What is the best DVD media? (2005)

What is the best DVD media?
What is your reason for making your selection?

[DrageMester] EDIT:

New polls on DVD media can be found here:

Which brands of DVD media are good for everyday use?
Which DVD+R media is best for long-term storage?
Which DVD-R media is best for long-term storage?

This thread is now closed.

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Last edited by DrageMester; 18-06-2006 at 05:54. Reason: Thread closed after opening new polls

Taiyo Yuden, simply due to consistency in quality. I have a soft spot for Verbatim/MKM media but the variability in the media is quite large, which is not surprising considering their discs are made at four different places (MKM in Singapore, CMC and Prodisc in Taiwan, and Moser Baer in India). Batches from one plant often vary wildy, as I've had CMC-made MCC media that was perfect while other CMC batches were pure junk.

Verbatim MCC 004 have been the best for me at a variety of speeds in three different burners and one DVD recorder. I have seen variation in the quality of this media type, but no more so than the variation in Taiyo Yuden (YUDEN000 T02). The MCC 004 have always been better for me than the T02 at 12x and 16x burning speeds.

Haven't had the pleasure of trying TY -R media (TYG02) or TY 16x media yet though.

Verbatim for me, due to availability in retail shop and lower price than taiyo yuden in EU.

Fuji-Sony TY T02 and Verbatim and the MBI that are branded very so much from disc to disc in each stack. They go from great to horrid. I'm about ready to try some TY unbranded from Rima and see if it is the same way.

I voted for Taiyo Yuden. Though I've read about variablility with them, I personally have never had a bad burn with TY +R disks. Not one. And yes I run quality tests from time to time just to make sure, but its getting very repetitive. I've never used TY from online vendors, just the ones from Best Buy under the Fuji brand, and one spindle of TY that was sold under the Sony label.

Previously I used Maxell made in Japan, and Verbatims made in Singapore. Had no problems with them either, and if TY becomes scarce again, I'll probably go back to them---though you can't find Verbatims from Singapore anymore except the dual layer disks.

I'm a big fan of Verbatim. Their current crop of 16x DVD-R media seems particularly rock solid when burned at a full 16x.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:MCC 03RG20 ]
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Disc & Book Type : [DVD-R] - [DVD-R]
Manufacturer Name : [Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.]
Manufacturer ID : [MCC 03RG20 ]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4.71 GB (4.38 GiB)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com ]
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TY. The reasons are simple. For 7 different burners, it is always a very good quality burn. Also there is rarely a problem with quality control as long as I avoid Fuji.

Or Sony!!!!

Hey, chas. So, are you noticing more variation in quality scan results from the Fuji branded TY? More so for + or - (or MID's if you have them broken down that way)?

I've only had access (locally) to Fuji branded TY's (TY T02's and TYG02's), so was just curious how they compare to, say, the stuff from Rima. Or, other branded media TY's.

Zevia mentioned he had better luck with either the Sony or TDK TY's vs. Fuji (I forgot again which one he preferred) for his burners.

Since I've only used Fuji's, I have noticed the discs in the multi-colored 30 packs (3 x 10pk spindles) are much 'cleaner' (no dust) compared to the 100 pack cake box, which had no spacer and had a lot of dust on some of the discs. The YUDEN000 T02's from the 30pk tend to have lower PIF totals than the 100 pk cake box - maybe it's the dust thing. I use compressed air on the 100 pk media but not on the 30pk stuff. Not sure if the chemicals in the compressed air cans have any effect on the burning surface. Hopefully not.

Neehoo ... my $.02.

Well crapola. This thread made me realize I hadn't tested my TY disks for a while. Spouted off earlier about not having any bad burns with my Fuji TY's, so I tested half a dozen of my recent burns. Dang!! Two bad ones from the bottom of my previous spindle. Quality score way down, to 92 and 90 and PIF's much higher than normal.

I'm reburning now from a new spindle and the scans look normal----Quality score 97 and fewer than 200 PIF's.

Feel free to throw a few barbs my way.

"Verbatim for me, due to availability in retail shop and lower price than taiyo yuden in EU."

Same here, and adding to that the last C't study showing superior stability of MCC over TY.

Still, the absence of variation in TY media is a very strong point indeed.

Well, if you can only pick one then I have to vote for Taiyo Yuden because of the non outsourcing of their manufacturing.
I also have good luck with Prodisc R0x and Verbatims but the variations in manufacture make these a bit more of a crap shoot.
My Verbatim (made in Singapore) were very good!

The problem with Verbatim, and I in no way doubt your sources on stability, is that while I do use it, I am never sure from one batch to the next who will make it. Prodisc has a crap reputation and yet they seem to make the best Verbatim. CMC is even worse and MBI is very uncertain. I have no faith in these manufacturer's ability to keep making a product up to current standards. Ritek is the best example of a massive downhill slide in QC and I do not need to go through that again. With TY, that potential seems to be less of a posibility.

I use mainly verbatim as TY is difficult to get hold of here and it is more
expensive anyway...
So its basically the best of the rest
In my opinion there is not near enough quality media to choose from but if you buy the cheap crap its everywhere (must be a demand thing or maybe most people just buy anything unaware of the quality)

Verbatim pastels (TY G02) is my fave. I've been through quite a few TY discs but these Verbatims are my preferred backup media. Strange thing is that TY G02 isn't quite the same in "Unbranded", "Printable" and "Pastels" and the pastels give less errors @8x on my writers than the other ones

(So far i don't care for 12-16x burning)

Plextor TY G02 has worked best for me. In my BenQ drives they are awsome!

