Inexpensive BD-R Media

[jdobbs]

I am in the exact same situation - the first 25 spindle worked 100% perfectly (same internal code as jdobbs posted). The 2nd spindle fails 100% immediately. It won't even write the lead-in. I also have an unopened spindle on the shelf. Meritline just blew me off when I contacted them. :mad: At least you knew it was an issue right away. On mine you don't see the problem until you're playing it back -- and it's a pixelation-fest.

[setarip_old]

I have had complete success with both 25Gb and 50Gb "Optical Quantum" brand (Phillips MID). Additionally, the 25Gb OPtical Quantums can be found at several places (Usually NewEgg, as well as others) for as little as 80cents US each - and the 50Gb at $4.00US...

[BassPig]

By licensing issue, what were you refering to? Was this regarding Taiyo Yuden's lack of BD-R media?

Yes, that's what I meant. BD has many unusual licensing requirements and I wouldn't be surprised if some of these extend to the disc manufacture as well. Maybe TY didn't want to bother with what they may feel were an onerous burden and decided not to manufacture. This is not an unusual scenario in other products. Could be the case, but I am speculating here.

[color43]

Just an FYI about "Optical Quantum" with ID "PHILIP-R02" or similar. These are not made by Phillips, but instead Moser Baer India.

See http://www.blu-raydisc.info/licensee-list/discmanuid-licenseelist.php

[setarip_old]

And Moser Baer appears to have come a long way (for the better) since the Verbatim D/L near debacle of several years ago...

[Ghitulescu]

MBI, despite not being up to the best, still provides a reasonable good quality. Nowadays I will buy their media if I would have the choice.

[DrinkLyeAndDie]

I have had complete success with both 25Gb and 50Gb "Optical Quantum" brand (Phillips MID). Additionally, the 25Gb OPtical Quantums can be found at several places (Usually NewEgg, as well as others) for as little as 80cents US each - and the 50Gb at $4.00US...

I have to concur with respect to Optical Quantum, now known as Vinpower Digital. Specifically, I am referring to the PHILIP-R04-000 25 GB BD-Rs and they've have been flawless in my use thus far with respect to burning, playback, and longevity [so far]. I've purchased them in 25 and 50 packs.

Anyone know who actually manufactures the 50 GB BD-DLs for Vinpower Digital?

[DVDean]

I thought I'd add that I've been using MERAX BD-25 discs from MERITLINE (DISC ID: OTCBDR-001-000) for quite some time with no issues -- but be warned, I got a spool of 25 recently that have been nothing but headaches... now I'm forced to go back through my backups to try and guess which are good and which are hosed. Unfortunately I also have another cakebox of them staring at me from my shelf. Ughh...

Yikes! I'm ashamed for merely donating money to your brilliant work on BD Rebuilder and not stopping by your forum. I could have saved you time and money wasted on media. Sorry. I also used the Optodiscs. They were barely usable for video playback, early on. Optodisc appears to have stepped up their production rates to levels higher than their machinery was designed to handle to meet demands and their disc quality is all over the map. Longevity is poor. One year old burns that were playable are no longer. The same with Optical quantum MBI PHILIP R04. R04's are very burner-dependent. Pioneer burners have had by far the best burn strategy for them, but disc quality also varies widely, as Vinpower/Optical Quantum is not shy about buying B and C grade discs from Ritek, MBI, and CMC. Please throw away the spindle you have on the shelf? I'll make a point of clicking that "donate" button again to help you replace them :).

The SmartBlu BD-R's(use the printables myself) linked by DVDIT are in the nose bleed high-end realm really only shared with Panasonic currently. Japanese materials/manufacturing technology. 50+ years accelerated aging longevity test results. And minimum quality of discs leaving the factory certified to meet or exceed the Blu-ray disc association's book spec for burn quality/compatibility and playback quality/compatibility. Please don't gamble on anything else that might have you wasting precious time re-burning that could have been spent perfecting one of my favorite softwares? :)

[jdobbs]

Yikes! I'm ashamed for merely donating money to your brilliant work on BD Rebuilder and not stopping by your forum. I could have saved you time and money wasted on media. Sorry. I also used the Optodiscs. They were barely usable for video playback, early on. Optodisc appears to have stepped up their production rates to levels higher than their machinery was designed to handle to meet demands and their disc quality is all over the map. Longevity is poor. One year old burns that were playable are no longer. The same with Optical quantum MBI PHILIP R04. R04's are very burner-dependent. Pioneer burners have had by far the best burn strategy for them, but disc quality also varies widely, as Vinpower/Optical Quantum is not shy about buying B and C grade discs from Ritek, MBI, and CMC. Please throw away the spindle you have on the shelf? I'll make a point of clicking that "donate" button again to help you replace them :).

