My dvd recorder and computer both support both formats. I've been having trouble recording dvd's on my computer (sony 16x dvd+r - tried all different recording speeds). It has been suggested that I try a different brand, so I think I'll try Verbatim. But should I swtich to DVD -r as well? I'm not even sure what the differences are or why you would pick one or the other. I just have what I've got because that's what they sell at Costco.

1st choice: Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R, Premium line. Available online (www.supermediastore.com and others ).

Verbatim's are good, but look for 8x.

What brand recorder do you have? Some are better with DVD+R.

I have a panasonic DVD recorder, and an HP combuter with an HP DVD burner.

I have a panasonic DVD recorder, and an HP combuter with an HP DVD burner.Then definitely DVD-R.

What Rammitinski said: start buying Taiyo Yuden online. Like it or not, the days of usable media available at the convenient local superstore are OVER- totally. Nothing sold in stores works anymore in DVD recorders unless the machine is brand spanking new. The Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R is the only media still made in Japan to the specs most DVD recorders were designed for. Stock up on it. The 16x media in stores became a loss-leader blowout item in early 2007, mfrs lose money on it so they cut corners right and left, with broad compatibility the first thing to go. Cheap 16x media in retail superstores is designed to be barely passable for PC use, period. Forget it if you have a standalone recorder: go TY, all the way, and save yourself wasted time, money and aggravation.

Aside from supermedia store.com and rima.com, a good source for TY premium is avendirect: I've ordered twelve 100-paks of TY 8x Premium from them this past year, all arrived safely and were legit. avendirect also has an eBay store for those who prefer that. Last week when I ordered a couple spindles I noticed the price had dropped significantly, now seems a good time to buy if you're running out of 'em:).

I'll order what you all suggest - never received bad advice on the forum yet. But why -r instead of +r. All of my hardware says it supports both. Also, one unrelated question. How do you clean a dvd burner on a computer. The cleaner dvd I bought works fine on my standalone dvd recorder and players, as well as the dvd player on the computer, but not the dvd burner. thanks

How do you clean a dvd burner on a computer. The cleaner dvd I bought works fine on my standalone dvd recorder and players, as well as the dvd player on the computer, but not the dvd burner. thanks

The question concerning a "cleaner dvd" raises another question: What is that "cleaner dvd" meant to clean? Yes, there are lens cleaning discs. But I've yet to hear that any disc cleans the rubber hub on the DVD drive spindle.

There has been advice, including photos, concerning hub/spindle cleaning for Panasonic DVD recorders. See this post and those that follow it:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=14479898#post14479898

As to other brand DVD recorders and computer DVD burners, access to the rubber hub may or may not be as easy as it is on a Panasonic.

You are correct. The "cleaner dvd" that I have only cleans the lens. However, it doesn't work on the dvd burner on my computer.

Sorry, didn't mean to ignore your "+R, -R" question. The answer is, these days it doesn't matter + or -, what matters is whether the disc is usable in your recorder. There are theoretical advantages to +R over -R but in the real world of video recorders no one gives a damn. The best Taiyo Yuden discs are -R, so thats what a lot of members use and recommend. If the TY +R was better, we'd be using that, but it isn't. Some older recorders were designed to record on +R only, because their makers didn't want to pay license fees for -R and instead chose to join the +R splinter group which was really more about mfr politics than any real benefit to + over -. If you have one of those older units, of course you need to buy +R, otherwise aside from price-shopping there's no advantage to it over -R when used in recorders.

All that applies to the write-once stuff. If you make heavy use of rewritables, +R/W is considered more robust in some quarters than -R/W, because of its more elaborate and sophisticated formatting routines. DVD-RAM is actually the best media for repeated re-use, but is not compatible with many standard DVD players and is more expensive per disc. Most recorders can't burn it, but its popular on the Panasonic and newer Pioneer machines, and PC drives.

Just placed my order with supermediastore for 200 TY premium 8x and 100 Verbatims 8x DVD-Rs. My Panny DMR-E85 hasn't had any trouble with the 16x media I've fed it, but as long as 8x is still available, I'll stick with it. Also, I notice that the burns seem to take longer first time I use a new brand of media. Do these machines have some sort of "learning" capability to adapt to different media and save the profile in memory?

I've also used Sony and Maxell from Best Buy without problems, but all were bought before the beginning of last year, so my mileage may not be typical of the current product.

I tend to keep several different batches of media on hand and rotate through them to spread my eggs into different baskets. I figure that if I get a bad batch that degrades overly fast in storage and become unplayable, I won't lose everything I recorded during the period when I was using it. Anybody else do that, or am I just paranoid?

I also tend to burn two discs (using separate brands, of course) of anything mildly important. Anybody do that?

I tend to keep several different batches of media on hand and rotate through them to spread my eggs into different baskets. I figure that if I get a bad batch that degrades overly fast in storage and become unplayable, I won't lose everything I recorded during the period when I was using it. Anybody else do that, or am I just paranoid?

I also tend to burn two discs (using separate brands, of course) of anything mildly important. Anybody do that?

