I see Staples has Imation 100 pack dvd-r on sale for 24.94
Is this brand alright or one to steer clear from? I appreciate any help as i'm fairly new to media brands. I usually stick to the name brands and havent heard of Imation before.

I'd stay away from them, as you really don't know who the real media is from - Prodisc, Ritek, etc.

I have never used them before
BUT i have had 2 traders (NOT good traders mind you, just traders ha ha)
who sent me about 50 discs of IMITATION brand
and about 1/2 of them had errors or were JUST TITLE screens, no data

i dont know if the traders were just lazy (which might be as they are not ones ive dealt with again!) or the discs were bad
BUT i know you can shop around at circuit city/best buy/staples and find good deals
so id avoid them

Thanks, I will go with another brand then. I figured they couldnt be that good with a price that cheap lol.

I have never used them before
BUT i have had 2 traders (NOT good traders mind you, just traders ha ha)
who sent me about 50 discs of IMITATION brand
and about 1/2 of them had errors or were JUST TITLE screens, no data

i dont know if the traders were just lazy (which might be as they are not ones ive dealt with again!) or the discs were bad
BUT i know you can shop around at circuit city/best buy/staples and find good deals
so id avoid them


I ask traders now before I trade what brand media they are using for my discs. I have found if you don't ask, you will get junk! I try to use TDK, maxell or memorex. Those brands have always worked well for me without problem.

I have used and received just about everything known to man, but my favorites are (plus r or minus r)

1. TDK
2. Maxell
3. Staples Brand (yes, I like these, my computer techies at work swear by them and I myself have had very very few error rates)
4. Comp USA (same as above, very little error rates)
5. Office Depot Brand (same as above)
6. Philips

Ones I don't like:
1. Verbatim
2. RiData
3. Fuji

NOW, with all of that said, these are personal experiences and the recommendations of my "techie" buddies. As I have stated a million times before, A lot of folks have had different experiences and will have different opinions, I always say to each his own on some of this stuff.

Tom

A lot of people say that if it is made in Taiwan it is crap and if it is made in Japan it is good. I have been using Fuji (Taiwan) for a few weeks now and have had no problems, others on this post have had problems with those. The only brand that I will NEVER use is Dysan, it was horrible to me. Also, any silvertops are usually no good.

Taiyo-Yudens are unlabeled silvertops and are considered by many to be the best DVD-R blanks.

John

If you want good discs (in USA and Canada), get these:

Sony brand DVD+R (made in Japan) = YUDEN media
Sony brand DVD+R (made in Taiwan) = SONY media
Sony brand DVD-R (made in Japan) = TY or SONY media
Fuji brand DVD+R (made in Japan) = YUDEN media
Fuji brand DVD-R (made in Japan) = TY media
Verbatim brand DVD-R (made in Taiwan) = MCC media
Verbatim brand DVD+R (made in Taiwan) = MCC media
Maxell brand DVD-R (made in Japan) = MXL media
Maxell brand DVD+R (made in Japan) = MAXELL media
TDK brand DVD-R (made in Taiwain) = TDK media

Best Buy, Staples, Office Depot, Walmart, Fry's and OfficeMax are all fine places to pick up some of these discs. About $15-20 per 50 pack on sale. New sale each week it seems.

I AGREE WITH A FEW HERE ON BRANDS ....

I USE OR USED:

PRODISCS -R (WHITE TOP) FOR TRADES
PRODISCS -R (SILVER MATTE TOPS) FOR TRADES
PRODISCS -R (SHINNY SILVER) FOR TRADES
TDK -R (SILVER MATTE TOPS) FOR TRADES
SONY +R (WHITE TOPS) FOR TRADES
SONY -R (WHITE TOPS) FOR TRADES
HP -R (RED TOPS) FOR TRADES
HP -R (SILVER TOPS) FOR TRADES
MEMOREX -R (SILVER MATTE TOPS) FOR TRADES
VERBATIM -R (SILVER MATTE TOPS) FOR MY MASTERS

I TRY TO STAY AWAY FROM MEMOREX AND HP NOW AS THESE ARE OK BRANDS TO ME ,.. NOT TOP NOTCH. BUT NOT BAD BY ANY MEANS EITHER ,.. JUST NOT GREAT.

IF I HAD LOOT TO BURN ,.. TAYO ,.. FUJI,... AND MAXELL ARE TOPS.

I Ussually only use TDK or Verbatim. Im gonna buy Maxell for the first time tomorow cause its a good sale. i hope there good its 25 Blanks for 5$ at Office Debot

I find it matters the project, but Tayo- or their also the makers of Verbatim.

Which can be found at Sams CLub here for 50 discs for 14.99

So its 30 dollars per 100 of Verbatim 16x ,

maybe i was too hard on imation discs
someone send me a trade of 70 discs
they sent all imation and all worked perfect

i prefer TY discs of course but even cheap discs can be ok

STAPLES has their store brand dvd-rs on sale now for like $7 for a 50 pack
not the best brand of course, but someone sent me 50 in a trade and tehy worked fine

:lol:

Any word on JVC brand? I just bought a 50 spindle pack for $18 bucks. I haven't had a problem with these yet. I did two different trades using them and the other traders seemed happy. However, I'd hate to pop in a disc a year or two from now, and have problems.

Any word on JVC brand? I just bought a 50 spindle pack for $18 bucks. I haven't had a problem with these yet. I did two different trades using them and the other traders seemed happy. However, I'd hate to pop in a disc a year or two from now, and have problems.

thats a concern for a lot of people

i know a big time dvd colelctor, who has just that problem

lots and lots of his rare stuff , just will not read anymore

back when discs were still a couple dollars each, he used elcheapos and now has to deal with that decision

the nice thing now is, that 90% of what most people have, is readily avaible if a disc or even an entire run is needed at somepoint

its not like its a total disaster

unlike the rare things that i mentioned, they just dont exist in many cases

i have a back up copy on almost everything i have

im trying to avoid a major problem

if you look at my web site, i use only riteks, taiyo yudens, and verbatiums

ive found that most traders have to learn for themselves on brand quality

also ive found that the type of discs u use, is not nearly important as the equipment that u burn them with, i used to have an offbrand duper, that had like a 20 % failure rate EVEN ON TY discs---but my newer machines have less than a 1% failure rate with any disc brands
so the equipment has a lot to do with it

...i know a big time dvd colelctor, who has just that problem
lots and lots of his rare stuff , just will not read anymore...back when discs were still a couple dollars each, he used elcheapos and now has to deal with that decision
I've found that discs I've personally made with my Panasonic recorders, no matter which brand I used will always work in the recorder it was made in, at least with my Panasonics. Maybe this will work for your friend. At least, then, all will not be lost.