The SmartBlu BD-R's(use the printables myself) linked by DVDIT are in the nose bleed high-end realm really only shared with Panasonic currently. Japanese materials/manufacturing technology. 50+ years accelerated aging longevity test results. And minimum quality of discs leaving the factory certified to meet or exceed the Blu-ray disc association's book spec for burn quality/compatibility and playback quality/compatibility. Please don't gamble on anything else that might have you wasting precious time re-burning that could have been spent perfecting one of my favorite softwares? :) Well, I got lucky on the final spool. It appears these discs are at least burning ok. But once bitten, twice shy -- so I'm running ImgBurn's verify against all written discs from here on out.

On the other hand -- maybe I'll just toss them and write it off as a lesson-learned.

I'll do some googling and see how prices are on the SmartBlu discs... if they're reasonable I'll give them a whirl.

[Edit] Wow. 85 cents each at the first site I hit (for the branded version)... I'm sold -- if I can find a good deal on some inkjet printables I'll order some today.

[RobertM]

I used to worry about the media that I was using. I tried several brands and I validated every disc after burning. I would find occasional failures, so I could never let down my guard, for fear of missing a bad burn.

Then I switched to Verbatim. I hesitated initially because I didn't want to pay the premium price, but I won't go back to another brand now. They have been absolutely flawless in my experience, which is quite a contrast to the multitude of brands that I tried before.

YMMV, but I'm absolutely sold on Verbatim.

[DVDIT]

Well, I got lucky on the final spool. It appears these discs are at least burning ok. But once bitten, twice shy -- so I'm running ImgBurn's verify against all written discs from here on out.

On the other hand -- maybe I'll just toss them and write it off as a lesson-learned.

I'll do some googling and see how prices are on the SmartBlu discs... if they're reasonable I'll give them a whirl.

[Edit] Wow. 85 cents each at the first site I hit (for the branded version)... I'm sold -- if I can find a good deal on some inkjet printables I'll order some today.

The only place to get the Smartblu is here >>> Check http://www.mediamegamall.com/blank-media-bluray-blank-media-c-29_139.html?sort=5a&filter_id=260

MID is TDKBLD-RBB-000 and they burn pretty nice @4x with LG and 8x with Lite-on and Pioneer. The disc quality scan using Opti Drive control or Nero disc speed is pretty amazing for the price. What is your burner?

[RobertM]

The only place to get the Smartblu is here

A statement like this would be a red flag for me. They may be great, but then I would expect to be able to buy them from well known retailers.

[DVDIT]

@RobertM,

I am not pushing anyone to buy these discs. I am just merely indicating where I was able to buy them from.


@jdobbs,

I believe you are located in Maryland. If so, PM me your address and I will send you a few if you want to test drive them.

[DVDean]

YMMV, but I'm absolutely sold on Verbatim.
I've had nothing but good playback results with them too. I am becoming hesitant to recommend them after seeing someone in another forum reporting that 37% of their Verbs burned 2 years ago are showing playback problems or failures. Verb never released accelerated aging test results for their BD-R's, but a German magazine recently published the results of several independent professional media companies who did not score them very high for longevity. TDK(FTI/SmartBlu), Panasonic, and Sony were ranked as best.
Well, I got lucky on the final spool. It appears these discs are at least burning ok. But once bitten, twice shy -- so I'm running ImgBurn's verify against all written discs from here on out.

On the other hand -- maybe I'll just toss them and write it off as a lesson-learned.


Please try a few in your standalone player before you consider keeping them? A marginal quality burn will verify with ImgBurn but be a freezin' pixelated mess in a more finicky SAP due to high error levels. A read speed test with DiscSpeed or Opti drive control may be more revealing as to the burn quality vs verification. Or even just ripping it back to iso w/ ImgBurn and looking at the read graph produced.

It is a crazy low price for one of the best BD-R's being manufactured. Pretty rare to get excellent on the cheap. Interesting story as to how this is possible. This really is one of those have your cake and eat it too opportunities. Didn't mention, I've burned 100's of them in Pioneer, LG, and Lite-on burners at every speed available. No coasters. Smooth playback. As bullet-proof as it gets.

[DVDean]

A statement like this would be a red flag for me. They may be great, but then I would expect to be able to buy them from well known retailers.

FTI does not care to sell their media retail. They have no interest in trying to appeal to the consumer market. These are made by FTI. They manufacture professional level media that are primarily sold at duplication suppliers like MMM at the B2B level or direct to corporations (Verbatim is one of them). Margins at the optical media retail level are terrible, this is what drives other manufacturers to outsource and cheapen their media to stay profitable. You've heard of Verbatim's change to "Life Series" lower quality DVD-R's? Your reasoning is not going to help you find good media :). That road leads to outsourced B and C grade media territory.

