continued from email...
Go ahead and post all media related issues in the forum, whether it be a question, asking for help with a problem, deal alerts, or an important bulletin like this one!
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I've been reading digitalFAQ for years. It's where I got my recommendations for blank media. My reference so to speak.
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Excellent, glad to hear it!
Now to answer the question posed by your title "Is there fake Verbatim blank media?"
---- the answer is "No, not (natively*) in North America."
(*There have been fake Verbatims in Europe in past years. It was faked all the way from the packaging down to the discs' IDs! It was eastern European crap, if my memory serves me correctly. And sometimes, usually via eBay auctions, the bogus scam discs made it to the USA or Canada.)
Now then...
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Recently a bought a 50 disc pack of Verbatim DVDs from Best Buy at a reasonable price, $22.99. Previously, Verbatim blank media was MCC blank media which is 1st class on your list. This media identfied using DVD Identifier as CMC Magnetics! CMC magnetics ranks 3rd class. I went to Best Buy because I was hoping to find some over the counter blanks I could trust.
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Yes, this is an unfortunate situation -- one that began late last year with the Value Series in online stores, and has slowly trickled into brick-and-mortar local retail stores like OfficeMax, Best Buy and others.
Because people are insisting on impossible pricing (sub-$20 for 100-disc spindles), companies like Verbatim seem to be outsourcing cheapo discs to the people making the demands.
See these recent posts on this issue:
... and then I'll recap here in the next post. (Quoting from other threads)
Verbatim is now diluting their brand's trust among folks like you and me. Even know-nothing consumers notice the quality problems on CMC media in brands like Memorex, HP and TDK. Verbatim isn't special -- this is bound to catch up to them. It did back in 2004, when Verbatim switched to CMC for a line of 2x DVD-Rs. Many consumers avoid certain brands, due to bad experiences, and Verbatim may now find itself on many people's "never buy again" lists. Sadly, many (most?) of them don't realize that almost every brand sold in stores is manufactured by just 2-3 companies! (It's the why
blank media FAQ was originally created on this site.)
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Usually I buy JVC/ Taiyo Yuden from Supermediastore.com but I was in a rush so I tried over the counter. I guess I'll have to just planway ahead.
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In terms of playback quality, Verbatim MCC/MKM media still has an edge of Taiyo Yuden discs. TY burns great, but it's not as reflective as the MCC in our many tests through the years. MCC is just a tad better.
Hopefully there will be a Verbatim Professional Series that meets the demand of the higher-grade markets like you and me. Not for more than $30 per spindle, of course. I would imagine such discs would be sold online only, or in limited supplies in bigger computer stores like Fry's and Microcenter.
The Life Series and Value Series isn't going to cut it for those of us who demand quality optical media.
In the meantime, buy all of your Verbatim discs online. (Or more TY discs, if that's what you're after.) I highly suggest:
- Amazon
- Meritline
- SuperMediaStore
- shop4tech
- gotmedia.com
- mediamegamall.com
... and in that preference order.
If you find yourself in dire need of "decent" blank discs, then look at TDK 16x DVD-R 100-packs sold at
Office Depot. Those tend to be RITEKF1 media, and we've had great results with them in the past 12-18 months for unplanned duplication work. (I would still NOT suggest those for master discs or for any archival needs. Duplication only is suggested.)
Hope that helps.