Ditto on both questions:D. My primary media is the TY but I try to rotate some things to Sony and Verbatim, and also archive important stuff on TY and something else, just in case. This worked well for a couple years until 2007 when Verbatim whored itself out to the cheapest possible fabricators, and a few months ago when Sony moved most of their production from Taiwan to Malaysia. Current Verbatims won't burn in anything I own, including newish PCs, and the current Sonys have upped their coaster rate from 1 out of 50 to 10 out of 50. Not good. I'm thankful that TY is still making traditional DVD-R media, but I hate that they're the only ones. It was a comfort to have backups on different dye formulas, just in case, but that option seems to have disappeared. Hopefully TY storage life is as excellent as their compatibility and burnability.

I'm still using sony + and officedepot +RW.
Never had any problems with them.

They work in my old computer, new computer, old DVR recorder and my newer magnavox 2080.
They both are in stores near me !

YMMV

And if you have to have it forever, you better back it up to a harddrive. They be cheap now !

James

Current Verbatims are burning just fine in my 2006 Pio 640. :D

I have been reading raves about TY disks here for years, but never ordered any because I was so satisfied with Sony DVD-R/RWs. Although I was somewhat disappointed when they moved production from Japan to Taiwan, I continued to buy after finding they also had a 0% coaster rate with my Pioneer 520Hs and 640Hs. As CitiBear mentioned above, Sony has now moved production to Malaysia. I was dumbfounded when I saw this on the spindles at Staples a few weeks ago [I was planning to buy a spindle for my cousin's children to go with their other Christmas gifts].

When my current supply of Sony DVD-Rs gets low, I shall be placing my first order for TY.

Although people are discussing -R and +R here, what is the best DVD-RW media these days? On these I am running low. My current ones are 'vintage,' Made in Japan Sonys.

As a seldom used addition: If you are interested in DL disks, I have never seen any real -R DL disks worth using, but Verbatim has some very good +R DL disks, but be careful of where they were made. Singapore disks work well for me, but I hve been warned to stay away from the ones made in India, or elsewhere.

I know, a niche market within an already niche market.

For your DVD R/W needs, try a small package of the Sonys you're used to, even if they are made in Malaysia, and see what happens. Because they can charge a slight premium for DVD R/W and it is less subject to rapid design changes, there hasn't been quite the dramatic quality/compatibility decline we've seen in write-once DVD+-R media. R/W quality has slipped a bit, but most of the major players are still making passable R/W media. Use whatever works for as long as it works, and don't stock up heavily unless you're quite sure of a particular batch.

(BTW, Chrurch AV Guy has my favorite signature in ages: it applies to so many circumstances;)!)

Sony has now moved production to Malaysia. I was dumbfounded when I saw this on the spindles at Staples a few weeks ago [I was planning to buy a spindle for my cousin's children to go with their other Christmas gifts].

When my current supply of Sony DVD-Rs gets low, I shall be placing my first order for TY.

Although people are discussing -R and +R here, what is the best DVD-RW media these days? On these I am running low. My current ones are 'vintage,' Made in Japan Sonys.

Not to discourage you from buying Tys, but at my local chain stores, Sony 100 packs are still MIT. I've had good luck with them, but use mostly Verbs.

For -RWs, I've never had a problem with Verbs. I have had a problem or two with Maxells.

I have used these Verbatim 8X DVD-R disc for years without any problems recoding on my Plextor DVD burner.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817130979

They can playback on any DVD player that I've tried.

At first, I tried the 16X disc, but some players had problems reading it. I changed to 8X and the problem stoped. Not once have I had a "coaster".

The "pro" series 8x Verbatim DataLife are very, very good: if you can get your hands on them, they should be roughly equal to TY. Most of the 8x Verbs being sold come from older batches of the good stuff. The new 16x consumer Verbs sold in office supply chains are horrible and have nothing whatever to do with "classic" Verbatim manufacturing or quality control.

I just bought some new Verbatim + and some Sony +. They are stuff ya'll call junk.
They work just fine in my computers and DVR's, I must be lucky ! Have used 5 of
each and checked them and all is fine. If that changes as I record the rest
I'll post back. Harddrive on my Mag 2080 was about half full.

Sure am enjoying the last season of Atlantis(putting on sony DVD's), not great but okay.
The Verbatim are getting old SG1's and BTVS.

James

I just bought some new Verbatim + and some Sony +. They are stuff ya'll call junk. They work just fine in my computers and DVR's, I must be lucky !

There are varying degrees of "junk": there is junk that's known to disintegrate quickly even if you manage to burn it (more common a couple years ago), and then there's stuff we call "junk" because it is not compatible with our hardware and we can't reliably burn it. Theres a range of each type, and you make your own judgement call based on your own hardware and experience. With desktop computers, you have more leeway: if you notice you suddenly can't burn a lot of different media brands you bought recently, its easy enough to yank the burner out, spend $30 on a new one, and burn away on nearly any media for another year until the media idiots change the compatibility baseline again. With many laptops and all standalone recorders, whose burners can't be swapped out or updated, the window of media compatibility shrinks rapidly until you find nothing will burn except TY or other slower "pro" grade 8x media. DVD recorders are a dead issue as far as mfrs are concerned, only a tiny fraction of blank media goes to home video consumers, so the mfrs gamble they can cheapen the discs to a point where they only work on brand new computer drives and a handful of newish recorders.

