Blank DVD media ID quality guide

[gaore]

I got the DVD media ID quality guide. Hope this may help you......

The following list is in preference order.

The best discs are near the top of the list. The discs at the bottom of the list are suitable only for a landfill. PVC is the best of all, LONGTEN is the worst of all, etc. Note: Some codes may be listed twice, done because a -R, -RW, +RW and +R by the same company may not be the same quality. The format is listed because of this.

1ST CLASS MEDIA

Almost flawless burns with 95-100% reliable results:

PVC = Pioneer (Japan) = (-R)(-RW) ... media is no longer made
MXLRG0x = Maxell (Japan) = (-R)(-RW)
YUDEN, TYG01/TYG02 = Taiyo Yuden (Japan) = (-R)(+R)
MCC, MKM = Mitsubishi Chemicals (Singapore/Taiwan) = (-R)(-RW)(+R)(+RW)
TDKG02, TTG0x, TTH0x = TDK Corp (Taiwan/Japan) = (-R)(-RW)
SONY0xD = Sony (Japan/Taiwan) = (-R)(-RW)

2ND CLASS MEDIA
Decent discs, though not perfect, about 80-95% success rate:

PRODISC = Prodisc Media (Taiwan) = (-R)(+R)
INFODISC = Infodisc Media = (+RW)
RICOHJPN = Ritek or Ricoh (Taiwan) = (+R)(+RW)
FUJIFILM = Fuji = (-R)(+R)
OPTODISC = Optodisc = (-R)
RITEK = Ritek (Taiwan) = (+R)(-R)(-RW)(+RW)

3RD CLASS MEDIA
Quality can be very questionable, about 50-80% success rate:

LEADDATA, LD01, LD, LEDA = Lead Data = (-R)(-RW)
BEALL = Samsung BeAll = (-R)(+R)
MBI = Moser Beaur (India) = (-R)(+R)(+RW)
MAMA = Mitsui = (-R)
PRINCO, fake TDK = Princo = (-R)(-RW)
ONIDTECH = Unknown OEM = (-R)
MUST = Unknown OEM = (-R)
GSC001, GSC002 = Unknown OEM = (-R)(+R)
CMC, CMCMAG = CMC Magnetics = (+R)

4TH CLASS MEDIA

Pathetic garbage media, landfill material, about 0-50% success rate:

CMC, CMCMAG = CMC Magnetics (Taiwan) = (-R)
PIODATA, PIO = LeadData, Ritek = (-R) ... once sold as "Pioneer" but that's false
Fake TYG02, SONY, MXL = Fake Sony/Maxell from Hong Kong OEM = (-R)
OPTODISC = Optodisc = (+R)(+RW)
AN31, AN32, ANWELL, AN30, AML = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)
DAXON = BenQ/Acer (+R)(-R)
VANGUARD = Unknown OEM = (-R)
YIJHAN = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)
MATRIX = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)
ISO001 = Unknown OEM = (+R)
VDSPMS = Unknown OEM = (-R)(+R)
LONGTEN = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)

ANYTHING ELSE = Unknown OEM or NEW

Can media ever change class?

Sure. But it rarely happens. LD01 moved to the top 3RD class spot (got better) and RITEK media moved to the last 2ND class spot (got worse). CMC DVD+R moved up to 3RD class, and SONY0xD moved to 1ST class. But those are the only four major moves to date. It is not a quick move either, these things take much time and many tests.

What do the % numbers mean?

This list is constructed from many tests on many burners from a handful of experienced people that use a lot of media. These numbers reflect the number of discs in a spindle that will give good results. For example, out of a 100 spindle of media, 1st class discs may kick out a few bad discs (0% to 5% of the media may have playback imperfections or be outright bad burns). The 2nd class media may have a dozen or so bad discs. The 3rd class discs could give you a half-spindle of duds. And the 4th class stuff can be pure trash.

These are mean averages too, simple statistics math, meaning best tests and worst tests are discarded, and the middle range of tests is the basis for these numbers. You may sometimes find the rare instance where a CMC spindle will be perfect and a Taiyo Yuden spindle will be completely flawed, but those times are the exception rather than the rule (and are not part of a mean average).

