Wah! Bad Verbatims (+R)

[BetaMaster]

I know it's an oxymoron, but I just appear to have received a bad spindle of Verbatims (+R 16X MCC code), which are generally my favourite media. I bought them on sale at Future Shop this week. The first few burned great, but the last three would not close out and I got a PMA error. Searching the net said "It's probably the media". Carefully putting in an Imation disc of a type that had worked earlier in the day, it burned with no trouble in good time. That seems to confirm it.

There are about 90 discs left in the spindle. Will they work on my 8X laptop drive another day, or will they be toast there too? Future Shop will probably be good enough to exchange them, but will the next spindle have the same problem? Fujifilm works well for me too. Should I abandon Verbatim at this point and go with another brand that I have had success with?

[budz]

It's the 100 pack spindles of VERBATIM DVD+R that are known to have problems. Ask the store to give you (2) 50 pack spindles instead.

[aedipuss]

i've had more than one bad bunch since they started shipping the made in india media to north america. most are useless on consoles and there are quite a few bad burns in the spindles. i've moved mostly to taiyo yuden for now.

[orsetto]

Verbatim is slowly but surely going the way of all the other "big name" brands before it: straight into the sewer. For the time being, you can avoid some of the nastier batches by sticking to the 50-paks and passing on the India-marked packages. But sooner or later you'll get burned again: Verbatim has started to act real wonky on older laptop burners and many standalone DVD recorders. This week one of Verbatim's primary subcontractors in Taiwan declared bankruptcy and will exit disc production, that will pressure Verbatim to source more media from the mediocre factories. There is really no point anymore in checking media codes: the MCC code is no guarantee of quality- it could be sourced from a basement lab in Calcutta these days.

The last refuge for many of us is good ole TY 8x Japanese media. Stock up on it while it lasts.

[FulciLives]

BREAKING NEWS !!!

RIMA.COM is going out of business !!!

Genuine Taiyo Yuden to be worth more than gold !!!

Gawd ... can you imagine what a nightmare THAT would be LOL

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
This "Breaking News" was bought to you by Tongue-In-Cheek Productions (a Division of Naked Geek Media)

[lordsmurf]

Bad batches = stupid myth (a "batch" is countless thousands of discs, not a spindle here and there).

There's nothing wrong with 100-count spindles. ---- In fact, I've been using them exclusively for about a year now, for certain types of work. In the past 2,000 discs, I probably had 15 "bad" ones, and I blame the drive in the one system where the discs all seem to fail (it's about to be replaced).

Media made at the India plant is the same specs/material as the ones from Singapore or Taiwan. To think otherwise is to give into idiotic speculation created by know-nothings on web forums. Be smarter than that.

Those who really know media should have had a mental alarm sounds off by reading "8X laptop drive". For starters, laptop drives are not the same as desktop drives (higher fail rates from discs), and then if that is an LG drive, there you go ... LG+MCC=Ack! Some of those LG drives, especially the OEM ones, absolutely barf on 16x generation MCC discs.

It's not the media here, it's the drive. Not a problem, switch media. Right solution, wrong reason. Go for something good as the replacement, not the easy-to-find crap from Imation or Memorex (CMC or Ritek). FujiFim isn't necessarily the best choice either, mostly Ritek-manufactured discs. Go for some Taiyo Yuden DVD-R or DVD+R, see how that goes. Only buy legit from a reliable store.

This is an easy one to spot, no guessing needed.

PS - @FulciLives -

[orsetto]

LordSmurf is of course technically correct when he reminds us these discs are made by the millions and talk of batches is in one respect specious. On the other hand, real world experience is real world experience. You can walk into any OfficeMax anywhere in the USA and find no less than four different packagings of Verbatim + or - media in 50-ct spindles alone, never mind the 25, 30 and 100 ct and the DL variations and whether it comes from India, Taiwan or the moon. Each one will give a different result depending on the hardware you use it in. So while it is true the "batches" are enormous, these friggin superstores manage to repeatedly buy into multiple production streams at any given time. Verbatim used to be consistent, now it isn't, short sad story. The thing to remember here is Verbatim got caught chasing the same stupid unprofitable "$25 per hundred" superstore sales as all the other mfrs, with the same result: a decline in hardware compatibility. We wanted "cheap", and we got it- in spades.

It is very easy to tell someone "replace your burner", but it isn't always possible and shouldn't be necessary. In 2005 every major name brand media was burnable in nearly every drive, the media that didn't was instantly identified as crap. Today, any drive older than six months is readied for the scrap heap because at this point the mfrs are down to substituting Windex for dye in these discs. Tough luck if you have a Pioneer or Panasonic or Toshiba DVD/HDD recorder that is irreplaceable and can't be upgraded with a newer burner. Funny, though, how Taiyo Yuden still manages to burn properly in all these "awful, outmoded" burners? Too bad they're the only option left, its a bitch to be caught short on a Sunday night when you run out: TY is not sold at the 24hr Wal*Mart.