This is a moving target: PC users won't be satisfied until DVD media sells for $4.99/100, the mfrs are only too happy to sell unburnable sh*t at that price point, and the burner mfrs have a field day selling you a new burner every year to keep up with newer more borderline discs. Everybody's happy except us poor souls who actually still prefer using standalone recorders: we're left in the lurch. It's bad enough if you're using a classic DVD/HDD recorder: you can at least keep recordings safe on the hard drive until you get a stash of good media. But pity the consumers with DVD-only machines that rely on direct-to-the-blank-DVD recording: if your recorder gags on the spindle you just picked up at OfficeMax, you miss out on the program altogether. Not fun.

Be careful what you wish for: we almost never had these problems when name brands sold for $39/100. Now, with $19/100 in every superstore Sunday Sale, we play Russian Roulette. The surviving good stuff, like the TY and Verb DataLife 8x, still costs about $35/100. That's the lowest price they can sell for without cutting corners. Considering VHS tape bottomed out at $2 each, 35 cents for a good DVD-R is a steal in my book.

So what do you think about the 8x stuff that BESTBUY sells ?
Bought three boxes of the sony +, just in case the 16x ones turned
out to be trash.


http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=7269243&type=product&id=1117177899206

Also one of these:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=6260878&type=product&id=1072284520757

James

The new 16x consumer Verbs sold in office supply chains are horrible and have nothing whatever to do with "classic" Verbatim manufacturing or quality control.

I've burned at least 200 of the new Verbs on my Pio 640, and have had no problems. I've been watching things I burned months ago on my Oppo 980, and they look fine. I have saved a couple of hundred old MIT Verbs, just in case I start having problems with the new ones, or have a special project I'd hate to have problems with.

So what do you think about the 8x stuff that BESTBUY sells ? Bought three boxes of the sony +, just in case the 16x ones turned out to be trash.

Interesting! I've never looked at the Best Buy website, only checked the actual stores, where they never sell 8x Sony and rarely have the "Movie Reel" 8x Verbatims. The website must do closeouts on overstock- very cool. Anyways the older 8x Sony +R was great, and the BB web price is a steal: I'd definitely give those a try if your hardware burns +R. The "Movie Reel" 8x Verbatims tend to be overpriced because of the fancy label design, which is actually a pain because it doesn't provide much space to write disc info. The discs themselves were usually very good, comparable to the Verb 8x DataLife, although statistically more people complain about the "Movie Reel" version not working as well. Even on closeout, they aren't cost-effective unless you are making discs for friends and think the fancy label will make a better impact. For normal day-to-day use and archiving, the 8x DataLife version is a little to a lot cheaper than the "Movie Reels" and has a somewhat better track record.

I once bought a 25-pack of those "Movie Reel" discs, and probably less than half of them burned on any of my recorders - even my PC - so the batch was definitely bad. I wouldn't ever recommend buying those myself.

Best Buy used to sell a 10 or 12 pack of 8x Verbatims (in single DVD cases) that worked very well for me. Don't know if they still carry 'em. More expensive, but they're better. It's too bad Sam's doesn't sell the 8x cakes anymore. That was the store to buy them at.

There not closeouts around here they have them in store all the time.

BTW, the 16x are still doing well, no coaster yet. I'm watching SG1
I recorded before I worried about what I put them on. A lot of
TDK,Maxwell and few of them there widely trashed Memorex. All
look and play great in my 4 year old compaq 2105us.

Also have 5 boxes of these :

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=5388396&type=product&id=1051826235006

They record great, bought them ages ago, says 6.00 per box on the bill.

I must be real lucky, I use new and old computers, DVR's and I haven't had a coaster this year.

The last trouble I had was with my SV 2000, it don't like any DVD-RW's or DVD-R's, only likes +'s.

James

I must be real lucky, I use new and old computers, DVR's and I haven't had a coaster this year.

The last trouble I had was with my SV 2000, it don't like any DVD-RW's or DVD-R's, only likes +'s.

James
Yeah, you're real lucky and we're real dumb... You should try a smarter forum.

Yeah, you're real lucky and we're real dumb... You should try a smarter forum.No need to insult. His points are valid and his observations are believable. Just because a particular disk is rated poorly doesn't mean everyone has had problems with them -- just a large majority. His experience is on the other side of the fence. The same goes the other way. I have used T-Y media exclusively for years and never had a problem like most posters here, yet I have read posts in this forum from users who have -- isolated posts but none the less valid data points.

No need to insult. His points are valid and his observations are believable.
Sure, and all his edits go down without a hitch, too. The ones that the Philips/Mag don't permit. Anyway, point taken...

I recently purchased a Panasonic DVD recorder (dmr ex28) at Best Buy to replace our Toshiba combo dvd/vcr recorder. I bought it thinking that the Toshiba was going belly up since alot of the recordings I've tried to make turn out with pixelation, coasters I believe is the term.

