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General discussion

Do any DVD-R brands have "flaking" problems like CD-R's do?

Feb 5, 2007 7:07AM PST

When CD-R's first came out there were a number of media brands (most notably CompUSA, I think) where the recording layer of the disks would peel or flake from the disks after a while, making the disks useless. I was just wondering if I have to worry about the same thing from any of the DVD-R/+R media manufacturers. So far I haven't had any issues with compatibility with my burner, but I'm worried about the physical longevity of the disks, especially when I see cheap sales like the current one in CompUSA (100 DVD+R's for 14.99 is about as low as I've ever seen.)
Thanks for your help,
Chris Stansfield

Discussion is locked

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Fact:
Feb 6, 2007 9:21AM PST

You get what you pay for. I would never buy "cheap" for critical data. Actually, I don't buy cheap anyway.

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cheap?
Feb 8, 2007 9:34PM PST

What do you consider cheap?

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Look for "Made In Japan"
Feb 6, 2007 8:18PM PST
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After reading many reviews Fuji seems to always score well
Feb 8, 2007 11:48PM PST

They also seem to be made a little differently, and are definitely heavier. I have used many many brands and I feel most confident with these. Memorex is more widely available and also scored well.

As another said, "you get what you pay for" really holds true here.

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Just the facts.
Feb 9, 2007 2:34AM PST

Flaking is nor has been a problem with the better quality CD's, DVD's (including the various formats)
Is is basically the old addage (as mentioned above)"You get what you pay for."

In reality, if you buy a name brand CD/DVD the chances it will last and remain in good operating quality is better then if you buy Brand X .......

Fact: CD/DVD's are suppose to last 20 to 30 years.... Problem is although tested in labs the cold hard truth is that none have actually been around long enough for any one to get real life data on Wink

Stay away from the 'black' looking CD's, these are cheap and probably not even made anymore. (the same goes for the ones that appear to be completely 'blue')

Yes, you can buy these CD/DVD's in the 50, 100, etc if they are branded as these are usually production over runs......

If you have CD's back from the early days of CD burners..... Reburn them to newer CD's (or DVD's) as the flaking you asked about occurred only within the first few years in the name branded CD's (and those were rare)

Hope this answered your question Wink

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Buying blank CDs and DVDs
Feb 9, 2007 2:52AM PST

I'm not aware of any brands that have the flaking problem. However, there is a wide range of quality out there. Start by going to the Web site of the manufacturer of your optical drive and looking for a list of brands that have been found to be compatible with their drive. Verbatim is usually among them, and sometimes TDK as well.

I tend to stick with Verbatim, TDK, and Sony, in that order, although I had problems with a new batch of blank TDK DVD+Rs that I bought at Costco. I had a bad experience with some Memorex DVD+Rs and returned them. I avoid Memorex, Imation (or other 3M brands), and house brands.

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Flaking Problems
Feb 9, 2007 8:50AM PST

I have been burning CD's and DVD's for many years now. I started with an external burner made by HP. It wrote at 1 time speed. Then I got and internal DVD burner made by Pioneer. That was a great burner. But it was also slow. Now I use nothing but Sony Duel layer + or - DVD or cd burner. The Media that I have used over the years varies from gerneric(no Name brand) to Tayio Yuden media. I have used Memorex, Philips, Sony, Imation abd Verbatium. The Dvd's that I made over a year ago using Memorix and Imation are no longer any good. My DVD player can not read them. Now I only use Tayio Yuden media. I have found that this media is the best by far. It will write at 8 times For DVD and up top 40 Times for CD. The quality is great and they work perfectly in my DVD players. You get what you pay for. Tayio Yuden media is a little more costly then the other brands but they are worth it. They come with a life time garentee. Where the other brands do not. They will only replace the media if it is found to be defective in the first 90 days from the purchase date. Hopes this helps. Good luck

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Bad Luck with RIDATA
Feb 9, 2007 11:23AM PST

I started burning movies "Back-ups or off TV of course" about 3 years ago, with a Lite-on burner, and they recommend Ridata, so I got 100 4X dvd-R then another 100 8X dvd-R, and so far 176 have gone bad. Most of them froze in the last 15 to 20 minutes, some would not even start. The strange thing to me is they would play fine for a short time, but after 3 months that was it!! I did not see any flaking, so I sent 5 of them to Ridata to check to see if they could tell what was wrong, and just got a bunch of double talk, and 50 replacment disks, which I droped in the trash can. A little over a year ago I started using TDK 16X dvd-R, well over 200 of them are perfect so far.
Anyone had any disks go bad after a few months?? Disk Poor

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Burning issues
Feb 13, 2007 12:09PM PST

I just wanted to let you know that some of the bun issues are the Lite-On. I Have two of them and they will be the last Lite-On's I'll ever buy.The first one had so many issues I could not beleive it. It made many "costers". The second one was considerably better, but I have come to the conclusion that they are not very good machines and are very disc picky. Bad luck with Memorex! I've had the best luck with the TDK discs but have had a few bad ones in the last 100 pack I bought at Costco. They seem to be getting less reliable every time I go buy a 100 pack there. I feel that the Lite-On is a very fine examble of "you get what you pay for"! It is not at all tolerant of disc issues. My next machine will be a Pioneer probably. No more "cheap" machines for this guy.
Good Luck, Al

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Taiyo Yuden
Feb 9, 2007 12:20PM PST

I have read so much good about Taiyo Yuden that I feel I must post my opinion. I have had nothing but bad luck with this brand. I purchase 100 because I read so many positive reports but only about half of them recorded. I felt I must have had a bad batch so I ordered another hundred and found 7 or 8 pre-recorded DVD's in that order plus none of the blank DVD's would record. I went to Circuit City and bought the cheapest DVD's they had on sale and they worked perfectly. Next I bought store branded DVD's from Office Depot and have had very good recordings from them.

I have had the problem of old recordings not playing but found it to be the DVD player going out. When I replaced the player, the new player played all of my old DVD's.

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Maybe you bought fakes
Feb 9, 2007 8:00PM PST
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Media
Feb 13, 2007 12:25PM PST

I suppose I must be very lucky when it comes to media. I've used almost every brand, including many generics. Like you, I usually buy what's on sale. I can honestly tell that I've never had a problem that I can attribute to the media. If I do have a problem, it is usually operator error. I have used the same strategy with purchasing cd drives. I've many different brands (whatever is on sale} and all have performed perfectly.
That said, my first thought is usually to look for "operator error", when a problem arises.

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Re ; DVD-R Flaking
Feb 14, 2007 5:28AM PST

I have been using(Verbatim)DVD-R i bought @ Best Buy & (fugi) i bought @ K-Mart (Prety Cheap)About $13.00 for 50 Both have worked very well .How long does it take for this flaking , you people are talking about .I've Been burnning movies on dvd's on an LG DVD/VCR recorder It recordes & plays all DVD"s & CD'S ,Got any idea how long these DVD's last? RJ Gute