Topic: Good Recordable DVD brands for archiving?

[BC]

Hey all-
Just got a new lappy that came with a dual-layer DVD burner.   

What are the best brands of DVD for archiving to? I would ideally like quality dye, as well as a continuous matte top coat that is very resistant to flaking.
Any suggestions as to your favorites? (and maybe why you think they are better than others would be cool too)

Sure will be nice to be able to back up 24 bit masters without taking up 5 discs per show! Hell, with all the space who needs FLAC? Just dump the WAV data straight to disc!

I have to admit though, with the much higher storage density I am definitely worried a bit about disc failures, which is why I would like to use quality archival DVD media if possible.

Peace,
Ben

[taktheride]

Tayio Yuden
rima.com sells them..

[Ed.]

i've heard that all dvd media has to undergo the same rigourous testing unlike cd media.  So just about anything with a solid top coat to gaurd against flaking should work.

www.salescircular.com is a good place to find the cheapest prices of best buy/circuit city type stores in your area.

i bought a 200 pack of ritek's from www.allmediaoutlet.com and have burned over a 100 so far without any problems.  and the discs are on par quality wise with all of the other discs i've used and seen.

[F.O.Bean]

i have been using verbatim dvd-r's and they have been ROCK SOLID the last 5months

[JackoRoses]

i have been using verbatim dvd-r's and they have been ROCK SOLID the last 5months

[itook2much]

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 = (-R)(-RW) ... media is no longer made
MXLRG01, MXLRG02 = Maxell = (-R)(-RW) ... be aware of fakes
TAIYOYUDEN, YUDEN, TYG01, TYG02 = Taiyo Yuden = (-R)(+R) ... be aware of fakes
MCC = Mitsubishi Chemicals = (-R)(-RW)(+R)(+RW)Verbatim
TDKG02, TTG01 = TDK Corp = (-R)(-RW) ... be aware of fakes

2ND CLASS MEDIA
Decent discs, though not perfect, about 80-95% success rate:
PRODISC = Prodisc Media = (-R)(+R)
INFODISC = Infodisc Media = (+RW)
SONYD04 = Sony = (-R) ... be aware of fakes
RICOHJPN = Ritek or Ricoh = (+R)(+RW)
RITEK = Ritek = (+R)(-R)(-RW)(+RW)G04 seems to be the best
OPTODISC = Optodisc = (-R)
FUJIFILM = Fuji = (-R)(+R)

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)
PRINCO, fake TDK = Princo = (-R)(-RW)
ONIDTECH = Unknown OEM = (-R)
MUST = Unknown OEM = (-R)
GSC001, GSC002 = Unknown OEM = (-R)(+R)

4TH CLASS MEDIA
Pathetic garbage media, landfill material, about 0-50% success rate:
RITEKG01, RITEKG02 = Ritek = (-R)
CMC, CMCMAG = CMC Magnetics = (+R)(-R)
PIODATA, PIO = LeadData, Ritek = (-R) ... once sold as "Pioneer" but that's false
Fake SONY, MXL = Fake Sony/Maxell from Hong Kong OEM (Infosmart?) = (-R)
OPTODISC = Optodisc = (+R)(+RW)
AN31, AN32, ANWELL, AN30 = Hong Kong OEM (Infosmart?) = (-R)
INFOSMART = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)(+R)
VANGUARD = Unknown OEM = (-R)
YIJHAN = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)
MATRIX = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)
VDSPMS = Unknown OEM = (-R)(+R)
LONGTEN = Hong Kong OEM = (-R)

I've used all of the red ones above with little or no problems.  Nothing's written in stone tho...I've had a spool of Verbatim recently with a few bad discs, & I had a 50pk of Fuji DVD+R (TY Japan) recently that was crap, had problems with over 1/2 of the discs.

[C.Clark]

ive had my dvd burner for about the past 8 months, ive used only fuji and sony, the fuji's +R's were crap, they were supposed to be 8x, but only were recognized as 4x and i burned many coasters with my sony drive.  i switched to sony on reccomendation of sony support, i know i know, so ive been using both the + and - R's for the past 3 months and i think ive only burned 3 coasters out of about 200 discs and that was b/c i had badly fragmented HD.  the -R's are the better of the two, thats what i would reccomend and they are made in Japan, so no worries on quality.  my previously archived copies are standing up flawlessly.
-chris

[F.O.Bean]

i didnt know verbatims were that solid, altho, ive only had coasters because of user error 99% of the time w/ them

[BC]

thanks for the responses guys. +t all round'

[Gordon]

ive had my dvd burner for about the past 8 months, ive used only fuji and sony, the fuji's +R's were crap, they were supposed to be 8x, but only were recognized as 4x and i burned many coasters with my sony drive.  i switched to sony on reccomendation of sony support, i know i know, so ive been using both the + and - R's for the past 3 months and i think ive only burned 3 coasters out of about 200 discs and that was b/c i had badly fragmented HD.  the -R's are the better of the two, thats what i would reccomend and they are made in Japan, so no worries on quality.  my previously archived copies are standing up flawlessly.
-chris

sounds to me like your burner is a piece of shit.  fugi make's a good disc.  with my nec 3250a I can burn the 8x jap made ones at 16x  burned well over 300 disc and only coaster was my fault.

[heath]

I personally use Mitsui.

[BC]

Tayio Yuden

or

Ritek G4 / G5

disks are what I use.  If they are made in Japan you are golden, just like with cdr's.

i buy all my dvds at www.supermediastore.com

hth ~
tim

just checking out this site, anyone know what the difference between "regular silver inkjet printable" and "white inkjet hub printable" is? What would you think is more durable?

http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-dvd-plus-r-media.html


Thanks for any info, I am super picky about my top coats after seeing tons of flaking on supposedly HQ mitsui silver CDR's back in the day.

[F.O.Bean]

i think white is better but who knows, i used to buy the phatty kodak gold recordable ones,  they were the BOMB, anyway, i dunno tho, it seems the white is a heavier coat

[hyperplane]

*most* of the white topped TY dvds are the typical silver topped TY dvds with white matte labels slapped on them (at the factory, of course).     so i wouldn't think it's worth the extra dough...



and i, too, miss the Kodak Gold Ultima cds with Inforguard. i still have a spindle of them, but don't have the heart to use the last of them.