Verbatim code

[unrox]

I just receive a 100pack of Verbatim, writable DvD-r 16x fom Meritline reads out as CMC MAG AM3 , never saw a Verbie with that designation, I know I had some HP's in the past had the same code, what the hell is with this? Verbatim going on the cheap?

[Ghitulescu]

For at least 3 years :(

[laserfan]

I just receive a 100pack of Verbatim, writable DvD-r 16x fom Meritline reads out as CMC MAG AM3 , never saw a Verbie with that designation
Must be their "Life Series" (lower price) product. You have to be careful these days; I've sometimes gotten excited about a sale price on Verbatims only to find they were these LS discs. You want instead always to buy their AZO type.

Unless CMC is no longer the "Coaster Making Company"!? :p

[hello_hello]

I just receive a 100pack of Verbatim, writable DvD-r 16x fom Meritline reads out as CMC MAG AM3 , never saw a Verbie with that designation, I know I had some HP's in the past had the same code, what the hell is with this? Verbatim going on the cheap?

I only discovered Verbatim had a cheaper line of blanks through this forum. I only every buy them from a couple of local computer shops, and I think they assume if you walk in and ask for Verbatim discs you want the good stuff, so that's all they've ever sold me.

The good discs still have the AZO trademark printed on the spindle label.

You have to be careful these days; I've sometimes gotten excited about a sale price on Verbatims only to find they were these LS discs. You want instead always to buy their AZO type.

I long time ago I discovered TDK Gold discs use the same dye in the same way. :(

[Ghitulescu]

AZO or not (BTW, AZO is more a marketing item than a real technological breaktrough, there are reports on the net that AZO is even worse than the normal dye - sort of LTH for BDRs), Verbatim left the DVD technology few years ago. All that is signed Verbatim comes now from India and it's manufactured by MBI (not bad, but not Verbatim either). There are also fakes on top of that.
I must confess I don't have any of these new Verbatims, I still have the MKM/MCC ones and I also have a spindle of Verbatims made by TY, but their days are numbered.
Except for Japan maybe (sold theer as Mitsubishi)), Verbatim ceased to constitute a brand name, at least for me.
I use Philips with MID INFOMEDIAR, a real tip :), for "burn-and-don't-care" I use Sonys made by MBI (but still marked as SONY).

A real surprise for me, to discover the other day a batch of Gold Archival Verbatims made in UAE. These were the worst Verbatims ever, so I wondered whether this line of Gold Archival was somehow different from the regular MIU ones (UAE are the Emirates).

[unrox]

I have only been usng Verbatims and Taiyo Yuden for years, so now other than TY are there any decent altrenatives? T.I.A.

[kurkosdr]

I have only been usng Verbatims and Taiyo Yuden for years, so now other than TY are there any decent altrenatives? T.I.A.

If we are talking about CD-Rs, not much. Everyone has outsourced production to Mozer Baer India coaster production company. Philips USED to be a decent alternative, but they switched to Mozer Baer some months ago. Try with Sony, but make sure you give them a run through CD-R identifier or ImgBurn to see the real factory (shouldn't be Mozer Baer India).

Here are my experiences with "brand name" CD-Rs:

TDK --> Switched to Mozer Baer long time ago
Verbatim --> Partially (?) switched to Mozer Baer a year ago
Philips --> Switched to Mozer Baer some months ago.

I use Taiyo Yuden for CD-Rs and DVD+Rs. Why risk when I can be sure? And Verbatim or TDK for DVD+R DL (which are still made by Verbatim and TDK respectively). Stay away from Philips DVDs, they have outsourced their DVDs to Ritek.

[Ghitulescu]

TY exists no longer, it was bought last year by JVC.

[Ghitulescu]

Sony by MBI still carries the SONY MID.

EDIT: I've bought a spindle of MBI Sonies and guess what, it beared the MBI MID.

[unrox]

TY exists no longer, it was bought last year by JVC.
How do they compare to TY?

[hello_hello]

AZO or not (BTW, AZO is more a marketing item than a real technological breaktrough, there are reports on the net that AZO is even worse than the normal dye - sort of LTH for BDRs)

There is a lot of reports on the net. It's often hard to sort through the abundance of misinformation. Do you have any examples?

Verbatim left the DVD technology few years ago. All that is signed Verbatim comes now from India and it's manufactured by MBI (not bad, but not Verbatim either).

How are they not Verbatim? Haven't Mitsubishi owned Verbatim for 20 years? Don't the good Verbatim discs use Mitsubishi dye?
How did Verbatim actually leave the DVD technology?
Anything to show your claims of Verbatim quality changing according to where the discs are manufactured might be true?

I must confess I don't have any of these new Verbatims, I still have the MKM/MCC ones and I also have a spindle of Verbatims made by TY, but their days are numbered.

