I know not many UK folks hang out in here, but I was shopping at Sainsbury’s yesterday and grabbed some of these. Never could resist a Verbie 
As in the title, all Verbatim CDR and DVD R’s half price - DVD+/-R were £7.50 for 50, CDR’s £6 for 50, £9 for 100.
All discs MII, unless there were other COO’s lurking at the back.
Excellent deal, shame I don’t have a Sainsbury’s nearby 
And I just bought a pack of Arita CD-Rs discs while stocking up on some Maxell DVD-Rs… Lord betide what Arita will be like (Ritek discs) but Maxell I hear with their RitekF1 dye is pretty good 
Aww!
If it helps, I’ve used a fair few of the Maxell RITEK F1’s, and they’re not bad at all. Seems that Maxell often get some of the better quality stuff (wish I could say the same for the same MIDs branded by Memorex!) - their Ritek RICOHJPN R03 were excellent, wish I still had some left. My fussy LG drives loved those.
Thanks, stocked up on CD-R, as I seem to still use those more than DVD
[QUOTE=Arachne;2572564]If it helps, I’ve used a fair few of the Maxell RITEK F1’s, and they’re not bad at all. [/QUOTE]
It seems my Maxell support is fading. Fast.
Just checked one of my discs and it freezes towards the end of the DVD. Now, as I trust the guys at Club MyCE, I will continue to use the RitekF1 dyes which is much more stable than CMC itself.
This was the first of about 30 (maybe more) Maxell discs I have burned on, and I have noticed this. Curiously, one of the few I can’t remember verifying
But guys, (and gals) You’ve got to help me what the heck the problem is. It can’t be a media fault; all of my brands I’ve used for DVD-R, Rivision, Ridisc, Infiniti, Bulkpaq… et al, are still producing very spotty results.
All of these brands have one thing in common; They are all 16x media and have the CMC dye. Bulkpaq & RiDisc are okay, but verify really slowly. No worries about the good discs really, but at 30p a disc… It’s becoming an expensive habit
Switched to Maxell, and even Maxell are giving me spotty results
No worries; I’ve got a plan. Since we are litterally broke, I’m going to transfer my burning needs onto my laptop drive, provided it still works (faulty laser, I think…) and burn on there. Failing that… Well, I’ll think of something 
What burner do you have? Does it have the latest firmware installed? Do you have the same problems with Verbatim media?
IIRC, I have a Pioneer DVD-R 109 burner - It’s just had the firmware flashed and updated according to the official firmware update relased in Pioneer.
The last firmware update was released in 2005 - Must be a old drive then 
Oh, and, no, I’ve not tried Verbatim discs as of yet - But if the discs keep it up, I soon will be switching.
What’s going off? I trust Maxell enough to say that I may have a faulty burner.
10 of my 50 pack Arita CD-Rs (Ritek), by the way ALL failed at burning, and the one that worked froze on playback. Buffer underrun Burrrn told me might be the problem, but it isin’t that. No way.
Your drive is too old and probably does not support the RITEKF1 media code.
You have two options:
Pepst, you raise some interesting points. IIRC, Pioneer have ALWAYS had spotty results burning Ritek discs. Something to do with the firmware.
I fail to see how 8x rated media will make any difference Pepst - Not that I’m invalidating your opinion, but I always burn at 4x, sometimes at 8x to be on the safe side of burning, as I understand the drive is old - Would it be a different types of dye used on older 8x discs?
Now, by my reckoning I have a failing drive; the laser might be going on it. What burned initially okay is now throwing sickies less than a month down the line. Who knows, it can’t keep churning out failed discs and have the audacity to say they are duff discs, out of about 150 discs ive burned, I must have about 100 left. Insane amount of discs to be wasted, and data lost! :a
Also, any wisdom on the Arita CD-R guys?
[QUOTE=Chad_Bronson;2573413]I fail to see how 8x rated media will make any difference Pepst - Not that I’m invalidating your opinion, but I always burn at 4x, sometimes at 8x to be on the safe side of burning, as I understand the drive is old - Would it be a different types of dye used on older 8x discs?
[/QUOTE]
An 8x rated media like MCC002, TYG02, etc. are supported by your drive - most of 16x rated media (including RITEKF1) are not supported properly or not at all.
Also, any wisdom on the Arita CD-R guys?
They are OK - not as good as A-grade Ritek’s CD-Rs though (Arita is a Ritek’s own brand for a B-grade media).
Since pepst’s got the drive thing in hand, I’ll just mention the CDR thing - I’ve not had the pleasure (?) of using the Aritas, but Ritek, provided you get decent brands, IMO make some excellent CDR media. The Maxell ones I’ve used are very stable indeed, Tried Traxdata ones too, but IMO they aren’t a patch on the Maxell branded ones.