Testing procedures:

Burns are subject to playability/reflectivity tests (usage tests), as well as software verification. Test equipment is under controlled hardware/software environments to eliminate user variables. Burns are at least 4GB or more to test the entire length of the media.

Exceptions to the "Taiwan" rule:

Not too long ago, Mitsubishi and TDK moved their operations to Taiwan. In fact, some of it apparently is being made in CMC Magnetics plants. However, because MCC and TDK are still using the same high quality methods and materials (this has been confirmed by a Verbatim spokesman), this geographic relocation has not affected the quality of their products.

Why is a specific media ID (like MCC02RG20) not shown?

When a certain base media ID shares the same quality, not every single code will be listed. For example, the "RITEK" classification include RITEKG03, RITEKG04, RITEKG05, RITEKW, etc. Same for "MCC". It includes MCC01RG20, MCC02RG20, MCC003, etc. Simplicity.


Fakes

Luckily, it does not happen often, but it does happen often enough to be a major annoyance to media buyers everywhere. Most fake media comes from Hong Kong, as a general rule. Fake media tends to float around Europe and Asia more than it does the USA. Fake media is normally sold in flea markets, on eBay and online. Major brand name media sold in stores is probably never going to be fake.

TYG02 = This was faked by Hong Kong OEM in 2004-2005. Some OPTODISC media was also reported to carry this code. The fakes are rumored to be for "improved 8x media detection" but low quality media is low quality, regardless of the media ID.

MXLRG01 = This was faked by Hong Kong OEM in 2002-2003.

SONY = This was faked in 2003. Unknown HK manufacturer. "SONY" is not a valid media ID.

TDKG02 = This was faked by PRINCO in 2001-2002. They wanted to "improve 2x writing" on the 1x write strategy media, as well as insure drives would see the media (not all firmware at the time had PRINCO as a valid media code).

RITEKG03,RITEKG04 = This was supposedly faked in 2004. However, it is the opinion of this author that it was just a lame cover story by RITEK for providing subpar quality media, as even the "legit" media performed poorly at the time.


Branding Guide

Although this will change on a regular basis, the following brands are known to use the following media makers for their outsourced discs. Be careful for CMC and PRINCO discs, as those are becoming more common in those "special sales" seen almost every week since early 2004. Some companies prefer dollars over quality, so be careful. Also be especially careful of "house brands" or no-names. Stores like Fry's and CompUSA have horrible return policies too, so if you end up with an unfavorable media ID, do not burn a test, just take it back for a refund and take your business elsewhere. Because of recent trends, the BOLDFACE represents known media at the time of this publish. Others are either past media codes, or codes available to the manufacturer. The (-R) and (+R) has also been added if only one is using that code.

Accu = LEADDATA
Americal = RITEKG01, PRINCO, LEADDATA
Apple = MXL, MCC(-R)
Arita = RITEKG03, RICOHJPN
BenQ = DAXON, FUJIFILM
Bulkpaq = PRINCO, PRODISC, ISO001(+R)
CompUSA = PRINCO(-R), AML, OPTODISC, LD
Datawrite = PRINCO, PRODISC, AN31, RITEKG03
DupEZ = PIODATA, LEADDATA
ESA = CMC
Esbuy = RITEK, LEADDATA, other budget IDs
Fuji = TY(-R), MKM(-RW), MCC, RICOHJPN(+R), PRODISC(-R), FUJIFILM, RITEK
GQ = PIODATA, PRINCO, RITEKG03, RITEKG02, LEADDATA, LD
HP = CMC, RICOHJPN, MCC
Imation = MCC02, RITEKG03, CMC
Intenso = MCC01
KHypermedia = CMC, TTG01
Kodak = Various budget IDs
LiquidVideo = OPTODISC
Matrix = MATRIX, LONGTEN, YIJHAN, MUST
Maxell = MXL, RITEK(-R/Taiwan), RICOHJPN, TYG01
Memorex = MCC003, RITEKG05, RITEKR03, CMCMAG, RICOHJPN,
Memorex (more) = PRODISCS0x, INFODISC, MBI, MCC01
Meritline = Various budget IDs
Mirror = AN31, ONIDTECH, PRINCO
Optodisc = OPTODISC
Philips = CMC
Pioneer = PVC
Princo = PRINCO, Fake TDK
Prodisc = PRODISCS0x, PRODISCF0x, MCC01, MCC02
Ridata, Ritek = RITEKG0x, RITEKM0x, RITEKR0x, RITEKW, RICOHJPN
Samsung = TYG01, BEALL, RITEK
Sonic, Shop4tech = LONGTEN, MATRIX, MUST, YIJHAN, various budget IDs
Sony = SONYD0x, YUDEN, RICOHJPN, MCC
Supermedia, Linkyo = Various budget IDs
TDK = TY, YUDEN, TTG0x, TTH0x, RITEK, RICOH, MXL, CMC(+R), MCC, TDK
Teon = MCC003(+R), CMC(-R)
Verbatim = MCC02, MCC, MKM(DL), CMC, YUDEN, RICOHJPN, RITEKG03

