Question: Last batch of Verbatims failed, what brand DVD+R can I trust now?

I've been a long-time user of Verbatim DVD+R discs, and have usually been very happy with the results. However, the last 100-disc spindle I purchased (made in Taiwan) was atrocious, and more than half the discs failed during burning. Those that managed to burn failed miserably in Nero's quality scanning (sometimes hitting 0 for quality, or 30-60), with very high spikes and way more failures than I've ever seen before. I tried buring a couple leftover older Verbatims, and the quality was outstanding, as they used to be. I checked the serial # on the new batch of discs, and the serial # started with PAP6, which I've read are terrible, and should be avoided at all costs. Of course, how can I tell the serial # before I buy them?

So it seems that I can't trust Verbatim anymore, which is a shame, since my choice of discs locally sucks. So I really need some help from those who can recommend a quality brand for DVD+R.

I have been considering Taiyo Yuden DVD+R discs, but I'm a bit confused over what I should go with, if at all. If I buy from SuperMediaStore.com, there seems to be a choice of an 8x (T02, I think) or a 16x (T03, I think), both shiny silver 100 pack. I seem to be reading a lot of comments on different forums about some 8x T02 discs having bonding issues, but then I have also read that the 8x are supposedly higher quality than 16x. I've also read many comments that TY have been going downhill and can't be trusted anymore, and many have stopped using them, too.

So who can I trust now? I'm so confused. I'm in the USA, and my local stores mostly carry Sony, Memorex, Maxell, and store brands, with some others randomly thrown in. All the Sony and Maxell discs I see are made in Taiwan. For that matter, everything I check on the retail shelf seems to be from Taiwan. Can Taiyo Yuden be found on store shelves rebranded? If so, what should I look for? What brand is recommended for reliable burning and long-term storage?

If you can get the Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD+R and you can accept the cost, then go for it. It's probably the most widely compatible DVD media ever made, and usually it's very good.

I have had very good results with Verbatim "Digital Movie" DVD+Rs:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817130981

If I could be sure that the serial wouldn't be PAP6, I'd get those.

Cost is definitely a concern for me. But then so is quality. My last batch of 100 Verbatims was only $20 on sale at my local Officemax, but now I won't buy any more Verbatim spindles from there.

The discs of my last 100 spindle Verbatim DVD+R 16x, made in Taiwan 2007, PAP6, are the best I ever had.
Do you still have the shrinkwrap and can you tell the year written on it (C 200*)?

No, I bought the spindle about 2 months ago, and tossed the shrinkwrap when I opened it. I junked the last 30 or so since I wasn't even getting a successful burn most of the time.

My burner is the Liteon iHas422 with 4L11 firmware. New drive, 3 months old. Like I said, it loved my previous spindles, but couldn't even burn from this last one.

So, what is the consensus with Verbatim? My last batch was atrocious. Katraine says his batch, also PAP6, were the best he's had. That's quite a difference from my experience. Is there some way of telling by the packaging what to avoid? I can't spend money on another 100 disc spindle to get the same reults as last time, I just can't afford to take the risk. Consumers shouldn't have to "gamble" with this stuff. Especially with a company like Verbatim, I would not have expected to have to play the lottery game with them.

After best results with the first 20 discs from a 100 spindle Verbatim DVD+R 16x Made in Taiwan, 2007, I ordered some more spindles from the same shop. Got again MiT from 2007.
Should I be comcerned about quality and test every spindle now?

I think, you can´t tell from the outside what quality is in it, ist really a gamble.

Just to show what I was talking about:
Burned with 8x on Pioneer 115

I always tell people that have marginal batches of 16x Verbatim to try burning them at 6x instead of 8x/12x/16x. Believe it or not, 6x can often do wonders, especially with a Pioneer or NEC drive.

As for my personal experience, I still get OK results from Verbatim. Here are a couple 8x example burns with my 1640 and 7200. These are PAPAs from a 100-pack of MIT.

I buy all my Taiyo Yuden from Blankmedia.ca and they also ship to the U.S.A.

