Purchasing BD-R SL and DL, HTL - Where to Get, Advisement, and Reccomendations

[webdawg]

I hope that I am not out of line here. I am looking for some In-Organic HTL discs for archival of some data. I really cannot afford the mdiscs right now and from what I have read, these are the next best thing.

I found these:

http://www.amazon.com/TDK-Blu-ray-Disc-Spindle-Printable/dp/B002RT85RW

From what I have read about the above, those discs seem to be composite? They have a HTL strategy but I guess they mix organic dye into them. Composite?

I also found these:
http://www.amazon.com/SONY-Blu-ray-Discs-50-Spindle/dp/B0081CVAQ2/

These look to be HTL with a black write surface.

http://www.amazon.com/PANASONIC-Blu-Ray-Disc-Spindle-Printable/dp/B00699OVA6/

Those are HTL from what I have read too.

Is there any place to get quality HTL discs without giving an arm or leg? I get all this import from Japan but there is no US brand that has quality HTL discs?

I am looking for both single and dual layer. I do not need printable.

I guess Taiyo Yuden is the only good brand of BD-R DL's that have HTL?

Is this what I should be getting then?: http://www.amazon.com/Taiyo-Yuden-Original-Spindle-Printable/dp/B009HMGKI8

[Kerry56]

Sorry no one has answered you webdawg, but the guys who actually use the DL BD-R will probably show up soon enough.

I have never burned DL BD-R, so I go by our user reports in the forums. Most everyone recommends the Panasonic DL Blu-ray media, whether it is from them directly, or sold under one of the brands that also uses their discs. JVC/Taiyo Yuden is one. Sony sometimes uses them, but not always, so it is hard to judge what you are getting with them. I wouldn’t use TDK.

For single layer, Panasonic, FTI/Falcon and Verbatim have been getting good user reports. I have had no issues with my SmartBlu FTI discs, nor with the Verbatim, even though Verbatim did not do all that well in the one longevity test we’ve seen. Verbatim single layer BD-R are very popular, and there have been few complaints about them deteriorating prematurely.

[webdawg]

I am adding a contender:

Amazon.com: DIGISTOR 25GB 6X Blu-ray Disc Recordable BD-R Blank Media (25 pack): Home Audio & Theater

I think they have media ID of: CMCMAG-BA5

Digistor says they are going to change manufactures in the beginning of 2015 btw.

[webdawg]

[QUOTE=Kerry56;2740749]Sorry no one has answered you webdawg, but the guys who actually use the DL BD-R will probably show up soon enough.

I have never burned DL BD-R, so I go by our user reports in the forums. Most everyone recommends the Panasonic DL Blu-ray media, whether it is from them directly, or sold under one of the brands that also uses their discs. JVC/Taiyo Yuden is one. Sony sometimes uses them, but not always, so it is hard to judge what you are getting with them. I wouldn’t use TDK.

For single layer, Panasonic, FTI/Falcon and Verbatim have been getting good user reports. I have had no issues with my SmartBlu FTI discs, nor with the Verbatim, even though Verbatim did not do all that well in the one longevity test we’ve seen. Verbatim single layer BD-R are very popular, and there have been few complaints about them deteriorating prematurely.[/QUOTE]

Can I ask where you are getting your SmartBlu FTI from? It really does look like for DL that Panasonic is the winner.

Digistor sells dual layer but their DIG-11536-25 have MID of cmcmag-b16 so CMC.

Really the only place to get the Panasonic DL’s is off of ebay or out of japan? I can find the Taiyo Yudens on amazon.

Also can anyone recommend any recent good sellers on ebay for DL media?

[Kerry56]

CMC Blu ray are not horrible, but maybe not the best. You might want to do a search here on the forums for Melody brand Blu-ray discs. They were a favorite for those looking for lower cost discs with good quality burns. They use the Infome-R30 or Infome-R40 mid codes. http://www.amazon.com/Melody-Blu-ray-Recordable-Printable-Spindle/dp/B00GWWJI8U

I’ve never used them personally. Other than a unwise foray into some Ritek discs (never again), I’ve stuck with Verbatim and FTI/Falcon single layer Blu-ray.

The SmartBlu FTI discs are found at MediaMegaMall: http://www.mediamegamall.com/smartblu-premium-bluray-disc-25gb-silver-lacquer-print-25pk-sbr4ssh25-p-27685.html
MediaMegaMall will levy a surcharge on small orders however, so when I bought them, I got three 25 packs.

