Silver Underside CDRs

A-Traveller

New member
Hi.

I thought this question was a very common one and tried the search feature to see if anyone had posted it before, but I didn't find anything there, so here it is:

Generally speaking, are CDRs with a silver underside in any way inferior to ones that are coloured (green, blue, gold, etc)?

Are there any advantages of using silver undersided CDRs?

Thanks for any opinions.
 
Last edited:
A-Traveller said:
Hi.

I thought this question was a very common one and tried the search feature to see if anyone had posted it before, but I didn't find anything there, so here it is:

Generally speaking, are CDRs with a silver underside in any way inferior to ones that are coloured (green, blue, gold, etc)?

Are there any advantages of using silver undersided CDRs?

Thanks for any opinions.
I have always used silver cdr's with no advantage or problems. I might be wrong but I remember reading somewhere that gold discs are a better choice for most burning projects. The silver ones seem to be the most common though.
 
AFAIK the idea that blue is better than silver/gold is not really a factor U can get very good CDR with blue or the lighter colours!
 
some manufacturers say that certain dye colour facilitate a better absorption of the laser by the dye,thus bettter burning but i sometimes doesn't find it ;)
 
In the old days, the original (GREEN) was cyanine dye (blue) over a gold (gold flashed) reflecting surface.

Cyanine dye has probably the worst light stability and shelf life, but was the diet of choice for older writers, as it was around during the initial design process.

I believe Phthalocyanine (spelling?) may have been next - a "clear" dye, to visible light anyway, with better stability, but a different response, the difference between "long" and "short" strategies.

In the Blue, there is also AZO and Metal AZO (more stable than Cyanine, but some drives don't like them), and various other "jungle juice" formulations to avoid licencing an existing one.


http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_dye.shtml
Somewhat dated and dead-linked, but still interesting.

http://www.cdmediaworld.com/hardware/cdrom/cd_quality.shtml
Intereseting... Imation used to be excellent TY media, and now are awful CMC - though it seems that Imation used whatever they could get hold of, including CMC.
And Ritek used to be something best avoided, now they are regarded as good mid-range media.
 
LTR12101B said:
In the Blue, there is also AZO and Metal AZO (more stable than Cyanine, but some drives don't like them),
yep, and some drives (standalones or car players) insisting on "long strategy" media like Cyan or Azo;
you cannot predict compatibility, just try and poll your own favorite;


Greetings from
Duracell
 

A-Traveller

New member
Thanks everyone.

I also read somewhere that silver is 'generally' better for audio CDs which are going to be played on home/car players due to the silver CDs being more reflective that the coloured ones so home/car or weak laser players can read then more easily.

Any truth in this?
 
I do mostly audio, and I always had best results with pthalocyanine (long strategy) dye and silver or gold dye... the best implementation are the superb Mitsui SG and Gold CD-R's.
But that doesn't necessarily mean that media is the best for every player- just try what YOUR player accepts happily, and act accordingly.
 
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