Stomp_442

The "Life Series" I believe are known (or had been previously reported some time ago on another site I used to frequent) as being the inferior CMC MAG. So I avoid that particular sub-brand/line of their media.

In what way are the different ?

besides the additional 1MB.

Originally Posted by TomKStones

In what way are the different ?

besides the additional 1MB.

The Quality of the Dye in the media. The ones from Singapore tend to be much better. This reduces the stress on the Wii's laser, reduces errors and the dye, I believe, resists oxidation longer.

The Azo recording dye is the secret. When burned and stored correctly, these discs will last forever (about 70 years). Taiyo Yuden uses a dye called Cyanine dye and is of the same quality lasting just as long. These two companies are the only ones left that produce a good quality recordable media. There were a few other manufacturers that produced quality discs, but have since gone the route of quantity over quality, and use lesser manufactures like CMC and Ritek to produce their discs.

So, if your media doesn't have a Manufacturer ID of MCC, TY, or Yuden, then it is most likely junk.

Believe it or not Gigaware [radio shack brand] makes a great recordable media. I use this brand for both Wii and 360 burns. Never had a problem.

ASDA (or Wal-marts) own DVD minus's are made by verbatim, and they are the good ones as they come up with the same manufacturers code... I cant speak for other countries but that is the case in the UK anyway...

Don't get me wrong, I do buy other brands of DVD media. It's just that when I burn something I want to keep around for a while, then I use the verbs or TYs. I have bought my fair share of CMC and Ritek. I do get a good burn from every disc, no matter what the brand is (except for some TDK media I had once, bad right out of the box). And I do have some movies I recorded on Ritek G04 media that still plays, and the burns are about 5-7 years old. I have no respect for the Ritek G05 media. And, I did get some no-name brand from Aldi supermarket that had MCC as the manufacturer, but the discs were 8x, probably produced quite a while ago. The last Taiyo Yuden discs I found at a retailer were on Sony DVD +R 8x media. I like to buy blank DVDs just so I can run test on them.

You can't find'em anymore, but Staples used to carry Fuji media made in Japan. If it said made in Japan, they were Taiyo Yudens every time. If they said otherwise, most often CMC MAG or at times Ricoh (which are better than CMC MAG). I believe you can't find'em "made in japan" nowadays.

AVOID the Verbatims that are Made in India. These are the ones I've had the most problem with.

I did some searching and it looks like Verbatim has stopped producing discs with the Azo dye. So I will no longer recommend Verbatim as a brand to use for Wii backups. Verbatim DVD blank media is now no different than Memorex or any other store brand, I shall now only recommend Taiyo Yuden as a quality disc.

I just bought a bulk load of Dual Layer Verbatims for my XBOX360 and they all contain the AZO Die. I wonder if thats because they are Dual Layer though???

Stomp do you still have the page(s) you found on that? Sounds like a good read for the News forum and important information to get around.

I guess I should not be saying as a fact that Verbatim quit producing discs with the azo dye, that's what I have read on a few CD/DVD forums, with no links to some official announcement. But I tend to believe the posts because the last time I have seen the Verbatims with the azo dye was back in April, DVD -/+ R, dont know about DL discs. I was in Best Buy and Verbatims with both packages were on the shelf. I imagine it will only be a matter of time before the discs with the azo dye are sold out, worldwide. On the other hand, it seems that Taiyo Yuden has purchased 65% of JVC's media division, which means JVC discs may be manufactured by Taiyo Yuiden, and those discs should have hit the store shelf by the end of 2009, I'll have to get some to find out, but I will not purchase JVC brand unless they are manufactured in Japan.

Yes, Taiyo Yuden acquiring the JVC brand has been known for awhile... myself, no store around here has ever stocked their brand of media (JVC).