Good DVD brand

[Kilauea]

Hello,

I know I read somewhere many months ago that there were different quality in brands of DVDs. Back then I couldn't care less, but now I am looking to purchase some DVDs and since I rarely need some, I figure I might as well look for some good ones. Can anyone direct me ?

Also, I have been trying to read about DVD-R and DVD+R and I must say I am confused, which one to get ? My burner works with both.

Thanks a lot.

[Jake_HT]

I've had good luck with Fujifilm media.. I use that and sony.

I also use DVD+R.. no idea wtf the difference is to be honest.

[geokilla]

Memorex, Maxell and Taiyo Yuden seem to be very good brands. Fujifilm, I've used before but prefer Memorex and Maxell over them. Don't know how their DVDs are, but for CDs, I use only RiDATA.

[enaberif]

Taiyo Yuden from ncix ftw.

I won't use nothing else.

[Perineum]

I use Verbatim... best discs I have ever used.

Use this tool to check discs you have: DVD Identifier - Your DVD, HD DVD & Blu-ray Companion

I wouldn't be against Taiyo Yudens, however.

[1Tanker]

I use Maxell +R 8x mostly...or else Memorex +R 16x....both with excellent results.

[AkG]

TY and only TY.
Maxell and Memorex don't make their own discs. They are rebadges. Why pay more for a brand...which may not be as good quality as it used to be? IIRC both of them are now mainly Ritek rebadged shite. This excludes their expensive stuff which is archival quality, that is usually MAM-E’s best. Good stuff (cheaper mame is crap)…. BUT $$$.

For ALL "branded media" look on the label and see where they are made. Made in Japan = MCC or TY. Made in India = Moser Bauer shite (though can be good depedning on the line, more of a toss up with MII). Made in Taiwan is Ritek crap, Prodisc crap....or might be Optodisc (which may or may not suck).

Basically there are two brands which are any good and are affordable. Taiyo Yuden and MCC. Verbatium may or may not be MCC nowadays, Look at the label, IF its MIJ its MCC and made in MCC factory. MIT = MCC dyes make in Ritek, CMC or Prodisc factories under contract. While decent they still suck in comparison to real MCC. MII = Made In India. Moser Bauer Corp. Decent to bad depending on the batch. Also uses MCC dye under contract.

As for + vs. - it all depends on what burner you have and what reader you have. The reader doesn't matter much any more as its about the same for both nowadays. IF you have a -R consortium mfg'ers burner it will prefer -R as that is what mot of the firmware is refined for. IF +R...same thing except it will prefer +Rs. I prefer the +R as its a slightly better standard (+RW blows -RW out of the water) and that is what my burners prefer. If your burners prefer –R…feed it –R!

(This is the Coles notes version and not exactly totally correct…. but close enough w/ out 30pages to explain “properly”)
So why bother with one over the other? Better burns = longer life. All burned dvds decay. Pressed DVDs are metal with holes poked in it and they don’t decay. Writeable DVDs are a kludge in that your laser makes clear dye in the unused disc opaque, so that the reader laser (lower power) can read the difference and understand what is a 0 and what is a 1.

So the name of the game is lower PIE and PIFS. That’s Parity Inner Error and Parity Inner Failure. NO POFS (any parity outer errors are not acceptable IMHO as they are multiple failure!). These are correctable errors which happen. PIEs are in the data, PIFs are in the error correction for the data. As time goes by they increase in number as the dye decay. Good DVDs use a long life dye…cheaper companies use cheaper dyes but all decay. Depending on how you store them (out of the light, cool temps, low humidity the best) is how long they will last BUT good dye will give you more wiggle room!

Depending on your burner and how it tests (1 bit vs 8bit) when you test it will spit back numbers at you. The lower the PIF and POF the better. Mine are 8bit now and I like to see 0.1avg at the most for PIEs and under 200 (at the MOST) of PIFs. 0 POFS or it’s a coaster. When I was using Plextor which used the more precise but now oddball 1bit scheme. 0.1 was not acceptable and a liked to see 0.02avg. at the MOST (.02 x 8bits = 0.16avg in a 8bit burner). I won’t get into Jitter but the less difference and the close to a graphed flat line the better (usually!). These are extremley conservative numbers. Anyhting below 4.0 avg PIE is a consider a good burn by the specs! But you really want the PIE to be under 1...Like I said I'm ultra conservative. BUT with good media my numbers are not only doable but routine!

Test at least at 8x speed. Higher the speed the more conservative the number becomes (reader Has less time to mess with marginal pits and fails them). CDSpeed2000 is a good program to use for testing your burns quality but you may have to hack the registry as a couple mfg’ers DON’T want you to use it for whatever reason. If you have a liteon burner you may not be able to trust its results as some models were very liberal in their burn testing and passed stuff which should have been a fail. I don’t like Liteon burners so I can’t give more detail than that.

You will find that your burner will prefer a certain type, brand and speed. I used Plextor burners and Benqs now I use Samsung @ 16x w/ TY T04 +Rs. YMMV

The best place I have found for cheap and GOOD media is http://www.blankmedia.ca

[Perineum]

Originally Posted by AkG

Basically there are two brands which are any good and are affordable. Taiyo Yuden and MCC. Verbatium may or may not be MCC nowadays, Look at the label, IF its MIJ its MCC and made in MCC factory. MIT = MCC dyes make in Ritek factor under contract. While decent they still suck in comparison to real MCC.

