TRADER POLL whats your favorite brand?

[savageamusement]

OKay once again


When you burn, for yourself or others- what is your most common brand?

Not speed or Grade, brand.


Here is some info for those just starting, you might find helpful:

Who makes the disc: Brand vs. Media ID

The thing that must be realized is that most media is produced by a relative small number of factories, located in several different places. These factories are present in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Mexico, Hong Kong, India, and Ireland... maybe a few more, but not many. The best media generally comes from Japan and Singapore. The worst typically comes from Taiwan (in stores) and Hong Kong (online).

This being said, understand that the media brands means nothing. Apple is a great brand, but they do not make their own discs, instead outsourcing to MXL (Hitachi/Maxell), MCC (Mitsubishi Chemicals), and PVC (Pioneer). Verbatim became infamous by switching from high-quality MCC to ultra-cheap CMC (CMC Magnetics) media, although they have since returned to using MCC. Companies like Memorex, Fuji and Imation all outsource to media vendors. When buying media online always be aware of fake media too (see the fakes guide). It is the Media ID that is important, as it reveals the disc maker.

Fakes

Luckily, it does not happen often, but it does happen often enough to be a major annoyance to media buyers everywhere. Most fake media comes from Hong Kong, as a general rule. Fake media tends to float around Europe and Asia more than it does the USA. Fake media is normally sold in flea markets, on eBay and online. Major brand name media sold in stores is probably never going to be fake.

TYG02 = This was faked by Hong Kong OEM in 2004-2005. Some OPTODISC media was also reported to carry this code. The fakes are rumored to be for "improved 8x media detection" but low quality media is low quality, regardless of the media ID.

MXLRG01 = This was faked by Hong Kong OEM in 2002-2003.

SONY = This was faked in 2003. Unknown HK manufacturer. "SONY" is not a valid media ID.

TDKG02 = This was faked by PRINCO in 2001-2002. They wanted to "improve 2x writing" on the 1x write strategy media, as well as insure drives would see the media (not all firmware at the time had PRINCO as a valid media code).

RITEKG03,RITEKG04 = This was supposedly faked in 2004. However, it is the opinion of this author that it was just a lame cover story by RITEK for providing subpar quality media, as even the "legit" media performed poorly at the time.

Branding Guide

Although this will change on a regular basis, the following brands are known to use the following media makers for their outsourced discs. Be careful for CMC and PRINCO discs, as those are becoming more common in those "special sales" seen almost every week since early 2004. Some companies prefer dollars over quality, so be careful. Also be especially careful of "house brands" or no-names. Stores like Fry's and CompUSA have horrible return policies too, so if you end up with an unfavorable media ID, do not burn a test, just take it back for a refund and take your business elsewhere. Because of recent trends, the BOLDFACE represents known media at the time of this publish. Others are either past media codes, or codes available to the manufacturer. The (-R) and (+R) has also been added if only one is using that code.

Accu = LEADDATA
Americal = RITEKG01, PRINCO, LEADDATA
Apple = MXL, MCC(-R)
Arita = RITEKG03, RICOHJPN
BenQ = DAXON, FUJIFILM
Bulkpaq = PRINCO, PRODISC, ISO001(+R)
CompUSA = PRINCO(-R), AML, OPTODISC, LD
Datawrite = PRINCO, PRODISC, AN31, RITEKG03
DupEZ = PIODATA, LEADDATA
ESA = CMC
Esbuy = RITEK, LEADDATA, other budget IDs
Fuji = TY(-R), MKM(-RW), MCC, RICOHJPN(+R), PRODISC(-R), FUJIFILM, RITEK
GQ = PIODATA, PRINCO, RITEKG03, RITEKG02, LEADDATA, LD
HP = CMC, RICOHJPN, MCC
Imation = MCC02, RITEKG03, CMC
Intenso = MCC01
KHypermedia = CMC, TTG01
Kodak = Various budget IDs
LiquidVideo = OPTODISC
Matrix = MATRIX, LONGTEN, YIJHAN, MUST
Maxell = MXL, RITEK(-R/Taiwan), RICOHJPN, TYG01
Memorex = MCC003, RITEKG05, RITEKR03, CMCMAG, RICOHJPN,
Memorex (more) = PRODISCS0x, INFODISC, MBI, MCC01
Meritline = Various budget IDs
Mirror = AN31, ONIDTECH, PRINCO
Optodisc = OPTODISC
Philips = CMC
Pioneer = PVC
Princo = PRINCO, Fake TDK
Prodisc = PRODISCS0x, PRODISCF0x, MCC01, MCC02
Ridata, Ritek = RITEKG0x, RITEKM0x, RITEKR0x, RITEKW, RICOHJPN
Samsung = TYG01, BEALL, RITEK
Sonic, Shop4tech = LONGTEN, MATRIX, MUST, YIJHAN, various budget IDs
Sony = SONYD0x, YUDEN, RICOHJPN, MCC
Supermedia, Linkyo = Various budget IDs
TDK = TY, YUDEN, TTG0x, TTH0x, RITEK, RICOH, MXL, CMC(+R), MCC, TDK
Teon = MCC003(+R), CMC(-R)
Verbatim = MCC02, MCC, MKM(DL), CMC, YUDEN, RICOHJPN, RITEKG03

[Lamont]

im waiting to see if anyone will pick nexxtech

[lordsmurf]

I don't want to be the doody-head here, but many of those discs are not brands, but manufacturers. And then popular brands like HP, Imation, Memorex, and quite a few others are not listed in the poll.

And a more recent and expanded version of the guide you cut/paste can be found at www.nomorecoasters.com

[Lamont]

those 3 could fall under OTHER if u think about it

BUT i will say this--- memorex--- not recommended
Imation-- not recommeneded

HP-- ok disc but not commonly used by most traders

[omg65]

I tried several brands at first to test them out and the only two I will use are Verbatim and Sony.I have probably used 300 Verbatims without a single coaster.I have had a few coasters with Sony(probably a bad batch.It happens with all of them) but not enough to where I wouldn't buy them.One thing I will say about Sony is that of all the brands I receive in trades,they alone are the only brand that always play on my el cheapo Cyberhome DVD player.That makes me confident they will play on just about any DVD player out there.That's huge for trading because you cut back on remaking a set for someone to nill.

[savageamusement]

Originally Posted by lordsmurf

I don't want to be the doody-head here, but many of those discs are not brands, but manufacturers. And then popular brands like HP, Imation, Memorex, and quite a few others are not listed in the poll.

And a more recent and expanded version of the guide you cut/paste can be found at www.nomorecoasters.com

No your not being a doody head, good catch.

I lack the verbage sometimes- and a lot of times people associate brand with what the disc says- I apologize for my blunder.

I actually got the pasted area from a friend, but the expanded version is a really good refrence, thank you VERY much.

[marvelousmarcus]

1) Yuden +Rs- are the best!
2) Taiyo Yuden-Rs close second!
3) Verbatim is pretty good too!

I won't even look at the rest!