Verbatim DataLife??

[Jaded God]

I just bought a 25 pack of Verbatim DVD-Rs... They just say "Verbatim DataLife" no plus...

The top of the discs are silver with blue writting.

I bought them at Sam's Club and I was just wondering if these were good quality media... I haven't opened them yet so I want to know.

I know how some Verbatims can be cheap now a days... So please someone with experience tell me if these are a keeper or not.

They don't have the shaded fade of blue on the side of the disc like the one kind of verbatim dvd-rs... Just light silver and Verbatim in blue at the top and on the right and left the capacity, etc. Then the lines to write info on.

Also, It does not say on the label or on the disc what Speed they can burn up to... Does anyone know if they are 1x, 2x, 4x or what?? I hope they are atleast 2x

Here is a pic of them...

[bmduncan]

It depends. Verbatim uses a lot of different manufacturers for their dvds. Many batches of late are CMCs rated at 2x. If unsure you may want to look into the memorex buy 1 get one free deal at office depot this week. No direct experience with the discs though. Just been reading a lot lately to get up to speed and I only have a dvd +r burner at this point.

[LanEvo7]

Probably CMC since it doesn't say speed. The MMC ones always said 2x.

[Anonymous642]

I emailed Verbatim back in June and was told:
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Verbatim DataLifePlus is a premium grade DVD-R disc intended for professional usage. It utilizes our proprietary metal azo recording dye, and its speed is guaranteed at 2X (or 4X), depending on the package. As you are probably aware, the quality and reputation of Verbatim DataLifePlus DVD-R is the best in the market.

The DataLife DVD-R brand is intended for consumers who's media requirements are less rigorous. The quality is comparable to other name brands you typically find in retail stores. It can be recorded at up to 2X speed, depending on the DVD-R drive and firmware revision.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

[defense]

Lan Evo Wrote:

Probably CMC since it doesn't say speed. The MMC ones always said 2x.

Unfortunately, that isn't true. I have personally purchased Verbatim disks from several different locations, including retailers and online sites and i've gotten MMC disks with BOTH the Data life and DATA LIFE PLUS emblems...as well as speed rated and non speed rated.

I am not the only person this has happened to. If the original poster wants to know about Verbatim, they should do a search..they'll find more then enough info on them.

[Synergy]

The grey bottom of the cake box normally indicates that they are made by Ritek, and probably RITEKG03, 1X discs. Depends on the burner you use, Pioneer A06 can only burn them at 1X, while most other dual format burners (such as Sony, NEC, and Optorite) are able to burn at 2X. If the bottom base is black, that's an indication of CMC made discs. This is just my own experience.

[defense]

@ synergy, not trying to disparage you..but your personal experiences are way off from actuality. Verbatim has countless manufacturer's of their media..it's been said countless times, and if people would do a very basic ten second search before posting questions like these..they'd find out for themselves. There is NO way of telling who manufacturs Verbatim disks.

[Jaded God]

Well how do these Verbatims That I have in the picture compare to lets say my TDK 2x Media from Target??

I just want to be able to burn on those verbs at 2x... If I can't do that at all then I have to take them back. Stupid Verbs and their million diff manufacturers. All the good ones are in jewel cases now.

[lordsmurf]

The only way to tell for sure is to stick one in the burner and run DVDInfo.

[DVantrease]

I have bought these exact same discs also at Sam's Club ($37.99 for 25-pack). I've bought about 3-4 packs over the summer, and all turned out to be Ritek G03, which I burn 1x with my Toshiba. So far every movie (and Xbox games) have played perfectly.

[ebenton]

I haven't been buying large quantities of blank DVDs for very long, but I know enough from personal experience and from reading posts, guides, stickies, etc., and as people like defense will tell you, you can't tell *anything* by looking at a spindle or box of disks. Labels on the outside of boxes and spindles are there for one purpose - to get you to buy the disks. Once you get your hands on them, then you have to run a program like DVDInfoPro to figure out what you've got.
You can rely on many of the experts here on this forum to steer you in the right direction. However, you never know when some disk manufacturer who today is using Taiyo Yuden to make their disks, will suddenly drop them tomorrow and start using some Princo or CMC plant with poor quality control to make those same disks with the same labels on them.

[courtrrb]

I'am on my third batch of the Verbatim DVD-Rs 25 pack in the last 6 weeks not one coaster yet. I been burning with a Pioneer A04. The one thing I did notice it seams that they take longer to start in my GE DVD player or are hard to start.

[Jaded God]

What speed are you burning at?? Will this media I have burn at 2x... It doesnt say at all... Meaning it is probably 1x, but can it handle 2?

[DatMuthapucka]

i agree with synergy .. the gray are ritekg03 that will not burn at 2x if you have a a06 and the black bottom are cmc that will burn at 2x .... but cmc is cheap and crapola...... look for the dots on you discs after you burn the cmc's ...... if your looking for cheap crap buy the verbatim non-plus

[LanEvo7]

Unfortunately, that isn't true. I have personally purchased Verbatim disks from several different locations, including retailers and online sites and i've gotten MMC disks with BOTH the Data life and DATA LIFE PLUS emblems...as well as speed rated and non speed rated.