"CMC is even worse and MBI is very uncertain"

Outdated opinions I think.
Recent MBI shows great quality, at least under the Imation/MMore and Intenso brands.* (with the exception of their -R 4X discs )
Recent CMC is very good media. CMC=crap is a thing from the past.*
This is a fast, fast changing DVD world. What was true six months ago isn't anymore today. Hard to keep up...

Anyway Verbatim has a reputation to keep and I've yet to see, despite reported variations, a bad or even marginal DatalifePlus.

*C't study/roundup, see last link in my sig

Pretty obvious that always applies to technology in general. But, it may very well be that people are still using their CMC and MBI from "six months ago". I understand the point you're trying to make, but the whole point of people's comments is to discuss THEIR experiences.

Outdated opinions? Maybe so. But, I don't think you can discount their UNIQUE experiences with these media. Knowing how chas0039 operates and how thorough he is about assessing his media, I doubt he would say such a thing lightly.

You cropped a section of his comments which were originally referring to Verbatim and chas0039's assessment of 3 manufacturing sources for their media: Prodisc, CMC, and MBI. At least, that is the way that I read it.

Your standard for "bad or even marginal" may be different from another's. chas0039 has an extremely high standard for assessing media, so I would think his comments should be read with that in mind.

Some people get disappointed when they go from a TYG02 <100 PIF total to a 400 PIF total. Maybe 500 is 'marginal' for some.

And, it may very well be the case you've ended up with some primo Verb's each time. Look at the variation in the BenQ TY burns. crossg, jegus, jamescooley, and some others pump out 99's and incredibly low PIF totals on practically a daily basis. Whereas, my 8x-12x PIE totals hardly ever approach their 12-16x PIE's, and my PIF's are a factor of 5-10x theirs.

Lol .. I think you just confirmed what I was trying to say above. 'Recent' CMC media ... so, you're talking within the last 6 months? Which CMC's are these? Any particular brand / MID/TID / speed rating / +/-R? I'm just a curious mind is all b/c I would like to know that there's a "very good" CMC alternative available ... now, as you say, within the last 6 months. Are we talking the CMC's on sale at Costco this week? Also, you say "very good" meaning ... quality scan wise? Longevity wise? Variability wise?

Sorry for the inquisition ... but, it's a pretty bold statement you're making, so I just wanted to get enlightened is all. Thanks.

The only MBI experience I've had is with Staples and Office Max branded MBIPG101 R04's. Initially, quality scans are superb (<4,000 PIE ttl, <50 PIF ttl) to ok/good. But, after a couple months, the PIF's are growing like weeds at the 4.0GB+ areas of the discs. I don't want to go into the whole media storage discussion, so I'll simply say that (IMO) I consider these MBI as "uncertain" as chas0039 mentioned.


... I still don't trust CMC ... maybe your response will change my mind, and maybe I can find that the CMC's you're referring are available locally. It'd be nice to have a cheap yet good quality alternative to TY, if you are implying CMC's are now on par with TY / Verbatim's. Thanks in advance.

I voted for Moser Baer. Am from India where getting good quality media is difficult. Moser Baer solves all those probs. Though the discs r only 8x disc, they're very consistent in quality. Also tried BenQ DVD's. They're good too. But Moser Baer comes first.

you must have some magical CMC media, b/c I've never seen anything even approaching TY quality.. Do you have/recommend a particular MID? Scan?

Wow!! The first vote for MBI as the best media.

Those BenQ Dvd's ... are you referring to DAXON AZ2's?

The best media out there? For sure TY but personally I use Verbatim (MCC 003) they give great results with my 3540A at 12x, my BTC 1108IM likes them too and they are not much more expensive than other, low quality media.

nibang wrote:
"Lol .. I think you just confirmed what I was trying to say above. 'Recent' CMC media ... so, you're talking within the last 6 months? Which CMC's are these? Any particular brand / MID/TID / speed rating / +/-R? I'm just a curious mind is all b/c I would like to know that there's a "very good" CMC alternative available ... now, as you say, within the last 6 months. Are we talking the CMC's on sale at Costco this week? Also, you say "very good" meaning ... quality scan wise? Longevity wise? Variability wise?"
riggits wrote:
"you must have some magical CMC media, b/c I've never seen anything even approaching TY quality.. Do you have/recommend a particular MID? Scan?"

Er... clearly mentioned in my post:
"*C't study/roundup, see last link in my sig"
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"You cropped a section of his comments which were originally referring to Verbatim and chas0039's assessment of 3 manufacturing sources for their media: Prodisc, CMC, and MBI. At least, that is the way that I read it."

Yes, that's the way I read it too, I don't see what's your point?? What have I done wrong?

"Some people get disappointed when they go from a TYG02 <100 PIF total to a 400 PIF total. Maybe 500 is 'marginal' for some.>
And, it may very well be the case you've ended up with some primo Verb's each time. Look at the variation in the BenQ TY burns. crossg, jegus, jamescooley, and some others pump out 99's and incredibly low PIF totals on practically a daily basis. Whereas, my 8x-12x PIE totals hardly ever approach their 12-16x PIE's, and my PIF's are a factor of 5-10x theirs."

I guess this implies that you think the best media is the one that gives the best quality scan, doesn't it? I don't subscribe to this point of view... again, I point to the last C't study (still in my sig )

My new favorite is the FujiFilm 8X+R MIJ YUDEN000T02 from best buy for $0.40 per disc. The stuff burns great on every burner I have(BenQ,NEC,Litey) with great results, even oversped to 12X or more. Even better than my old favorite, the legendary RICOHJPNR01.