Hi, after some research i've decided to go with "Verbatim (Taiyo Yuden) DVD's.

the +R's info is: YUDEN000T03
the -R's info is: TYG03
not sure what that means atm!.

well I use verbatim +R's for burning data atm as the impression I got from reading this site was its better in some way, i've just purchased a lite-on DVD recorder and was wondering which would be the best disks to buy for video storage, most important factor for me is reliability as we will probably burn some home vids to DVD and would ideally like it to be readable 10 years later, not TOO worried about compatibility (I've heard -Rs are more compatible then +) so its just reliability, at first thoughts I didnt think it would matter but then I realised maybe in +R errors are more easier to recover from or something.

So confused , Help and advice from the pro's appreciated!

Welcome to CD Freaks.

With the media you've decided to go I don't think it makes much difference. They're both good although my preference might be for the +R Verbs with a MCC004 media ID. This is not a "Made In Japan" media and more widely available. Verbatim are very good at printing the manufacturing country on the packaging.

Personally I use exclusively +R media and would tend to quality scan (which you too can do with a Liteon burner) every 6 months or so & reburn where necessary.

Burned at 12x the +Rs give very good results.

Thank you very much for the reply
I will go for the +R's then and burn at 12x, reason why I had chose the above verbatims were because they seemed to be a very good price at SVP.

Just one last question, how do you guys know which "media ID" DVD's are the best or one better then the other.

Thx again!

Hi nikki_hs, welcome to CDFreaks!

That is something we learn over time from the experience we have with burning different media and testing the result with "quality scans" and transfer rate tests, from seeing how the burned media works in DVD players and DVD drives, and from reading about similar experiences by other users.

There are threads about results with media burned in different drives in the various CDFreaks Optical Drives forums, and there's also threads with results in our Blank DVD Media Tests and Blank CD-R(W) Media tests subforums.

In my opinion the TYG03 (-R) version can have an edge over the T03 (+R) for video use / standalone players.

If the MIDs were MCC, though, I'd also favor the +R (MCC004) like TimC.

Personally I haven't been convinced by 16X TY quality. No, not because of the scans (I couldn't care less as long as they're OK), but because of actual reading compatibility. The best TY disc in terms of compatibility with players is still IMO YUDEN000T02 (8X +R).

Thanks a lot guys
I've had a look at http://club.cdfreaks.com/poll.php?do...ts&pollid=1655

Too bad SVP has stopped doing the Verbatims YUDEN000 T02 , wanted to stick to buying with SVP cos prices were good and no risk of fakes, never brought DVD's online before, will have a look at some other good UK sites too.

Thx again

Edit: just did a quality scan with nero on a verbatim DVD+R I had burned 1 and half years ago, does'nt look good.

If you get MCC 004 make sure that it is made in Taiwan and not made in India.

Could you post a screenshot of the scan? It's easier to interpret

SVP still has printable Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD+R (YUDEN000 T02) in 100pc spindles [link].

The drive you tested the MCC003 with is an NEC, which means it's scans aren't as reliable as a liteon.

Don't base your judgment on what your NEC says. The disc is probably working quite fine.

I never realised there was so many factors involving quality, its like a minefield!.
I need to learn later on how to properly read the results, I've bookmarked a good thread somewhere.

Heres the screenshot

Nothing to be worried about for a NEC scan (over-reports PIEs) even less so since i's a 16X scan.

The PIF peaks look like what's expected with some specks of dust (or other impurities on the surface) or small concentric scratches. Totally normal with most discs after some time, unless you handle them with utmost care, dust them carefully etc... (which I do, but we're not all freaks ).

IMO nothing wrong with this scan, if the reading curve looks good (transfer rate test) this disc is still solid. Maybe you can take these PIF peaks as a hint that if you want to keep your discs for very long, you should check that you're not scratching them in some way without realising you're doing so.

And as cd pirate mentions, don't take your 4550 scans too seriously, these drive are notoriously looney for PIE/PIF scans. Among my favorite for transfer rate tests, though.

Maybe you should update your Nero CD-DVD Speed? The newest is 4.7.0.2.

Hi, sorry for bringing this post back up but I just wanted to ask, are these real Taiyo Yuden disks? http://www.ukdvdr.co.uk/shop/Taiyo-Y...-pr-18735.html
or are they unbranded or not Grade A, they just looked like a great price, need to get one within this week!.
I'm very new to this so not sure what I should be looking at

Email UKDVDR & if they confirm they're genuine then if they turn out to be fake they owe you a full refund.

I'd actually think they are genuine.

Thanks, this is the reply I got from them:

That's fair enough.

Go for it.

This makes no sense, a usual phraseology that sellers use to confuse customers concerning manufacturers, dyes and the like. My baloney radar is ringing.

Most probably fake TYG02, or extremely incompetent shop.

Facts:
1. TYG02 is not a "dye", it's a mediacode indicating a disc model.
2. No other manufacturer than Taiyo Yuden makes genuine TYG02 discs. All other manufacturers using the TYG02 code are faking the code.

So either it's genuine TY, or it's fake. There's no in-between, period.

Considering their baloney explanation, and the price for a 100-discs pack, I'd be extremly suprised if these are not fakes.

nikki_hs:

I haven't seen anyone *fully* answering the topic's questions, yet, namely which is the "Best format for video, + or -" aside that you shouldn't ask what is "best" anyway...

Quality scans are without doubt mandatory, and you have been already given plenty of excellent answers. But *video compatibility* is a different issue. Most modern stand alone DVD players are capable of playing DVD+R/RW and DVD-R/RW discs, but from my *personal* experience, DVD+R (and DVD+RW) discs still have the upper hand because of their ability to be "programmed" to look like regular commercial video DVDs (topic "bitsetting"). Bitsetting is a huge topic that I won't be able to cover in a simple posting (not to mention that it would be off-topic anyways), so why don't you do a search and then get informed about its importance (and yes, IMHO it is important ).

Hope this helps, too. Cheers!

CKA

I was thinking along the same lines. No one "uses" TY dye apart from TY themselves. The guy probably has no clue or is happily selling fakes.

Taiyo Yuden uses an Advanced Azo dye which is also used by Mitsubishi/Verbatim, CMC Taiwan, Prodisc Taiwan, Moser Baer India, so this is not fully correct...
At least Verbatim claims that.

But the dye is not shared amongst them is it? They all make their own Advanced Azo dye correct? (well prodisc and CMC probably use MCC's )

I knew it!, something did look fishy hence I did not go for it .
I'll probably just go with the verbatim +R 16x taiyo yudens at SVP.

Thanks for all the additional info guys, such a great forum, everyones so helpful