Flaystus' DVD-R Media brand report 5/6/02

[SLK001]

Everydisk from cd-recordable.com has the same creator listed when I use the ID utility... I've had bad luck with the disk but I do really think they are making their own....

Well, why don't you tell us what the disk says? All of MY CD-RECORDABLE.COM disks are labeled "MXL" and they are nothing less than SUPERB! Unfortunately, these are no longer available from them.

The reason is that Disk MFGs bin their media, grade A and grade B. They sell the Grade A stuff at a higher price and sell the B cheap to somebody like CDRECORDABLE.COM

As for this, some companies will do this, but others will not. You won't know a disk is a "second" until your name is permanently embedded in the disk and you have had a chance to test it. There is nothing more damaging to a companies image than the preception that they sell a poor quality product. You won't ever find any PIONEER "seconds". They grind them up and sell the scrap plastic to toy manufacturers.

[leebo]

I heard they use the plastic for tooth fillings.

[thaiwoo]

I tried to find the manufacturer of my Primedisk DVD-R media bought at www.shop4tech.com

Here's what came up RITEKG..03 not a single problem with them but they only burn at 1x with my Pioneer A04

Also bought their DVD-RW 10 pack which are made by V...TDK401..SAKU=3 also here no problems with Notebook DVD drive and Pioneer 343 reading them.

Hope this helps

[Savant]

I have a DVR-A03 (V1.68) and have been using the Meritline DVDpro (labelled ML-DVDSILVER) blank DVDs with no problems at all. They burn fine (at 1X) and play fine on my JVC XV-521BK. I have also used the white printable ones (which are gold backed) without a problem.

What I have found is that most complaints about these kinds of problems with the media is a symptom of poor ventilation. Heat IS an issue with these drives, and if you have cramped quarters you might run into problems.

Regards,

Savant

[Eug]

What I have found is that most complaints about these kinds of problems with the media is a symptom of poor ventilation. Heat IS an issue with these drives, and if you have cramped quarters you might run into problems.

Hmmm... While heat may be a problem with some setups, I think it misses the point that crappy media is still crappy media. With these setups, good media continues to work fine.

Anyways, I'd consider getting some meritline pro or 2X stuff (burned at 1X) but it's expensive to ship to Canada.

[DigitalGreg]

If anyone does try the meritline 2X let us know! Meanwhile I guess I'm sticking with Matsui unbranded 2X.

In other news...

I found that a TDK burned 2x dvd-r would not play in my PS2 which is apparently one of the more finicky players around. Apple media worked perfectly.

[Savant]

I'm actually in Canada, and I bought from them. Yeah shipping is expensive, but I've burned DOZENS of these discs and not one coaster. I only burn from PrassiPrimo (once I have burned my DVD project to a folder) and it works every time.

I agree that if the media is crappy you may have problems, but too often people don't realize that these recorders have a FAN on them for a reason. You have to imagine how hot a DVD recorder has to run if the manufacturer feels the need to install a cooling fan on it!

It has to make one wonder though. How can I be burning to DVDpro media with no problems and others have problems? Bad batch?

Regards,

Savant

[Faustus]

Labels tend to make little difference, its the prerecord code on the disk that says who actually makes the stuff...

I can't quote exact codes cause I usually only post from work but all the CDrecordables has listed like plasto or blasto or something strange like that... I'm fairly sure its their media cause I've never seen that code before.

Actually you find that most of the borderline cheap/reliable stuff out there is manufactured by Ritek, but its all different grade media so just the name alone makes little difference.

Just my 2cents.

[Kennyshin]

Mostly three brand in South Korea.

Samsung.

LG.

and Taiyo Yuden.

Taiyo Yuden seems to lead the DVD-R media market while Ricoh is leading DVD+R media market in South Korea.

In Japan, there are media from Sony, Mitsubishi, Ritek, CMC, and others as well as Taiyo Yuden and Ricoh.

I just wonder if Taiyo Yuden That's brand DVD-R media is as good as in quality as Taiyo Yuden That's CD-R media is.

[DigitalGreg]

And again I ask, where the heck do you get Taiyo Yuden DVD's???

[Kennyshin]

And again I ask, where the heck do you get Taiyo Yuden DVD's???

Hm... why don't you ask the importer/distributor of your country? Or maybe Taiyo Yuden has regional offices where you live.

