Dual-Layered DVD+R: Have they gotten better?

[Super Warrior]

Hi fellas, long time member here, and first time i've posted in years.

Just wondering if dual-layer DVDs have FINALLY became reliable, as well as affordable. Last i checked 5-6 years back, they were still overly expensive and crap reliability.

Also what are considered the good brands nowadays? Back in the day Taiyo Yuden was considered to be THE longterm, premium quality disc. Is it still good or have they fallen off? I remember way back when Ritek was considered to be good, and Leo Laport from TechTv saying how he liked them. Then they changed their manufacturing process or whatever, and their media reputation was garbage after that lol.

I appreciate any help

[hardy]

They are definitely more reliable these days and a lot cheaper than 5-6 years ago. I use Verbatim disc for my personal use.

[hech54]

I don't recall TY ever making +R dual layer. For the few times I needed Dual Layer it's always been Verbatim.

[usually_quiet]

Verbatim DVD+R DL is still the only reliable dual-layer DVD media. That being said, burned dual layer media is likely to loose data integrity more quickly than burned single layer DVD media.

[Super Warrior]

So dual-layer recordable DVDs are still crap, and not up to the longevity/ease of creation as single layer?

[fritzi93]

My experience with DVD+R DLs is a few years old, so maybe this no longer applies, but I'll bet it does:

Anything you buy that isn't Verbatim is almost certainly gonna be Ritek or CMC, regardless of whose brand is on them. And they're still crap.

Until a few years ago, I ripped BDs with a BD-ROM and re-encoded them to put on DVD+R DLs (BD9). Hundreds of them. Since they weren't "important" backups (they could always be done over), I used the aforementioned cheapies. It's hard to remember now exactly, and I don't want to exaggerate, but as I recall, the failure rate was around 20% upon verification with Imgburn. Maybe more.

I got tired of all that and got a BD burner. Now I have a bunch of big hard drives and play backups (MKVs) from the HTPC. Whew! Good riddance.

BTW, about those BD9 backups. Dunno about the longevity of the ones that verified okay, as I trashed them all.

[Kerry56]

Well, there are the Falcon DL discs that are made using the same 2P process as the Verbatim DL media. http://www.duplication.ca/shop/Falcon-Premium-2P-DVD-R-DL-8.5GB-8X-White-Thermal-Hub-P...-Teac-P55.html Though they are out of stock at both sites I know where they have been sold in the past.

Falcon even made discs for Verbatim for a while, and may still be doing so. If you see any Verbatim discs made in the UAE, then they are being produced by Falcon/FTI.

The Falcon discs have proved to be very good overall, but there is no particular reason to seek them out. They aren't any better than the Verbatim DL, especially those made in Singapore.

I quit using DL DVD's some time back, after some poor experiences with Verbatim DL. Yes, even they make some mediocre discs now and again. I suggest avoiding any Verbatim DL discs made in India.

I've moved on to Blu-ray single layer (Falcon/FTI and Verbatim) and storage on hard drives.

[Super Warrior]

Well, there are the Falcon DL discs that are made using the same 2P process as the Verbatim DL media. http://www.duplication.ca/shop/Falcon-Premium-2P-DVD-R-DL-8.5GB-8X-White-Thermal-Hub-P...-Teac-P55.html Though they are out of stock at both sites I know where they have been sold in the past.

Falcon even made discs for Verbatim for a while, and may still be doing so. If you see any Verbatim discs made in the UAE, then they are being produced by Falcon/FTI.

The Falcon discs have proved to be very good overall, but there is no particular reason to seek them out. They aren't any better than the Verbatim DL, especially those made in Singapore.

I quit using DL DVD's some time back, after some poor experiences with Verbatim DL. Yes, even they make some mediocre discs now and again. I suggest avoiding any Verbatim DL discs made in India.

I've moved on to Blu-ray single layer (Falcon/FTI and Verbatim) and storage on hard drives.

Cool. I need to catch up on that stuff too. So how is blu-ray recordable media so far, reliable? Best brands? I've seen some nice looking USB 2.0 BD-R drives for about $80, and 50 packs of Verbatium BD-R for $40.

[Kerry56]

I would advise you to avoid Verbatim LTH discs if you are interested in burning Blu-ray. They are made with organic dyes, like DVD's. Taiyo Yuden also sell LTH BD discs. Most Blu-ray use an inorganic writing layer.

