Verbatim MKM001 Or MKM003?

[John_Jordan]

I have been using the MKM001 2.4X made in Singapore discs for a while and found them to be great. Going to buy a new batch soon and I'm unsure whether to stick with the MKM001 or switch to the MKM003 8X discs. Whilst an hour a disc including verification isn't the end of the world, I would like to be able to maybe burn a little faster sometimes.

I burn at 2.4x with the MKM001 using a SH-S182D. Just wondering if anyone has used both of these media and can comment on them? Also, what do you think the readable life of the discs would be with them?

Thanks

[jman98]

Are you talking about the DVD+R DL discs? I may be wrong, but I think those designations you mention can be on both single layer and dual layer discs.

I really don't remember the codes, but if it helps you any, I have used quite a few of the Made In India DVD+R DL discs. They're mostly good, but I was not happy to recently discover that a disc I burned some months ago is completely unwatchable for about the last 10% of the disc and it's impossible for me to rip the disc past the error point. It's a copy of an old Asian TV show and long story short, I basically can't get another copy.
The Made in Singapore DVD+R DL media does seem to be more reliable.
For whatever it's worth, Nero's disc scanning tool reports significantly better results on Singapore media than the India made discs.

I'm more concerned about disc quality than burn speeds, so I just do burning when I don't care how long it takes - while I'm in the shower, off to the store, etc. I don't do verification - in my opinion it's just a waste of time. That would shave about 15-20 minutes off your burns right there.
My problem disc burned fine and I have no doubt that at the time it would have passed a verification test, yet some months later it had a fatal flaw.

[nekrosoft13]

both MKM001 and MKM003 are excellent disc (+R DL only). Just make sure you buy Made in Singapore.

MKM003 are also available Made in India, these are simply horrible. For the past week few people reported new MKM003 made in Taiwan disc. So far the Made in Taiwan disc seem to be decent.

[lordsmurf]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with discs made in India. They are created to the same specifications and use the same materials as the ones from Singapore.

Speed aside, the MKM001 and MKM003 are pretty much identical in burn quality.

Just remember that the faster you burn DL, the bigger chances of having a coaster. Yes, even Verbatim discs can coaster out if burned too fast (4x and 6x on 2.4x media is honestly not a good idea, if you want to be safe). I'd suggest 4x, maybe 6x, on the 8x discs.

Burner makes a difference too!

[JohnnyBob]

The older MKM001 MIS in the orange-yellow-purple 95310 packs (20 discs) from early 2007 and before are the best DL media I've ever tried. The newer MKM001 discs in 95310 packs MIS are in blue-purple packages and have a serious problem with the second layer. I'm getting PIE totals over 2 million for those burns, the highest I've ever seen with any disc. They play OK, but something is seriously wrong with them.

Similarly I've seen two very different batches of MKM003 that are MIS. The earlier ones give high PIE totals typically around 150,000 to 200,000. Then they changed the branding on the disc, and the later version of the same thing appears to be better.

MII is of course pure crap.

Bottom line, you can't trust Verbatim DL discs anymore. They built a great reputation with their DLs then blew it. You never know what you'll get when you order Verbatim now, it's just luck of the draw.

[lordsmurf]

Your problem is you're relying on scanning data to determine the quality of the media. What you fail to realize is that such testing is not necessarily indicative of quality, as there are too many variables at play. I'm sure the media is fine. The more likely issue is related to aging or dirty burners.