[RobertM]

I've had nothing but good playback results with them too. I am becoming hesitant to recommend them after seeing someone in another forum reporting that 37% of their Verbs burned 2 years ago are showing playback problems or failures.

Well, I'll be well and truly PO'd if my discs start failing after a couple of years of storage in a cool, dark place. Those 37% reported failures could be a result of poor initial burns on the users h/w (even though they verified OK on that same h/w), or deficiencies in their current h/w, or something else. I would put little stock in one person's bad experience, the same way that nobody should take my good experience alone as a reason to go with Verbs.

As I said, Verbs are the only ones that have been flawless for me through the write/verify/playback process, so that gives them lots of credibility in my book. If the other brands couldn't even prove to be reliable at that stage, why would I believe that they would be any better at long term aging. I don't have multi-year old BD-R Verbs to test, only year-old ones, so I can't make any comments about their longer-term playback. But I do have years-old DVD-R Verbs, and I've never seen a playback problem with one yet.

That being said, I'm perfectly willing to believe that there may be better discs out there. I just haven't found any yet.

[DVDIT]

As I said, Verbs are the only ones that have been flawless for me through the write/verify/playback process, so that gives them lots of credibility in my book. If the other brands couldn't even prove to be reliable at that stage, why would I believe that they would be any better at long term aging. I don't have multi-year old BD-R Verbs to test, only year-old ones, so I can't make any comments about their longer-term playback. But I do have years-old DVD-R Verbs, and I've never seen a playback problem with one yet.

That being said, I'm perfectly willing to believe that there may be better discs out there. I just haven't found any yet.

I can vouch for Verbatim as well. I have many backups I did 2.5 years ago and I tested some of them at random last month and they all scan, read and play fine. I also have many Verbatim DVD+R and DVD+R DL backups that are more than 9 years old, they are still 100% perfect. How long the BD-R last is anybody's guess at this point. Since I have a very positive initial experience with Smartblu and are only $.79 each, $1 less than what Verbs cost me now, I have started using them along with some stock of verbs I have.

[DVDean]

Up till a week ago, I had little doubt that Verb's BD-R's were among the best all-around. They've worked well for me. You're right of course about the questionable significance of one person's longevity results. It was only because I ran across the magazine article about the same time that I was forced to go hmmm. Won't try to discourage anyone from buying Verbs amidst all the bad choices out there. Just got me wondering.

In fact, Verbatim 6x labeled BD-R's are on sale at newegg-- $26.99 for 25 of the HTL's.

[DVDean]

Anyone know who actually manufactures the 50 GB BD-DLs for Vinpower Digital?

This week they are made by CMC Magnetics in Taiwan or China. MID is CMCMAG D16. Not compatible with some older 8x and earlier burners.

Optical Quantum sellers rarely offer this information for the media because Vinpower buys from whichever manufacturer gives them the lowest price and can change at any time. Sellers do not want complaints from customers who expected to get a particular BD-R.

[Ghitulescu]

I used to worry about the media that I was using. I tried several brands and I validated every disc after burning. I would find occasional failures, so I could never let down my guard, for fear of missing a bad burn.

Then I switched to Verbatim. I hesitated initially because I didn't want to pay the premium price, but I won't go back to another brand now. They have been absolutely flawless in my experience, which is quite a contrast to the multitude of brands that I tried before.

YMMV, but I'm absolutely sold on Verbatim.

If you're talking about DVDRs, then you should know that it's impossible to get Verbatims made by MKM, as they outsourced al their production, in order to get fast into the BD boat. You'd be lucky if you can buy a Verbatim made by MBI (which also manufactures for Sony and Panasonic and a miriad other "Premium" relebellers).

If you're talking about BDRs, then it's too soon to draw any conclusions, besides, the "technology" evolves and 2x BDRs are not the same as the 6x ones, nor the drives.

PS: it appears that Mitsubishi had recently a lot of issues, on all their fields.

[DVDIT]

PS: it appears that Mitsubishi had recently a lot of issues, on all their fields.

The reason I started looking at other brands was the 6x Verbatim I bought, even though they burn OK and play fine, the disc quality scan was poor with a very high LDC and BIS values. In my experience most discs that with high LDC and BIS values are prone to fail later. I have used nothing but Verbatim in the past, but now I will not be buying more once I exhaust the ones that I have. When and if the quality returns, I will start buying them again.

