"Maxell" Unbranded DVD-R Issues

[instigator_008]

Up until today I've been buying what I was told were Maxell Unbranded DVD-R's from a local computer store here in Mississauga, Canada. I've had no problems with any of them thus far. DVDInfo says they are MXL. In fact, they are well compatible with my finicky Samsung s221.

After reading these forums about the fake Maxells floating about (especially unbranded silver ones like I have) I decided to call Maxell to get to the bottom of it.

The tech support guy I dealt with advised me that there were indeed alot of Maxell fakes about. He did advise, however, that Maxell did in fact produce unbranded silver topped discs sold on spindles. (Mine were sold as singles for $1.90 CAN in paper cases but could have come off a spindle I guess). He then provided me with a serial number which should be found on the inner circle of the DVD-R: M4DB103A. Now, this was a serial number from the disc he had in front of him so the ones we have will be different but in the same format.

Anyway, as I am at work right now I cannot check for the serial number but will as soon as this afternoon. I'll post my results.

[lordsmurf]

Re-call MXL and talk to somebody else. Until now, MXL has stood behind its statement that only BRANDED emdia are made by MXL.

[instigator_008]

Here's the hex dump for these discs:


** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below
** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded
** INFO : Format 0Eh - Pre-Recorded Information In Lead-In
0000 : 01 40 c1 fd 9e d8 50 00 02 58 0e 11 98 99 80 00 .@....P..X......
0010 : 03 4d 58 4c 20 52 47 00 04 30 31 00 00 00 00 00 .MXL RG..01.....
0020 : 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0030 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0040 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0050 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0060 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ..............

[instigator_008]

Re-call MXL and talk to somebody else. Until now, MXL has stood behind its statement that only BRANDED emdia are made by MXL.

After checking the discs at home I am now 100% sure that they are fakes. They didn't even have the serial number as he described. I will be recontacting them this afternoon and reporting the name of the store, which, incidentally, is called Computer Canada located in Mississauga.

[lordsmurf]

A lot of garbage technology sure does filter out of Mississauga. It's pretty well-known for these kinds of things. Strange. It's sort of like Canada's version of Hong Kong sometimes.

[instigator_008]

You're right Lordsmurf. The store is an Asian run store (not to be stereotypical!). The thing that gets me is that I asked the sales guy point blank if they were official and he said that they were. I guess you get what you pay for.

Anyway, Maxell has asked me to mail them a sample disc as they are interested in going after them. That's what I'll be doing.

By the way: Thanks Lordsmurf for yourguide to media on your web page. It is highly informative. I always quote it when discussing media on other boards

[instigator_008]

One last thing: DVDinfo Pro seems to love these fake Maxells though. Absolutely no read errors detected on any of these discs that I've burned with an LG 4040B.

Scanned a POS Smartmedia (Longten 01) that I burned an BAM! Read errors up the wazzoo. Go figure.

[awhitney]

Great, I guess I got the fake maxells as well, heres the media code,


** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below
** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded
** INFO : Format 0Eh - Pre-Recorded Information In Lead-In
0000 : 01 40 c1 fd 9e d8 50 00 02 58 0f 11 98 99 80 00 .@....P..X......
0010 : 03 4d 58 4c 20 52 47 00 04 30 31 00 00 00 00 00 .MXL RG..01.....
0020 : 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0030 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0040 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

But they are not silver, they are green/blue color with purple die on the bottom

[lordsmurf]

Great, I guess I got the fake maxells as well, heres the media code,


** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below
** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded
** INFO : Format 0Eh - Pre-Recorded Information In Lead-In
0000 : 01 40 c1 fd 9e d8 50 00 02 58 0f 11 98 99 80 00 .@....P..X......
0010 : 03 4d 58 4c 20 52 47 00 04 30 31 00 00 00 00 00 .MXL RG..01.....
0020 : 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0030 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0040 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

But they are not silver, they are green/blue color with purple die on the bottom

See, that doesn't make any sense. The green/blue discs are the official branded MXL discs as sold all over the USA.

[ROBERT BLACK]

After checking the discs at home I am now 100% sure that they are fakes. They didn't even have the serial number as he described. I will be recontacting them this afternoon and reporting the name of the store, which, incidentally, is called Computer Canada located in Mississauga.

Those fake Maxells are everywhere. All up and down Toronto's Computer alley.(College and Spadina). www.Sonnam.com also carry them. Only when I brought the issue up they denied it. When I directed them to a discussion on this site on one of they're store computers. They said they looked like the real thing to them. But that they'd look into it. They're still selling them. Maybe next time you talk to Maxell Instigator you could also mention Sonnam? I think a phone call from Maxell would result in those fake Maxells disappearing off they're shelves. I can only imagine what fun media scams we'll get when dual layer disks become available.

