So in general, "Made in Japan" is ALWAYS good medi

[IAmNotAPirate]

or at least 90% of the time?

If I didn't watch these boards and walked into a store looking for DVD-Rs and looked to purchase only Made in Japan ones, would it be a good bet that they are high quality DVDs

[doppletwo]

I haven't tried many types of Japanese Media.

I know that Japanese Fuji -R 8x are actually Taiyo Yuden where as Taiwanese Fuji -R 8x are usually Prodisc. I like the TY better.

My only experience with Japanese media is those.

There is also some media from Singapore which is supposed to be better than the Taiwanese media of the same brand and media ID code.

I had most good experience with Ritek04's orange top which are a Taiwanese media but then I started seeing sloppy discs in the spindles. with splattered dye in the hub. Also I noticed that there was actually two different Ritek04 orange top one type had matte hub and one type had a shiny hub. The shiny seem better.

Most people believe there is quality control problems with some of the DVD media factories in Taiwan. I found a way to tell the which Ritek04's were made in a good factory, but only works in a brick and mortar store.

But I haven't tried enough media to say alll Japanese is better, but there are people who will say that.

Yes.

see.

[lordsmurf]

Yes.

[Gen-An]

Don't make the mistake of thinking that Japanese media is flawless though. I've run into iffy/bad batches of Maxell and TY media!

[Matt_]

I've gotten the impression so far that (at least for the consumers in the U.S.) all the DVD media that says (on the side of the box) it's made in Japan is made by either TY or Maxell. If that's true, then why is a box of Panasonic DVD-Rs (Fry's is usually about the only place where I notice this brand) so much more expensive than other brands (such as Maxell and Fuji) ?
And what is considered to be the quality of JVC made in Japan DVD-Rs and DVD-RWs ?

[Gen-An]

The JVC MIJ 8x DVD-Rs are TYG02. I've found them to be of higher quality than the Fujifilm-branded TYG02, go figure. I have no idea why the Pansonic TYG01s are so expensive, but they sure are nicely packaged and are nice looking discs.

[HyperYagami]

the sony 8x media (+ and -) are now made in japan, I always wonder it's quality compared to the others japan media like TY or maxell.

[doppletwo]

Never tried Sonyalways cost way too much. Are sony discs actually made by sony?

What's the Media ID Code?

[Fandim]

I was really upset today when I got Maxell +R 4x Made in Japan...I was really hoping for Maxell 001..

What did I get?

RicohJPN R01. ?????? I thought this was taiwan... Oh well... Only $5 for 15..and Ricoh isnt bad...but it's far far from my preferred...

Seth

[HyperYagami]

Never tried Sonyalways cost way too much. Are sony discs actually made by sony?

What's the Media ID Code?

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=248330
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=226088
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=228348

[scottsoso]

I know TY from Singapore, ritek, prico, and ritek ridata from Taiwan, what about Media from Korea? like BeAll and Hyundai. Thanks for reply.

[Matt_]

The JVC MIJ 8x DVD-Rs are TYG02. I've found them to be of higher quality than the Fujifilm-branded TYG02, go figure. I have no idea why the Pansonic TYG01s are so expensive, but they sure are nicely packaged and are nice looking discs.

Thank you for the help. So, to explain your findings with JVC 8x DVD-Rs, is it a possibility that when TY is manufacturing DVD-Rs that they are giving the highest quality ones to JVC ? or else perhaps JVC has slightly different specs that TY has to abide by ?

Never tried Sonyalways cost way too much. Are sony discs actually made by sony?

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=250022
It is rumored that Sony has no DVD-R production facilities in Japan and that Taiyo Yuden makes these discs for them (kind of like CMC and Prodisc making MCC's discs for them) but this hasn't been confirmed. Taiyo Yuden and Sony do have a collaboration called Start Labs, which deals with TY's optical media production.

Regarding Maxell DVD-Rs, I have been trying to research how to tell (while I'm at the store) which are TY and which are MXLRGxx.
So far I've found these these threads: here, here, and here

Apparently, 8x tends to be MXLRG03, and with regards to 4x, "RG02 ... luck.
50 and 25 packs tend to be TY.
15 and jewel tends to be MXL".
Also, if I look closely, apparently I might be able to spot either a batch code (for the TY discs "GG0000XX for 8x media, GD0000XX for 4x media, GB0000XX for 2X media") and/or a darker ring around the center (for the TY discs).
Any other ways to tell the difference ?

