TDK 4x -R/+R at Costco - who makes media code TTG01?

[Ronaldus]

For those who don't know, this week Costco has a 2 for 1 special on TDK 4x -R or +R 25 packs @ $24.99 if you have a coupon. The TDK 2x -R media I've seen in the past has always been TDKG02000000.

I looked up TDK 4x -R and there are only 2 possibilities listed in the media database: TYG01 and TTG01. Since TYG01 is made in Japan and these say made in Taiwan, by elimination these must be TTG01 media code.

So who is TTG01? Is that a TDK operated factory of equivalent quality to the factory that makes TDKG02000000, or is TTG01 some 3rd party factory of lower quality along the lines of CMC?

I couldn't find any additional info on TTG01 under the user comments for this media code in the media database. I would appreciate any additional info on the manufacturer of TTG01 and the quality of these Costco discs compared to TDKG02000000.

Here's the link for TTG01:
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia.php?selectmedia=1250#comments

It doesn't seem like the 4x +R choices at Costco are much better (they all say made in Taiwan) which would be either: CMC MAG.F01, MCC...002, or TDK...001. I suppose the TDK...001 type should be OK, but there's a low probability of getting those.

[disturbed1]

Is that a TDK operated factory of equivalent quality to the factory that makes TDKG02000000, or is TTG01 some 3rd party factory of lower quality along the lines of CMC?

Both codes are made in the CMC plant.

If you like Verbatim (made in Taiwan), you'll like these (TDK made in Taiwan), as well as CMC. One in the same. All 3 discs burn exactly the same across all 4 different brands of burners I own.

[sabercats]

If yu buy DVD+R then it is RICOH
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID RICOHJPNR01
Media Product Revision Number 02h
Free Blocks 405405696
Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type DVD+R
Media Type DVD+R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 2.4x 3324KBps
Data area starting sector 30000h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track

[lordsmurf]

TTG01 and MCC are now made in a CMC plant, but that does not mean its made with the same CMC chemicals/materials/machinery/etc.

TTG01 is a TDK media ID, and is great quality media.

I find these are far better than CMC discs. No errors past 4GB, no dye issues. CMC does this still, while TTG01 and MCC do not.

[disturbed1]

TTG01 and MCC are now made in a CMC plant, but that does not mean its made with the same CMC chemicals/materials/machinery/etc.

TTG01 is a TDK media ID, and is great quality media.

I find these are far better than CMC discs. No errors past 4GB, no dye issues. CMC does this still, while TTG01 and MCC do not.

I'd have to beg to differ on that.

When comparing Singapore made MCC to Taiwan made (CMC) MCC, there is a 20-30% higher error rate past 2,000,000 sectors on 290+ out of 300+ discs I have personally used and directly compared of the MCC discs.

But, no they are not bad, better than Princo, just clearly no where near the same quality as the singapore made ones. The KProbe and NERO CD speed scans are exactly the same for CMC, TTG01, and TAIWAN made MCC. There is no difference between the medi for myself using a Pioneer A03, Pioneer A05, Toshiba SD-R5112, Panasonic LF-D311, and NEC-2500.

CMC got a bad rap many months ago. Since them, being that CMC is the largest media plant in the world (almost 2x of Ritek, which is #2), the media they make is the most popular, and drive manufactorers will, and do, currently optomize their firmwares to get the best possible writes with this media.

You, yourself, know first hand that the TAIWAN made (CMC) TDK are not the same quality as the Japan made ones, due to the lack of ability to perform 2x writes with your A03, while the JAPAN made ones would burn flawless at 2x with the same writer.

It can also be seen across the retail channels, that the quality is much lower. This is evident by the numerous sales that are given on TDK and Verbatim media. Every week someone is liquidating their stock of TDK and Verbatim. I'm looking for Maxell to do the same real soon. It's hard to sell $1.25 media next to $0.40 media to the average joe who doesn't know better.


TTG01 media can be bought in large quantities (600 per case lot) and come branded, and on the shipping bill, and sold as CMC 4x, not TDK.

With the quality of todays burners, you should be able to achieve acceptable quality with most brands of media. If your burner is older or aging, then stick to the higher quality media like Taiyo Yuden and Maxell.

