Blank DVD Media Quality Review

Not all media is good. Buying a good disc is not a simple matter of using a “name brand” disc, or paying for the most expensive disc on the shelf. With the continued production of cheaply-made Chinese and “bulk-quality” Taiwanese media, about half of all media is inferior quality. Bad discs are a complete waste of time and money.

This review/guide is meant to shed some light on who manufactures and brands good and not-so-good quality DVD media. Use this list as an assistant when selecting what media to buy and use. It shows what generally works as the best media. Individual results may vary, depending on the burner and how the media chooses to cooperate, though typically not by much.

While some cheap media may work for you, it’s a gamble that often loses. Try to use 1st class media, maybe 2nd class if the situation must budget tightly. Do yourself a big favor and just outright avoid 3rd class media, if at all possible.

What are the Best Blank DVDs?

Not everybody has the time or the need to learn about why/how media is good or bad. If you’re simply after the quick advice on what discs will almost always work the best in any DVD player or DVD burner, then get one of these:

1. Mitsubishi Verbatim DVD-R, DVD+R or DVD+R DL, made in India, UAE, Singapore or Taiwan. (Do not buy the “Life Series” or “Value Series” discs.) Good Verbatim is getting harder to find in local stores.
2. JVC Taiyo Yuden DVD-R or DVD+R, from an authorized dealer only. Our list to the left only includes authorized dealers.
3. Sony DVD-R or DVD+R, made in Taiwan only. These are getting harder to find, as Daxon (the outsource for Sony manufacturing) went bankrupt in January 2010, but old-stock is still out there on shelves (as of January 2011). Newly manufactured Sony-branded media will be Ritek (Fuji dye), which is also made in Taiwan.

Verbatim DVD-R, Verbatim DVD+R and Verbatim DVD+R Double-Layer discs are our top suggestions for the ultimate in disc quality, as Mitsubishi-made media have been a consistent high-quality performer since 2001. JVC Taiyo Yuden media is an excellent second choice.

Gold discs ARE NOT the best discs! Gold discs have lousy reflectivity, and the dye quality found on these blanks simply does not burn well in our tests (or the tests of others). It’s a waste of money for mediocre media.

Who Really Makes the Disc?

Realize that most media is produced by a relatively small number of factories, located in several different places. These factories are mostly present in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, China and India. There are more, but those are the largest ones. The best media generally comes from Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. The worst typically comes from China and Malaysia.

Understand that the blank disc brand means almost nothing. Apple is a great brand, but they do not make their own discs, instead outsourcing to a company like Mitsubishi Chemicals. Common companies like Memorex, Maxell and Imation all outsource to media vendors.

It is the media ID that is important, as it reveals the disc manufacturer. Unfortunately, this is not written on packaging or anywhere else. Companies want consumers to be oblivious to this sort of behind-the-scenes information.

To learn the media ID code, a blank disc must be put into a computer DVD burner drive and the ID read by a special utility. Some burning software reads the code, such as ImgBurn or Toast. Or you can download freeware media ID tools in our forum, for Windows XP, Vista, 7 and Mac OS X and Linux.

The following information is arranged in three groups. Some companies may have listings in different classes because quality is better/worse in other disc formats. The “media ID” column is an example of media codes available from that manufacturer, it is not supposed to be a complete list of all available codes, and some codes have been abbreviated for space. Again, DVD manufacturer, not brand name. Brand means nothing.

Note for charts: Manufacturers in bold are still actively producing, while the others are not (or cannot be confirmed to still be an active media producer in 2011).

~ 1st Class Blank DVD Media / “Archival Grade” Discs ~

Almost flawless burns with 95-100% reliable results. These discs are suited for pretty much anything. They will usually serve as excellent archival quality media, as well as video masters.

Manufacturer	Sample Media IDs	Origin	Formats	Notes
Pioneer	PVC001001, PVC001002, PVCW00	Japan	DVD-R, DVD-RW	PVC stopped making media in 2003 (4x era)
Mitsubishi Chemicals, Mitsubishi-Kagaku Media, Verbatim	MCC00RG20,MCC01RG20, MCC02RG20, MCC03RG20, MCC002, MCC003, MCC004, MCC00RW, MCC01RW, MCCA01, MKMA02, MKM001, MKM003	Singapore, Taiwan, India, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China	DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL, DVD-R DL	Production outsourced to MBI, CMC, Prodisc and FTI. Not an issue.
JVC Taiyo Yuden	TYG01, TYG02, TYG03, YUDEN000T02, YUDEN000T03	Japan	DVD-R, DVD+R
Hitachi Maxell	MXLRG01, MXLRG02, MXLRG03, MXLRG04, MAXELL001, MAXELL002, MAXELL003	Japan	DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-RAM	Maxell stopped making media after 8x era
Sony (Daxon)	SONY04D1, SONY08D1, SONY16D1, SONYD21, SONYD11, SONYS11, SONYD16	Taiwan, Japan	DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW	Daxon stopped making media in early 2010
TDK	TDKG02, TTG01, TTG02, TTH01, TTH02, TDK501, TDK502, TDK001, TDK002, TDK003	Taiwan, Japan, Luxemburg	DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R	TDK stopped making media in 2006 (16x era)

~ 2nd Class Blank DVD Media / “Duplication Grade” non-Archival Discs ~

Mixed quality media, average 75-90% of discs tend to be good. These discs are not suggested for archival data or video masters. These are best suited for data that can be replaced easily, such as secondary backups or data/video distribution. In bulk, can often be purchased at low prices.

Manufacturer	Sample Media IDs	Origin	Formats	Notes
Ritek (Fuji dye)	RITEKF1, RITEKF16	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R	Excellent, but not quite archival, uses long-life Fuji Oxonol dye
Prodisc Media	PRODISCS03, PRODISCS04, PRODISCF01, PRODISCF02, PRODISCR01, PRODISCR02, PRODISCR03, PRODISCR04, PRODISCG02, PRODISCW02	DVD-R, DVD+R
Falcon Tech (FTI)	FTIRG16, FTI016-000, TTH02 (TDK), TDK003, RICOHJPND01, KIC01RG080 (Kitano)	United Arab Emirates (UAE)	DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+R DL	Some burning quality issues due to non-FTI IDs on FTI discs.
Ricoh (Ritek dye), Ricoh (Ricoh dye)	RICOHJPND00, RICOHJPNR00, RICOHJPNR01, RICOHJPNR02, RICOHJPNR03, RICOHJPNW01, RICOHJPNW11, RICOHJPNW21	Taiwan, Japan	DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL	Outsourced media ID after 4x era, mostly to Ritek
Daxon/Taiwan	DAXON008S, DAXON016S, DAXONAZ1, DAXONAZ2, DAXONAZ3, DAXOND42	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW	PVC stopped making media in 2003, similar to Sony media
Ritek (Ritek dye)	RITEKG01, RITEKG03, RITEKG04, RITEKG05, RITEKW01, RITEKW04, RITEK000, RITEKR01, RITEKR02, RITEKR03, RITEKR04, RITEKD01	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL	reflectivity and degradation concerns, DL quality tanks at layer break
Prodisc, Ritek, CMC, others	FUJIFILM02, FUJIFILM03	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R	outsourced media ID, discontinued after 8x generation
Philips (CMC Magnetics, MBI)	PHILIPSCD2, PHILIPS010, PHILIPS041, PHILIPSC08, PHILIPSC16, PHILIPSRW	Taiwan	DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL	Outsourced media ID, appears to be discontinued
CMC Magnetics	CMCMAGD01, CMCMAGE01, CMCMAGF01, CMCMAGM01 CMCMAGR01, CMCMAGAE1, CMCMAGAF1, CMCMAGAM3, CMC00RG20, CMC00RG30, CMCMAG, CMCW02, CMCW03, CMCMAGW01	Taiwan, China	DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL	wide quality variance
Moser Baer	MBI, MBIPG101R03, MBIPG101R04, MBIPG101W03, MBIPG101W04, MBI01RG20, MBI03RG40	India	DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW	Poor firmware support mid-gen. Some early-gen discs similar to MCC
Gigastorage	GSC001, GSC002, GSC003, GSC502	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R	No longer actively producing media?
Sony (Daxon), Sony (Lead Data)	SONY16D1, SONYD16, SONYD21	Malaysia Daxon, Taiwan LeadData	DVD-R, DVD+R	Daxon stopped making media in 2010, inferior to Taiwan-Daxon discs, LeadData is unbranded
Optodisc	OPTODISCK001, OPTODISCR004, OPTODISCR008, OPTODISCR016, OPTODISCW002, OPTODISCW004	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD-RW	No longer actively producing media?
Infodisc Media	INFODISCA01, INFODISCA10, INFODISCR20, INFODISCR01	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW	No longer actively producing media?
LeadData	LEADDATA01, LEADDATA, LD01, LD, LDS03, LDA02	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R	No longer actively producing media?

