I know that the printable version of SmartBlu media has been recommended here, but I am interested in these ones: http://www.mediamegamall.com/smartblu-bluray-disc-25gb-silver-lacquer-print-100pk-cakebox-sbr4ssh25-p-27685.html
Are they the same durability, quality and longevity as the printable ones? Did these pass the 50 year accelerated aging test as well?
Another question, will these work with the LG WH10LS30 burner, as it is not listed on the above webstore…?
of course i meant in comparison to the branded or printable surface ones.
[QUOTE=Thrasher;2598877]of course i meant in comparison to the branded or printable surface ones.[/QUOTE]
Should be the same. BH10NS30 and WH10LS30 I think the only difference is the LightScribe. 
[B]SmartBlu 4x BD-R Shiny Silver Laquer Wide - 100pk (4 x 25pk)[/B]
[ul]
[li]TDK Technology[/li][li]TDK MID Code[/li][li][B][U]99.9% Compatibility[/U][/B][/li][li]True Blu-ray Disc (NOT LTH)[/li][li]Scratch-Resistant Bottom[/li][li][U][B]Archival Quality[/B][/U][/li][/ul]
Hi Thrasher. All going well since switching to PCI-Sata with the drive?
The main ingredients behind Falcon BD-R longevity would be the Japanese-made materials they insist on using. Along with their manufacturing techniques. Here’s an interesting white paper explaining one of the factors that makes them as accurate and durable as they are- http://www.falcon-media.net/pdf/white_papers/Label%20Side%20Sputtering%20of%20BD-R(E)%20Discs_Low%20res.pdf . I would expect the shiny silver discs to be nearly as long-lived as the labeled or printables. However, as Falcon mentions, it always helps to have a coating over the label side polycarbonate sputtering for the longest possible lifespan.
As Jim mentioned, the WH10 and BH10 are the same drive. They burn beautifully in the WH10 at 4X and very,very good at 6X and 8X. I feel I can safely say this after scanning over 100 SmartBlu burns I’ve done in the LG alone. Along with consistently smooth playback among those that were videos.
Thanks for replies guys.
Yes deanwitty, all is going without any problems with the pci sata card
Just wondering, why is the Falcon brand media twice as expensive despite being practically the same media to Smartblu?
You’re welcome.
Glad to hear it. Always nice to hear feedback and be a little more sure you’re sendin folks in the right direction
They’re not just practically the same media. They are exactly the same. The Falcon Pro’s are just the best of the best, and worth the premium to a duplication business burning 100’s or 1000’s at a time and unwilling to take any chances with losing a customer by releasing less-than-ideal product or wishing to speed production up with media that’s tested and certified by the manufacturer to burn safely at higher-than-rated speeds. Falcon’s target market continues to be purely at the professional level, their quality control model is very different from consumer level disc brands/manufacturers. Honestly, the worst Falcon BD-R I’ve run across makes the best BD-R’s I’ve seen from a few other companies look like junk.
100 SmartBlu BD-R discs for $110 is a great deal!
Is this a permanent reduction or a temporary sale price?
Milan
[QUOTE=rockphantom;2599470]100 SmartBlu BD-R discs for $110 is a great deal!
Is this a permanent reduction or a temporary sale price?
Milan[/QUOTE]
Yep 
. One of the best at the same price as most of the worst 
I had the same concern and spoke with the folks at mediamegamall.com about it a month ago :). At that time, they felt that they could keep the pricing at current levels. I believe these prices are possible because they are buying them in large quantities and using them as one of their own duplication media as well as reselling them. On the other hand, the free shipping promotion may disappear at any time.
Thanks for the information, Dean!
I am hoping to order the LG WH12LS30 Burner this weekend from Newegg and would like to pick up some SmartBlu discs to go along with it. 