[Jucius Maximus]

You should credit your sources:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

[AllWheelDrift]

Not to mention this info is somewhat dated.

[[buck]]

Extremely dated. Not much of it has any relevance anymore.

[porphyra]

Better not let Digital Dolphin see this...

This is very dated and in some cases, very subjective.

'Nuff said.

[The Digital Dolphin]

Better not let Digital Dolphin see this...

This is very dated and in some cases, very subjective.

'Nuff said.

Hehehe, yeah.... it's nearly useless now unfortunately.

[dealmeister]

Hehehe, yeah.... it's nearly useless now unfortunately.

hey- DD, why don't you do up a ranking LIST of blank media in the order of, say? top 25 media, in the order of your preference??
a lot of people would probably find it as a very useful guideline for shopping.
maybe 2 lists? like one for $$dependent & a 2nd one as $$independent.

[Nitram]

According to this guide Daxon is garbage?????

I didn't have one coaster with it! so its really outdated because Daxon isn't a bad media

also Memorex now has Prodisc...but its not accounted for in the list...

this thread should be locked and DD should (if he wants to) create a new one and make a sticky of it.

that's my 2 cents.....

[The Digital Dolphin]

hey- DD, why don't you do up a ranking LIST of blank media in the order of, say? top 25 media, in the order of your preference??
a lot of people would probably find it as a very useful guideline for shopping.
maybe 2 lists? like one for $$dependent & a 2nd one as $$independent.

That's a very good question, with some very good reasons why I don't.... in no particular order, they are:

- Brand names are constantly changing suppliers
- Discs like Ritek, CMC and Prodisc media change in quality and MID code from batch to batch, and are too difficult to put in a single position
- Drive support for media makes it almost impossible to make a blanket list for media that isn't Japanese Maxell, Sony or Taiyo Yuden.
- It'd be a lot more work then it'd be worth, since at best it would be obsolete in 1-2 months, and then I'd just be ADDING to the problem.
- I don't actually have the time

[Jon Lai]

Well, for one thing, if you get Taiyo Yuden media, you really can't go wrong. But internet sells them for a lot now, you might still have luck finding them hidden within old stock of normal Maxell/Fuji, and others.

A thread here has an article to look for such Taiyo Yuden disks hidden within Maxell/Fuji/other brands of DVD media! Usually, these dvds are MIT = crap now, but using this following guide will help you get some quality TY media:

http://redflagdeals.com/forums/showthread.php?t=208079

[magical]

According to this guide Daxon is garbage?????

I didn't have one coaster with it! so its really outdated because Daxon isn't a bad media

also Memorex now has Prodisc...but its not accounted for in the list...

this thread should be locked and DD should (if he wants to) create a new one and make a sticky of it.

that's my 2 cents.....

Getting a coaster and having a bad disk are two different things...

Most burners will burn a bad disk without reporting a error, but scanning the disk is the only real way to check for errors... daxon hasn't been known to be a great disk...

[The Digital Dolphin]

Getting a coaster and having a bad disk are two different things...

Most burners will burn a bad disk without reporting a error, but scanning the disk is the only real way to check for errors... daxon hasn't been known to be a great disk...

Contrary wise, Daxon can make excellent discs! But their bonding is aweful for BenQ brand media (not Sony though!) so they often fail ageing tests.