[jdobbs]

The only place to get the Smartblu is here >>> Check http://www.mediamegamall.com/blank-media-bluray-blank-media-c-29_139.html?sort=5a&filter_id=260

MID is TDKBLD-RBB-000 and they burn pretty nice @4x with LG and 8x with Lite-on and Pioneer. The disc quality scan using Opti Drive control or Nero disc speed is pretty amazing for the price. What is your burner?

My burner is an LG BH10LS30.

[DVDIT]

My burner is an LG BH10LS30.

You are in luck there. The Smartblu burn best with LG BH10LS30, LG WH12LS30. The disc quality scan is almost as good as pressed commercial BR-R if you burn them @4x. They still burn better than Verbatim @6 and 8X. If you want speed and quality burn them @ 8x. If you want the best quality possible best them @4x.

[DVDIT]

In fact, Verbatim 6x labeled BD-R's are on sale at newegg-- $26.99 for 25 of the HTL's.

That is a great price for Verbatim. If only they were model #96769.

[jdobbs]

You are in luck there. The Smartblu burn best with LG BH10LS30, LG WH12LS30. The disc quality scan is almost as good as pressed commercial BR-R if you burn them @4x. They still burn better than Verbatim @6 and 8X. If you want speed and quality burn them @ 8x. If you want the best quality possible best them @4x. What software are you using when scanning disc quality? Opti Drive Control, I assume?

[Ghitulescu]

I've had nothing but good playback results with them too. I am becoming hesitant to recommend them after seeing someone in another forum reporting that 37% of their Verbs burned 2 years ago are showing playback problems or failures. Verb never released accelerated aging test results for their BD-R's, but a German magazine recently published the results of several independent professional media companies who did not score them very high for longevity. TDK(FTI/SmartBlu), Panasonic, and Sony were ranked as best.Which magazine, please?
Please try a few in your standalone player before you consider keeping them? A marginal quality burn will verify with ImgBurn but be a freezin' pixelated mess in a more finicky SAP due to high error levels. A read speed test with DiscSpeed or Opti drive control may be more revealing as to the burn quality vs verification. Or even just ripping it back to iso w/ ImgBurn and looking at the read graph produced.

It is a crazy low price for one of the best BD-R's being manufactured. Pretty rare to get excellent on the cheap. Interesting story as to how this is possible. This really is one of those have your cake and eat it too opportunities. Didn't mention, I've burned 100's of them in Pioneer, LG, and Lite-on burners at every speed available. No coasters. Smooth playback. As bullet-proof as it gets.
I hope you're in your earlier thirties so you can double check the 50 years claims of Panasonic. BTW, this was written on 2x media only.

[DVDIT]

What software are you using when scanning disc quality? Opti Drive Control, I assume?

Yes, I use both Opti Drive control and Nero Disc Speed. Nero Disc Speed with Lite-on drive on computer A and Opti Drive with Samsung BD drive on computer B.

[DVDIT]

Which magazine, please?

I hope you're in your earlier thirties so you can double check the 50 years claims of Panasonic. BTW, this was written on 2x media only.

There is no guarantee on any BD-R media as far as longevity is concerned. User reviews and personal experience is all we have to make some decision.

[DVDean]

Which magazine, please?

I hope you're in your earlier thirties so you can double check the 50 years claims of Panasonic. BTW, this was written on 2x media only.

That article would be here (http://dr-gerald-albach.suite101.de/blu-ray-disc-r-rohlinge-test-25-gb-bd-rs-bei-stiftung-warentest-a84329).
Actually, TUV Rheinland claims to have tested all of Panasonics's BD-R's, all passing the longevity tests (http://www.tuvdotcom.com/quality_marks/0000000050?locale=en). I have been in this long enough to know better than to trust the accuracy of any one source.

No, I'm not in my 30's. I do not expect my media to need to last more than 30 years or so :).

The best we can do is research everything we can get our hands on in professional testing, professional distribution results, personal testing, consumer results, manufacturer info, and material/manufacturing science. You might be surprised how much you can learn by going straight to the top and having dialogues with factory/manufacturer/brand personnel. If you have some knowledge of the industry to begin with, they can be quite willing to talk shop with you :) .

I've burned and used a multitude of BD-R media to get a sense of what can be trusted for playback. I do a bit of media production/distribution as a sideline and hobby, and VERY concerned about giving folks 100% usable product. And having fun with the Blu-ray adventure :). I assume that we're all on the same page on this in this thread. At the end of the day its all about PLAYBACK...PLAYBACK...PLAYBACK :). The info I've amassed on the longevity prospects of the FTI BD-R's gives me reasonable confidence that they'll be good for a decent bit. The playback has been faultless burned at any speed in any burner. Incidentally, TDK has turned over production of their original made in Japan professional BD-R's to FTI. They are much more pricey in the TDK wrapper. FTI also added a little tweak (http://www.falcon-media.net/pdf/white_papers/Label%20Side%20Sputtering%20of%20BD-R(E)%20Discs_Low%20res.pdf) to the original excellent TDK design to boost reliability.