Sorry to ressurect this old thread, I should have commented weeks ago, but completely forgot about it 
Now, it’s interesting that you mention that Arachne, because I firmly believe in brand loyalty, a mantra that is often used over and over again on Club MyCE is if you have found a brand that works well, stick to it, because chopping and changing might be a very expensive buisness!
Now, Maxell are for me an excellent brand which have built up it’s reputation from the cassette and VHS days - I’ve always preferred these brands (because the cassettes are great, but their VHS tapes are astounding 
)
and for DVD-R I always buy this brand because this is one of the better brands that uses the equally excellent Ritek F1 dye.
A phrase I want people, in particular newbie burners, to stick to - If your uncertain about disc brand, always contact boards like these and we can point you in the right direction - And of course, always check about the MID code used in discs.
I stick to the idea of a brand that has built up a reputation - Maxell, Memorex, etc are all good brands because they have built it up for providing good media - Although for Memorex, that is a bit controversial 
Lastly, check the colour of the dye on the discs. If it’s barely visable, or needs a lot of light to see the discs, then it’s not far wrong to say the disc won’t last long. For example, Ritek discs (inc. G05, no problems here ) have a darker dye than the CMC MAG AM3 / E1 discs and have proven to last much longer than CMC discs.
For CD-R, the darkest dye has to be MBI CD-R, always good
I must seem like a moron to keep having a swinging opinion, but since I now use a Phillips burner on my main computer and a generic burner in my cheap DVD recorder, Maxell are now doing quite alright, since I have burned at least altogether about 50 discs from Maxell, only three IIRC have failed since then - Two of which on my recorder. No worries, just re-cued the VCR and did it again
Pioneer might not be so good on RitekF1 one then
…And I still hold to the fact Memorex are a good brand name 
[QUOTE=Chad_Bronson;2584140]
…And I still hold to the fact Memorex are a good brand name [/QUOTE]
I think it’ll take some repeating to convince everyone. Better get some practice in.
Wait til you come across a MID in your Memorex discs that your Philips doesn’t like
Memorex outsource - If you find a good MID code, you’ve got good media
My last array of Memorex CD-Rs are MBI MID codes - And apparently, MBI are really good media manufacturers However, I still hostile towards Memorex DVD-R. Apparently Memorex are really good in their CD department, and not so great in their DVD.
Not to worry - I bagged myself a pack of 100 CD-Rs under the Tesco brand name for £9.50 - They are Plasmon discs, which in my experience have been really good discs
Yep, Memorex’s outsourcing has been known for quite some time round these 'ere forums
As for good MID = good media, not necessarily! Quality plays a good part, and Memorex discs can often vary in quality, sometimes in the same pack/spindle! It’s almost like they get the discs left over after other brands have taken what they want.
Mind you, to be fair, Datawrite, Bulkpaq etc vary a lot too.
Although my opinion here does relate to DVD R media, rather than CD-R.
My last array of Memorex CD-Rs are MBI MID codes - And apparently, MBI are really good media manufacturers
I also like MBIL discs very much, but that’s not to say my burners will all feel the same way
As for Memorex DVD R, don’t get me started.
Not to worry - I bagged myself a pack of 100 CD-Rs under the Tesco brand name for £9.50 - They are Plasmon discs, which in my experience have been really good discs
Hee hee…time will tell.
I’m feeling contrary today.
To quote Richard Hammond; “I agree… With absolutely NOTHING you say!” Our experience must differ from Memorex and I suppose due to the fact they outsource can drive people away - i.e. Quality can’t be gaurenteed. However my experience with Memorex have been excellent and as such, I will continue to use them (Not right now though, Tesco CD-R
I will buy any brand name disc under the sun - So long as they are not made by CMC. Discs burn excellent initially, but a few months down the road, my data goes south, and this applies to ASDA, Datawrite, Phillips discs… Although Plasmon discs are renowned not to be too fantastic, I prefer these wayward discs over CMC anyday.
They just work and scan excellently. DVD-Rs however are a different story. I’ve been too set back by CMC MAG discs and I’ve become quite pedantic over what brand I have - I accept nothing but Maxell, and those Mirror discs I mentioned not so long ago are Fake TyG03 - Although they are varifying pretty good, I don’t trust them for long term storage, and to be used as giveaways or short term solutions.
Hehehe
It just goes to show how experiences can and do differ. It’s what makes a forum like this work.
Regarding the Plasmon CD-Rs, I have to admit the one spindle I can remember my step-dad using, didn’t last long (he’s a DJ and until he stored all his music on his laptop to work with, he used CDRs). Granted, the discs did come in for a fair bit of abuse.
But it sounds like your expectations of such discs aren’t unrealistic, you know what could go wrong. I guess it’s the newbies I worry about.