Taiyo Yuden and Maxell have been hit hard by the Taiwan media groups, and still haven't upgraded their production factories due to lack of funds, and uncertain future profits. Taiyo Yuden and Maxell together produce less than 15 million units of media, while CMC has claimed to surpass 40 million units alone.

This is the exact same thing that happened with CDR media. Just about every brand of media you purchase in the store is either CMC or Princo, with Maxell, MCC, and TY being the hardest (less popular) to find, and most expensive.

[JohnnyCNote]

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=231072

[lordsmurf]

Interesting stuff, disturbed1.

I would like to see a CMC disc with a CMC code that performs as flawless as a MCC20 or TTG01 disc.

I've never seen it, I've never really heard of CMC doing good aside from a few rumblings here and there, several of which turned out bad after more testing.

Luckily, I'm about to finish up my personal collection of stuff, all of it on the MXL, TY and older MCC media (all Japanese stuff).

What you predict already hit Fuji, and all the TYG01 is clearanced out. I bought a horde of it to finish my personal stuff.

[Ronaldus]

Thanks for the details on this media. I didn't run across Johnny C-Note's post before because I was searching on TTG01. Now I'm not sure which thread to post to.

After disturbed1's comments, I'm a little worried about the CMC-made TTG01 DVDs, assuming that's what the local Costco has. I'm amazed that the same company (CMC) can make very different quality media as lordsmurf says because I'd think the same place would be consistent. I could imagine them telling people on tours (if they have any) "here's the building where we make our bad stuff and next to it is the building where we make our good stuff". Someone in the group might ask: "if you know how to make good stuff in one building, why don't you just make good stuff in both buildings?"

Is there a master list anywhere that links up media codes with the manufacturer company and its location (city and country) for people like me who didn't know that TTG01 and MCC were really CMC?

Also, is the DVD+R 4x media at Costco which says "Made in Taiwan" on the label really RICOHJPNR01 as others have said? I thought the "JPN" in the name stood for Japan so how can it be made in Taiwan?

While I prefer -R, if I had seen "Made in Japan" on the +R label I would've gotten those instead knowing they would be RICOHJPNR01.

Lordsmurf, I must have totally missed the clearance sales on TYG01 stuff. Typically whenever a local retailer would have a decent sale on something I'd check the brand in the media database, and the stuff was never TYG01. Were these places nationwide retailers or mail order places?

[lordsmurf]

I've often wonder the same thing. Why have a plant that makes both good stuff and junk. Why not make it ALL good stuff?

There are only a handful of plants that make blank media.

[disturbed1]

Is there a master list anywhere that links up media codes with the manufacturer company and its location (city and country) for people like me who didn't know that TTG01 and MCC were really CMC?

Not really.

Here's a short list of what I've come across.

Fuji Film (Made in Taiwan) = Prodisc (DVD-R)
(Made in Japan) = Taiyo Yuden

Memorex (Made in Taiwan) = Prodisc or CMC

Verbatim, Taiwan = CMC with MCC ID, India = Moser Baur with MCC ID, Singapore = MCC made by MCC, Japan = Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim doesn't, and never did have a Japan plant.

TDK 2x - Made in Taiwan = CMC with TDK ID or (small qty) Ritek G04 ID. Made in Japan = MXL 2x (Older 2x TDK was made in JAPAN by TDK, but that stopped a couple of years ago )

TDK 4x - Made in Taiwan = CMC with TTG01 ID
Made in Japan = Taiyo Yuden
There is a TTG02, but I've never came across any myself.
<Shame, because TDK bought Pioneer's Singapore media plant >


Sony 4x (Made in Taiwan) = same plastic and center hub, along with identical error scans to CMC, MCC, and TTG01, but can't confirm these are made in the CMC plant.

While I prefer -R, if I had seen "Made in Japan" on the +R label I would've gotten those instead knowing they would be RICOHJPNR01.

Made in Japan for DVD+R is Taiyo Yuden. RicohJPN is made in the Ritek factory inside Taiwan also.
The only other current MADE IN JAPAN media is MAXELL. They do produce DVD+R media, but few have ever come across any.

[Ronaldus]

Thanks for the info, disturbed1.

