Verbatim Quality

[rahzel]

I have always used DVD-R since my Panasonic DVD player says it will only play DVD-R or DVD-RAM disks. I have had good luck with Maxell DVD-R (Japan MXL I.D.) or Sony DVD-R (Sony ID Taiwan) or Fuji (Fuji ID Taiwan)

I recently bought some Sony DVD+RW disks to test some backups on. I bitset or Booktype to DVD-ROM and they play fine in my Panasonic player. I just am in the habit of using the DVD-R format, the Verbatim DVD's in question are MCC03RG20 and the DVD media guide that some people have in there signatures rates them as first class. I was just amazed by how dirty they were. I bought them in Canada from Futureshop for 29.99 for a cake tower of 100 smoken deal but I didn't count on checking them befoire I use them.

the media guide most people have in their sigs is (im guessing) the one at the "DigitalFAQ" which is NOT a good media guide. there is a big thread over at CDFreaks where pretty much EVERYONE is making fun of it and the author is trying to defend himself.

Maxell MIJ DVD-R's are just as good as Maxell DVD+R's, i agree. i havent tried any Sony MIT or Fuji MIT media personally so i cannot comment. but generally, Fuji DVDR's are pretty crappy these days (with exception to their MIJ media which is Taiyo Yuden but even some of ther MIJ DVD's are questionable).

as for RW media, DVD+RW is also generally better than -RW. Sony MIJ and Verbatim DVD+RW's are probably the best you can get.

[rahzel]

I have been buying quite a bit of Verbatim + media for a long while and they are all MCC004, have yet to come across any that say CMC or any other ID.

BTW, CMC 'pretty good'?? Must be some nice herbs you been smokin..... J/K

read me and Chewy's post regarding MCC media being outsourced. did you notice that your verbatim DVD's are made in Taiwan or india? Mitsubishi doesnt have a plant in taiwan, only in japan and singapore. mitsubishi stopped making single layer media in their singapore plant quite a while ago; they only produce DL media there now.

as for CMC media, say what you want... i know quite a bit about recordable media and i know CMC media is pretty good. i know a lot of knowledgeable people who would agree with me as well. the "DigitalFAQ" media guide lists CMC media as being crap, but again, that guide is useless trash.

[MikeyBK]

I am stating my personal experience as to never having gotten anything else but MCC004 when purchasing my Verbatims, and I have gotten hundreds and hundreds already and with 99.99% success rate.

And as for CMC media, why is it that every forum has users that have major problems burning to that media?? Most can only get it to work by lowering the burn speed to 1/2 or even below, while a lot of them have very low successful burns with that nedia no matter what burn speed they use.

As for Digital FAQ, how is it that you would know more about media than they would? I'd be interested to know how you attained that knowledge, if you let me know, I'd be impressed.

[Art Vandelay]

Media Guide

Rahzel, do you know of another media guide that is upto date and reliable? I was using this guide:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

Thanks in advance,

Art Vandelay

Importer/Exporter
Master of his Domain

[MikeyBK]

I'd be interested to know of a better media info site as well.

One thing I know for sure is that Verbatims and TYs have given me high success rates and great video playback quality, while media such as Memorex has been hit or miss and results in back-ups that seem to have quality playback issues.

[rahzel]

I am stating my personal experience as to never having gotten anything else but MCC004 when purchasing my Verbatims, and I have gotten hundreds and hundreds already and with 99.99% success rate.

And as for CMC media, why is it that every forum has users that have major problems burning to that media?? Most can only get it to work by lowering the burn speed to 1/2 or even below, while a lot of them have very low successful burns with that nedia no matter what burn speed they use.

As for Digital FAQ, how is it that you would know more about media than they would? I'd be interested to know how you attained that knowledge, if you let me know, I'd be impressed.

re-read my post (i edited it). ALL mitsubishi single layer media is outsourced but have the media code "MCC". the media code will not tell you the true manufacturer of the DVD these days

all DVD's have problems here and there, and again, there are different grades of CMC media. the CMC media youll find in say memorex will probably be worse than CMC media found in Maxell or HP.

The DigitalFAQ was written by a guy under the alias "LordSmurf". he gets most of his info is from people he knows, not from personal experience. again, there is a thread over at CDFreaks where pretty much EVERYONE is making fun of it and hes defending himself. just search the forums at cdfreaks or cdrlabs and ill bet youll find lots of negative things about the DigitalFAQ media guide.
as for where i get my knowledge; personal experience, visiting various messageboards regarding recordable media, i know someone who does reviews for CDRLabs.com (not personally) and he knows more about recordable media than anyone i know. he has contacts with many DVD manufacturers, so he knows when stuff is going to happen, before it happens. hes the one who told me Verbatim is going to start outsourcing their DL media.

as for a media guide that is more reliable and up-to-date, unfortunately, there isnt one that i know of. i did make a fairly long post on the media I recommend here: http://forum.digital-digest.com/show...7&postcount=13

[rahzel]

I'd be interested to know of a better media info site as well.

