Hello,

Just trying to find the best dvd-r media available. I've always been an avid user of ritek cd-rs and recently their dvd-r's media. I know that ritek are pretty good and reliable name brand. What other name brands are good to know and use?

I've found TDKs to be good, but nto cheap.

Not sure best is the correct phrase. You want the cheapest but reliable DvDs that work on your recorder.

Just try some of the cheaper discs and see if they work.

Moving this to the media forum.

Originally posted by viciouz
Hello,

Just trying to find the best dvd-r media available. I've always been an avid user of ritek cd-rs and recently their dvd-r's media. I know that ritek are pretty good and reliable name brand. What other name brands are good to know and use?

Ritek aren't really name brand. They manufacture the dyes for a number of companies. You can find thier dyes on some lines of Verbatim, Fujifilm and a few others. The only two that I can think of that are possibly better are Taiyo Yuden or Apple but both of these are VERY expensive compared to Riteks and the difference in compatibility is pretty slim.

I wish someone (yeah I know , that mythical person with heaps of time on their hands and money to burn) would come up with a definitive DVDr rating site.

Almost used up a 50 spindle of 'cubix' 2x speed discs, never heard of them before or since but I haven't had a bad burn with any of them.
Ridata 4x - excellent, played in PS2 and Panasonic DVD player
Verbatim 4x - Played in the PS2 but the Panasonic didn't want to know about them.
Just bought a 10 pack of 4x Shintaro for AUD$25 - good price if they work! I'll edit this post once I've tested a couple.

There is www.dvdrinfo.com but that still doesn't really account for individual DVD Players/Drives. As mentioned above though, it isn't the brand that matters, it's the manufacterer of the dye. The problem with Verbatims is that they use 3 different dyes on thier discs. 1. Taiyo Yuden=Excellent 2. Ritek=Great 3. CMC=poor (same dye that memorex DVD-R use I believe). So you may have gotten a CMC dye batch of Verbatims. Anyways this is one of two reasons why I don't trust name brand labels. 1. You never know which dye you are going to end up with 2. They are almost always more expensive than ordering unlabeled discs that are straight from the source. ;) Good luck with your Shintaros though Darkman.

Here's the ID info on the cubix discs

Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:MXL RG01]
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Disc Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [MXL RG01]
Disc Application Code : [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - (2x)]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4,489.3 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Supposedly MXL RG01 is Maxell but I've read that a lot of Hong Kong 'fakes' use this code, either way great discs - pitty I can't get any more

Unbranded Ritek 4x

Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:RITEKG04]
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Disc Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [RITEKG04]
Disc Application Code : [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - 2x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4,489.3 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Work well in the PS2 & Panasonic - nice discs just a pain to buy them over the net as I can't find any in the local stores :(

The Verbatim datalife info:

Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:MCC 01RG20 ]
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Disc Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [MCC 01RG20 ]
Disc Application Code : [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - 2x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4,489.3 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

A little upset about these, paid premium $ for an allegedly superior brand and they're not compatable with my Panasonic Player although the PS2 is fine.


Shintaro info:

Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:CMC MAG. AF1]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [CMC MAG. AF1]
Disc Application Code : [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - 2x - 4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4,489.3 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Works on PS2 and Panasonic DVD player - Guess that goes to show that one man's trash is another's treasure - CMC get bad ratings but work well for me :confused:

http://www.mpegit.net/dvdr_quality.php also has some ratings on discs,
yes there's a forum there but as they have 11 registered members and less than 6 posts I don't think the link will breech our rules :) :

Well Glad they work for you. It looks like Verbatim is now juggling a new dye on thier discs. :mad:

You have to wonder about these manufacturers, surely they would be trying to build up brand loyalty? So what's the point in making DVDr using dye type 'x' - building up a customer base then start producing discs that look identical except they are now made with dye 'x' or 'y' or 'z' and types 'y' and 'z' have compatibility issues with many DVD players.
All that's going to do is upset your repeat customers and they'll go elsewhere.

Analogy (because I love them :D )
Coke(™) decide to release new flavours - wild berry and banana but don't do any new labels, so when you buy a coke(™) it could be 'classic' flavour or Wild Berry or Banana. How well do you think their sales would be? Particularly if say Wild Berry was a vile concoction that made the drinker immediately throw up?

So wake up DVDr manufacturers, if you are going to switch dyes at least change the labelling so we can tell them apart.

I think they do it just to keep production costs down. They go with whoever is giving them the best deal at the time. This is why I stick to Unbranded Ritek/Ridata as I know when I place an order for these 4x discs, I am always getting the G04 Ritek dye. That and as mentioned in almost every case they are cheaper. ;)