I didn't realize that "TDK 2x - Made in Taiwan = CMC with TDK ID". All along I thought I had been avoiding CMC when in fact the TDK 2x media I thought was manufactured by TDK was made by CMC. I wish I had thought to ask about that before because I would've been avoiding TDK.

Is the TDK 2x stuff (TDKG02000000) as bad as plain CMC or is it better quality (such as TTG01 is better than plain CMC according to lordsmurf)?

After the comments I saw here and in the other Costco thread, it makes it sound that buying the TDK 4x +R would've been wiser than the -R.

Hopefully RITEKG03 and RITEKG04 are in fact Ritek and not CMC as well.

[pete2828]

can anyone put K-probe or neroscandisk scans of made in tawian CMC, MCC, TDK from the same drive to know if they are really similar?

[disturbed1]

@Ronaldus,

If the TDK 2x (TAIWAN MADE) has been working good for you, no reason to avoid. When CMC first came out with their 2x media, yes it was junk, even the first runs of their 4x media were also crap. But Verbatim has worked hand in hand with CMC to improve their manufactoring process. The quality of CMC has improved greatly over the years. Verbatim has been quoted in press releases about helping CMC. CMC will produce the 8x, 12x, and 16x DVD+/-R media for Verbatim, as well as taking over DVD+R DL in the future. I wouldn't doubt it if TDK had a hand in it as well.

Give it (CMC, Verbatim, TDK) a try, it may just work.

@pete2828

Check www.cdfreaks.com there is a media forum there with nothing but proper KProbe tests. If you look at the MCC (Mitsubishi) DVD-R thread, you'll notice all of the Taiwan made MCC's have a higher error rate towards the end of the disc compared to the Singapore made ones. These do not come any where close to coaster ranking, but still no where near the same quality as the Singapore plant MCCs. Most Singapore MCCs have an almost straight error line from beging to end, while most Taiwan MCCs have the gradually slope, peaking towards the end of the disc.

[dfluke]

The last batch of TDK 4x +R that I bought from Costco were RICOHJPN01, but that was early this year. I didn't save the label so I don't remember where they were made. I've also bought Memorex 4x +R from CompUSA and they were also RICOHJPN01 and they are made in Taiwan.

I'm betting that the ones at Costco will still be RICOHJPN01 so I'm headed there later this week.

[TerminalVeloCD]

G'day all,

Some more information...

I'm still able to purchase "Made in Japan" TDKG020000 DVD-Rs fresh from the factory at some stores in Perth, Western Australia, so I guess they're still being produced.

TDK 4x DVD-Rs are either TTG01 (Made in Taiwan by CMC) or TYG01 (Made in Japan). TDK 50-pack spindles (-R only) have always been TYG01 (at least in Australia).

Brand-name CMC 4x and 8x DVD+Rs are actually very nice discs in my experience. Very low PI/PO in KProbe when written LiteON and NEC burners.

MCC 00RG20 and MCC 01RG20 made in Taiwan definetly aren't as good as the made in Singapore ones. In particular, the 4x Singapore discs work wonderfully well at 8x in some writers. The difference between the Taiwan and Singapore ones isn't big though. If you see a good deal on either, go for it!

Sony made in Taiwan with SONY codes are actually produced by Lead Data - Sony being LD's largest major client. The made in Austria SONYs are made by kdg and are more consistant in my experience than the LDs.

RICOHJPNR0x discs are very nice DVD+R media with high compatibility. It will work well on most writers and is produced in large quantities by RITEK. In m experience, very consistant media. R00 is excellent media and can be safely uprated to 6x or even 8x on some recorders. R01 can be pushed further to 8x with good results, especially on LiteON drives.

Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

[JohnnyCNote]

I just picked up 2 spindles of TDK DVD-R from Costco. Here's the code:

Media Information
Region information N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID TTG01
Format Capacity Not Formatted
Free Blocks 411107328
Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.71GB)
Book Type DVD-R
Media Type DVD-R
Media Id Code Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 4.0x 5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 2.0x 2770KBps
Available Write Descriptor CLV 1.0x 1385KBps
Write Strategy Speed 4.0x 5540KBps
2x Speed OPC beta 08
2x Speed OPC power 0F
2x Write Strategy field 1 11 87 78 80
2x Write Strategy field 2 88 80 00 00 00 00
4x Speed OPC beta 05
4x Speed OPC power 16
4x Write Strategy field 1 0D 0F 0A 09
4x Write Strategy field 2 97 07 0F 0B
4x Write Strategy field 3 80 00 00 00
4x Speed OPC beta multi-pulse 05
4x Speed OPC power multi-pulse 1B
4x Write Strategy field 4 13 A8 89 65
4x Write Strategy field 5 B6 89 88 80 00 00
4x Write Strategy field 6 00 00 D0 00 00
Data area starting sector 30000h
Linear Density 0.267um/bit
Track Density 0.74um/track
Number of Layers 1

[disturbed1]

Sony made in Taiwan with SONY codes are actually produced by Lead Data - Sony being LD's largest major client. The made in Austria SONYs are made by kdg and are more consistant in my experience than the LDs.
Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

Thanks for that. I always wondered who made the SONY's.

I still find it funny how some people slam Lead Data (ACCU, DUPEZ etc), but say SONY is wonerfull media.

[rr6966]

I picked up two of the TDK 4X -R's at Costco a couple of days ago and they are TTG01. The burn at 8x on my NEC 2500 firmware 1.07, with no problems. I check for errors and there are none and the media appears to be good quality. the Dye is dark purple evenly spread on the discs, no sploches or discolorations.

[lordsmurf]

LD and SONY are not at all made the same, even if they come from the same factory. Sony is a dark dye, likely organic like RITEK. In fact, I'd have guessed RITEK made SONY. The LD media is light, or often even a brown or grayish color, reacts totally different from SONY media.

[whizdog]

OK, I finally got sucked into the mystery of what lies beneath the plastic.
I just hopped over to my local Costco and picked up the buy-one-get-one-free.
I paid $24.99 plus tax for two packs of 25 -Rs.

Using DVDInfoPro, the media id is: TTG01.

According to the Purple One (www.nomorecoasters.com) these are desirable, right? (first class media).

At 50 cents a pop for first class media, I should probably buy more, huh?

[disturbed1]

Here's the difference between TAIWAN and JAPAN Verbatims. I would guess the same can said for TDK also.

Both discs were burnt on a NEC 2500 with the newest STOCK firmware. Note that the max burn speed is 8x, but I selected 4x for both discs.




which is which

[JohnnyCNote]

I tested a disk in my Pioneer 107D and it worked fine, so I'm tempted to conclude that these are good quality disks. I'm also tempted to try to pick up another couple of spindles before the sale ends on Saturday....

[-jsl-]

G'day all,
Sony made in Taiwan with SONY codes are actually produced by Lead Data - Sony being LD's largest major client. The made in Austria SONYs are made by kdg and are more consistant in my experience than the LDs.

From what I've heard there is at least one other real OEM of Sony media: Daxon Technology. Also most of BenQ's DVD-R media have Sony ID and Daxon is a subsidiary of BenQ so unless they're using fake ID's, which I doubt, it makes sense.

[FulciLives]

What seems like a long time ago (either very late 2003 or very early 2004) I bought a bunch of SONY 2x DVD-R discs from Staples ... they were on sale for something like $10.99 per 10 pack and came in full size CD style jewel cases (not slim cases).

3 of the boxes said MADE IN AUSTRIA and 2 of the boxes said MADE IN TAIWAN. I was nervious about buying them but the price was right and I needed a whole bunch for a project.

I burned them on my NEC ND-1300A (firmware 1.06 I think at that time and not a hacked firmware either) and ran the scan test from DVDInfoPro on every single disc and never got any read errors. I never did run speed tests though. I figured since no read errors that they were A-OK.

The ID CODE seemed odd to me ... it was just plain SONY and nothing more. It was the same on all of the discs, both the Austria and Taiwan made discs.

Anyways it worked that once but still I was nervious about using them so never bought them again.

Please note most where for a project and not in my possession anymore but I think I still have some left that I did use for myself ... I will try to find them and maybe test one again ... but since they are out of the box now I don't know if I can tell the difference (at least not looking at them nor by MEDIA ID CODE) which is Austria made and which is Taiwanese made.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman