DVD media in Hong Kong

[AlanHK]

Anyone else who lives in Hong Kong who wants to share some experiences with DVD media?

I've bought a couple of Verbatim DVD+R 16x cake boxes, made in Taiwan about $120 in Lam Tin.
It was good until recently, but now I'm getting unreadable discs. Not sure if I have bad media, or my drive is going bad.

Has anyone found a source for Taiyo Yuden (eg, "That's" brand) here?

I don't get to the Golden Arcade often, but if there are any shops there or in 298 particularly trustworthy, please name them. (Or places to avoid.)

--Please no posts from people outside HK saying all HK media is crap. What's exported is not what's on sale here. Start your own thread if that's what you want to say.

[plane]

I think I've got like 200pcs Verb/Mit(they're the same company), speed rated from 4x to 16x. Some of em been burned for a couple of years and all are still in good condition.

In your case:
1. There are fake Verb/Mit DVDs at China Mainland and some guys were claimed fake discs being found in Kwung Tong, which is quite near Lam Tin.

2. However, almost all Verb/Mit should be real in Hong Kong. Your DVD burner might have some problem or the laser len retired after years. In Nero CD-DVD speed, run the quality test and see if you got the same problem(low score if the disc is bad) again with other DVD+R.

3. You need to treat your DVD+R carefully like Digital Camera. Keep them in a good environment.

In my experiences, the problem usually come from the second point if you like to burn at full speed all the time with mass production...haha... In this situation, people usually switch to expensive burner like Plextor and Pioneer.

All my DVD+R/-R was bought at Golden. You can just pick up some 10pcs small package if you scare to get fake discs. Large volume package like 25/50/100pcs will be easier to contain some(or all) fake discs.

[AlanHK]

Thanks.

I am suspicious of the first Verbatim 50 pack I bought.
That was MCC, "Made in Taiwan".

Since then I've bought Verbatim marked "Made in Japan" that appear to be Taiyo Yuden. So far I've burnt about a dozen of these, no problems.
I first got a 10-pack in 298 (shop 213), and later a 50 pack in the Golden basement.

Aside from the media code, the surface has a distinctive stippling. So I think these are really TY.

My burner is a Liteon, about a year old, it's only burnt perhaps 200 discs in that time, so I hope it's not going bad yet. It's rated 16x, but I burn at 8x.

[plane]

I never have such a problem from Verbatim and Mitsubishi. Only the 3Dmark....oh my bad, it's Nero CD-DVD speed, could tell you the truth.

Verb/Mit should be coded as MCC(Mitsubishi Chemical Corp). Verbatim is a firm under Mitsubishi but I found that the discs from Mitsubishi usually got the highest score during in my testing even they got the same code. They are almost identical and the different actually is very small like 3 to 5% and possibility more smaller at 8x speed but it turned out the fact that the best production line might be reserved for Mitsubishi.

But yup, nowadays Verbatim could be OEM by others as well. No more only stick with MCC. The low priced of Verbatim used bad discs and where do you get the MIJ TY from? It's no doubt that all A grade DVD reserved by Japanese. Those Verb/Mit which isn't coming from JP(which is the case happened at HK and worldwide, 95% isn't MIJ), will only ranked as B grade.

All MIJ media do ranked No.1 in the world, this rule not only appeared on DVD. I used loads of MIJ stuffs in my life including DV tapes, MD discs, MO discs, VHS, floppy discs. They offer unbelievable excellent quality but hard enough to buy in local stores because they aren't for export, generally.

By the way, if you got a good burner with real Verb/Mit ended up the result should be enough for normal use with best price/performance. If you don't satisfy, the good news is there are some other A grade for sales at Hong Kong now(since May/June). The bad news is they are also not easy to find(even lack of information on Internet) and not many stocks. The two new available option is Kodak Gold DVD and Mitsubishi Platinum DVD. Yes, they are the reputation series from old Kodak Gold CDR and Mitsubishi Platinum CDR and now arrived to DVD area finally but once again, very expensive though.

For the DVD burner, the technology is matured and every burner should provide above average quality now. The Liteon CDR burner is one of the best price/performace product(their DVD burner also close to this point) but I think now the winner is LG DVD burner, good for Verb/Mit discs from track record.

If you are rich or data is super important to you, you can get a Plextor or Pioneer. Some Asus DVD burners actually were Pioneer OEM and I think no Plextor OEM on market. They both offer excellent result up to 16x(may beat Liteon/LG 8x down at 16x). In general, Pioneer is good to go for DVD-R and Plextor is good to go for DVD+R. Overall, Plextor is better in my opinion.