[instigator_008]

After checking the discs at home I am now 100% sure that they are fakes. They didn't even have the serial number as he described. I will be recontacting them this afternoon and reporting the name of the store, which, incidentally, is called Computer Canada located in Mississauga.

Those fake Maxells are everywhere. All up and down Toronto's Computer alley.(College and Spadina). www.Sonnam.com also carry them. Only when I brought the issue up they denied it. When I directed them to a discussion on this site on one of they're store computers. They said they looked like the real thing to them. But that they'd look into it. They're still selling them. Maybe next time you talk to Maxell Instigator you could also mention Sonnam? I think a phone call from Maxell would result in those fake Maxells disappearing off they're shelves. I can only imagine what fun media scams we'll get when dual layer disks become available.

I'm in contact with a Maxell rep about the issue. I'll bring this store to their attention as well.

[instigator_008]

Great, I guess I got the fake maxells as well, heres the media code,


** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below
** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded
** INFO : Format 0Eh - Pre-Recorded Information In Lead-In
0000 : 01 40 c1 fd 9e d8 50 00 02 58 0f 11 98 99 80 00 .@....P..X......
0010 : 03 4d 58 4c 20 52 47 00 04 30 31 00 00 00 00 00 .MXL RG..01.....
0020 : 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0030 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................
0040 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................

But they are not silver, they are green/blue color with purple die on the bottom

Are they Maxell branded?

The media code is faked on these unbranded discs. They show up just like real Maxell discs. If yours are branded you're ok.

[awhitney]

The maxell disks I have are branded and says they are made in Japan. So i'm assuming that is good I guess.

Seems hard to find really reliable media without getting ripoffed from some other unknown brand.

[rilles]

I purchased unbranded Maxell media from blankmedia.ca and I also purchased branded Maxell media from Futureshop.
Both have identical media codes, look the same (except for the top surface).. I have to check out that serial # post above later on.

I also just purchased Ritek 2X unbranded media... I haven't cracked open the shrink wrap, but now I'm wondering if they are real too (it says made in Tiawan on the bottom).

[instigator_008]

I purchased unbranded Maxell media from blankmedia.ca and I also purchased branded Maxell media from Futureshop.
Both have identical media codes, look the same (except for the top surface).. I have to check out that serial # post above later on.

I also just purchased Ritek 2X unbranded media... I haven't cracked open the shrink wrap, but now I'm wondering if they are real too (it says made in Tiawan on the bottom).

The Futureshop Maxell's are good but the unbranded stuff is fake Maxell. They just use the same media code. I've used them without any problems myself.

Not sure about the Riteks but I believe that they should be made in Japan. Perhaps someone else could clarify Riteks.

[LanEvo7]

Ritek is a Taiwanese company and their discs are made in Taiwan.

[instigator_008]

Thanks Lanevo for the info.

[rilles]

The maxell fakes do seem pretty good then, I have had no issues with them at all - but I'll know for sure in a year from now if they still work. I purchased 1 sample princo 8 months ago, and now the data on the inside edge is unreadable.

[instigator_008]

The maxell fakes do seem pretty good then, I have had no issues with them at all - but I'll know for sure in a year from now if they still work. I purchased 1 sample princo 8 months ago, and now the data on the inside edge is unreadable.

Yep, that's a good point. I'm going to scan my fake Maxells every month or so to see how they're doing

[simmons3d]

I've had good luck with the fake Maxell's... They seem to like the Pioneer burners. A good piece of advice (as with all cheap media) is to only burn around 4.0 gigs to them. I use Riteks for full 4.36 burns.

[instigator_008]

I've had good luck with the fake Maxell's... They seem to like the Pioneer burners. A good piece of advice (as with all cheap media) is to only burn around 4.0 gigs to them. I use Riteks for full 4.36 burns.

I've burned 'em to the max and still have had no problems. This on an LG4040B.

[spiffy]

This may be a stupid question; but does it matter if the Maxell spindle packs were made in Japan or made in Taiwan?

My local big computer store (Fry's) first carried a 15 pack 4X -R spindle branded Maxell that was Made In Japan -- for only $19.99. I only bought one pack to test, and now I regret not getting more -- the same packages they sell now are Made In Taiwan instead, though everything else externally look identical. They are really the only local retailer that sell the Maxell spindle packs, and I believe they have a no-return policy on opened blank media (even if they aren't used.) So I can't really buy them just to check for the media code. Does anyone know if there's a difference? The Japan-made Maxells were literally perfect. I'd love to get more if the Taiwan made ones are the same disks.

Thanks in advance...