I use these Taiyo Yuden discs mostly
DVD+R 8X TAIYO YUDEN SILVER INKJET PRINTABLE (100 PCS)

But I do on occasion use these ones also
DVD+R 8X TAIYO YUDEN SILVER LACQUER (100 PCS)

I have not received a bad burn yet from the two and I always burn them at 8x on my Pioneer 216.
I have found these
DVD+R 4X VERBATIM BRANDED IN SLIM JEWEL CASE (10 PCS)
to be pretty good and still have to receive a bad burn from them but I do not trust the 16x verbatim anymore as I have had the same problem with a 100 disc spindle and only getting about 50 good burns from it

HOw old is your burner?

I had some fairly excellent results with PAP6 MCC004 made in 2008.

My burner is only 3-4 months old, I bought it new (in retail box) from Newegg when I built my computer.

There is another thread in here right now that is talking about some serious problems with all Taiyo Yuden discs, involving discs packed in China being bad. There's so much confusion regarding discs, and it really shouldn't be such a problem. I appreciate the input here.


My scans always used to look like katraine's scan posted above, but this last batch couldn't come anywhere close, and I burned them at 6x and 8x only.

I wish I could test some of these bad batches of Verbatim with my drives. I seem to be fortunate that although I have experienced some variances in quality, it's not been anywhere near as bad as others say their luck has been.

Be careful what you wish for - it might suddenly come true!

True.

And I did already experience an absolutely horrible batch of Prodisc-made MCC 03RG20, but haven't had the same misfortunate with MCC 004. I attributed my bad luck with the former to Prodisc and their worsening QC.

Well, I ordered some of these discs:

http://www.microcenter.com/single_pr...uct_id=0201416

and I'm pretty happy with them so far.


Not bad by any means. My last batch sure didn't come anywhere close. The only problem is I have burned around 5 discs so far, and 1 had failed burning half-way through using Nero. All the others came out like this one. Here is a scan from the new batch.

That's not only "not bad", that's as good as DVDR scans can get.
<10 PIE, <500PIF, excellent jitter.

Yes, those MCC 003 discs are great, but at $36 per 100, a little expensive.

Also, the Digital Movie version of the MCC 003s doesn't have the greatest surface for writing on. It would be nice if we could still find regular 8x DVD+R Verbatim somewhere.

I had some slightly less pristine Verbs that I started burning at 6x instead of 8x. I also tried 4x, but the burns got worse. As I've said many times, 6x is the magic speed for 16x Verbs that are giving you trouble.

This is a PAP6 disc from a 100-pack spindle.

This is what I always seem to see, what I would call good scans from these 'so called' bad Verbatims.

I said it the other day, there seem to be quite a few people with bad Verbatims and having to throw away large amounts of them ...yet I have still not seen a scan that I would even bother with a re-burn, leave alone throwing the disks away.

Just as I said in the other post I get thru a lot of 16x Verbatim MCC 004 and MCC 003RG20 and I have never had to bin one.

I have had no more problems with PAP6 verbs and the MII made that I have had were some of the most consistent scan numbers I have ever seen across 10 disks, and these were across 100's with PIE and PIF numbers almost being the same (within 500 PIE and 10 PIF) in other words quality control was as good as it gets.

The last batch of 16X+R Verbatims I bought was a total waste. I was happy when I opened them, because they were PAPAs. But they are absolutely horrible.

Here's one I just burned.

its a shame on verbatim but its not waste, still usable, u can get better quality for a half price of it on some other brands lol

Name some.

As to that burn the spike its often caused if the (CDSpeed) drive spin up time is set too low or you try to read from a hard drive that is doing something else. I very much doubt that it was caused by the media, 10 to 1 it was hardware related.

Again to that being the reason to bin the disk ...well I never would. Dont even know if I would bother with a re-burn if it was 'real data' just one of the reasons why I dont bother with the CD_Tests, I can do many more real world tests with a real image of video, if it was video data I doubt that you would be able to see anything, and you would never know anything with pure data.

http://club.cdfreaks.com/f33/videole...4-fake-278324/

just for example, 200pcs in price of 100pcs of verbatim.

I'd take real Verbatims over faked media code discs any day of the week - even if initial scans look good, I wouldn't trust such discs.

I don't expect everyone to agree of course.