I use only Taiyo Yuden media made in Japan for more important data.

[DigitalGreg]

Well anything retail is going to be more expensive than over the internet. No one knows of a website that sell their product?

[leebo]

"you find that most of the borderline cheap/reliable stuff out there is manufactured by Ritek, but its all different grade media so just the name alone makes little difference."

Well, this brings us back to square one, if it's true.

A disc could be made by Ritek and still be either high grade or low grade. So knowing who made the disc might not have any real meaning.

[Kennyshin]

"you find that most of the borderline cheap/reliable stuff out there is manufactured by Ritek, but its all different grade media so just the name alone makes little difference."

Well, this brings us back to square one, if it's true.

A disc could be made by Ritek and still be either high grade or low grade. So knowing who made the disc might not have any real meaning.

I agree. I have used some thousands of CD-R discs made by Ritek, Princo, Prodisc, and CMC Magnetics. Nearly all of them have been good enough though I still prefer Taiyo Yuden for more important data since TY is sometimes as cheap as anything made by Ritek.

[Eug]

I'm actually in Canada, and I bought from them. Yeah shipping is expensive, but I've burned DOZENS of these discs and not one coaster. I only burn from PrassiPrimo (once I have burned my DVD project to a folder) and it works every time.

I agree that if the media is crappy you may have problems, but too often people don't realize that these recorders have a FAN on them for a reason. You have to imagine how hot a DVD recorder has to run if the manufacturer feels the need to install a cooling fan on it!

It has to make one wonder though. How can I be burning to DVDpro media with no problems and others have problems? Bad batch?

Regards,

Savant

Where in Canada? If in Toronto, I have found this retail outlet to have pretty good generic 1X media for CAD$3.99 (which is US$2.60 for the rest of you). It's certainly better than the name brand Princo I've purchased and the better than the other generics I've bought locally. It's even printable, although I'd rather have non-printable and cheaper but they don't sell it. I don't know who makes the media though, since the ID utility doesn't work for me. (For all I know, maybe Princo makes it. )

They also sell Mitsui for about $8 (US$5).

Click here --> link. I don't think they do mail order though, but I'm not sure.

[Kennyshin]

I don't worry much about the quality of Mitsui, Mitsubishi (including Verbatim brand), Philips, Pioneer, Ricoh, Taiyo Yuden, and other top quality brand optical disks.

I have used over 100 kinds of CD-R media by CMC, Ritek, Princo, Doremi, SKC, LG, Samsung, Taiyo Yuden, Yoongjin, HP, Prodisc, Mitsui, Kodak, and many others. There were so many brands from Ritek alone. All importers used different brands for different CD-Rs ordered from Ritek and CD-Rs of Ritek, CMC, and Prodisc are produced in Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Thailand, and many other regions. They have especially recently expanded, localized, and diversified production facilities to save shipping cost and escape regulations in Europe, Japan, South Korea, the US, and other countries.

Only recently those Taiwanese manufacturers have begun mass production of DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, and DVD-RW discs. I remember when those names were almost completely ignored by the early users of CD recorders. Kodak was dominant. In South Korea, SKC didn't have any serious competition at all. Now, each of those manufacturers in Taiwan produce over one or two hundred million discs each month and they have successfully destroyed most of the major CD-R makers in South Korea. Whether the package says it's HP or Imation or whatever, MOST discs are made by them. It's only a matter of time most DVD-R and DVD+R discs will be made by Ritek, Princo, CMC, Prodisc, and Giga Storage. They can always change and improve processes and materials and tighten quality control.

[Eug]

I agree that if the media is crappy you may have problems, but too often people don't realize that these recorders have a FAN on them for a reason. You have to imagine how hot a DVD recorder has to run if the manufacturer feels the need to install a cooling fan on it!

My Panasonic drive doesn't have a fan. However, one Firewire case I use it with has a fan and the other doesn't.

I agree that cooling can be important, but for what it's worth, which Firewire case I use doesn't seem to make a difference with my successes of burns. The ones that work well, always burn well in both cases. The ones that work poorly always burn poorly in both cases. Nonetheless I am using it now exclusively with the case with the fan.

[Faustus]

Eug: He was likely speaking of the Pioneer DVR-A03/A04 units, they have 2 intake slots on the front of the drive and a tiny fan out on back.

