What is your blank media brand preference?

[rtan00]

Well I look through the Sunday ads to find cheap blank media every Sunday but I don’t want to get burned (no pun intended) and buy a spindle of coasters. I was hopping that we could all save each other some time and money in regards to blank media brands. If you have any horror stories, success stories, brands to avoid, or brands to buy please share your thoughts. My preferred brand is TDK only because I had great success with their CD-Rs that were sold for so cheap at Costco, but for the most part I buy what is cheapest. Also has anyone tried generic blank media? Everyone says to avoid it, but is it really that bad?

Here are my experiences

Brand___________#Burned_________#of Coasters
TDK_____________20______________0
Memorex_________25______________1
Fuji_____________50______________2

The numbers are not exact but it was something like that. Also I have not been able to watch all of my backups so more could be broken that I am not aware of. One of my Fuji Discs completed burning however when I tried to watch it, the end froze. I looked at the disc and the dye (or whatever it actually is) on the outside edge was very uneven and the burn circle disappeared in the light discolored areas, but so far it was only that one disc.

All were DVD+R burned using the SONY Dru-510

[mrlipring]

I prefer verbatim. As long as they're the discs they've made, not just branded. I've burned maybe 50-100 of them, and only had problems when the install of windows was jiggered. no probs with the media at all.

I use datawrite reds as my cheap discs, they'r not at all bad. no coasters there either.

I've had coasters with cheap b-grade blanks, and white-top crap/names you've never heard of, but even these cheaper discs aren't much cheaper than decent discs. there's no point saving 10p/disc when they're a bit hit and miss. I've not had any dvd-rs for more than 8 months, but i trust the verbs enough to expect them to still be readable in 5 years, as if i'd still need the contents in 5 years :)

It's not so much the brand that's important, as the manufacturer.

[coona]

I have red a month ago (or so) in this forum some people complain on verbatim discs. Here is the link:

http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=51912

So real quality probably comes with MCC while CMC is sign of coasters. I prefer Imation - only one or two coasters (crapy playback on one of my players - Sony DAVS-550 actualy; Sony DAVS-400 plays all my backups flawlessly :D) from 50+ burned discs. I have HP DVD writer 200i (Ricoh5125) so I use only +R media.

And another note :) - I´m not very succesful with Memorex +RW media - after 30-40 burning cycles cannot be erased :confused:.

[alexnoe]

Verbatim: Burned, maybe 100, coasters 0
Maxell: Burned also around 100, coasters 1 (power loss and reboot while burning...)

[coona]

to alexnoe

I still hesitate to switch from Imation to Verbatim - what is your opinion on Imation? Is it OEM or real brand??

Thanx for your response.

[alexnoe]

Imation is CMC. If it worked for you at all, then it is nothing else than really a lot of luck, as well as good dvd players

[coona]

Is there difference between +R and -R media in this??

[windtrader]

Ritek G04 has been great.