Taiyo Yuden (That's) Triple Guard DVD-R

[piano632]

Did these DVD-R ever materialize in the U.S.? If their claims are true, these would be twice as scratch resistant as even TDK's Armor Plated discs.

http://www.cdfreaks.com/news/Taiyo-Yuden-introduces-new-Thats-Triple-Guard-DVD-R-product-series.html
http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.aspx?NewsId=20555

[SCDVD]

No, they only sell these in Japan. From a marketing point of view, Taiyo Yuden is a VERY timid old-line company. The media group in Taiyo Yuden contributes only about 4% of the overall company revenue. The main core business for Taiyo Yuden is specialized electronic components. The management of the Media Group in Taiyo Yuden is obsessed with taking no personal risk. Fear of making a mistake is the most powerful influence in these old-line Japanese companies. Taiyo Yuden spends almost nothing on marketing and they are extremely conservative with everything they do. There is an old saying that gives insight into their thinking - "The nail that sticks its head up must be beat back into place with a hammer." As a result, any marketing or product development program that would detract from their bottom line results are avoided like the plague. By virtue of their small percentage contribution to the company's overall revenue, the mangers in the Media Group are by definition weak. They will avoid at all cost the risk of showing a reduced profit margin no matter how noble the investment costs that might reduce the bottom line results.

[Gen-An]

There is TY Triple-Coated media available from SVP in the UK, which seems to be the same as the Triple Guard.

[jman98]

No pun intended, but I think SCDVD has hit the nail in the head with that excellent post. Many TY made discs are impossible to buy outside of Japan. Until fairly recently I had no idea that they even made DVD-R DL media, but they do. They only sell it in Japan though. I don't like the format (I much prefer DVD+R DL), but I did find one US based source who sells only 100 packs for TY made DVD-R DL discs for over $300 - yikes! As far as I know TY doesn't sell DVD+/-RW discs, but again, for all I know they may sell those in Japan and not in the USA. SCDVD is right that they do absolutely nothing in terms of marketing. If you don't join a forum like this, you'd probably never even know that TY existed.

Gen-An - Thanks for that info. I'm not sure if SVP will ship internationally, but I have a friend in the UK. Worst case if I want to try the discs (I'm thinking about it), I could get them to ship to my friend and have my friend ship them to me.

[piano632]

If those "Triple Coated" discs in UK are the same as "Triple Guard" I'd say they're kind of cheap compared to similar discs like Maxell Broadcast Quality and Verbatim VideoGard. TDK's Armor Plated DVD-R sell for $5 per disc and these TY ones sell for only $.80 each, something doesn't sound right. Too bad you have to buy 100 of them to test them out. But I don't think SVP ships outside of Europe anyway from what I can gather on their website. Why isn't there some Japanese website that would sell these to US like Tower Records or HMV or Amazon or something?

[jman98]

HMV Japan does have a limited English language interface to their website. It might be worth checking out (http://www.hmv.co.jp). Amazon Japan does too (http://www.amazon.co.jp). Note that when I say "limited" that I am not kidding. You can place orders in English easily enough, but all the product descriptions are completely in Japanese.

[Gen-An]

Amazon Japan doesn't ship any recordable media outside of the country, unfortunately.

[piano632]

I'm sure the shipping costs from Japan would be excessive anyway.

On a related note, I tried Delkin's Gold Archive DVD-R and CD-R with Scratch Armor and well, I'm not impressed. For DVD-R discs that cost up to $3.50 each you would expect them to be top-notch quality. The PIF rates are somewhat high and 1 disc out of the 4 I burned failed at about 80% even when burned at 2x on a Plextor drive. They are made by MAM-A with a Moser Baer stamper. Also they put no scratch protection layer on the label side, just a clear lacquer which can be scuffed fairly easily. Their CD-R are even more fragile. They claim a 300-year life, yet I managed to destroy one accidentally within 2 hours after I burned it. All I did was not put the disc perfectly flat in the drive tray. It was sticking out a little when I closed the tray and darn if that didn't puncture a hole in the gold data layer of the disc. It's not like the drive tray closes with that much force either. I tried it again purposely to see if that was just a fluke accident, but it punctured the gold layer yet again the second time. I tried the same with a couple of much less expensive discs and they came out looking perfectly fine. Anyway, I'm glad I only bought 10-packs of the Delkin discs.

Maxell's BQ and Verbatim's VideoGard discs seem to be very good so far.

[jman98]

HMV Japan does sell a limited amount of blank media, but no TY stuff at all. TY's "That's" brand is completely missing from the site.

Interesting post, piano632. Many here have complained about MAM-A's disc quality being much poorer quality than the advertising would have you believe. Verbatim does make some gold CDs and DVDs, but they're hard to find. You can find links to resellers off the main Verbatim web page (http://www.verbatim.com).

[lordsmurf]

MAM-A relies on marketing puffery -- not quality of products -- to makes sales.
MAM-A is about as "quality" as Memorex.

[Seeker47]

Many TY made discs are impossible to buy outside of Japan. Until fairly recently I had no idea that they even made DVD-R DL media, but they do. They only sell it in Japan though. I don't like the format (I much prefer DVD+R DL)

Does TY make and sell the +R DL type in Japan, though ? THAt might make for some interesting comparison test burns, if anyone could get their hands on a sample.

[Gen-An]

No, TY has never made any DVD+R DL media.

[clover]

I bought Taiyo Yuden (That's) Triple Guard DVD-R on ebay.
They're GREAT. Would highly recommend.

[genki500]

Read it directly from Japan in English.
http://www.yuden.co.jp/us/release/pdf/pdf_82.pdf

I didn't know "That's" brand is Taiyo Yuden, I used to buy their casette tapes.

[lordsmurf]

I'd be wary buying TY media off eBay. I would suggest ONLY buying eBay from an authorized seller.
http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/buy-blank-discs.htm

[Xscream]

I'm not sure if the triple guard is the same, but they do have the Tuff Coat in the US http://www.microboards.com/Products/Default.aspx?id=1058

[anaboland]

http://www.jetmedia.co.uk/

sell a range of TY media including TY Triple guard media.

I've used this company many times and can recommend them.

apparently they do ship international by prior arrangement.

quote from website:-

Orders received before 15.00 for items in stock on next day deliveries will be dispatched the same day.
Currently we supply to UK and export by prior arrangement (export@jetmedia.co.uk for details) to EU and other countries.