Verbatim does make regular Blu-ray (HTL). Here is an example at Amazon. Very few are reporting issues with these Verbatim discs. FTI/Falcon also make good ones. You can find them under the SmartBlu brand at MediaMegaMall.

But the best blank Blu-ray are probably sold by Panasonic. Harder to find them in the US. The only DL Blu-ray I would buy are the Panasonic discs, or those brands that use the Panasonic made DL BD discs, like JVC.

I don't know which burners you are looking at, but most of us like the full size Pioneer drives, or LG as a second choice.

[Super Warrior]

I would advise you to avoid Verbatim LTH discs if you are interested in burning Blu-ray. They are made with organic dyes, like DVD's. Taiyo Yuden also sell LTH BD discs. Most Blu-ray use an inorganic writing layer.

Verbatim does make regular Blu-ray (HTL). Here is an example at Amazon. Very few are reporting issues with these Verbatim discs. FTI/Falcon also make good ones. You can find them under the SmartBlu brand at MediaMegaMall.

But the best blank Blu-ray are probably sold by Panasonic. Harder to find them in the US. The only DL Blu-ray I would buy are the Panasonic discs, or those brands that use the Panasonic made DL BD discs, like JVC.

I don't know which burners you are looking at, but most of us like the full size Pioneer drives, or LG as a second choice.

Thanks for the link to the recordable media. As for drives, i was thinking about this one:

Samsung SE-506CB/RSBD 6X USB 2.0 Slim BD-R drive.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JJGFRIQ/ref=dra_a_rv_ff_fx_it_P2000_1000?tag=dradisplay-20...5f97aba2c9cbda

I've got a nettop set-up(Zbox ID80), so i don't have a normal size comp to put a full drive into.

[jman98]

Taiyo Yuden is still good, but they severely limit what they make. They make CD-R, DVD+/-R, DVD-R DL and BD-R LTH discs and that's it. Since the first post specifically asked about DVD dual layer discs, the recommendations to use Verbatim DVD+R DL discs are good. DVD-R DL was sort of a force fit into a previous DVD-R spec that didn't originally allow for the possibility of DL media whereas DVD+R DL discs were basically built into the DVD+R spec at the beginning. DVD+R DL discs are very slightly larger than the -R DL discs and have better compatibility with older players and lower cost. There's no compelling reason today to use DVD-R DL because they are difficult to find and expensive, but if you must use them, buy either Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim.

[Kerry56]

I would advise you to avoid Verbatim LTH discs if you are interested in burning Blu-ray. They are made with organic dyes, like DVD's. Taiyo Yuden also sell LTH BD discs. Most Blu-ray use an inorganic writing layer.

Verbatim does make regular Blu-ray (HTL). Here is an example at Amazon. Very few are reporting issues with these Verbatim discs. FTI/Falcon also make good ones. You can find them under the SmartBlu brand at MediaMegaMall.

But the best blank Blu-ray are probably sold by Panasonic. Harder to find them in the US. The only DL Blu-ray I would buy are the Panasonic discs, or those brands that use the Panasonic made DL BD discs, like JVC.

I don't know which burners you are looking at, but most of us like the full size Pioneer drives, or LG as a second choice.

Thanks for the link to the recordable media. As for drives, i was thinking about this one:

Samsung SE-506CB/RSBD 6X USB 2.0 Slim BD-R drive.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JJGFRIQ/ref=dra_a_rv_ff_fx_it_P2000_1000?tag=dradisplay-20...5f97aba2c9cbda

I've got a nettop set-up(Zbox ID80), so i don't have a normal size comp to put a full drive into.

I don't recommend slim drives at all. They just don't seem to last as well. The specifications of that Zotac ZBox ID80 show that it has two USB 3 ports on the back. These would really help with Blu-ray burns, so I'd concentrate on an external burner that can use USB 3.

LG makes one: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136260 Very expensive.

Or get a Pioneer 209 DBK and put it into a USB 3 Vantec enclosure. This combo is less expensive, but nowhere near your slim drive price.

[[_chef_]]

Still, DVD+R DL media is named "Double-layered DVD+R" and DVD-R DL is named "Dual-layered DVD-R" media...