[Eug]

Eug: He was likely speaking of the Pioneer DVR-A03/A04 units, they have 2 intake slots on the front of the drive and a tiny fan out on back.

Yeah, I figured, but I just wanted to point out that not all of the units have fans. It seems that Panasonic doesn't feel the need for one. Whether that decision was a correct one or not I don't know, but in my case it doesn't seem to have made a difference even though I do think that heat can be important in some situations.

[Kennyshin]

http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/News/Details.asp?RelatedID=2418

http://www.dvdplusrw.org/cgi/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=2&topic=1448

Just read Blu-ray is going to use cartridges.

The Blu-ray Disc using blue-violet laser achieves over 2-hour digital high definition video recording on a 12cm diameter CD/DVD size phase change optical disc.
Large recording capacity up to 27GB:
By adopting a 405nm blue-violet semiconductor laser, with a 0.85NA field lens and a 0.1mm optical transmittance protection disc layer structure, it can record up to 27GB video data on a single sided 12cm phase change disc. It can record over 2 hours of digital high definition video and more than 13 hours of standard TV broadcasting (VHS/standard definition picture quality, 3.8Mbps)

High-speed data transfer rate 36Mbps:
It is possible for the Blu-ray Disc to record digital high definition broadcasts or high definition images from a digital video camera while maintaining the original picture quality. In addition, by fully utilizing an optical disc’s random accessing functions, it is possible to easily edit video data captured on a video camera or play back pre-recorded video on the disc while simultaneously recording images being broadcast on TV.

Easy to use disc cartridge:
An easy to use optical disc cartridge protects the optical disc’s recording and playback phase from dust and fingerprints.

Main Specifications

Recording capacity: 23.3GB/25GB/27GB
Laser wavelength: 405nm (blue-violet laser)
Lens numerical aperture (NA): 0.85
Data transfer rate: 36Mbps
Disc diameter: 120mm
Disc thickness: 1.2mm (optical transmittance protection layer: 0.1mm)
Recording format: Phase change recording
Tracking format: Groove recording
Tracking pitch: 0.32um
Shortest pit length: 0.160/0.149/0.138um
Recording phase density: 16.8/18.0/19.5Gbit/inch2
Video recording format: MPEG2 video
Audio recording format: AC3, MPEG1, Layer2, etc
Video and audio multiplexing format: MPEG2 transport stream
Cartridge dimension: Approx. 129 x 131 x 7mm

[asiandvdburn]

has anybody used the dvd-r generic brand from shop4tech.com.
they're very cheap ($1.29).

[Kennyshin]

has anybody used the dvd-r generic brand from shop4tech.com.
they're very cheap ($1.29).

http://store.yahoo.com/cd-recordable-dot-com/dvpac1047dis.html

1000 bulk packaged DVD-R discs. Professional grade, 4.7GB, general purpose media. 100% quality guaranteed. Perfect for duplicators, institutions, governmental agencies, and all high-volume users. IN STOCK - Shipping weight 40 Lbs.

DVD-R 4.7GB (1000)$990.00

$990 for 1,000 4.7GB DVD-R. Weight 18KG. The first to break $1 barrier.

However, average DVD+R and DVD-R media price will fall under $1 in a few months.

[zamzickles]

Visiting a computer show this last weekend in Pomona, CA, there were about 10 different vendors selling DVD-R media. I have had experiance with mostl of them over the last 9 months or so, since I bought my A03 writer. I often talk to them about whatever their current media for sale is, and they ALL TELL ME THE SAME THING. Each new batch of disks from the various distributers varies widely. No matter how hard they try, they just can't insure quality from batch to batch ( or not at least for the bargan prices we all are trying to purchase ). One of the distributors had glossy white PRINCO DVD-R disks for 88 cents each. Would you buy disks for 88 cents each? If the same vendor is also selling disks for $1.33, $ 1.59 and $2.88. What exactly were you expecting from them? I have tried all kinds of silver, gold, white, printable, brand name and the famous Apple disks. Apple are the only ones that I have never had any failures with. On the bright side, I think most of these producers are starting to get better batch results and I think it will be easier to get better quality in the coming months. And since most of us are advocating our favorite vendor, try: www.qtccdr.com

[thaiwoo]

has anybody used the dvd-r generic brand from shop4tech.com.
they're very cheap ($1.29).