Just doin the best I can to find the best bang for my buck without any compromise on performance. These (http://www.mediamegamall.com/smartblu-m-260.html?osCsid=6f3c1551fadec1bcd852b81bac92a0ae) work.

[Ghitulescu]

Thank you for the link. I have the article.
About the insiders, yes, I know, one can get a lot of useful info from them, sometimes under the cover of full anonimate.

[Rich86]

Just for the heck of it, I dug out the very first BD-R I ever burned - from over a year ago - it was Merax brand - I did not play it entirely, but did load it up, run it for a bit, skip to every chapter & let it play a bit, scan through most of the final chapter, and then let it play the last part of the final chapter to conclusion. It seems fine. Whew.
Tomorrow maybe I'll test my oldest burned Ritek.

[jdobbs]

Interesting... I did the same thing the other day. There seems to be no issues on mine either.

[Capsbackup]

I was not so fortunate with some of my oldest Ritek discs. :( These were Memorex branded Ritek-BR2-00, and were a royal blue color. I had 9 bad discs that would no longer even load. :mad:
The newer Memorex branded Ritek discs, blueish/gray in color, are, so far ok still. :rolleyes:
But time will tell of course, as these are not as old as the first batch I bought and burned. ( about 2-3 years )

[Video Dude]

What would be the main cause of degradation of HTL discs? I would have thought they would have lasted longer since they use an inorganic recording layer.

[JJB]

I was not so fortunate with some of my oldest Ritek discs. :( These were Memorex branded Ritek-BR2-00, and were a royal blue color. I had 9 bad discs that would no longer even load. :mad:
The newer Memorex branded Ritek discs, blueish/gray in color, are, so far ok still. :rolleyes:
But time will tell of course, as these are not as old as the first batch I bought and burned. ( about 2-3 years )

The exact same thing happened to my 25 box of Memorex royal blue color. About half will not load and Imgburn won' even recognize them.

Just received a batch of SmartBlu with the TDK MID.
Good price and hoping for the best.

[DVDIT]

The exact same thing happened to my 25 box of Memorex royal blue color. About half will not load and Imgburn won' even recognize them.

Just received a batch of SmartBlu with the TDK MID.
Good price and hoping for the best.

While I can't vouch for the longevity of those Smartblu discs, I can say that they burn slightly better than Verbatim BD-R. Since these are made by Falcon/FTI and have TDK MID, I feel confident that longevity will be quite good as well. I have about 10 TDK backups I did 2.5 years ago, and all read, scan and play fine today as are all my Verbatim backups. I don't see why this would be any different as the discs are made under the same specification as TDKs and have TDK MID. I avoid anything made by Ritek. I learned my lesson well years ago with many, many DVD backups that went bad after a few months. For best result, burn the Smartblus @ 4x with LG and 6-8X with Lite-on and Pioneer burners.

[DVDean]

The exact same thing happened to my 25 box of Memorex royal blue color. About half will not load and Imgburn won' even recognize them.

Just received a batch of SmartBlu with the TDK MID.
Good price and hoping for the best.

Good to hear:). I truly would not be recommending these merely on my own research. I know at least a few people who have also burned 100's of them, and find them to be the best burning most consistent 25GB BD-R's currently available. I honestly don't know if its just that the TDK BD-R design is so solid or the fact that drive manufacturers have had a long time to perfect their burn strategies for them, but no matter what drive or what speed I use I can't coaster one or end up with anything less than smooth as silk playback/FF/RW and chapter access.

I have a really finicky LG standalone that I use for final quality testing. FTI/TDK's just work. Every time. Can't say the same for Merax, Sony, Optical Quantum, Ritek, et al.
And a bonus, TDK/FTI's super-duper scratch resistant claims are for real. Being the curious creature that I am, I've put this to the test. I've been abusing and being careless with a couple videos I watch regularly to test it out. Leave them lying around out of the case, wipe off fingerprints with my shirttail or on my pants. After a year of this, not even a hint of a fine scratch to be found. These are excellent for anyone backing up their kids videos. 100% kid-proof at my sister's house so far :).

Have a look at this (http://www.taperesources.com/docs/falcon-ritek-bluray-performance-report.pdf) to see why you can expect the Smartblu's to play better/last longer than Ritek's.
We're talking 10 to 100 times lower error rates with FTI's across a wide range of burners. Talk about a safe bet :).