The brand new panasonic is doing the same already. Now that I see these posts, I wonder if it is the discs. I buy the TDK stacks at Costco when they go on sale and they are -R. Should I experiment with +R. Sorry, I am not as technical on this stuff as you all are but would appreciate your input.

I recently purchased a Panasonic DVD recorder (dmr ex28) at Best Buy to replace our Toshiba combo dvd/vcr recorder. I bought it thinking that the Toshiba was going belly up since alot of the recordings I've tried to make turn out with pixelation, coasters I believe is the term.

The brand new panasonic is doing the same already. Now that I see these posts, I wonder if it is the discs. I buy the TDK stacks at Costco when they go on sale and they are -R. Should I experiment with +R. Sorry, I am not as technical on this stuff as you all are but would appreciate your input.

There may be a number of reasons for pixelation, usually related to signal source quality.

A "coaster" is a failed disc, usually a problem in the recording or finalization process.

If your recordings are of poor quality try a recording speed that yields better quality. On my Panasonics I most often use SP (two hour), LP (four hour) or FR (when FR it is near or better than the LP speed).

Panasonic recorders are frendlier with "-R" media than "+R" media.

The TDKs at CostCo are about the worst possible choice for standalone DVD recorders. They are just barely burnable with a brand new PC, but most DVD recorders have a hard time with them. That said, DigaDo is probably closer to answering your question: when discs fail, they don't work, period. Pixelation is usually caused by using the recording speeds you grew accustomed to with VHS. If you're not too particular, 6-hour VHS slp mode is watchable, but 6-hour SLP dvd recording is disgusting. With blank DVD-R costing one/eighth the price of a T120, there's no need to economize by using the crummy slower speeds unless you have a very long show to timeshift. Even then, you should rarely need to go longer than LP/4-hour on DVD. Panasonics are noted for having better-than-average LP recording, don't go any slower than that and you should see notable improvements.

This also depends somewhat on your TV display- the humongous jumbo plasma and LCD displays choke on anything less than a full HDTV cable signal. Standard-def DVD-R looks pretty awful on a lot of them.

The trend I am seeing (based on reading stuff here) suggests that 8x media seems to be the "sweetspot". I don't know why this is, but my own experiences concur that 8x media has been the prudent choice. That makes me wonder, what is it (that makes them so iffy) about 16x, then? They have been touted as the more universally compatible grade of media with that "1-16x" spiel. Was there really anything "1-16x" about them, or was that purely a marketing buzzword?

Why isn't there just a more pronounced presence of 8x media for every store shelf, if that works out to be the media that causes the least fuss? Are they under the gun to be phased out, despite this admirable quality? I am tempted to buy an extra big stack of 8x media next time around because of all this 16x talk, but I find all of this disc media stuff really boggling, overall. Maybe there isn't any "correct" choice at this point- just a ticking timeline where you can count on your dvd recorder to cease to be usable? (I guess what I am wondering about is why don't they just make 8x media the eternal legacy standard? I have read nothing, so far, that assures me that they will be around forever.)

When Verbatim first announced their new 16X media, they said they had "extended" their 8X formula, instead of announcing a NEW formula... sounded like one of their mad scientists added a little WD40 to make it go faster, then immediately patented it as "MCCD40"? :D

The 16x fiasco has several factors involved in it. Probably the first is, there was no real need for it beyond being a marketing stunt: other than crazed teenagers who just could not tolerate waiting an extra 75 seconds to pirate their friends DVDs, there is no pressing practical need for 16x. It wasn't until this year that the majority of burners in stores could actually even burn this garbage anywhere near 16x anyway: you were lucky if you got 12x and that was a stretch.

The second factor was the usual suspects: we cheapskates here in the USA market. We wag the dog. There is a minimum cost to produce widely-compatible, reliable DVD media. That cost is about 30 cents per DVD-R. We refused to pay it: once the idiots who run OfficeMax and Staples decided it would be a great idea to flush recordable media down the toilet as a loss leader for Sunday circulars, all selection of decent media disappeared within six months. All the major brands decided it wasn't worth their time to even produce the damn things anymore for $19.95/100: they stampeded to sign OEM contracts with the CMC conglomerate, a junk factory if there ever was one. 4 out of 5 brand names are now selling the exact same crap CMC discs, the only difference is the brand stencil. If it isn't CMC, its Ritek, which is arguably worse.

Even once-flawless Verbatim gave up and turned production over to CMC, except Verbatim was very clever: they sent up a smokescreen to the effect they had "licensed" CMC to use their formulas and patents and that Verbatim techs would be "supervising" production. They also insisted CMC code the discs with the original MCC codes, so the gearheads who look at such codes would be lulled. And for a short while, they stuck to the plan and all was well. Until mid-2007 when all hell broke loose and it became clear that the only thing "Verbatim" about the media was the MCC code. The Verbatim on superstore shelves today burns about as well as TDK- which is to say not at all.