I assume you are talking about the LEDA brand. No I have not used those but am also interessted to see how they perform since I'll be needing a new batch soon.

I've bought the Primedisc ones from them and had no Problems with them burning at 1x on my Pioneer A04 and playing on Pioneer 343. They are made by Ritek.

[Kennyshin]

has anybody used the dvd-r generic brand from shop4tech.com.
they're very cheap ($1.29).

I assume you are talking about the LEDA brand. No I have not used those but am also interessted to see how they perform since I'll be needing a new batch soon.

I've bought the Primedisc ones from them and had no Problems with them burning at 1x on my Pioneer A04 and playing on Pioneer 343. They are made by Ritek.

Visit Ritek homepage. Primedisc IS a Ritek company though I am not sure about who owns what.

http://www.ritek.com/ritek_e/office/index.htm

http://www.primedisc.com

[thaiwoo]

I found that Shop4Tech is affiliated with Leda, at least that's what I think.

Here are the links

http://www.leda-dist.com/
http://www.shop4tech.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?html_requested=privacy

Or am I seeing this wrong?

Is Leda making the DVD-R media or just distributing ?

[fand]

i bought a 20pack for 25dollars ($1.25) from www.qtccdr.com
(modelno DVDR-S4.7G-PR)

they should be arriving today or tomorrow. i'll let you know how well they do

(unfortunately the memorex dvd+rw i bought from bestbuy to do the first testing (until i get more comfortable at doing my "backups") isn't being recognized in nero when i open the 'write' dialog .. has anyone had this problem before???)

cheers,

kyle

[Kennyshin]

I found that Shop4Tech is affiliated with Leda, at least that's what I think.

Here are the links

http://www.leda-dist.com/
http://www.shop4tech.com/cgi-bin/shop/shop.cgi?html_requested=privacy

Or am I seeing this wrong?

Is Leda making the DVD-R media or just distributing ?

http://www.leda-dist.com/corporate.html

We are proud to say with the contribution of our hard-working dedicated employees and support by one of the leading manufacturers in the World in advanced technology POSTECH CORP. in Taiwan.

Postech is one of the many second-tier ODD media manufacturers in Taiwan. Most CD-R and DVD recordable media distrubuted in the US market are imported from Taiwan though the actual factories are now dispersed throughout East Asia and a few percentage of them are even in Europe and Americas.

[ABEG]

I'll run down my recent experience with media and my new Pioneer 104. So far I have only tried the following:

Pioneer DVD-R: Runs flawlessly in both my XBOX and Samsung player.

DVDPro 2X DVD-R (From supermediastore.com, looks to be princo): Very unconsistent media, will load off and on with some discs not loading at all. Other discs will stutter and sometimes freeze.

DVDPro DVD-RW (From supermediastore.com, Princo rebranded): Horrible media for me. Will sometimes boot in the Xbox but will stutter. Samsung doesn't load it at all but I am still unsure if the Samsung player supports DVD-RW since it is a bad player for burned media. I have also had big problems with this batch of media even being erasable or even readable in the Pioneer 104 after burning.

Overall, I have so far been very underwhelmed by the quality of the generic media I have tried. It should be noted, of course, that the two players being used may have issues reading certain media, but they both do read the Pioneer DVD-R media perfectly. Too bad it runs 6-7 bucks a pop. I find it rather depressing that DVD-R media has seemed to vary greatly for me and hope that this is only because of the relative young age of the DVD-R/DVD-RW market.

I recently ordered two each of some Verbatim DVD-R and DVD-RW media(4.70 per single and 8.00 per single) and a ten pack of some Purple/Gold DVD-R generic media for 14.50 from hypermicro.com. If these discs turn out to be winners they have relatively good prices compared to what I have seen around. In addition I recently ordered a five pack of Apple DVD-R media from apple.com for 25.00 shipped. I will test all of these out and then post my findings to the forum. I am quite interested in finding out how these discs compare.

[LanceSteel]

ABEG, the generics from Hypermicro.com are good. I've burned about 20 of these things with no coasters and they play in the all of standalones that I have access to. I emailed them after I noticed the massive pricedrop ($190->$124 for a 100 pack) to see if they were selling the same brand that they had been previously and the said that they were and had tried 4 different brands and found these to be far superior. These are good disks.