Me too wont recommend slimtype drives at all for burning.

Don't buy a BDR-209 D burner variant if you want to use BD-R(E) XL.

[Super Warrior]

I know its a different format but, i own a slim, USB 2.0, LG Brand DVD-RW drive. Got it from bestbuy. Has worked pretty well so far.

I know Blu-ray tech is still maturing though. Perhaps if i buy it with a warrenty.

Edit: Oh and these Verbatium Dual-Layer DVD+Rs look like good quality

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005F2YPH2/ref=dra_a_rv_ff_fx_it_P2000_1000?tag=dradisplay-20...ustomerReviews

[jman98]

Super Warrior - Those high speed (8x-10x) Verbatim discs in your link are excellent. The high speed ones are only made in Singapore, which means we know that they are high quality because everybody agrees that Verbatim's made in Singapore discs are top notch.

[Super Warrior]

Hey thanks guys! I bought a 30-pack of those Verbatium DVD+R DL discs. So far they've been great, with no reading, burning or playing issues whatsoever. However, it did annoy me to find out that dual-layer does NOT mean double the capacity. If you take two DVD-5's and combine them, a DVD-9 is about 800MBs less. Otherwise they're great.

Anyway, does anyone know of a simple program to scan DVD recordable media to detect problems? Bad burns? Faulty sectors? etc.

I used to have a program like this a long time ago that worked great for testing media quality after burning. But i lost it a while back and forgot what it was called.

[fritzi93]

Nero DiscSpeed?

There's also Opti Drive Control, but it's not free.

[[_chef_]]

Hey thanks guys! I bought a 30-pack of those Verbatium DVD+R DL discs. So far they've been great, with no reading, burning or playing issues whatsoever. However, it did annoy me to find out that dual-layer does NOT mean double the capacity. If you take two DVD-5's and combine them, a DVD-9 is about 800MBs less.

Just check out the basics/guides/how-to explained in this forum.
Even a flipper dvd doesnt mean the USABLE capacity would be also doubled....

https://www.videohelp.com/dvd

[hogger129]

Hi fellas, long time member here, and first time i've posted in years.

Just wondering if dual-layer DVDs have FINALLY became reliable, as well as affordable. Last i checked 5-6 years back, they were still overly expensive and crap reliability.

Also what are considered the good brands nowadays? Back in the day Taiyo Yuden was considered to be THE longterm, premium quality disc. Is it still good or have they fallen off? I remember way back when Ritek was considered to be good, and Leo Laport from TechTv saying how he liked them. Then they changed their manufacturing process or whatever, and their media reputation was garbage after that lol.

I appreciate any help

Taiyo Yuden is the best, still know some folks who use that brand for archiving studio recordings. I stick mostly to Memorex for DVD media these days.

I was also pretty sure Imgburn had something built in where it would verify a good burn.

[jman98]

Taiyo Yuden is the best, still know some folks who use that brand for archiving studio recordings. I stick mostly to Memorex for DVD media these days.

I was also pretty sure Imgburn had something built in where it would verify a good burn.

Sigh. This truly saddens me. We've been saying for YEARS that Memorex DVDs are crap. They have ALWAYS been crap. Back 10 or so years ago when most (TDK, Sony, etc. etc. etc.) brands used only the very best manufacturers for their media (Taiyo Yuden made discs for TDK, for example) Memorex was using the WORST manufacturers by choice. Before I learned better, at the time I once bought a 25 pack of Memorex discs. Had more burns that failed than any pack I've ever bought. The discs were so bad that I ended up replacing every one of the burned discs that didn't fail with Verbatim.

Burn verification is a religious issue to some. Whether the ways to "test" a burn are really worth the time or not is very debatable. I don't bother. If the burn doesn't fail, then it's good, but then again I don't burn Memorex discs either. If you have plenty of time to spend on this, there's a Verify switch in ImgBurn you can check to turn it on (it's on the main burning window) but man, if you are using Memorex discs, why bother? You'd be a lot better off to buy Taiyo Yuden or the good Verbatim discs (anything but their cheap Life series) and just trust any burn that doesn't have failures than to use crap discs and want to double your time by testing the burns.

[[_chef_]]

Some people seem to have still too much time left to buy crap discs even these days when they count pennies and disregarding ANY good and foolproof advice.


Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeek,.