Since mid-2007, Pleomax (Samsung) discs are more and more Made In China discs with UME codes, instead of OPTODISC. Bad move from Samsung.

These UME discs have shown to be acceptable to frankly poor, with no-so-great firmware support in burners, which doesn't help of course.

Since my Pleomax order turned out to be UME discs too (despite being referenced as Optodisc at the online shop.. oh well, I have 50 giveway discs now.. ), I'm curious to know if there is still a part of the production as OPTODISC or if all Pleomax discs are UME now.

Does someone here know anything about that?

BTW The UME02 discs I received are kinda acceptable when burned in my 112D (my Sammy 203B and Benq 1650 seem to really hate this MID), though they are really sub-par in my book they're fortunately not downright awful. I'll post scans and TRTs later on.

Is that the order from Xmediatrade?

Yep

Maybe you should try some strategy swapping. Sometimes it can hugely improve the results...

I noticed your input about stat swapping for UME02 some time ago.

Thing is, I'm really lazy with poor media . So if you have an idea of which MID to try swapping with UME02, I'm all ears and I will try it. But if no one does have a specific idea, I won't be the guinea pig and spend hours on some MIC crap discs...

I ordered some Pleomax printables from Damro late last year and they ended up being MBI. I'm not sure if they were listed as Optodisc at the time, but they are being listed as such now. Not sure if I'll chance it again.

G

Just wanna make clear that I'm not really looking for help on how to use these discs (will use them for giveway burns anyway), rather I'm interested if all Pleomax are UME now, or if some members still receive Optodisc.

Behind this question, lies my shame for having kept on recommmending Pleomax for some time, though it seems others stopped in 2007.

*EDIT* Just saw your input, Mediumrare. Thanks for joining the discussion! - mmmh, MBI...

Odd since they clearly advertise them to be optodics ones..... Guess I wont order from them then.

That's one of those shops which put a disclaimer about mediacodes, you know, "the mediacode may change without notice because the manufacturers blah blah blah". Like the vast majority of online shops. I'm really missing SVP's customer service.They have a good choice, good prices (depending on where one lives), work fast and pack the parcels very well. If you order only reputable stuff like Verbatim, the odds are very tiny that you could be bitten by lousy media with unexpected codes.

Actually this impression was because of a huge speck of dust on the first disc burnt in the 1650, which had lead to a large unburnt spot with a consecutive huge PIF hump.

Actually, my 1650 units (which resort automatically to SolidBurn with these discs, probably meaning that UME02 has no strategy in the 1650 firmwares) make very decent burns out of them @12X, better than the 112D.

There's still the stability that worries me, though, as it does with any cheap media I'm introduced to. Do you have comments Mediumrare?

OPTODISCR016, MCC 03RG20 or PRODISC-R04

AFAIK the UME02 media are based on the 16x MUST Technology dye. I have a some AML media, which are based on 8X Must dye and made by the same company and they have not detoriated at all after a 4 years
Yeah, I know that dye is not the only factor in media longetivity, but I still think that you can trust these UME's DVDs.

We've got a bunch of the Optodisc Pleomaxes in a local supermarket, but I have a feeling they're just old stock.

I've been very busy in the last few weeks travelling , and when I went to Cairo (the capital) which was flooded with Samsung Pleomax OPTODISC media just 2 months ago , it is now flooded with UME MIC

In my last trip I met some guy who owns a media store and told him to send me 500 DVD+R and 500 DVD-R via shipping

I've never heard from that bastard again

He wanted a down payment and I said : No , Courrier service does this and they will not give me the "goods" without paying what is written in the reciet !!

Luckily , we still have the great Panasonic TYG03 and lately Verbatim MCC004/MCC 03RG20 in 25 packs new packaging in Radioshack Egypt and they are awesome in every aspect

The thing is :

For me OPTODISC is not important anymore as Verbatim and Panasonic are selling for roughly the same price but for the sake of it I got myself the last "old stock" 20 discs of OPTODISC R16 in full size jewel cases for more money than Panny/MCC

Optodisc is gone. Let it go. Unless you order unbranded media online from a place like Shop4Tech in the states, you're not going to find anymore Optodisc. It's over. They're not producing branded media anymore. Anything you do get lucky to find is old stock.

[Off-topic]

Mina, good to hear from ya - long time no see

[/Off-topic]

Thanks for the hints.
Tried OptodiscR016 swap, acceptable burn, but the difference with the standard UME02 strategy is insignificant.
BTW the R016 strat is Z-CLV which is slower than the P-CAV UME02 strat, so it's not interesting.
1650/SB still carries the best burns as yet.
I'll report later on what happens with Prodisc R04, which is my next try.
Detailed reports with scans will be posted in the Media Tests section tomorrow.Interesting. But anyway, I'm in no need to trust these discs, because I have such a stock of MCC004 here, which covers all my needs, that I don't need to trust cheap discs... I'm only trying new stuff on a regular basis for fun and knowledge.
Nevertheless I'll keep a couple of burnt discs enrolled in my database for further stability checks, as usual.

Yeah, welcome back minaelromany
And thanks for the input.

@Negritude: yeah, you're right about that. BTW you were among the first ones to warn everybody about the switch, I remember that.
I was only trying to be lucky with this order, you know, like "who knows".

Er... R04 is +R now that I think about it - I think I'll try S05 instead.

[Off Topic]

Missed you all too

I just burnt an OPTODISC R16 to recall "old" days :

Yeah, go on, rrrrrub it in...

I bought only once Pleomax +R 16x media, last December, and the MID was Ricohjpn R03.
The scans were very good, the opposite of Ricoh branded made in India Ricohjpn R03.

I hope soon there will be a brand with Optodisc media, since they are much better than some other more popular but overrated media.

Edit: What about doing a Questions and Answers with someone working in Optodisc?

Samsung Pleomax has a warehouse in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. From there the Pleomax media's are shipped to customers in Western & Eastern Europe and even to Russia. Samsung Pleomax stopped OPTO production 2 years ago and then changed to MBI mainly as of easy logistics. At the moment there are still some MBI batches in the warehouse but in a few months everything will be changed to UME. Ofcourse it may take a while till all current MBI batches are sold from the channels. For the moment you can anticipate the majority of DVD CK50 -sold into the internet channel- will be UME from now on (CD-R, DVD + DVD full printable). Internetshops are asked to change the media codes on their websites. Although the change to UME Samsung keeps the promise for quality disc with the highest compatibility possible.

Thanks for the information, Pleomax.

Hi Pleomax,
will be under Pleomax brand sold also Umedisc's DL media?