[webdawg]

People do seem to like those Melody’s. Really what I am worried about is if they are durable. I just do not want to put a disc in the drive a year from now and it is trash.

[webdawg]

Thanks for all the help. So there have only been one or two studies on longevity? Any members report anything about good discs for long storage? I have read a few inconclusive reports.

[Albert]

So far people have been relying on Panasonic (MEI…) discs or FTI (TDK…) discs for important things with no real issues.

The main ones suffering are Ritek (RITEK…) and Philips (PHILIP…) discs.

Others, like Verbatim (VERBATIM…), Sony (SONY…) or TY/JVC (TY-BD… or JVC…) have been okay, and no one has reported anything ugly with Infomedia (INFOME…) or CMC (CMC…) discs after using them. Those are what I would say are the most popular discs. I don’t know anything about Umedisc (UME…) or Moser Baer (MBI…) media, but again, if there had been problems, people would have noticed.

Note, this doesn’t specifically refer to the brands but the actual designers and producers of the discs. That said, there are manufacturers like Panasonic who sell their own discs under their own brands. I know you’ve noticed this by now, but just had to put the reminder here.

[webdawg]

So looking at this list: https://www.blu-raydisc.info/licensee-list/discmanuid-licenseelist.php

Right at the top it says: The following companies have registered their Disc Manufacturer ID and Media Type ID.

Are there many manufactures that do not register their media to be put on that list?

[Albert]

I’m pretty sure that’s a list of all manufacturers and their discs.

What I mean by my prior words is: manufacturers may sell their own discs under their own brand, or they may make the discs for use by other brands. Or both.

But if you’re going for a particular disc model, it’s usually not hard to figure out which brand you want to purchase. So if you want the Panasonic discs people like, going for Panasonic’s own brand is usually good. If you want stuff made by FTI, using TDK technology (because that’s what FTI does), you get Falcon or Smartblu media. But you can also get Panasonic media under Verbatim or JVC/Taiyo Yuden brands at times, in addition to their own discs models (and models from other manufacturers).

[webdawg]

Yeh, I understand that. Just when I was looking into discs that list would have been really handy. If you have the MID it gives you LTH or HTL. Also, it is a good place to start when searching for discs with a certain MID.

[Albert]

[QUOTE=webdawg;2740862]Yeh, I understand that. Just when I was looking into discs that list would have been really handy. If you have the MID it gives you LTH or HTL. Also, it is a good place to start when searching for discs with a certain MID.[/QUOTE]

Oh, okay, I understand now. And you’re right; the model identifier is very valuable. (Though there is the rare issue where Panasonic/MEI used the same MID for single layer and dual layer disc models).

But that’s pretty much the list of disc models you’ll encounter by purchasing BD media.

[webdawg]

Yeh,

When they do that…the same MID for SL and DL it looks like they put 12cm down, the media size, instead of capacity.

Makes a bit of sense, but not all the way. It could be a way to make it simpler and save them money.

[webdawg]

I ended up getting:

Amazon.com: Verbatim Blu-ray Disc 50 pcs Spindle - 50GB 4X BD-R DL - Inkjet Printable: Electronics

and

Amazon.com: Verbatim Mitsubishi 50GB 2x Speed BD-RE Blu-ray Re-Writable Disk 10 Pack - Ink-jet printable - Each disk in a jewel case: Home Audio & Theater

To test my setup with.

[cd_pirate]

Those will most likely be either verbatim MID or panasonic. Either one should be good!

[mosis14]

Hi all, blank media experts, can anyone tell me why you can not seem to buy DL (50GB) [U]Glossy[/U] ? for instance “Falcon media” only do 25GB in their “smart guard” range .your help would be great.

[katraine]

http://geizhals.de/primeon-photo-on-disc-ultragloss-bd-r-50gb-8x-2761317-a1243203.html?hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=pl&hloc=uk&hloc=eu

Mediacode is RITEK DR3.

http://www.discobianco.com/professional-line-bluray-proselect-inkjet-voll-bedruckbar-stück-cakebox-p-64009.html?cPath=4828_925_6033

Mediacode is CMCMAG DI6.
I don´t print anything on my discs, but the surface of the blanks I got from this seller looks glossy for me.
If You want to make sure to get the right discs, contact the seller or Mediarange.
They still have a kind of customer support.

http://www.mediarange.de/en/products/cd_dvd_bluray/cd/cd_r_80/index.pmode