It didn't HAVE to go down this way. When Verbatim was actually still making their own 16x media, and it sold for $39.95/100, it was in fact as good as their 8x was. The exact same thing happened with Sony: the 8x was great, the early 16x nearly as good, current Sony 16x only burns with a blowtorch. Meanwhile, the still-made-in-Japan-to-2004-specs Taiyo Yuden 8x media is still fantastic- and still costs around $36/100. You get what you pay for. Pray the TY media division endures long term, because this is the only remaining disc thats guaranteed to burn in any hardware of any vintage, even if its half-dead.

I have to agree with you on media progressive degredation. Just a few years ago there were several brands to choose from, many good to very good. Today that is just not the case. With that in mind, I have stockpiled almost 2000 TY 8x blanks. I assume that this is a silly thing to do, but if I'm wrong, I'll be happy to have them.

It surprises a lot of people that the quality of DVD blanks is so important. Much of the blank media produces 30%-50% burn failures. With video tape, that wasn't as much of an issue. Almost everything worked, some better than others, but you could always get a picture of some variable quality. With a digital media, if it passes a threshold, it becomes unusable, and you get a coaster! :mad:

The Mythbusters did a program about CDs at high speed, and they concluded that at a certain angular velocity, the disk itself stops being "flat" and develops a wave pattern. This makes it virtually impossible for the laser to remain focused on the media as the actual distance from the emitter to the disk surface changes. The speed at which this happens is dependent on many things, but in general, the 8x dvd angualr velocity does not cause this, but by 16x, the wave begins to appear. This is why so many sources have identified 16x as the theoretical maximum angular rate possible with DVD media. I think some drives are pushing 20x now, but they must have some reliability issues with their burns at that speed.

I am sticking with 8x. :D The time savings is not significant going to 16x.

Heck, I even still use 4x on my E85H when I can find them. (Actually, I just found a whole spindle of Maxell 4x -R MIJ's not long ago.)

I have to agree with you on media progressive degredation. Just a few years ago there were several brands to choose from, many good to very good. Today that is just not the case. With that in mind, I have stockpiled almost 2000 TY 8x blanks. I assume that this is a silly thing to do, but if I'm wrong, I'll be happy to have them.

I am sticking with 8x. :D The time savings is not significant going to 16x.

With orders since late November my TY 8X Premium Line DVD-R stock went up to 1,200 discs. Between my daughter and I that number has fallen below 1,000. I hope to purchase more TYs as finances permit.

There are still two hundred Sony 16X DVD-R and one hundred Sony 16X DVD+R discs (all Malaysia) on hand. One spindle of each are inkjet printable. I'm not quite sure how to use these Sonys. Yes, I know, landfill!

burns about as well as TDK- which is to say not at all.
current Sony 16x only burns with a blowtorch.

:eek:Call me a masochist but I just bought 200 more of those printable Sonys at Costco with their BOGO coupon. I think I'll hold off on any more TDKs though. I guess you all can't be wrong:D
I like the blowtorch reference, Citibear has a way with words;)

:eek:Call me a masochist but I just bought 200 more of those printable Sonys at Costco with their BOGO coupon. I think I'll hold off on any more TDKs though. I guess you all can't be wrong:D
I like the blowtorch reference, Citibear has a way with words;)

That's right, the Costco coupon brought the 200 Sonys in at less than fifteen cents per disc. A Staples ad was priced matched at Best Buy and a $15 rewards coupon brought a 100 Sony spindle down to less than $8. Where's my blowtorch.

Although, I've never had much problem with any purchase media, and my choices have been just verbatim and memorex. Memorex was the first as when I bought my EH85 I unknowingly picked up a spindle at walmart. I know have a 50/50 mix of stored discs verbatim and memorex. I've probably had maybe 3 to 4 out of 450 that were coasters because of disc quality. None the less, I think I'll order a spindle of the TYs as that is about as cheap as the local superstore variety on sale.

Just a question, what about DL discs. I went to the media superstore link. No TY dual layer, just ritex, memorex and verbatim. Any recommendations on dual layer discs. I have a EZ-27 that records in dual layer and for anything greater than 3 hours, I like to use DL.

My recommendation for dl discs on an ez-series...NOT Memorex. ;)

I have successfully used dl discs on my own ez17 from jvc (they do seem to have narrowed in on the 8x flavor for all of their offerings, so maybe there is a connection that they are catering to the same needs that we are seeking). Seems like I am the only one that uses that brand here, so I cannot exactly say there is much consensus on how good they are over the longterm. All I can say is that they have not caused me any grief in the 2 yrs (maybe 3?) that I have continued to use them.

Just a question, what about DL discs. I went to the media superstore link. No TY dual layer, just ritex, memorex and verbatim. Any recommendations on dual layer discs. I have a EZ-27 that records in dual layer and for anything greater than 3 hours, I like to use DL.
From what I have been told, and advice I have followed myself, stick with Verbatim DVD +R DL. Make absolutely sure they are made in Singapore and NOT India. The NERDS.NET web site even lists the country of origin on their description page.

I did find this buried in my email someone had sent me.

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

Man, things are looking grim for 8x dvd-r. Today, when I went to my usual place to pick up an extra big stack of jvc dvd-r (Fry's), that shelf was bare! :eek: I hope that is just a temporary condition, or maybe they are gone for good?