Milan
[QUOTE=Stereodude;2605652]So, I ordered 100pcs of these SmartBlu discs. I hope they’re as good as you guys are saying.[/QUOTE]
They are primo you are gonna love it
You’re burning with a Pio 206? You’ve mentioned dealing with failed burns with other BD-R’s. My 206 has given me nothing but good burns with these up to 10X. The capabilities of your rig will determine how far you can push these with overspeed burning. If it’s capable of delivering the 45MB/sec data rate from HD to burner without breaking a sweat, you should be able to experiment with up to 10x OS burning without fear of a bad burn. Watch for a steady RAM buffer level in ImgBurn to be sure you’re not pushin your machine beyond a safe burn speed.
Welcome to the world of coaster-free tested-true archival BD-R burning 
. Let us know how it goes for you?
Here’s a bit more hard data on Falcon BD-R’s:
[QUOTE=deanwitty;2605732]You’re burning with a Pio 206?[/quote]Yes, I am.
You’ve mentioned dealing with failed burns with other BD-R’s.
Yes, I’ve had 3 Memorex (Ritek) fail out of 60, 3 Optical Quantum (Philips) fail out of 80, and 2 Merax (Optodisc) fail out of 25. They have either failed during the burn or during the verify in ImgBurn. In contrast I’ve burned just short of 80 Verbatim BD-R’s (non LTH) and have had 0 burn or verify failures. Unfortunately I don’t have a drive that can quality scan so I don’t have any better method to determine burn quality.
My 206 has given me nothing but good burns with these up to 10X. The capabilities of your rig will determine how far you can push these with overspeed burning. If it’s capable of delivering the 45MB/sec data rate from HD to burner without breaking a sweat, you should be able to experiment with up to 10x OS burning without fear of a bad burn. Watch for a steady RAM buffer level in ImgBurn to be sure you’re not pushin your machine beyond a safe burn speed.
I don’t have anything to worry about there. My system could easily do 20x burns if the drives and media existed. It builds the BD-R ISO images at 24x or so (~110MB/sec).
Welcome to the world of coaster-free tested-true archival BD-R burning
. Let us know how it goes for you?
I’m sort of already there when I burn Verbatim BD-R media. I decided no more buying non top tier discs and based on your recommendations I’m expecting the SmartBlu discs to be top tier.
I should note that Mega Media Mall is very slow to ship. They were listed in stock (still are) when I placed the order on the 27th and they haven’t shipped yet. 
[QUOTE=Stereodude;2606279]I should note that Mega Media Mall is very slow to ship. They were listed in stock (still are) when I placed the order on the 27th and they haven’t shipped yet. :([/QUOTE]
That’s odd. In my case, UPS seemed to have found a warp in the fabric of space/time and dropped them on my porch less than 48 hrs. from ordering on 2 occasions 
. Worth contacting them at this point to see what’s up.
Just a quick heads-up to anyone looking at buying Smartblu’s. Smartblu is MMM’s in-house brand label, and all the SmartBlu BD-R’s till now have been supplied by Falcon. I just noticed they are offering a new “value” BD-R DL. It is almost certainly not Falcon media. Have not heard back from them yet as to who makes it, but here is the info from their web-site:
This is the info at Ritek’s web-site under BD-R:
Don’t want anyone ordering these value DL’s and assuming they’re getting Falcons.
Thanks for the heads up. ^^^
I was going to ask if the DL were also good quality. I will have to get some Smartblu media once I use up all of my Verbatim 4x-6x BD-R.
Are the single layer discs still Falcon?
[QUOTE=Stereodude;2607065]Are the single layer discs still Falcon?[/QUOTE]
You can tell by the description under the particular disc you are looking at.
TDK technology, TDK MID Code=Falcon/FTI
Have you heard back from them on the shipping delay? Or received your order?
It seems that their “in stock” count listing is not updated as religiously as you would hope. Had to wait a few extra days on one of my orders as they were still en route from Falcon’s warehouse. When they’ve had them in stock, their order fulfillment has been plenty fast.
Any systems integration specialists around here? Your services are sorely needed by these folks :).
[QUOTE=deanwitty;2607069]Have you heard back from them on the shipping delay? Or received your order?[/QUOTE]No, and no.
However, in their defense I didn’t e-mail them until Friday afternoon.