One thing I know for sure is that Verbatims and TYs have given me high success rates and great video playback quality, while media such as Memorex has been hit or miss and results in back-ups that seem to have quality playback issues.

i fully agree ;]. Verbatim and TY DVDR's are good and i wouldnt touch any Memorex media.

[MikeyBK]

Thanks for the answer
I'll wait for a good link for a better media guide, if anyone knows of one.


I have yet to see decent CMC media.

As for outsourced Verbatims made in Taiwan, are you aware that those 'outsourced' Verbs are made using Mitsubishi Chemicals production methods under strict Mitsubishi Chemicals guidelines even though the plant is in Taiwan? I just gotta remember where I viewed the press release, if I find it I'll post the link. But basically it is produced using the same materials and methods, just geographically different.

[rahzel]

Thanks for the answer
I'll wait for a good link for a better media guide, if anyone knows of one.


I have yet to see decent CMC media.

As for outsourced Verbatims made in Taiwan, are you aware that those 'outsourced' Verbs are made using Mitsubishi Chemicals production methods under strict Mitsubishi Chemicals guidelines even though the plant is in Taiwan? I just gotta remember where I viewed the press release, if I find it I'll post the link. But basically it is produced using the same materials and methods, just geographically different.

yes, i am. i did not say one bad thing about Verbatim media... i like verbatim media! all i said is all single layer verbatim media is outsourced to CMC Magnetics, Prodisc and Moser Baer. all 3 manufacturers are supposed to make the media up to Mitsubishi's standards, but CMC and Moser Baer have much better quality control than Prodisc does (Prodisc as a manufacturer is not very good). i've actually had bad experiences with Prodisc made Verbatim DVD+R's.

for anyone who cares, heres the thread at CDFreaks regarding the DigitalFAQ:

http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=181352&highlight=digitalfaq

btw, the guy i get a lot of my info from is dolphinius rex (aka The Digital Dolphin).
heres where he critics the digitalfaq one by one.

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3353586&postcount=97

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/showpost.php?p=3353593&postcount=98

[MikeyBK]

How do you know that CMC, Moser, or Prodisc makes Verbs? And how did you know the Verbs you say you had a bad experience with was made by Prodisc?

[blutach]

The arguments here are very interesting. If you head over to the ImgBurn Forum, you will see tests on most media with pretty pictures to back 'em up, showing PI/PIF/Jitter (which is how, technically, you can judge).

In reality, trust Verbs and TY. Give the rest to people you don't like.

Regards

[MikeyBK]

In reality, trust Verbs and TY. Give the rest to people you don't like.

Regards

Now that's the best advice I've heard this century!!! OK maybe not LOL , but still very good advice all the same.

[Chewy]

the clue for mbi verbatim is the made in India, and for differentiating prodisc from cmc made in tawain you have to use serial numbers and cake box.

these are common knowledge and undisputed over at cdfreaks, verbatim did make sl's in singapore, one of blutach's favorite media.

I have had at least a 2-3% failure rate with mcc004's but almost all those were in one set of disks from a spindle of 100.

MBI, cmc and even prodisc have made some good media on their own, it's just not consistent. I even had a memorex G05 that still scanned good after 2 years. It's all about averages. Every now and then I run accross a bad tyg02 or yuden t02.

[Chewy]

If you head over to the ImgBurn Forum, you will see tests on most media with pretty pictures to back 'em up, showing PI/PIF/Jitter (which is how, technically, you can judge).

Unfortunately they are fairly limited to media available in their region, there should have been a more balanced wide spread testing with statistically larger samples.

[rahzel]

How do you know that CMC, Moser, or Prodisc makes Verbs? And how did you know the Verbs you say you had a bad experience with was made by Prodisc?

Mitsubishi is a japanese company with a manufacturting plant in singapore. they do not have a manufacturing plant in taiwan or india. if you notice, 99% of verbatim's single layer media is either made in taiwan or india. as Chewy said, they USED to make single layer media in singapore, but those days are gone. they only produce DL media in their singapore plant. also, again, i get a lot of my info from dolphinius rex who has contacts with many DVD manufacturers, including Verbatim.

as for determining if theyre CMC or Prodisc made, i mentioned how earlier in this thread:

theres a few ways you can tell if theyre prodisc or CMC made. if theyre CMC made, the inner clear ring will have a serial number that usually starts with the letters PAPAxxxxx. Prodisc made has a serial (in the same location) but their serials are a series of numbers/letters with a + or - in the middle (indicating DVD+R or DVD-R).

the other way will help you when you're actually buying them, because obviously you cant see the serials in the packaging. CMC and Prodisc use different cakeboxes or spindles and both have the words "OPEN" and "LOCK" on the top of them; but CMC uses a TIMES NEW ROMAN font and Prodisc uses an ARIAL font.

it has been proven time and time again that these methods work. also, the other reason we know why by the serials is because those serial numbers are similar to what CMC/Prodisc use with their own media.