could anyone tell me whats the best cd-r brand?

[alexanne]

i've been buying memorex cd-r's and this is for everytone to know that MEMOREX is the biggest piece of excrement to ever hit the stores, everytime i burn a vcd with them , they give me mad problems towards the end of each cd, now i want to try a different media for cd-r's, ,but i dont want to buy the wrong one and get the same problems again, someone told me that TDK 50-Pack 48x CD-R Disc Spindle
are really good, and also sony, but after checking bestbuy i did not see any sony cd-r's, if anyone knows whats the best cd-r brand to burn vcdc's please help me and let me know

[garryheather]

As I have said in many posts (use the search facilty above), my Sony DVD player is very fussy about CD-R media.

The only ones that work flawlessly in that are Princo type 8 media (or those manufactured by them for Datasafe in some of the 80 minute "white topped" discs) and CD-RW's.

If they work in my Sony, then they should work OK in yours since they get frumpy nearer the end of the disc.

[Treebeard]

In my opinion its Fuji all the way!!

[garryheather]

I forgot to say - although they don't work for me, I tend to use Taiyo Yuden CD-R's for anything I want to keep and / or use on my portable devices.

IIRC, Memorex have been known to use media by CMC Magnetics, and they have a rather dubious track record (and are the only brand I've found where my CD recorder always drops back to either 8x or 6x write speed). TY's are a bit more expensive BUT they are a lot more consistent.

I haven't seen any around for a while, but BASF used to use CMC as well. As do the "own brand" variety used in some stores, for example, I'm trying to get shot of a load of PC Line discs I picked up in a moment of desperation from PC World, only to find thet're bloody CMC.

As I recall, Fuji are predominantly manufactured by TY, aren't they ? As are SOME Philips discs (again, haven't seen those so much recently).

[LanEvo7]

Fuji does not make the discs themselves. They contract a third party company to do it and slap their brand on it. So does Memorex and most major store brands. TDK and Maxell used to make their own CDs, but now its mostly done by another company. Sony still makes their own discs. Generally Fuji's, TDK's, Maxell's and Sony's CDRs are pretty good. Stay away from memorex though, they like to contract the cheapest companies to work for them.

[DeleriumMDK]

Ive been using Memorex CD-R's for a long time...Ive gotten two types. One silver top, one is a white top. Im usually paying 20 cents a disc so the price is right but which one of these is CMC so I know just to avoid them in the future? Or better yet, what program can I use to get the Media ID?

[LanEvo7]

Alcohol 120% can identify the media codes.

[antonv]

Imation CDs is considered the top media for VCDs. They worked fine for me without a single problem. By the way, Imation 100 CDs spindle is on sale in Best buy til the end of the week.

[lordsmurf]

Though I hate Memorex DVD-Rs, their CD-Rs are nice. I have a bunch of eWorks Media CD-Rs that work great too.

I cannot stand Maxell CD-R or Imation CD-R. Bad discs.

[antonv]

lordsmurf, could you explain why Imation CDs are bad ?

[Faustus]

I'm a big TDK fan, a friend of mine uses Imation CDRs only, he says he's never had a problem but he just uses them for Data so I'll let someone else make the call on their use for video.

[LanEvo7]

I've used Fuji(Taiyo Yuden), TDK(TDK, Ritek), Maxell (Ritek), Verbatim, Smart Buy(ProDisc), Sony(Sony), blank silver tops(CMC) for VCDs. None of them ever gave me a problem EXCEPT CMC. CMC discs gave me end of disc errors, skipping, freezing, etc. Then after about a year, some of them started degrading. Needless to say, I backed up all the ones that were still readable.

[Poppa_Meth]

I've been using sony CD-R for years now. I've burned in excess of 400 discs of music and VCD, SCVD, and neve had a bad burn so far. I usually use the data type for VCD and the Audio type for music.

[jolo]

I will just add my two cents, especially after the last poster.

I would say most all are consistent and work will, EXCEPT the CMC disks. Those are the only ones, usually in Memorex or Verbatim, that have given me difficulty.

Also, there is a NEW line of Fujis/Taikyo Yuden (my favorite), that are of low quality and cheap. There is a new line of Fujis seen in "superstores" in the U.S. called Fuji "general purpose" CD-Rs. They are cheaply made and even though they are Taiyo Yuden's, they have a different part number and lead-in, lead-out number than the Fuji's you see in the deep blue spindles.
These "general purpose" CDRs are lighter in color, cheaper looking and cheaper made.

[antonv]

What's CMC ?

[Faustus]

CMC is a major media manufacture that alot of companies buy disc from and sell under their name. CMC does not sell them under their name however. Though they have proven that CAN make a good disc 9 times out of 10 they do not. Its best to stay away from CMC disc rather they be CDs or DVDs.

[antonv]

One friend told me that Imation is under CMC company.
Question #1: Is it really true ? (I could not find any place on the spindle where it said something abount CMC )
Question #2: If Imation is a bad brand, Why My LG 12x never had any problems burning Imations at 8x, Sony DVD player never had a problem playing VCDs and some of my Imation CDs are 3-4 years old and are perfectly the same ?

[jolo]

First I need to correct information I gave earlier. The new, low quality crummy, cheap Fuji/Taiyo Yuden is labeles at "All Purpose". They are in a lite blue color wrapping and the CDRs themself are light blue on top. One the botton they say CD-R All Purpose. Make sure you do not use these, use the Fujis in the familiar dark blue wrapping.

Can't generalize on any of this stuff. On Nero 6 and there are some free utilities, you can get information on who the real manufactorer of the CDR you are using.

You can find different manufactorers from the same CD vendor.

[vitualis]

My favourites:
- Verbatim DataLife Plus (i.e., those that use the Metal-Azo formulation)
- Kodak Ultima Gold (?? aren't made anymore )

Regards.

[LanEvo7]

Weren't those Kodak Gold disc made of real gold and cost $5 a piece?

[sterno]

Weren't those Kodak Gold disc made of real gold and cost $5 a piece?

Yes, though by the time they stopped making them the price was lower. I think the only company left that makes CD-Rs with an actual gold reflective layer is Mitsui.

[lordsmurf]

I've still got a horded stash of old PIONEER and SONY media from several years back. I only use them on high-quality backups and music discs. For everything else, I buy what's on sale, though I sat away from Maxell and Imation (made by CMC).

[Hardcoreruss]

TDK Speed X

[jax818]

Gotta go with Mitsui and TY

[Lobe]

yeah, TY and Mitsui!
uh, for a while there were TDK's made in USA. who made those?

also, i still have some of those Kodak Gold but they were made in mexico? how are those? they burn fine, but i hold them up to a light and see holes in the gold media??? was this at the end of them , who made them? did the go to crap?

[vitualis]

Kodak had lots of manufacturing plants I believe and one of them was in Mexico.

IMHO, Kodak media were awesome. I did have a problematic batch at the end, but I think this had more to do with the fact that those discs were really old before I used them... (although CD-Rs are meant to last for 100 years or something like that, there is a recommended time that you are meant to burn them).

Regards.

[ABC123]

Is there a way of telling who actually makes the discs at the time of purchase?