Really? I was under the impression that all non rated ones were CMC. Oh well, I guess its because what i've seen was CMC. My mistake.

[Grant_H]

I just bought some verbatim disks from sams club about 2 weeks ago. They were DVD+r 30 pack (2.4X Write speed) for around 45.00 (I don't remember the exact price, but it was a good deal) From what i can tell these are good disks. I've only burned 7 of them but they all work perfectly. I know that the DVD-r might not be the samw quality, but i thought I would let people know anyway. After all it is hard to find good media at a low price.

[Jaded God]

Grant... The Verb DVD+R's are usually the ones made in Singapore and are the good stuff.

The DVD-R's we are talking about are another story... Please don't respond if you don't know what your saying/helping.

[defense]

Lanevo wrote:

Really? I was under the impression that all non rated ones were CMC. Oh well, I guess its because what i've seen was CMC. My mistake.

At one pont in time, that apparently was true...unfortunately now, Verbatim has chosen to take an ominous route with respect to who they contract in the production of their media.


Recently, more and more people are realizing that packaging doesn't mean much...either does the words DATA LIFE AND DATA LIFE PLUS...if you do a search for a thread "VERBATIM MAKES ME SICK" on this forum..you'll find a lot of interesting info. I think it was ebenton who mentioned that you basically have to put the CMC produced disks vs the MCC produced disks under a microscope to analyze the pattern to tell a difference..and i'm sure at this point, that won't matter either.


People have gotten all types of disks in all types of packaging....i'm not even sure DVDINFO makes a difference....i'm really starting to wonder if CMC is producing disks with MCC media id.....I believe that's a very strong possiblity..considering MCC is top quality OVERALL, however, I've had some issues with the VERBATIM MCC disks....i'm sticking with "Known" entities so to speak.....and if most did that...there wouldn't be much reason to ever purchase from companies like Verbatim. There's too many other solid, sure shot, high quality disks out there.

[Jaded God]

Yes, I read that thread earlier. Pretty interesting.

Anyways, I believe I will stick with TDK 2x DVD-R's from Target... They have been very very reliable to me.

Anyone have any idea on how long the life expectancy for these TDK 2x DVD-R's??

[vtecwil]

They look like the ones I got in a 50 spindle from Best Buy and those were Ritek G03 ' s .

[Jaded God]

You have good success with them vtec? you like them.?

[Redd]

I bought them at Sam's Club and I was just wondering if these were good quality media... I haven't opened them yet so I want to know.

I know how some Verbatims can be cheap now a days... So please someone with experience tell me if these are a keeper or not.

I had bought a 15 pack. Out of that fifteen. seven have been turned into coasters. The Verbatum DVD-R are made by CMC.

On the other side of the coin...Verbatum DVD+R X4 are made by Ricoh. The code reads "RicohJPNR01". I've used about fifty of these with NO coasters. Everyone of the Ricoh made Verbatum DVD+R X4 have been sucessful using a Sony DRU500AX and Studio 8, Nero 5.5 and Record Now DX 4.60.

Moral of the story...Stay as far away as you can from CMC made media.

[Jaded God]

The Verbs read out to be RITEKG03's... so atleast they aren't CMC...

Think they will be ok?

[Redd]

The Verbs read out to be RITEKG03's

Have you opened the package yet? Hopefully there ok. Anything but CMC.
Where does the lable say ther were made?

[Jaded God]

Taiwan of course... If the label said Japan or Singapore they wouldn't be RITEKG03's now would they?

Singapore would prob be MCC itself and Japan would be Taiyo Yuden.

[Redd]

Those CMC's were made in Taiwan also.

Here's Sony link for approved and not approved + & - media.
http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/mediainfo_gb_na0305232.html

[SurfsUP8]

I just picked up two 15-packs at OfficeMax the other week, when they had them onsale- buy 1 get 1 free. One pack was just the regular datalife and the other pack was datalife plus. Tried the datalife pack and about half of the discs I burn will not play on my 2 Panasonic dvd players but will play on my LiteON 2001. Haven't tried the datalife plus pack yet but will this week to see if this also happens as well. So far the CompUsa, Maxell, and PC Club sliver top dvd-r brand have been great with no coasters. I also had problems with a 50-pack of optodisc printable white top with all the 5 to 10 disc I made turning out to be garbage. Disc would not play near the end with skipping and freezing.

[Michelle]

Taiwan of course... If the label said Japan or Singapore they wouldn't be RITEKG03's now would they?

Singapore would prob be MCC itself and Japan would be Taiyo Yuden.

I recently bought 2 packs of Verbatim DVD+R. Both labels say "Made in Taiwan". One pack is Ricoh and the other is MCC.

[Jaded God]

They turned out to be RITEKG03's... I took em back and bought my TDK's like normal,

my friend kept his and they were RITEKG03's too *bought them at the same store*... I burned 4 dvd-rs for him and they work perfect... So I guess they are ok.

Although I can see glue in the inner circle on some of them and crap. Poorly made.