I bought two spindles of MCC Verbatim disc three days ago.

unrox,
I've used Verbatim discs almost exclusively for quite a while. The discs I bought three days ago use the Mitsubishi dye, and their quality is as good as always.
"All signed Verbatim comes now from India" is as probably about as accurate as the rest of the information. The discs I bought three days ago still have "Made In Taiwan" printed on the spindle label.

Yes Verbatim now make cheaper discs using different dye, but the old Verbatim discs using the Mitsubishi dye don't seem to have changed at all. Well.... at that's an opinion for you coming from someone who actually uses them.
If you can't buy them from wherever you normally buy your discs, there's bound to plenty of other outlets which still sell them.

Likewise just because TY were bought out by JVC it doesn't automatically mean their disc quality has suddenly changed.

[setarip_old]

It seems that every couple of years or so, someone starts a thread about this topic.

Click on the following link (and read ALL of the posts from that point on) to possibly gain some additional insight regarding observations about both Moser Baer (India) and United Arab Emirates production under the "Verbatim" label (Ramping up Quality Control is nothing unusual).

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?p=1430405#post1430405

[Ghitulescu]

How do they compare to TY?

I cannot compare them reliable - the old TYs have been burned with a NEC, now I use the Plextor. The quality seems to be very good. The built quality is excellent, which will assure a long/er life.

Concerning what hello_hello said. I am not so sure he has a spectrometer to positively identify the dye as being Mitsubishi :p, I think he relies instead on reading the MID alone. Verbatim licences the use of its MID to third parties, provided minimum quality standards are achieved. And minimum they have :)

MBI is not that bad, considering the number of "brandnames" that outsource their DVD manufacture to it (Mitsubishi, Sony, Panasonic and many others). I would prefer a genuine MBI to a fake MCC.

People that still buy "real" Verbatims, they got them from stocks (stored batches), not from new ones. It's not a secret to anyone (actually everyone except one particular person, ∞ - 1) that most expensive discs are sold slower than the pricey ones. This goes for everything, cars, TVs, HiFi, houses and so on.

[hello_hello]

As I suspected, nothing to show your post was anything more than illogical viewpoint offered as fact. Now you offer more speculafacts which don't even pretend to try to answer the questions asked. Where's you're spectrometer?

And this "Verbatim licences the use of it's MID to third parties" nonsense.... since when does Mitsubishi dye appear on anything but Verbatim discs? Verbatim outsourcing their manufacturing is a completely different thing, and you've not offered anything to show the quality has dropped as a result.

A month ago I attempted to buy Verbatim DVD-R (MCC) discs from my local computer shop. They were out of stock so I bought DVD+R instead. A few days ago they had stock again.... discs made in Taiwan. How much stock do you thing the local distributor must have bought originally, to be able to supply retail outlets with discs for as long as you've been using the "stock" excuse to explain the existence of discs you claim don't exist? They must have been massively overstocked, give how long you've been repeating that one.

It's no secret to anyone (actually everyone except one particular person, ∞ - 1) comparing the legitimate version of one dye with the fake copy of another doesn't say anything about the legit version of the second dye, except maybe to show you don't have any real facts to offer.

MBI made Verbatim discs at one stage. I don't know if they still do. They had a reputation for not being very good.

As I said. I pretty much use nothing but Verbatim MCC discs. I know from experience the quality of the burns I get from them is the same as it's ever been. I know the discs made in Taiwan are still readily available.

[laserfan]

It seems that every couple of years or so, someone starts a thread about this topic.

Yes, and then two members in particular argue incessantly like old women over it! :devil:

[hello_hello]

Yes, and then two members in particular argue incessantly like old women over it! :devil:

I wouldn't be able to argue with any "information" which has facts to support it. ;)

No doubt though, the next time this subject comes up, I'll still be wondering where this huge stockpile of Verbatim, Taiwanese made DVDs are being stored. And probably the time after that....

[setarip_old]

@laserfan Yes, and then two members in particular argue incessantly like old women over it!And the same two members you refer to have done and continue to do so in in MANY of the Doom9 sub-forums - most times seemingly without true regard for the stated thread's topic at hand...

[hello_hello]

Yes, and the last time I got carried away trying to show someone how to debate a topic in a rational manner, I went through the thread and deleted all my off topic posts to clean it up.
Seems though, just as it takes two to argue it takes two to clean up a thread, and I was only one.

This discussion is not off-topic.

[Ghitulescu]

... I know I had some HP's in the past had the same code, what the hell is with this?
HP never manufactured optical media, just relabelled third party's ones. They are supposed to pass some standards. In the end it's a thin line between keeping the brand name (and the assumed quality) and the costs incurred by this decision.

The quality of the dye alone is not the only factor that determines the quality of a DVD.