CD Freaks Interviews Digital Storage Reps.

Have you ever wondered what your favorite company is up to? Would you like to know more about their decisions, (new) products and background information? Now you can! CD Freaks is organizing a series of interviews with digital storage related persons. The coming time we will ask them what you want to know!

Question indications

Here some examples of types of questions you could ask:

• Current products
• New products
• Company information
• Market details / outlook
• Future opportunities
• Personal questions for the person

What’s next?

This week we will ask questions to Torsten Leye, Marketing Manager Optical from Verbatim.

Please post your questions below in this thread. Next week (before 26th of November), all questions will be collected. We pick the best ones and report the answers back on CD Freaks.com!

Hi Livia, welcome to the CDFreaks forums!

Outsourcing

Verbatim in South America have been reported to sell DVD media manufactured using technology and media codes by e.g. RiTEK using the same product numbers (reorder numbers) as DVD media using Mitsubishi technology and media codes. In Europe we already have Verbatim DVD media using Taiyo Yuden technology and media codes with the same reorder numbers as media using Mitsubishi technology and media codes.

Will Verbatim continue this trend of using multiple manufacturers for DVD media for the same product/reorder numbers?

Will Verbatim continue to provide DVD media using Mitsubishi technology and media codes?

Quality Control

A lot of people on the CDFreaks forums have the impression, that Verbatim DVD media manufactured in India by Moser Baer is more variable than Verbatim media manufactured in Singapore by Verbatim or in Taiwan by CMC and Prodisc.

What is your response to this impression? Is quality control a problem with your outsourced media production, and what steps if any are you taking to address this perceived problem?

My Only Question to Verbatim:

Dual Layer Disc Manufacturing :

Why Do You Guys Outsource DVD DL manufacturing to Moserbaer India ? they make Pathetic Disc filled with spices ,some amount Of Quality control has to Be Done by Verbatim & Pls Stop Outsourcing DVD DL Manufacturing

Stick to manufacturing DVD DL in Singapore Only

Welcome to the forum, Livia!

My first question for Verbatim (I'm sure there will be more):

Is Verbatim planning to distribute 12x DVD-RAM in the US/EMEA, or is 5x the fastest we'll see from Verbatim?

Thanks.

How do you comment the fact that some dvd recorder manufacturers overspeed some of your media?

While dvd recorder drive manufacturers have introduced 18x and 20x recording speed drives, we have not seen any media rated at these speeds. Why is this? Are there any 18x or 20x media in your plans?

Why isn't the disc's MID code printed at the package? Could this be done in the future, please?

Hello Livia

I would like to know whether you have any plan to outsource your production to SE Asia so that the price can be brought to down to a more practical level so that buyers can afford it? Presently all Verbatim DVDs are outlandishly costly in this region compared with locally available brands.

And is there any plan from your side to bring down the cost of Light scribe and DL DVDs?

BTW, I know about Moserbaer. It is one of the best quality CD producers and which provide great value for money. Though there must be some quality control in place. But I strongly express my displeasure to the following comment

This comment (and the meaning underneath) is against a certain country which is largest democracy in the world and the Silicon valley (and other key sectors worldwide) is fueled by the brains from that country. This comment is a clear disrespect to the people of a particular country.

Please can we keep to the subject of questions for Verbatim, folks. Thanks.

**One post deleted**

And with that, I've thought of another question:

With at least one drive on the market supporting 16x DL discs, are there any plans for 16x DL from Verbatim?

Does Verbatim have any plans to sell rebadged TY media in the North American market the way it does in Europe? With the recent worldwide unification of the packaging/branding, it seems quite feasible.

I just want to add that Drage has got in there with the two questions that were first to come to my mind, Outsourcing and Quality Control.

I am a long time Verbatim user that got started with five and a quarter inch floppy media for my old Winchester DSDD disk drives, and I have been very happy with the Mitsubishi technology DVD media ...but I dont want to have to think that at some point I could be having to gamble on what could really be inside my new tub of media each time I get a new batch.

It's not like I am saying that outsourcing is not to be done, but if it does happen would it be possible to let the buyer know the media code before I get home and in all probability its too late. My media buying habit is to often get a bulk amount (600 disk) and I have always felt very safe with the MCCxxxx coded media.

Superficial question:

Why the ugly colors of the new packaging?

1. Why is 2.4X DVD+R DL media still being produced when 8X DVD+R DL is far superior (quality-wise) and is already mainstream? And on that note...

2. When will we see larger quantities of 8X DVD+R DL available (i.e. in larger packs)?

3. When will Australians see Verbatim 8X DVD+RW?

4. Are there any plans to produce DVD+RW DL or DVD-RW DL?

5. Are there any plans to produce single-layered DVD media rated at 18X/20X?

6. Has production of "Super Azo" CD-Rs been discontinued? There seems to be a shortage of the stuff (at least in Australia) and from what I can tell it is highly sought-after.

7. Why is rebadged Taiyo Yuden DVD media still labelled as using "Advanced Azo" dye when quite clearly this media has nothing to do with Verbatim's Advanced Azo technology? Isn't this false advertising?