Even if it is just a temporary condition, I think your assessment is corrrect:
things are looking grim for 8x dvd-r

What do you guys think of Memorex DVD+R 16x? Ive used them for a long time now, and i never have issues.

Anyway, thanks for the tip on the TY 8x media.

What do you guys think of Memorex DVD+R 16x? Ive used them for a long time now, and i never have issues.


:eek:I want you to buy my lottery ticket;)

Memorex is generally considered by most people here on this forum, and other places who rigorously test media, to be near worthless junk. Your experiences of no problems is unusual. Normally people here have reported high percentage of failures on initial burn. The normal advice is to avoid these disks completely. Your having no issues with them is a statistical anomaly.

Memorex is generally considered by most people here on this forum, and other places who rigorously test media, to be near worthless junk. Your experiences of no problems is unusual. Normally people here have reported high percentage of failures on initial burn. The normal advice is to avoid these disks completely. Your having no issues with them is a statistical anomaly.

Wow thanks for that i guess ...:eek:

Yeah ive bought 50 and 100 packs of the Memorex 16x DVD+R's... and i might make 2 coasters per bundle on a bad week. Usually there are no problems at all ... i guess ill switch to the TY 8x's.

I doubt it matters, but i usually burn with the latest version of NERO, and my DVD burner is a lite-on LH20A1S.

Wow thanks for that i guess ...:eek:

Yeah ive bought 50 and 100 packs of the Memorex 16x DVD+R's... and i might make 2 coasters per bundle on a bad week. Usually there are no problems at all ... i guess ill switch to the TY 8x's.

I doubt it matters, but i usually burn with the latest version of NERO, and my DVD burner is a lite-on LH20A1S.

Generally, when the discussion on this forum turns to blank media the context is media used in DVD recorders, not computer DVD burners. Perhaps your computer's DVD burner is more forgiving than DVD burners found in stand-alone DVD recorders.

The last Memorex 16X spindle of 100 DVD-R blanks I used in early 2007 had recording/finalizing failures from one in every six discs when used with my several Panasonic DVD recorders or combo recorders. At that time I pulled the Memorex discs out of service, discarding most of them, and substituted another major brand. That put an immediate end to disc recording/finalizing errors with my several Panasonics. No more Memorex discs have been purchased since that time.

One of my friends is gradually copying his library of Memorex discs to better quality media. I have, at the very least, several hundred Memorex discs in my archive. (My DVD index, currently with around 21,500 titles, does not identify the media brand.) I have randomly sampled several Memorex discs (dating from the 2005-2007 period) that may still play, but I have found more than a few that may not be copied directly by Roxio 8 or 9 suites with my Dell XP MCE 2005 computers with (genuine) NEC 3500 series or Philips 8800 series DVD burners. Some of these Memorex discs may be backed up with DVD Shrink and then burned to better quality media. Other deteriorating Memorex discs are considered as lost but are being retained in the archive for possible future recovery attempts. This would be a time consuming project that I do not wish to undertake just yet. My only consolation is that during the 2005-2007 period I regularly rotated between TDK, Maxell, Verbatim, Memorex and a few other brands that were produced to a higher standard than was Memorex media. Some of us have learned the hard way about use of inferior media.

In November 2008 I switched over from Maxell and Sony to near exclusive use of TY 8X Premium Line DVD-R discs, now with around 1,000 blanks on hand, but I expect to order another 1,200 as my finances permit.

I still have a few Sony 16X discs on hand, 200 DVD-R and 100 DVD+R discs, and a few Maxell 16X and Verbatim 8X discs, perhaps only thirty or so. I had started encountering a few problematic 16X Verbatim discs so I stopped purchasing that brand. Once I heard that TDK was no longer producing their own discs I started purchasing Sony discs that have performed satisfactorily. The Maxell discs have also performed satisfactorily.

Once media burns and finalizes the bigger question becomes how well the media may age. Perhaps even the best quality media may deteriorate with time. We'll just have to wait and see.

Memorex is generally considered by most people here on this forum, and other places who rigorously test media, to be near worthless junk. Your experiences of no problems is unusual. Normally people here have reported high percentage of failures on initial burn. The normal advice is to avoid these disks completely. Back in the day, before I knew better, I bought a 50 spindle of Memorex -R and never had a problem burning them on my PC burners. I don't believe I made a single coaster. They just didn't play anymore after 6 months.

Yes, I was in fact talking about stand-alone recorders, not PC purners. It is a recorder forum after all. The media testing people stand by their results for quality testing.

For anyone interested in a serious assessment, try reading this (http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm).

Back in the day, before I knew better, I bought a 50 spindle of Memorex -R and never had a problem burning them on my PC burners. I don't believe I made a single coaster. They just didn't play anymore after 6 months.I had major problems with Memorex on several PC burners both at home and at work. I ceased and desisted buying any Memorex disc at that point and never used them on my Pioneer DVD/HDD recorder until my wife was given some 16X DVD-Rs as a present. Sure enough they gave her a number of burn problems and had pretty terrible error rates when I scanned the burns on my PC. Needless to say I'm still not buying them...

