DVD-R Media

[Fearless Fly]

Well I am sick and tired of lousy quality DVD-R Media.

I brought 2 spindles of PRINCO DVD-R 4X (100 discs) and have almost 40% fail on me....they would not verify data after around the 80% mark. I have noticed other brands (such as Datastream, Shintaro, DataKing, etc) that are also PRINCO relabelled but I want to avoid this shoddy poor quality brand.

I had no problems with their older Princo 2X media. The best 4X media I have used is labelled as MELODY and is a brownish colour rather than the usual blueish/purplish dye. I just want to be able to buy reliable 4X media at a decent price. But unfortunately when you are buying sealed spindles of 50 DVD-R Media, you don't really know what you are getting. I wish you could buy a sample or two before you commit yourself to the purchase of 50 discs!

Is there a website that has tested different brands of DVD-R Media with reviews/ratings?

Is there any DVD-R Media software that can actually identify the real manufacturer or the Manufacturer ID and tell me the true writing speed?

I have a Pioneer A05 and talking about these problems with a few friends that have the SONY DVD-R/+R, there is definitely a problem with quality of some of the media. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

[The-poacher]

U me & 1000's of others <> quality is a problem & there is no real answer what works fine on my standalone dont work on another.
U get all kinds of recommendations re DVDR media but I reckon its a case of suck it & see.
What makes it worse is they change manufacturers/dies so what U bought last week that worked fine is this week a bag of crapola.

For what its worth I have had 4x media burn @ 4x then the next one from the SAME spindle would only burn @ 2x

I would say that I find Ritek good disks but others dont so U just have to perservere & just buy in small amounts till U find what works for U.

[X-BoNeS-X]

Shintaro 4x <== burnt 125 so far ..none a coaster ..

[scarecrow]

Mostly I use Ritek 2X and 4X, as well as Intenso (2X- stamped Prodisk media, at least here where I live) on a Sony DRU-500a- fine results.
Princos do seem to be of inferior quality, indeed.

[slippery]

I use Ritek 4X Certified with very good results!

http://www.supermediastore.com/supermediastore/ritek-4xdvdr-fs.html

[Fearless Fly]

Mostly I use Ritek 2X and 4X, as well as Intenso (2X- stamped Prodisk media, at least here where I live) on a Sony DRU-500a- fine results.
Princos do seem to be of inferior quality, indeed.

A disc media wholesaler told me (don't really know if it's true but it does sounds plausible) that Shintaro is the high quality version of PRINCO. That is the discs that PRINCO tests that is top notch is labelled SHINTARO, while the borderline or below-par stock gets labelled as PRINCO.

Anyway it seems that RITEK 4X is very good media from feedback that I have recieved. It does cost a fraction more over here and I am yet to test or use it.

It seems that the popular DVD ripper, DVD Decrypter does identify DVD-R Media. Just crank it up, pop in a DVD-R disc and select MODE/ISO/Read R

Here is a list of media that I have done so far...

WHITE SONY 2X
---------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: SONY

LABELLED PRINCO 2X
--------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: TDKG02000000

Datastream Professional 2X (SAME AS PRINCO 2X)
-----------------------------------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: TDKG02000000

WHITE SHINTARO 4X
--------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: PRINCO

LABELLED PRINCO 4X
--------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: PRINCO

DATAKING PROFESSIONAL 2X
----------------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: PRINCO

WHITE MAXDATA 2X
--------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: GSC001

MAXMAX 2X
------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: GSC001

MAXDATA 2X
------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: GSC001

LABELLED MELODY 4X
---------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: GSC001

WHITE MELODY 4X
------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: GSC001

OLD MELODY (Blue label)
-----------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: GSC001

OLD MELODY 2X (Green label)
----------------------------
Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: CMC MAG.

By the way all BLANK DVD-R tends to have the same characteristics:
Device Information:
Current Profile: DVD-R
Disc Information:
Status: Empty
Erasable: No
Free Sectors: 2,297,888
Free Space: 4,706,074,624 bytes
Free Time: 510:40:38 (MM:SS:FF)
Physical Format Information:
Book Type: DVD-R
Part Version: 5
Disc Size: 120mm
Maximum Read Rate: 10.08Mbps
Number of Layers: 1
Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP)
Linear Density: 0.267 um/bit
Track Density: 0.74 um/track

If you come across any blank DVD-R media with different characteristics.....please post.

ALSO ADD SOME MORE MANUFACTURER ID's OF YOUR DVD-R MEDIA AND MAKE THIS AN EXTENSIVE LIST THAT OTHER PEOPLE CAN FIND INFORMATIVE!