My Verbatim DL 2.4x DVDs
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R-DL:MKM-001-000]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R DL] - [DVD+R DL]
Manufacturer Name : [Mitsubishi Kagaku Media]
Manufacturer ID : [MKM]
Media Type ID : [001]
Product Revision : [Not Specified]
Blank Disc Capacity : [4,173,824 Sectors = 8.55 GB (7.96 GiB)]
Recording Speeds : [2.4x]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ DVD Identifier V5.2.0 - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com ]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------

[AkG]

Yup, good stuff. MKM is MCC, and MCC is MKM. MKM is Mitsubishi Kagaku Media. MCC is Mitsubishi Chemical Corp. Same copmany, dif label. You may also on rare occasion see Verbatium Made In Singapor. This is good top qualtiy MCC as well ;)

Also as a correction. Ritek USED to make the MCC stuff. Now its mainly CMC or Prodisc. IMHO From bad to worse. :(

[Ogdin]

I'm a loyal buyer of one brand only,and thats the cheapest one in the store. :)

[AkG]

Don't get me wrong Ogdin...I'm all about the bottom line too. But when I can get the top of the line TY for 43 cents a disc....or less, why bother with the crap media which is only a few pennies cheaper?

[BT!]

right now i'm using sony dvd+r accucore rw, they seem to be good, they were free from a friend so i can't complain. :)

[Perineum]

Originally Posted by Ogdin

I'm a loyal buyer of one brand only,and thats the cheapest one in the store. :)

After burning something 3 times to have one of them work it is false economy to use crappy media.

It was pissing me off having to do something 3 times to get one proper result. I switched to Verbatim and now each burn is a successful one.

[1Tanker]

Originally Posted by AkG

TY and only TY.
Maxell and Memorex don't make their own discs. They are rebadges. Why pay more for a brand...which may not be as good quality as it used to be? IIRC both of them are now mainly Ritek rebadged shite. This excludes their expensive stuff which is archival quality, that is usually MAM-E’s best. Good stuff (cheaper mame is crap)…. BUT $$$.

For ALL "branded media" look on the label and see where they are made. Made in Japan = MCC or TY. Made in India = Moser Bauer shite (though can be good depedning on the line, more of a toss up with MII). Made in Taiwan is Ritek crap, Prodisc crap....or might be Optodisc (which may or may not suck).

Basically there are two brands which are any good and are affordable. Taiyo Yuden and MCC. Verbatium may or may not be MCC nowadays, Look at the label, IF its MIJ its MCC and made in MCC factory. MIT = MCC dyes make in Ritek, CMC or Prodisc factories under contract. While decent they still suck in comparison to real MCC. MII = Made In India. Moser Bauer Corp. Decent to bad depending on the batch. Also uses MCC dye under contract.

As for + vs. - it all depends on what burner you have and what reader you have. The reader doesn't matter much any more as its about the same for both nowadays. IF you have a -R consortium mfg'ers burner it will prefer -R as that is what mot of the firmware is refined for. IF +R...same thing except it will prefer +Rs. I prefer the +R as its a slightly better standard (+RW blows -RW out of the water) and that is what my burners prefer. If your burners prefer –R…feed it –R!

(This is the Coles notes version and not exactly totally correct…. but close enough w/ out 30pages to explain “properly”)
So why bother with one over the other? Better burns = longer life. All burned dvds decay. Pressed DVDs are metal with holes poked in it and they don’t decay. Writeable DVDs are a kludge in that your laser makes clear dye in the unused disc opaque, so that the reader laser (lower power) can read the difference and understand what is a 0 and what is a 1.

So the name of the game is lower PIE and PIFS. That’s Parity Inner Error and Parity Inner Failure. NO POFS (any parity outer errors are not acceptable IMHO as they are multiple failure!). These are correctable errors which happen. PIEs are in the data, PIFs are in the error correction for the data. As time goes by they increase in number as the dye decay. Good DVDs use a long life dye…cheaper companies use cheaper dyes but all decay. Depending on how you store them (out of the light, cool temps, low humidity the best) is how long they will last BUT good dye will give you more wiggle room!

Depending on your burner and how it tests (1 bit vs 8bit) when you test it will spit back numbers at you. The lower the PIF and POF the better. Mine are 8bit now and I like to see 0.1avg at the most for PIEs and under 200 (at the MOST) of PIFs. 0 POFS or it’s a coaster. When I was using Plextor which used the more precise but now oddball 1bit scheme. 0.1 was not acceptable and a liked to see 0.02avg. at the MOST (.02 x 8bits = 0.16avg in a 8bit burner). I won’t get into Jitter but the less difference and the close to a graphed flat line the better (usually!). These are extremley conservative numbers. Anyhting below 4.0 avg PIE is a consider a good burn by the specs! But you really want the PIE to be under 1...Like I said I'm ultra conservative. BUT with good media my numbers are not only doable but routine!

Test at least at 8x speed. Higher the speed the more conservative the number becomes (reader Has less time to mess with marginal pits and fails them). CDSpeed2000 is a good program to use for testing your burns quality but you may have to hack the registry as a couple mfg’ers DON’T want you to use it for whatever reason. If you have a liteon burner you may not be able to trust its results as some models were very liberal in their burn testing and passed stuff which should have been a fail. I don’t like Liteon burners so I can’t give more detail than that.

You will find that your burner will prefer a certain type, brand and speed. I used Plextor burners and Benqs now I use Samsung @ 16x w/ TY T04 +Rs. YMMV

The best place I have found for cheap and GOOD media is http://www.blankmedia.ca

The last time i bought DVD's was from FS...about 2-1/2 years ago. Maxells and Memorex. Got them in 2 different sales for $35/100 and $ 30/100...my Dad and i went in on, and split 700. Rarely ever any coasters, and we never have any problems with compatablility/playability(that includes others as well ).

[Kilauea]

Thanks a lot AkG for the Coles Notes... that was a lot more understandable than any else I have read about it anywhere on the Internet.