What Rammitinski said: start buying Taiyo Yuden online. Like it or not, the days of usable media available at the convenient local superstore are OVER- totally. Nothing sold in stores works anymore in DVD recorders unless the machine is brand spanking new. The Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R is the only media still made in Japan to the specs most DVD recorders were designed for. Stock up on it. The 16x media in stores became a loss-leader blowout item in early 2007, mfrs lose money on it so they cut corners right and left, with broad compatibility the first thing to go. Cheap 16x media in retail superstores is designed to be barely passable for PC use, period. Forget it if you have a standalone recorder: go TY, all the way, and save yourself wasted time, money and aggravation.

Aside from supermedia store.com and rima.com, a good source for TY premium is avendirect: I've ordered twelve 100-paks of TY 8x Premium from them this past year, all arrived safely and were legit. avendirect also has an eBay store for those who prefer that. Last week when I ordered a couple spindles I noticed the price had dropped significantly, now seems a good time to buy if you're running out of 'em:).

Being new to the DVD recorder world, I'm glad to see a thread like this before I make the mistake of buying unreliable media. I'm sold on TY 8x Premium (It looks like TYG02 is the media ID I'm after), but I notice they come in different varieties, such as: Silver Lacquer, White Inkjet, Silver Inkjet, Glossy White Inkjet, White Thermal (some say "Hub Printable" and a few say "Everest Hub Printable"). Should I care about any of this? I don't plan to make any fancy, professional looking discs with my printer...seems like a waste of ink and money to me, but maybe I just don't know what I'm missing (?).

I notice here (http://www.rima.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=R&Category_Code=TAIYOYUDEN#dvd-r) at rima.com, they have "Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 4.7GB, 8X, Silver Lacquer, 100-Pack" for $25.99 which seems like an unusually good bargain (and, yes, they are Premium Line -- not Value Line). In fact, it looks like rima.com ONLY sells Premium Line. So...is there something wrong with "Silver Lacquer" discs that make them much cheaper or is it just that you can't make fancy professional looking discs with this kind?

Supermediastore.com has a lot of good info on how to spot fakes (http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-how-to-tell-fake-or-real.html) and such. Theirs sell for $34.99 / 100 unless you want "Tape Wrap" which costs an extra $5. Does anyone recommend this...

Tape Wrapped - Packaging by Taiyo Yuden that is stronger than plastic wrap to prevent the discs from breaking apart easily during shipment.

Rima.com doesn't offer "Tape Wrap."

Also, any advice on good media cases? I'll probably be on the lookout for some eventually. I hate standard jewel cases. I just think whoever came up with those never thought a second about durability. Either the outside of the case cracks or the hub starts to give out...or both.

Being new to the DVD recorder world, I'm glad to see a thread like this before I make the mistake of buying unreliable media. I'm sold on TY 8x Premium (It looks like TYG02 is the media ID I'm after), but I notice they come in different varieties, such as: Silver Lacquer, White Inkjet, Silver Inkjet, Glossy White Inkjet, White Thermal (some say "Hub Printable" and a few say "Everest Hub Printable"). Should I care about any of this? I don't plan to make any fancy, professional looking discs with my printer...seems like a waste of ink and money to me, but maybe I just don't know what I'm missing (?).

I notice here (http://www.rima.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=R&Category_Code=TAIYOYUDEN#dvd-r) at rima.com, they have "Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 4.7GB, 8X, Silver Lacquer, 100-Pack" for $25.99 which seems like an unusually good bargain (and, yes, they are Premium Line -- not Value Line). In fact, it looks like rima.com ONLY sells Premium Line. So...is there something wrong with "Silver Lacquer" discs that make them much cheaper or is it just that you can't make fancy professional looking discs with this kind?

Supermediastore.com has a lot of good info on how to spot fakes (http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-how-to-tell-fake-or-real.html) and such. Theirs sell for $34.99 / 100 unless you want "Tape Wrap" which costs an extra $5. Does anyone recommend this...

Tape Wrapped - Packaging by Taiyo Yuden that is stronger than plastic wrap to prevent the discs from breaking apart easily during shipment.

Rima.com doesn't offer "Tape Wrap."

Also, any advice on good media cases? I'll probably be on the lookout for some eventually. I hate standard jewel cases. I just think whoever came up with those never thought a second about durability. Either the outside of the case cracks or the hub starts to give out...or both.

I notice that Rima lists those discs as "premium" but not "Premium Line." In a certain sense all TY discs are considered "premium" when compared with garden-variety brands. Silver Lacquer is the normal non-printable finish. Some tape-wrapped TYs sold by Supermedia are "Value Line." I believe the extra $5 you mention is for printable discs. The "Premium Line" TYs sold by Supermedia are in "cake boxes" that have a center spindle.

As I have thousands of burned DVDs, individual disc cases would be impossible for me to manage. My preferred disc storage is Targus albums that hold 320 discs. I am attaching a photo of one Targus album. (The pictured discs are TY 8X Premium Line DVD-R with the three part When The Lion Roars, recently shown on TCM.)