Anyone looking to escape the $4.95 minimum order charge, their blu-ray cases are slightly nicer quality than similar-priced cases at Supermediastore and elsewhere. Silver licensed Blu-ray logo on the front. Just a thought.

[DVDean]

Just for the heck of it, I dug out the very first BD-R I ever burned - from over a year ago - it was Merax brand - I did not play it entirely, but did load it up, run it for a bit, skip to every chapter & let it play a bit, scan through most of the final chapter, and then let it play the last part of the final chapter to conclusion. It seems fine. Whew.
Tomorrow maybe I'll test my oldest burned Ritek.Thank goodness for that. Back at that point Optodisc's quality was just starting to slide downhill, and you could find a decent spindle here and there. A friend in another forum tested his from that time period and found an alarming number of discs that failed or were just barely able to be ripped back to hard drive. Fortunately, I reburned and tossed my own after a couple showed signs of failing or failed. Looking around to see if I missed any. You may wish to take the time to do a read test with your computer BD drive on the one that still plays as a baseline and test your others against that. Serious drops in read speed are the result of rising error levels and signal the impending death of the disc. I tried that random playback test early on, ended up having more than a few discs teach me that isn't enough. On full playback, error rate had risen to freeze-up or pixelation levels at just one or two 5-10 second points on the disc, didn't show up with a fast forward scan.

What would be the main cause of degradation of HTL discs? I would have thought they would have lasted longer since they use an inorganic recording layer.I thought so, too. Disc longevity is primarily a result of initial burn quality, materials/manufacturing quality, and storage conditions. Too many manufacturers are cutting materials quality, using cheaper manufacturing lines, and running their production lines faster than they were designed. Poor quality polycarbonate and bonding offer little protection for the recording layer. Add lower precision from production line cost-saving measures and you end up with BD-R's that produce poor to marginal initial burn quality/high error rates with very little to protect them from degrading to unusable.

It really is worthwhile to run a read speed test on your oldest burns occasionally to catch them before they die.

[vze2mp9g]

Good to hear:). I truly would not be recommending these merely on my own research. I know at least a few people who have also burned 100's of them, and find them to be the best burning most consistent 25GB BD-R's currently available. I honestly don't know if its just that the TDK BD-R design is so solid or the fact that drive manufacturers have had a long time to perfect their burn strategies for them, but no matter what drive or what speed I use I can't coaster one or end up with anything less than smooth as silk playback/FF/RW and chapter access.

I have a really finicky LG standalone that I use for final quality testing. FTI/TDK's just work. Every time. Can't say the same for Merax, Sony, Optical Quantum, Ritek, et al.
And a bonus, TDK/FTI's super-duper scratch resistant claims are for real. Being the curious creature that I am, I've put this to the test. I've been abusing and being careless with a couple videos I watch regularly to test it out. Leave them lying around out of the case, wipe off fingerprints with my shirttail or on my pants. After a year of this, not even a hint of a fine scratch to be found. These are excellent for anyone backing up their kids videos. 100% kid-proof at my sister's house so far :).

Have a look at this (http://www.taperesources.com/docs/falcon-ritek-bluray-performance-report.pdf) to see why you can expect the Smartblu's to play better/last longer than Ritek's.
We're talking 10 to 100 times lower error rates with FTI's across a wide range of burners. Talk about a safe bet :).

Anyone looking to escape the $4.95 minimum order charge, their blu-ray cases are slightly nicer quality than similar-priced cases at Supermediastore and elsewhere. Silver licensed Blu-ray logo on the front. Just a thought.

Okay, which brand would you recomment and where can I get the best price?
Thank You.

[DVDean]

Okay, which brand would you recomment and where can I get the best price?
Thank You.

Sorry for not making it easier with a link. I simply do not want anyone mistaking my enthusiasm for these discs for anything other than sharing the goodness :). Here (http://www.mediamegamall.com/smartblu-m-260.html?osCsid=5186a2149609c5a9877eb54bd32bef25) is the duplication supplier where you can find the lowest price. They are also available elsewhere, but only in reseller quantities(600+). All the 4x 25GB SmartBlu discs listed are the same disc I was speaking of.
They also have a ridiculously low price on Falcon 25GB BD-RE's. Recording quality is excellent on those too. I will never use up the 25 spindle that I bought, but couldn't resist the price.