[dutchdummy]

Media made at the India plant is the same specs/material as the ones from Singapore or Taiwan. To think otherwise is to give into idiotic speculation created by know-nothings on web forums. Be smarter than that.

I would like to add my 2 cents on this particular issue. I've been burning DL discs for a while now, experimenting with various brands (yes, I even tried Playo). Like most other knowledgeable users, I decided after a while to stick with Verbatim DVD+R DL discs exclusively. When the first complaints arose regarding the 'Made in India' discs, I pretty much ignored them. However, my experience with the MII discs were not good - all of a sudden, I started burning multiple coasters. When I scanned the discs using Nero Disc Speed, the results were horrible. I'd went through a couple of spindles of 20 discs with fair-to-awful results before chucking the rest of the MII and seeking out only the 'Made in Singapore' discs. Just as suddenly, my burning problems ended.

[BetaMaster]

Indeed, the reason I try to buy Verbatim is that they have worked well in this particular burner. It's not like I've never had a bad Verbatim disc, but in most cases I burn 100/100 successfully. However, that's also been the case with the Fuji, Imation and TDK disks I've used recently (with TDK burning a couple of minutes slower because the lead-in burn seems to take a long time). With this particular spindle, 3 seemed to burn fine but couldn't be closed out. Switching media solved the problem immediately. The burner is an LG H10N which I've had for probably 12-18 months and has been remarkably robust. Of the last 100 spindle of Verbatims I used, which had the same labelling, 99 of them burned successfully.

[jman98]

Verbatim's DataLifePlus line of DVD-/+R discs is still being made in Taiwan. While you do pay a premium for these discs over their regular store sold line, the quality is excellent. The DataLlifePlus DVD+R DL discs are ONLY made in Singapore, but they are pricey. The regular line of Verbatim DVD+R DL discs may or may not be made in Singapore. Some are, some aren't. There's no way to know unless you go to a store to look. The ones BestBuy sells in my town are only the Made in India ones. However, the last 2 times I mail ordered DVD+R DL discs, I got Made in Singapore ones. Retail prices are absolutely awful compared to what I pay to shop online, so I just rolled the dice and hoped for the best with the normal DVD+R DL. I figured if I got Made in India ones it was still cheaper to mail order them than to buy Made in India discs at Best Buy.

I have posted here in the past that the Made in India Verbatim DVD+R DL discs worked fine for me, but now I am not so sure. Early this year I put something on a DVD+R DL Verbatim disc and it was a Made in India disc. I did not have time to watch it when I burned it, but it burned without errors. I recently got around to watching it and with about 10% of the show left on the disc, there is an unrecoverable error. My DVD players can't play the disc beyond that point and none of my PC drives can rip it beyond that point either. Unfortunately what is on the disc is a TV show from a foreign country and there is no easy way to get another copy of it, so I am just screwed on this. I have to admit that this has made me wary of using Made in India Verbatim discs in the future.

Unfortunately Taiyo Yuden does not make DL discs for the North American market. They make some DVD-R DL discs (I hate that format) for the Japanese market and allow other companies, like Sony, to sell them, but nobody imports them into North America and I have tried and failed to find any business that will ship these discs to the USA. So for DL media we are basically stuck with Verbatim and all we can do is either hope for Made in Singapore discs in the regular line or pay a premium for the DataLifePlus line to be sure that they are Made in Singapore.

[Noahtuck]

Well people seem to be deviating from the OP subject on SL disc's to DL disc's...

I, like lordsmurf, have been using verbatim exclusively for the past year prob. and for years and years about 90% of the time.
I have been buying the 100 packs made in india and have went through 100's & 100's & 100's of them, prob at least a 1000 disc's in the last 4-5 months, with maybe 1 or 2 coasters, and that was my fault, not the media's fault.

All bought at officemax.

[aedipuss]

Media made at the India plant is the same specs/material as the ones from Singapore or Taiwan. To think otherwise is to give into idiotic speculation created by know-nothings on web forums. Be smarter than that.


It's not the media here, it's the drive. Not a problem, switch media. Right solution, wrong reason. Go for something good as the replacement, not the easy-to-find crap from Imation or Memorex (CMC or Ritek). FujiFim isn't necessarily the best choice either, mostly Ritek-manufactured discs. Go for some Taiyo Yuden DVD-R or DVD+R, see how that goes. Only buy legit from a reliable store.

