[QUOTE=ChristineBCW;2654682]Dean, TMC, everyone - this is SUCH a depressing tale - the untrustworthiness of brands, batches, etc. We all understand the economics of pillaging the masses as quickly as possible for the most profits, but in the end, it only degrades confidence and buyers turn away from spending any money. Over and over, this is the end-result in marketplaces.
Reading that Falcon too is outsourcing and presenting questionable product lines only adds to that. They gain - what? - one or two more years of so-called profitability by selling out to the lowest-common denonminator? Then what? Finito! Kaput! “Just another name-brand like any other…” One in the thousands, no longer distinguishable, all the for the sake of a quick-turned buck instead of long-term fortune.
The concept of storing more data on a single [I]tres[/I] expensive disk then approaches folly. “Why bother? Just archive it on several cheaper DVD blanks! Risk a smaller data-loss due to poor materials, rather than a larger loss-risk!”
And, God bless 'em - they see their Optical Blanks future in limited terms, too. All I can say is, “Well, yes, when consumer confidence in your products erodes because of marketing choices, that will only give the next-technology a greater and quicker chance of acceptance.”[/QUOTE]I need to brush up on my communication skills if I gave you the impression that Falcon is outsourcing:o. The truth is that they are one of the precious few that have completely refused to follow the majority of optical media brands that are outsourcing themselves to death. All of their media is still produced in their factory using the same top quality Japanese sourced original materials. They even came up with a clever way to improve on the already top-notch TDK BD-R designs that they produce. The absolute lowest quality BD-R that they will release from their factory is certified(on an ongoing basis) to burn 100% within BDA book spec at rated speed. Many manufacturers seem to be taking their initial BDA spec cert as a joke and quickly found ways to increase profits with lower quality materials and manufacturing lines. I imagine they could still provide a spec-worthy disc from one of their factories if it was demanded, but too much of what they are selling us is pretty sad. As a result, a “bargain” Falcon BD-R is better than what most manufacturers are producing.
The fact that at least one re-seller has gone to FTI to provide their private label media is cause to celebrate 
. It is depressing to see the choices that other re-sellers like Vinpower, with their private label “Optical Quantum”, are making. Any time I see that name, I picture a janitorial staff wearing Optical Quantum jackets proudly sweeping their discs off the factory floor to be rushed to the packaging room 
.
You better believe I spent(and spend) serious time researching BD-R technology/manufacturing to death before I started moving to them as one level of archival storage. When archival worthy BD-R dropped in price below the $2.00/ea. level, the cost per GB and advantage of increased storage per disc made them attractive to me.
Thank goodness there are still a few prideful companies that refuse to diminish their expectations :).