That's all I can think of for now...

Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

Related to the above question, is there any possibility of Verbatim seperating out their own MCC technology media from outsourced media. If I want TY, there are many alternative sources. I buy Verbatim because of the Mitsubishi tech, otherwise Verbatim is just another Japanese brand name rebranding company like TDK or Maxell and buying their branded discs becomes a game of chance.

Q1:
Same here, I can only buy in 10-paks, why can't I find a a cake of 50/100 of 8X DL anywhere even after 8X DL has been out for more than 2 years?

Comments:
I don't see the delay, there is enough people now have drives that support DL burning, Slysoft is readily available for people to do DL movie backups, and blu-ray/HD burning costs are extremly high and people are waiting to see how this plays out. Then there is Nero and Roxio supporting DL and making it much easier for computer newbies. And with media sizes of divx downloaded tv shows and mp3s, people actually need the greater space provided by DL. Okay maybe sales of DL media trails SL, but there is no motivation for consumers to dive into the DL media market because DL producers like yourselves are horrible at advertising this benefit and supplying the market adequetly to show that people can buy them in quantity at good prices comparable to SL.

In the meantime all we have seen is 2.4X media sold for DL while drives have been supporting 8X for more than 2 years!

And DL media from Verbatim tops $2 a disc. I would like to see that price down to $1 and I would think it would be possible if you created a market by supplying the 8X DL recordable media that people can't find anywhere in quantity at a good price.

Q2:
Also any chance we might see DVD recordable media produced with the "durabis like" coating to protect our backups and home movies? Similar to what TDK offers and whats on current pressed Blu-ray movies.

Yeah, it would be nice to see a competitor to TDK's Scratchproof media, which is of very average quality.

Regards,
TerminalVeloCD

Technically, TY DVD media DOES use an Azo-based dye. You'll note however that the Verbatim-branded TY CD media does NOT mention Azo as it uses cyanine dye.

I have recently switched to a different brand because of the outsourcing from verbatim & I have been a die hard fan of verbatim but the quality lately has been so variable & the DL media I got from india 6 out of the 10 pack were coasters. I would fail a MII & immediately put in a MIS & it would burn sucessfully. I really want to stick with verbatim is there a chance of way better quality control or getting rid of the outsourcees that produce such terrible media???

It seems like there are so many companies out there producing sub-standard media & there are a lot of us that are willing to pay for superior media, but it seems like that finding really superior media is a game of chance a lot of times.

Verbatim already offer Verbatim Hard Coat Protection 8x DVD-R (MCC 02RG20) [Product Number: 43581] and also Verbatim Archival Grade UltraLife Gold 8x DVD-R (MCC 02RG20) [Product Number: 43638] with similar hard coating on the data side.

Links and product numbers above are for the EU versions.

On the North American market there's Verbatim VideoGard 8x DVD-R (MCC 02RG20) [Product Number: 95398 / 95105] similar to the Hard Coat Protection discs. There's also Verbatim Archival Grade 8x DVD-R (MCC 02RG20) [Product Number: 95355 / 96320].

Welcome to CDFreaks, jfcarbel!

It is time to drop DL / BL media price

Just be patient - the hardware always got cheaper...............

No shouting in here, please.

Affordable printable DLs

And in Latin America?

Speaking of outsourcing, are there any plans to produce DVD+-R DL media in Taiwan? My experiences with Taiwan-made Verbatim media have been outstandingly good until now.

(I'm not against outsourcing per se especially if it makes products more affordable; however, I really don't feel like gambling.)

welcome on board Livia

and to Mr. Leye, a few questions

1. we all do remember the old gone Metal AZO dye which was used in the 16X CD-Rs back in 1998-2000 IIRC, scans of such media has shown to be far better and much durable than teh Super AZO dye and even to the TY Cyanine dye!
and with the average quality of the Super AZO CD-Rs made in India, which stability is incomparable to CMC nor Prodisc,
is there any chance that we would see a resurrection of any production of Metal AZO CD-Rs? and even for the basic AZO dye, which is still giving perfect scans after 11 years?

2. did Verbatim stop the production of 8X MCC02RG20 DVD-Rs which is of far better quality than the 16X MCC03RG20? or is it that it's not exporting them to the Middle East?

3. it's almost impossible to find any Verbatim CDs in the Persian/Arabian Gulf region, except for some Prodisc/CMC at rarites.
any plans to distribute some original MCC/TY CD-Rs and DVD-Rs into the Gulf and the Middle East?

4. would you please consider printing the MID code on the box? cause that would REALLY put some more trust again in the hearts of both the customers and your all-time fans?

5. again, some better support and marketing in the Middle East would gain you a REALLY BIG market, while we would gain some better quality that doesn't take days to be found in some dead shop on the corner (where i found a 10pack of 2x Metal AZO DVD-R MIS 2001)

and thank you so much

I second that. There are users out there that are willing to pay for quality media, if we only could be sure before purchase that they are!