This is an easy one to spot, no guessing needed.

patently pompous bullcrap.

[lordsmurf]

Bad Verbatim DVD+R DL Singapore discs happen too. I get about 1 in 25 that like to crap out. Remember that DL media is very volatile compared to SL media.

You can call it "bullcrap" if you want, but it's still completely true. Agreeing is not necessary. Suck it up and deal with it like the rest of us.

This is also a statement that should sound mental alarms: "which I've had for probably 12-18 months". Burners (or rather lasers) die far faster than any disc will. And they are easily susceptible to outside forces (unlike the discs), such as smoke, dust and humidity (even more than the discs!). Aging lasers start to crap out little by little. First it's a certain kind of media, then a whole type of media. Eventually it chokes on DVD or CD entirely. This very much sounds like early burner death. "Only" 12-18 months is the normal timeframe. Remember that READING puts more wear on a drive than burning, so without knowing more about the drive's lifetime, it's extremely difficult to exclude it as the primary culprit.

With drives running as low as $30, and knowing how they have limited lifespans, replacing the burner is not only unavoidable, but a savings of both time and money. Being a laptop, the price is a bit higher. But again, laptop drives already suck, you'd be better off with a USB2 Sony, Samsung or Pioneer external drive. (Not the "portable external", but a "full sized" external).

Taiyo Yuden is not the god of media. TY discs can be bad, and some drives/recorders hate TY discs too. They are not immune, and they are in fact not as readable as Mitsubishi AZO discs.

[budz]

It's been widely documented at Cdfreaks.com regarding 100 packs of VERBATIM are known to have bad batches. Months ago I bought those 100 pack spindles from OFFICEMAX which had the free shipping which I couldn't believe they included Hawaii. Anyway I had coasters galore & discs that could not be played back correctly. Don't tell me it's my burners LS because you know I'm a dvd burner whore! I have many dvd burners just look at my computer specs. I'm not dissing anyone here but I know from my own experience that VERBATIM is not what it used to be.
The 50 pack spindles I have no problems with. So go figure! Just my 2 cents!


P.S. FulciLives YOU ARE SO BAD! :P

[samijubal]

I got Verbatim DVD-R and +R discs from Office Max at that same time that you did and have had no problems whatsoever with any of the discs. The +R scans are the best I've ever seen.

[budz]

I got Verbatim DVD-R and +R discs from Office Max at that same time that you did and have had no problems whatsoever with any of the discs. The +R scans are the best I've ever seen.

Post your response at Cdfreaks.com in the media section. Then you'll see the responses from members there regarding some of the so called bad batches of 100 pack spindles of DVD MEDIA which included DVD-R as well.

[FulciLives]

I pretty much exclusively bought Taiyo Yuden or Maxell (when they were good) in the past but then for a long while I was buying the 50 packs of Verbatim 16x DVD-R discs when on sale at BEST BUY because hey the price was pretty low and everyone said how good they were ... and they were.

However I had a period where I wasn't burning much so I had this (apparently A-OK) 50 pack laying around for a while ... then ... I heard about the "bad batches" so I got scared and just went back to the Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R discs which I get at RIMA.COM and really the price is barely more than when BEST BUY has the Verbatim's on sale so ... makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Ahhhhh ... Taiyo Yuden !!!

BTW ... am I the only one who likes to scream TAIYO YUDEN in a deep guttural voice while imagining Ken or Ryu throwing a blue fireball?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[Gen-An]

Nice Street Fighter reference there Fulci, you gonna check out part IV?

Back on topic, I've had great success from 100 packs of Verbatim 16x DVD+R media, though I tended to hand-pick older spindles from Sam's Club (I looked for the gold "16x Certified" sticker on the shrinkwrap).

[samijubal]

I got Verbatim DVD-R and +R discs from Office Max at that same time that you did and have had no problems whatsoever with any of the discs. The +R scans are the best I've ever seen.

Post your response at Cdfreaks.com in the media section. Then you'll see the responses from members there regarding some of the so called bad batches of 100 pack spindles of DVD MEDIA which included DVD-R as well.

Verbatim will replace any defective discs, they will even pay the shipping to send the discs to them. Until I have problems with them, which hasn't happened yet, I'll keep using them.

[BetaMaster]

So it could be the media. Or the burner So far, my Fuji and Imation discs are burning just tickety boo. I have no problem getting another burner, but it's still a bit of a hassle to do so. I did have to change a burner a while back when it simply would not burn a CD properly.

As for TY, I can't get them consistently locally. Living in downtown TO, it's easy to head to FS or BB when disks are on sale. Ordering by mail means walking to the post office (I have a teeny mailbox) - not dreadful but not something I can do at a moment's notice when I'm informed the discs are there.