[wedge]

A computer shop in Vancouver had a sale on verbatim bd-r 25 4x early last year.They came in 10 pack boxes.I bought 300 of them.(30 boxes).I have since purchased about another 10 of these boxes in the last year.
Well I was asked to do some duplicates of these discs in the last 2 weeks.I haven't checked them since my original burning of these discs.
Well you can imagine my surprise when virtually ALL of these discs are Defective.The only ones that so far seem not to be,are the ones burned within the last 3 months.
I use 1 LG and a couple Pioneer burners,all at 2x speed burning.
Needless to say I am VERY Pi**ed.I purchased verbatim's under the assurances that they were the best discs available,and no, even on sale they were not cheap.

So what do you chaps figure are the best out there..Sorry haven't read all 25 pages of this section yet,maybe I will tomorrow.

(PS)Just noticed that as of next month,I'll have been a member of Doom9 for 10 years..Man how time flies.:)

[DVDIT]

A computer shop in Vancouver had a sale on verbatim bd-r 25 4x early last year.They came in 10 pack boxes.I bought 300 of them.(30 boxes).I have since purchased about another 10 of these boxes in the last year.
Well I was asked to do some duplicates of these discs in the last 2 weeks.I haven't checked them since my original burning of these discs.
Well you can imagine my surprise when virtually ALL of these discs are Defective.The only ones that so far seem not to be,are the ones burned within the last 3 months.
I use 1 LG and a couple Pioneer burners,all at 2x speed burning.
Needless to say I am VERY Pi**ed.I purchased verbatim's under the assurances that they were the best discs available,and no, even on sale they were not cheap.

So what do you chaps figure are the best out there..Sorry haven't read all 25 pages of this section yet,maybe I will tomorrow.

(PS)Just noticed that as of next month,I'll have been a member of Doom9 for 10 years..Man how time flies.:)

What is the model number ? If it is Verbatim 96769, that are the best I ever had. Try burning them @ 4x. If they are LTH discs, then we are not surprised.

[DVDean]

Well I was asked to do some duplicates of these discs in the last 2 weeks.I haven't checked them since my original burning of these discs.
Well you can imagine my surprise when virtually ALL of these discs are Defective.The only ones that so far seem not to be,are the ones burned within the last 3 months.
I use 1 LG and a couple Pioneer burners,all at 2x speed burning.
Needless to say I am VERY Pi**ed.I purchased verbatim's under the assurances that they were the best discs available,and no, even on sale they were not cheap.



(PS)Just noticed that as of next month,I'll have been a member of Doom9 for 10 years..Man how time flies.:)
Did you have a chance to test these discs when they were first burned? Is it possible there was a problem at the start? How are they defective? What are the prices on good quality BD-R's you might be considering?


Congratulations on your upcoming anniversary :).

[Rich86]

Just for the heck of it, I dug out the very first BD-R I ever burned - from over a year ago - it was Merax brand - I did not play it entirely, but did load it up, run it for a bit, skip to every chapter & let it play a bit, scan through most of the final chapter, and then let it play the last part of the final chapter to conclusion. It seems fine. Whew.
Tomorrow maybe I'll test my oldest burned Ritek.

Well, it took a fair amount of complaining and badgering, but Meritline has issued me a RMA # to return the defective Merax (OTCBDR-001-000 internal code) media spindle (this is the media that won't even write the lead-in using imgburn). They agreed to issue me a store credit to use. That is fine by me. The defective media is on the way to them.

Update: and now Inland has agreed to replace the 3rd unopened spindle if I find them to be defective also since we are still within their 1 year warranty period. These are the same media (internal code = OTCBDR-001-000) only Fry's sold them under the Inland brand name.

[Rich86]

I burn BD-Rs with a Lite-On iHBS112 2 blu-ray burner. It has firmware CL0K. I also have the Lite-On utilities module installed.
When I decide to give the last spindle of OTCBDR media a workout, what settings would folks suggest.
I burn using imgburn. I keep Smartburn On - and OPC On - Overspeed Writing Off. How about Hyper Tuning - Forced? Online? Both? Neither?
I have no earthly idea if the firmware for this drive knows anything at all about this media beyond what it figures out on its own on the fly while burning.
It seems obvious to me that the media is inconsistent (although the manufacturer denies that, of course), so some on the fly analysis and adjustment might be good?
Any ideas or experience is appreciated before I start playing and making $ coasters . . .

[JJB]

I burn BD-Rs with a Lite-On iHBS112 2 blu-ray burner. It has firmware CL0K. I also have the Lite-On utilities module installed.
When I decide to give the last spindle of OTCBDR media a workout, what settings would folks suggest.
I keep Smartburn On - and OPC On - Overspeed Writing Off. How about Hyper Tuning - Forced? Online? Both? Neither?
I have no earthly idea if the firmware for this drive knows anything at all about this media beyond what it figures out on its own on the fly while burning.
It seems obvious to me that the media is inconsistent (although the manufacturer denies that, of course), so some on the fly analysis and adjustment might be good?
Any ideas or experience is appreciated before I start playing and making $ coasters . . .


