digitalFAQ.com Forum - Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD-R blanks, TYG02 vs TYG03

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I wanted to comment about the Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD-R blanks.

I never had a problem with them when they were TYG02 but since they started shipping TYG03's I can no longer use them. My Brother had the same problems, they would not come ready or the program trying to write them would hang the PC.

My Brother ended up buying a newer DVD burner because F/W upgrades didn't hep. F/W upgrades didn't help me either (different brand burners).

Because yoy cannot specify TYG02 when ordering I can no longer buy Taiyo Yuden's.

I think a note should be added to this media since this is a show stopper of a problem and folks should not be required to buy a new burner just because Taiyo Yuden changed something they are doing in the way they make their disks.

TYG02 is a Taiyo Yuden 8x DVD-R media ID.
TYG03 is a Taiyo Yuden 16x DVD-R media ID.

In the "Value Line" series of TY media, which is rated at 8x, you can find yourself with either TYG02 code or TYG03 codes. At this point in time, in 2010, you're not really going to see much in the way of 8x media. All 8x discs will pretty much be old stock that has was manufactured and warehoused in years past. There's nothing wrong with that -- just don't think there are manufacturing machines cranking out 8x discs in the age of 16x+ DVD burning.

That's where the TYG03 enters. Taiyo Yuden has very strict grading procedures, and anything judged to be "not best" as well as "not reject crap" is put into this Value line. Burning discs slower than the rated speed is a common (and effective) way to avoid burning errors, especially on potentially sub-graded discs. Therefore TY Value discs tend to be rated as "8x" even when the media itself was manufactured to be 16x DVD-R.

I would add, however, that many people can burn these at 16x with zero issues. Many more choose to use 12x burning speed on the DVD-R, and that still results in a good burn.

Your choice in DVD burners is actually a more likely culprit in the issues you've come across. Much how there are only a few DVD manufacturers, there are only a few DVD burner manufacturers. So changing "brands" of burner may not actually be changing burned type. The age of the burner may not necessarily be important, either. Older firmware can be excellent (including default write strategies), while newer burners come with problematic firmware instructions for the discs.

But beyond that, it's also not a secret that Taiyo Yuden is not "the best" media at all times. There is a reason TY discs are not rated as the #1 best blank DVD-R here at The Digital FAQ -- this is it. TY media sometimes burns extremely poorly in burners, and it plays/reads with many problems. While this is most definitely a "fault" of the drives, it's still a statement about the overall quality of the discs. Verbatim/Mitsubishi AZO media has no such issues.

And it's not a recent issue. This has been an ongoing issue since the days of 4x TYG01. BTC burners and Samsung DVD-ROMs are known to reject these discs. LG drives can be that way, too, although LG drives tend to be so super-crappy that they'll reject quite a few discs (including Verbatim/MCC).

My immediate advice would be to switch to Verbatim discs. (Verbatim DataLife or DataLife Plus -- not "Value Series" or "Life Series" discs.)

The other option would be to switch drives. I would look at the Pioneer drives. Samsung DVD burners are another good choice. But I'd opt for this last, compared to just switching to Verbatim.

Hope this helps. :)