Imation media for VCD, good or bad ?

[antonv]

Everyone is saying Imation media is bad, but I really had no problems with it and my LG burner for over 2 years and more then 200 CDs burnt at 8x. There was not a single problem, neither corrupted CD, bad quality/playback in any DVD player, or degrading over time. Some say Imation corp. belongs to CMC manufacturer. I have not found any mention of CMC either on CDs, Spindle labels or Imation website. I am now at the point where I either will continue using Imations or Change to different brand.

Could you please tell me if anyone had problems with Imation or any comments about this brand ?

[cplevel42]

Buy Verbatim "Value Life Plus" in Bulk. Nice price and White Scratch resistant coating on the top data layer.

I stopped using Imation. Too expensive, although I never had a quality problem with them.

Sorry I couldn't be more help.

[sterno]

There have been a lot of discussions about media quality, if you do a search you'll find a lot of opinions.

I don't think that Imation belongs to CMC, but (like most companies) Imation doesn't make their own CD-Rs. Most (maybe all) of their blanks are made by CMC. CMC has a reputation for terrible quality, but I've heard that Imation and most other major brand names actually do enforce some quality control standards on their suppliers. A lot of people use Imation discs with no problems, I've gone through a hundred or so for various things and they've been fine so far. I wouldn't use them for something that was irreplacable, though.

Verbatim ValueLife Plus is generic media, same as Imation. Verbatim DataLife Plus is more expensive, but of very high quality.

I usually try to stay with Fuji packages made in Japan, which are made by Taiyo-Yuden (one of the best manufacturers). When they're on sale, they usually cost the same or less than Imation sales.

[mopar7]

I have not had any problem with Imation, however, so far all of the cdr tests I have found have labeled anything from anywhere but Japan has had poor ratings?

[vitualis]

Imation has probably lifted their game.

I remember when Imation media FIRST came out and some were good (e.g., OEMed from Kodak) and some were bad... which was the problem for ALL companies using third party OEMs then (and possibly even now).

IMHO, CD-R discs are pretty cheap now if you buy in bulk and even Verbatim DataLife Plus discs are pretty darn inexpesive in absolute terms. I only buy Verbatim DataLife Plus discs now.

Regards.

[pbhalerao]

I have burned over 40 Imation CD-R's without any problem. The price of a spindle of 50 for $4.99 (after rebate) was too good to resist.

People have complained about Imation. Sometimes what happens is a batch in the regular production produces defective stuff. That is enough to give the entire brand a bad name. It is difficult to recover from the reputation afterwards.

Stuff like CD-R's are difficult to return. Firstly, as they are so cheap, you will not bother. The cost of time and gas/petrol is not worth it. Secondly, they will blame it on your burner, your h/w and s/w, your methods, anything really.

Not defending Imation, BTW. But it is safer to stick to a well-known tried and tested source.

Regards,

[overloaded_ide]

I don't use em that I know of anymore, but I think some of my older disks were Imation CD-R's, and still work.

Recently I had to copy an Imation CD-R for a friend because the top layer was beginning to bubble and looked like it was gonna start peeling soon too.

This was a sound track from a play her daughter was in, so although I don't know how the disk had been handled, I can geuss the age was maybe 3-4 months since burning. We were lucky in that only track 10 skipped some, was like that on her original(copy) disk so the copy I made had the same skip. Why the top was defective I don't know, maybe a dog pee'd on it

I normally use any cheap disks I can get for cdr/rw. Cheaper the better, and I love free after rebate ones! Only problem I have had with any really is when I burn a 16x disk at 32x for mp3s sometimes they pop or crackle
Solution, I burn cheap disks at the rated speed or one less! TDK cdr I have burned 32x at about 48x without problems, but I actually paid for those disks! Cheap optomuim disks I have burned over speed and rated speed also. I use those for throw aways though just in case. Dye and top layer so thin you can see your hand through the disk, but so far no problems. I use stuff like that for mp3 disks for the wife to take to work. If they get trashed who cares, just burn another! Nearly free.
I use the Circuit city free after rebate disks for the same purpose. Might be good disks, but I hate the tops, logos show though labels and look nasty. But they were free, or at least only a postage stamp for the rebate

All of my old disks still work, provided they have not been trashed by external damage. Scratches and such. I did recently see something about an artical that had tested 2 yr old CDRs and a large number failed!!!
Artical did not list info about what brands failed though, so what good was it anyway?