Jeff, I've now corrected the date on my camera.

I too like the zip type cases, the fake leather ones are nice but I usually opt for the cheaper black nylon ones that hold 96 discs (2 vertical discs/side, 4 per page). It's just easier to handle than the 4 disc/side, 8 per page. To me anyway 256+ discs gets rather heavy and awkward to handle.
On sale I can find the 96 disc case for $5 (half off normal price) and I also have quite a few 40 disc vinyl cases(2 vertical discs/side) that Microcenter sells basically everyday for $1.99. Kind of small number of discs but very handy and I can't argue with the price.

I notice that Rima lists those discs as "premium" but not "Premium Line." In a certain sense all TY discs are considered "premium" when compared with garden-variety brands.

Take a look at the top of the page (just before the CD-R listings) where it says:

- 100% Authentic, Premium Line Only -

I assume they are stating that ALL CD-R, DVD-R and DVD+R they sell are Premium Line. If not, it sure seems misleading to me, but I admit I have zero experience when it comes to all of this. I'm a little worried about buying fakes, so I thought I'd stick with websites that you guys have a track record with.

I think I'm starting to see the catch with Rima now. Their "$25.99/100" price is actually $33.79 shipped (Supermediastore has free ground shipping).

Epinions gives Supermediastore 4.5/5, but there's no listing for Rima.

Silver Lacquer is the normal non-printable finish. Some tape-wrapped TYs sold by Supermedia are "Value Line." I believe the extra $5 you mention is for printable discs. The "Premium Line" TYs sold by Supermedia are in "cake boxes" that have a center spindle.

You're right. The Tape Wrapped (http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-white-inkjet-printable-8x-dvd-r-media.html) do say White Inkjet Hub Printable. It is SO easy to overlook little details when shopping for this stuff.

I think I'll ignore the comments on how tape wrapping is supposed to be safer for shipping and take my chances on the silver lacquer without tape wrap. By the way, I think "tape wrap" actually means they come with plastic shrink wrap inside the cake box. That term definitely had me confused.

As I have thousands of burned DVDs, individual disc cases would be impossible for me to manage. My preferred disc storage is Targus albums that hold more than 300 discs.

Thanks for the tip. Targus albums do look nice.

Here is a photo of an unopened spindle of TY 8X Premium Line DVD-R discs from Supermedia. When the description mentions "no stacking ring" I am assuming that refers to the little spacing rings that go around the spindle. I don't especially care for the "cake box" as it's hard to open from the locked position so I transfer TY discs to a short stack spindle with a lower flange, seen beyond my hand here in my home office; and another short stack spindle is found in my recording center/bedroom.

The recorders pictured are, from the top, #3 Panasonic DMR-EZ17 (recording a Perry Mason episode), Magnavox H2160, #2 Panasonic DMR-EZ28, #1 Panasonic DMR-EZ17. The earlier photo also showed a Zenith DTT901 CECB connected to a Panasonic DMR-ES15.

I have been buying my TYs at Rima recently because Supermediastore has been known to gouge you on shipping. Both sites are known for their sticking with good quality (premium) product, so I would not have a problem with either of them. In this climate, they have to be on their guard. If word of them screwing their customers gets arouind, their business would be hurt. With the internet and message boards like this, word would get around--quickly!

Also, any advice on good media cases? I'll probably be on the lookout for some eventually. I hate standard jewel cases. I just think whoever came up with those never thought a second about durability. Either the outside of the case cracks or the hub starts to give out...or both.


I also hate hard plastic jewel cases. I have about 1,000 DVDs I've made. I like a case with enough edge to allow for a title, so I don't go for slim cases. I don't like full DVD sized cases, because they take up too much height/space. I like clear, soft plastic CD sized cases, with a clear plastic sleeve, to hold the cover/edge label. They are easy to use, and very durable. These are available in 1 disc, two disc, and 4 disc versions. I use multiple disc cases for TV series, etc. Last I checked, Rima was offering all of these. In boxes of 100, they are less than $.20 each, plus shipping. In the past, Rima has sometimes discontinued the single disc versions. I have another source for them. If you are interested, I'll look it up and post the address. To print labels, I go to www.allmovie.com, look up the film, click on the "Cast" tab, and print the page. I trim that down so that the title fits on the edge of the case, and the cast, director, running time, etc. is on the face of the case.

Of course I know there are sites with DVD covers, but I prefer my method. They fit on CD cases, have the cast listed and the info I want, and are available for movies that aren't on DVD.

Thanks to everyone for all the tips on where to buy media and how to store it. I pulled the trigger and bought a cake box of TYG02's from Rima.

I thought about maybe buying these poly slimline cases (http://www.rima.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=6134) while I was there, but I'm going to hold off for awhile. Looked like a good option for mailing out family video DVD's.

That's the kind I was talking about, except I prefer the standard thickness, for the reasons I stated. But, you will find this style MUCH more durable than jewel boxes, and FAR easier to insert a label/cover. I don't know why Office Max, and other B&M stores don't carry them. Of course, most people, like you, do prefer the slim line...