Thanks in advance

[lordsmurf]

Let me clarify...

"in general" = yes.
"always" = no.

[Gen-An]

The batch codes are the dead giveaway since the MXLRG02 discs don't have any.

[Skith]

I know TY from Singapore, ritek, prico, and ritek ridata from Taiwan, what about Media from Korea? like BeAll and Hyundai. Thanks for reply.

TY (Taiyo Yuden) is made in Japan only. Some Sony media is made in japan (sony MID, decent quality). Some TDK media is also "made in Japan," but it is hard to find. TDK Armor Plated (and the new variant) discs are all made in Japan.

Some MCC (Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.) media is made in Singaopre (sold under Verbatim). This is true Mitsubishi media. Verbatim "made in Taiwan" is MCC media, but is manufactured by CMC using Mitsubishi chemicals/dyes (last I heard anyways).

Unless I am mistaken, BeAll (at least some of it) is made by Moeser Baer India (sorry, I have no clue how that is spelled. )

Ritek, prodisc, CMC, and many others are made in taiwan.

A lot of the no-name/cheap shrink wrapped media is made in Hong Kong. This is the knock-off media, and should be avoided like the plague.

[handyguy]

I got some Maxells that say Made in Japan, but their code is Hitachi/Maxell. Another box, is TY. I wish they would make up their minds.

[Gen-An]

I don't think you'll see any TY other than 4x -R; 8x seems to be all Hitachi-Maxell media. Interestingly I don't think Maxell supplies anything other than its own media for -R in Japan, but in Europe and the USA it supplies various others (TY, Ritek, Ricoh).

[Regal]

I can't even find anymore of the 4x TY DVD+r or DVD-R media. All I find are the 8x

[handyguy]

Staples might have some 4x left. They are in jewel boxes & 20 for $3.50

[Matt_]

I don't know if this will be helpful to anyone else. I have noticed some people saying that they can't find "made in ...." printed anywhere on the packages of Maxell 4x DVD-Rs. (While I was at a Frys looking at Maxell 25pk spindles) I have noticed two differences between Maxell 4x Made in Japan spindles and 4x Made in Taiwan spindles.

If you look at the top disc, even though there's a piece of styrofoam, there's an inner ring around the piece of styrofoam that has a code printed on it "DR5A0S - G0395" (the last three digits of "G0395" are sometimes different). I noticed only the made in Taiwan Maxell 4x spindles (at the Frys that I was at) have this code.

The second difference: There's one more inner ring (not obscured by the styrofoam) that, because of the reflection from the piece of styrofoam, has the appearance of being white. On the made in Japan 4x Maxells, this "white" ring is unbroken whereas on the made in Taiwan 4x Maxells, there's the "white" ring then a very very thin black ring and then a very very thin white ring again.

[Skith]

To find the "Made in" text, look near the UPC bar codes. It is usually small print. Also look by the "Contact" info for their corperate HQ's (also small print).

[Frentic]

I just purchased some MXLRG03 8x Maxell DVD-R's. They are labeled as made in Japan.

My question is, does Maxell have a plant in Japan that makes top quality media? If so, I wonder why they would need to purchase some Taiwan made ones (through Ritek I believe) to resell. I know Taiyo makes good media and they normally supply most of the made in Japan media to big name companies. They are great! I'm just wondering how the MXLR media id ones fair in comparison (generally speaking).

[Gen-An]

Maxell must not have a lot of production capacity, which might explain why it has to supply TY, Ricoh, and Ritek media at times. Generally Maxell-manufactured media is very comparable to TY.

[sabercats]

Sorry but never go wrong if you choose Made in Japan .

[hammy]

Last week i was in my local HMV store (gift voucher to spend), didn't see any films or music i wanted, was about to leave when i noticed they had a few DVD-Rs on sale, TDK and Maxell 4x.
Looked at the Maxell, sold in a sort of high height dvd case that holds ten discs, checked to see where they were made, it had "Made in Japan", so i bought them just to use up the voucher. The "Made in Japan" discs i have bought before have all been TYs, but I got a shock when i got these home and checked the lead in, they are Ritek G04s.


Hammy

[lordsmurf]

There were some mistake packs out there with Taiwan stickers on them. Maybe your sticker fell off?