deterioration over time.

[vonhumboldtfleisher]

Two of the TYs that are unplayable were recorded on a Samsung DVD Recorder - so that would have been at 1x. Doesn't get much slower than that.

There's nothing you can do to guarantee your discs will last. In fact, I can guarantee they won't. I have a tape of MAD MISSION from 1984 that still plays, but in 24 years time all our DVDRs, factory pressed DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and whatever else will just be so much **** in a landfill.

[thekfc]

While it's good to burn at 8x, you can also burn at 12x too.

If you want to decide which burn speed to use... download cd/dvd speed and run various tests at different speeds.

Look at the chart for which speed have a straight line, to many jagged lines will result in deterioration over time.

I also burn at 12X.

8x on my Mod NEC drive

12X on my Mod Benq

I haven't updated the firmware on my LG yet so I stay with 8x on it.

[thekfc]

but in 24 years time all our DVDRs, factory pressed DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and whatever else will just be so much **** in a landfill.

So true. Well we can always build something with them like a house. lol

Two of the TYs that are unplayable were recorded on a Samsung DVD Recorder - so that would have been at 1x. Doesn't get much slower than that.

1X WOW - thats ages ago.

Now if I try to burn @1X on my mod Benq or NEC drive I would get all sorts of errors.

[thekfc]

One more note to add.

Some disc, Playo (Staples),NexxTech (Circuit City), Dynex (Best Buy) etc., uses a fake media code (usually MCC) this is for better compatibility, as many burners don't have proper write strategies for their media usually AML or UME. Some companies have been known to use the big 3 media code(TY, MCC & Sony) so their disc can have better compatibility while other compaines just fake them & pass them off as such.

This is one reason you are hearing some people say they bought these disc & they "burnt flawlessly".

Some of these disc may have the MCC/TY/Sony code yet they are Made in China, India or Hong Kong - which should NOT be the case.

TY - Taiyo Yuden - Made in - Japan

Verbatim: MCC or MKM - Made In Taiwan Singapore or Japan (by TY)

Sony - Sony Corporation - Made in Taiwan or Japan (by TY)

Both Sony & Verbatim do some outsourcing to India, Verb for some Dl. But do stick with their Taiwan / Japan / singapore made media.

[thehangman]

Verbatim dvd-r

Infiniti dvd-r

are always good

[thekfc]

Verbatim dvd-r

Infiniti dvd-r

are always good

Infiniti dvd-r are very good. They are manufactured by Mitsubitchi Chemicals Corporation(same company that manufactures Verbatim) & it also shares the same code & uses the same dye as Verbatim.

They use to outsource but they stopped & IIAC uses MCC for all their 16x media.

[PsiKnifeKFT]

Two of the TYs that are unplayable were recorded on a Samsung DVD Recorder - so that would have been at 1x. Doesn't get much slower than that.

There's nothing you can do to guarantee your discs will last. In fact, I can guarantee they won't. I have a tape of MAD MISSION from 1984 that still plays, but in 24 years time all our DVDRs, factory pressed DVDs, Blu-Ray discs and whatever else will just be so much **** in a landfill.

So I guess the better question would be: Preferred External Hard Drives?

[thekfc]

So I guess the better question would be: Preferred External Hard Drives?

A lot can go wrong with an external hard drive - But I am currently using (in addition to physical media) but just for music.

I do plan on getting 2 more - one for files & one for movies.

[thehangman]

I usually use verbatim ones.

[bigrogie]

I have been using Verbatim and Memorex for years. I find that they are the ones who are the most compatible with a wide variety of DVD players and I do thousands of DVDs. DVDs I made 8-9 years ago still look and play like brand new! Yuden are excellent too, many say it's the #1 brand, but I personally don't think their more expensive price is worth the difference, if any! I don't like Maxell as I find they are too thin and scratch easily. I also hate silver shining tops! Not that they record badly, but heck they attract dust like a magnet! Most other named brand will do the job too and basically cost the same price. I avoid no name brands. Far and foremost it's better to invest in quality burners!

[mbuddy]

I stick with Verbatim

[kungpowmaster]

I'm not a fanatic about what label I use, I try to go with a name that's known, and I can find at a decent price. I just used up my Memorex discs, and now have TDK. They seem fine to me.

[Fightingfist]

I use memorex, maxell which are fine.

[bolofan]

I've used ritek for a long time, never had a problem yet.

[soulborn]

and Verbatim are the best ones for sure.

[kungfusamurai]

I use whatever is on sale! But I stay clear of Memorex. I just don't trust them after getting mixed results from their CDs. Usually I bite if there are Verbatims or Fujis on sale.

KFS

[ThunderScore]

I use whatever is on sale! But I stay clear of Memorex. I just don't trust them after getting mixed results from their CDs. Usually I bite if there are Verbatims or Fujis on sale.

I concur. Memorex BAD!

[Fightingfist]

Verbatim is very good also.

[Shaolin_Fox]

I use RiData DVD-R and Philips DVD+R, no problems with them so far.

My question is, what is mostly preffered by you guys, DVD-R or DVD+R?