Whats wrong with Imgburn?:confused:

[Rich86]

Whats wrong with Imgburn?:confused:

Nothing - that is what I use but neglected to mention that - now fixed.

[DVDean]

I burn BD-Rs with a Lite-On iHBS112 2 blu-ray burner. It has firmware CL0K. I also have the Lite-On utilities module installed.
When I decide to give the last spindle of OTCBDR media a workout, what settings would folks suggest.
I burn using imgburn. I keep Smartburn On - and OPC On - Overspeed Writing Off. How about Hyper Tuning - Forced? Online? Both? Neither?
I have no earthly idea if the firmware for this drive knows anything at all about this media beyond what it figures out on its own on the fly while burning.
It seems obvious to me that the media is inconsistent (although the manufacturer denies that, of course), so some on the fly analysis and adjustment might be good?
Any ideas or experience is appreciated before I start playing and making $ coasters . . .

You are a brave man, sir. That challenge drove me to near madness :). You can try unchecking "BD-R verify not required" on the "write" tab in ImgBurn's settings for a little help. This will enable the drive's full on-the-fly burn quality checking/adjustment. When burning high quality media, this is unnecessary and should be checked. Clear the OPC. Turn off OPC. A bad disc's optimum laser power requirements will often vary quite widely across the disc, and leaving the drives OP at default is usually better. By all means enable online hypertuning and force hypertuning. And if it burns successfully, consider it a victory and celebrate by returning them and buying something else.
At the very least, run a read speed test on the burn and watch for any read slowdowns before you consider it a good burn.

[Rich86]

You are a brave man, sir. That challenge drove me to near madness :). You can try unchecking "BD-R verify not required" on the "write" tab in ImgBurn's settings for a little help. This will enable the drive's full on-the-fly burn quality checking/adjustment. When burning high quality media, this is unnecessary and should be checked. Clear the OPC. Turn off OPC. A bad disc's optimum laser power requirements will often vary quite widely across the disc, and leaving the drives OP at default is usually better. By all means enable online hypertuning and force hypertuning. And if it burns successfully, consider it a victory and celebrate by returning them and buying something else.
At the very least, run a read speed test on the burn and watch for any read slowdowns before you consider it a good burn.

The first spindle was reasonably priced - and worked fine. Both the 2nd and 3rd spindles were very inexpensive due to coupons/rebates, which is why I bought them since the 1st spindle was working so well. In hindsight, it sure seems like Optodisc and their brand name marketing partners (Merax & Inland, in my case) were simply unloading problematic product. I guess that's what got me annoyed and determined to hold them accountable in at least a small way.
I will open and try to use this 3rd spindle and see what we've got - something good like the 1st spindle - or trash like the 2nd. Then I can decide who to pester for a refund or replacement - Fry's, Inland (who has already agreed to honor their 1 year warranty) or Optodisc.

[DVDean]

The first spindle was reasonably priced - and worked fine. Both the 2nd and 3rd spindles were very inexpensive due to coupons/rebates, which is why I bought them since the 1st spindle was working so well. In hindsight, it sure seems like Optodisc and their brand name marketing partners (Merax & Inland, in my case) were simply unloading problematic product. I guess that's what got me annoyed and determined to hold them accountable in at least a small way.
I will open and try to use this 3rd spindle and see what we've got - something good like the 1st spindle - or trash like the 2nd. Then I can decide who to pester for a refund or replacement - Fry's, Inland (who has already agreed to honor their 1 year warranty) or Optodisc.

The reasonable price was certainly what led me to give them a try. And my first couple spindles, though reporting higher error rate averages than I was accustomed to, were usable for SAP video playback. Seemed I might have a decent inexpensive media for non-mission-critical use. Then I ran into a spindle where the error levels had increased significantly, and the playback problems began. It was a valuable learning experience, as it gave me a better sense of how high the error rates can be on a BD-R before overcoming a set-top player's error correction ability.

Manufacturers/brands/resellers know very well that they can count on a substantial number of sales at the consumer retail level based on low price. And many consumers will come back for more before spending a little more per disc in spite of running into some coasters. Our free enterprise system has some drawbacks. The responsibility for ending up with quality products lies entirely with us. Unfortunate that sellers can count on very few people taking the time and effort to hold them to a higher standard.

Be careful out there :)

I wish you the best of luck with those. There is no sure-fire combinations of Lite-on settings that works best with every spindle unfortunately.