For now, Fuji will be my preferred disc, although I will still pick up some Verbatims when they are on sale.

[victoriabears]

As those who have read my posts will know I am a going back to basics guy.

My recent experience with media , I avoid Maxell(They just do not like my system), Memorex(never have had luck with them) and certainly would always use Taiyo Yuden and avoid the itch it and scratch it brands, many places have TY at prices so close to bulk discount other brands that it makes sense to spend a bit more.

However, bear in mind the following when looking for bad burn solutions:-

1: Is the computer running anything else at the same time, has it recently been defragged/restarted/virus and spyware checked.

2: Run a dvd cleaner disc through the burner.

3: Always keep a few best quality (TY?) around so if you think your burner is dodgy, try one of those if it still plays up, replace the burner.
If you get paid $15 per hour, for under three hours of farting around, you can get a new burner.

4: Have you checked the inside of your pc lately and cleaned it and reseated all the cables.

I have found some of the above have caused me bad burns.

I always use LG burners but why not have two burners on a PC of different brands, and make sure the firmware is up to date.

Costco Canada recently had TDK +R DL $0.80 each, so I bought some, wouldn;t burn well on my lg 4163b burner, burn like a dream on my H-22N.

Modern media needs a modern burner and keep them away from heat/sunshine and your children and pets.

Good luck

[lordsmurf]

More sage advice from victoriabears.

[aedipuss]

just for another personal reference, your results may vary.

the made in india verbatims don't even use the same plastic stampers the other verbatims do.

i have hundreds of MII and MIS verbs in stock and have compared many burns alternating MII and MIS. the MII never work in a console, whereas all the MIS always work in consoles.

blaming my burners would be laughable. they get changed more often then the oil in my car.

[samijubal]

the MII never work in a console, whereas all the MIS always work in consoles.

If by console you mean standalone, I just put that to the test with an MII disc in my Toshiba standalone, it burned fine. A quick scan with DVDInfoPro gives 98% quality, not bad for a standalone, they never burn as good as a decent PC burner.

[aedipuss]

no, a game console as in wii, ps2, etc.

[Bix]

BREAKING NEWS !!!

RIMA.COM is going out of business !!!

Genuine Taiyo Yuden to be worth more than gold !!!

Gawd ... can you imagine what a nightmare THAT would be LOL

The other stores would keep selling legit TY discs as they have been for years.

[FulciLives]

BREAKING NEWS !!!

RIMA.COM is going out of business !!!

Genuine Taiyo Yuden to be worth more than gold !!!

Gawd ... can you imagine what a nightmare THAT would be LOL

The other stores would keep selling legit TY discs as they have been for years.

I don't trust anyone BUT the coveted RIMA.COM

You do remember the other stores selling fakes and the so-called "value line" Taiyo Yuden discs ???

No thank you !!!

By the way would you like a job at Naked Geek Media?

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[budz]

By the way would you like a job at Naked Geek Media?

[samijubal]

This may sound dumb but one of the main reasons I buy Verbatim is I can't stand those lame TY spindles. I store my discs on the empty spindles and I definitely don't like the TY spindles. Since Verbatim has always performed as well as TY for me I'll continue to buy them and get decent spindles until I have problems with them.

[Billf2099]

Well its funny, my LG drive didn't have any trouble with Verbs until the last spindle of -'s. I've been buying either 50 or 100's at Office Max for years. Verbatim just changed packaging a year ago, if you see different packaging its OLD stuff. I burned a couple coasters on -'s and read a bunch of stuff in this forum about the -'s being crap so decided to burn +'s exclusively for a while. I accidently refilled my working spindle with -'s and didn't notice until I burned 10 straight perfect burns. So I guess its true, you really do get the occasional bad burn. For whatever reason. In this case examination of the burned disk revealed a band of dark in the center of the disk.. a dye problem. None of the other -'s look that way. So I had a couple bad ones. My 100 pack disks are MIT. I will go with the flow and stay the heck away from MII. I haven't seen a MIJ disk at a retailer in years. I used to search the stacks for MIJ Sony, which I understand might have been the much heralded TY's. I like the notion of buying a backup burner, they are practically giving them away. Based on my experiences, I will continue to buy the 100 packs of Verbatims. I hardly believe that the factory puts the bad ones into 100's and keep the good ones in 50's.
I only bought cheap media once. Platinum was the name. It was the worst crap ever made. I had enough bizarre experiences with Memorex to never buy them again and I have no opinion on TDK, the ones I bought worked just fine, but can't say I've taken a large enough sample. They seem to have disappeared anyway. Sony worked good but I haven't bought them in 2 years. Again, based on forum feedback.