~ 3rd Class Media / Cheap, Unreliable, or Complete Junk Discs ~

Quality can be very questionable, sometimes less than 50% of a spindle is usable. Some of these discs serve no other purpose aside from filling our landfills. These are discs best suited for small burns (under 2GB of data). Be prepared for failed burns. Also be prepared for various DVD-ROMs and players to not see the disc or freeze up because the player cannot read it very well (not the same as a bad burn). Many of these are known for sham marketing ("archival grade" and whatnot) and can actually cost more than better-classed media. A lot of these discs are not even made anymore, so this information is largely historical. The worldwide recession killed off most makers of the absolute worst DVD media made. A few appear to possibly be put on “stand by” of some kind (Princo, Optodisc), as the companies still operate, but no new media can be detected in North America, Europe or from our contacts in Australia and east Asia. Some still-in-business low-quality manufacturers may have simply switched to using fake IDs.

Manufacturer	Sample Media IDs	Origin	Formats	Notes
MAM-America, MAM-Europe	MAM4XG02, MAM8XG01, fake IDs (TDK, MBI, others)	USA, Europe	DVD-R	Remnants of Mitsui Media, uses gold reflectives and hard-to-read/burn dyes
Must Tech	MUST001, MUST003	Taiwan	DVD-R	No longer actively producing media?
Samsung/BeAll	BEALLG00001, BEALLG40001, BEALL000P40, BEALL000PG0	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R	No longer made.
Ul Tran Technology	ONIDTECH	Taiwan	DVD-R	No longer made.
Princo	PRINCO, TDKG01/fake	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD-RW	No longer made.
InfoMedia	INFOMER20, INFOMER30, INFOMEDIAT01	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL	No longer made.
Optodisc Media	OPTODISCP01, OPTODISCP02, OPTODISCP04, OPTODISCR04, OPTODISCR08	Taiwan	DVD+R, DVD-RW	No longer actively producing media?
Daxon/Malaysia	DAXONAZ1, DAXONAZ2	Malaysia	DVD+R	Daxon stopped making media in 2010, inferior to Taiwan Daxon
3A Media	SHT001, POMS3A, 3AM0, POMSC001002, PLASMON1C01, PLASMON1A	Austria	DVD-R	Poor firmware support, company went bankrupt.
Nanya Tech	NANYACLX, NANYAA01	Taiwan	DVD-R, DVD+R	No longer made.
Plasmon Tech	PLASMON1C01	Europe	DVD-R	Company went bankrupt in 2009.
Advanced Media Ltd	AML, AML001, AML002	Taiwan	DVD-R	No longer made.
Jilin Qingda	LONGTEN001, LONGTEN002	China	DVD-R	Company went bankrupt.
Yi Jhan Tech	YIJHAN001	Taiwan	DVD-R	Company went bankrupt.
Anwell	AN31, AN32, AN33, AN35, ANWELL	China	DVD-R	Not really a manufacturer, see notes below chart.
Infosmart	INFOSMART01, ISO001, ISO002, fakes	China, Hong Kong	DVD-R, DVD+R	Infamous for fake media, appears to have disappeared.
Sheng Weng	fake MCC, fake TY	Taiwan	DVD-R	Only uses fake IDs.
SKC	SKCCOLTD	Korea	DVD-R	No longer made.
Vanguard Media, Interaxia AG	VANGUARD, VDSPMSAB01, VDSPSAB	Taiwan	DVD-R	No longer made.
Ume Disc Tech	UME001	Hong Kong	DVD-R
WealthFair Investments	WFKA11	China	DVD-R	No longer made.

Grading Notes

Grading criteria. The review list presented here is a delicate balance between the adjacent concepts of usability and potential burn quality. The ability of the disc to burn in a wide range of burners and DVD recorders determines a coaster count. However, because of disc/drive incompatibility issues that exist (refer to the Advanced DVD Burning Concepts Guide), potential quality on a perfect disc/drive combination is also considered. Finally, longevity and playability/reflectivity is taken into consideration. This results in the overall grade. This guide is admittedly harsh when it comes to the usability factor, but it need be remembered that this was written to assist the masses, so a disc with generally poorer disc/drive compatibility will rate lower. If you want specific suggestions for your make/model of drive, ask for advice in our forum.

What do the % numbers mean? This list is constructed from many tests on many burners from a handful of experienced people that use a lot of media, and has been ongoing since 2001. These numbers reflect the number of discs in a spindle that will give good results. For example, out of a 100 spindle of media, 1st class discs may kick out a few bad discs (0% to 5% of the media may have playback imperfections or be outright bad burns). The 2nd class media may have anywhere from a dozen to a half-spindle of duds. And the 3rd class stuff can be pure trash, with most discs ending up in the local landfill. These are mean averages too, simple statistics math, meaning best tests and worst tests are discarded, and the middle range of tests is the basis for these numbers. You may sometimes find the rare instance where a CMC spindle will be perfect and a Taiyo Yuden spindle will be completely flawed, but those times are the exception rather than the rule (and are not part of a mean average).

Can media ever change class? Sure. But it rarely happens. It is not a quick move either, these things take much time and many tests. Sony, Ritek, CMC, Daxon and LeadData have changed grades in the past. Media cannot change quality overnight or even in a few weeks/months.

Testing procedures: Burns are subject to playability/reflectivity tests (usage tests), as well as software verification. Test equipment is under controlled hardware/software environments, and performed by knowledgeable individuals, to eliminate user variables. Burns are at least 4GB or more to test the entire length of the media.

Anwell Notes: Anwell Technologies does not make media. Anwell is a production equipment supplier that sells blank DVD media creation technology to media manufacturers. By default, an ANWELL “test code” or “test ID” is on the stamper. Anwell is often blamed for making shoddy media, but in reality, it’s the work of a lazy media manufacturer who bought Anwell production supplies. As with all other low-quality media of dubious origins, the likely offender is some small Chinese or Taiwanese company (often InfoSmart, in years past).

Fake DVD Media ID Guide

Although it does not happen very often, discs with fake IDs (or outright counterfeits) are an annoyance to media buyers worldwide. Most fake media comes from China (and former Hong Kong), as a general rule. Fake media tends to float around Europe and Asia more than it does the USA. Fake media is normally sold in street markets, on eBay and online. Major brand name media sold in stores is probably never going to be fake.

Faking more or less tapered off in 2008-2009 (at least for USA, Canada and Europe), so we’ve not seen as much in recent years as it had been in the past. Be wary of fakes, but know that they’re just not as common anymore. Fake media mostly sold well because they could undercut legitimate brands, but still turn a profit. With the worldwide recession chopping heavily into profits these past few years, fakes have been squeezed out, as the profit margins are too slim to be worthwhile, with many of the fakers disappearing. The falling dollar has kept many of them out of North America, too.

Many (most?) companies that advertise on Alibaba.com appear to be Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers that are selling their own cheaply-made low quality media, using faked Mitsubishi and Taiyo Yuden media IDs. In many cases, the companies appear to not even have their own media IDs, as their only goal is likely to make a quick profit, undercutting the real manufacturers, and having no interest in creating a quality product in good faith. Buyer beware!

Media ID	Manufacturer	Dates	Notes
TYG02, TYG03	Sheng Wang, other small Chinese and Taiwanese factories	2009-2010	Readily available in Asia in 2010, not really found in North America or Europe.
TYG02	Infosmart, Optodisc, MAM-America, MAM-Europe	2005-2010	The fakes are rumored to be for "improved 8x media detection" but low quality media is low quality, regardless of the media ID. These were found worldwide from 2005-2007, but largely disappeared in North America. Asian fakes are still readily found in 2010.
MCC03RG20, MCC02RG20, MCC003, MCC004	Sheng Wang, other small Chinese and Taiwanese factories	2008-2010	Readily available in Asia in 2010, not really found in North America or Europe.
MCC02RG20, MCC003	Infosmart	2005-2007	Mostly seen in Europe until 2007, not so much in USA.
TTG02, TTH01, TTH02	MAM-America, MAM-Europe	2005	These are apparently "legal" fakes made by Mitsui, with permission by TDK to use the code. However the media is quite poor, not true TDK media.
MXLRG01	Infosmart	2002-2003	One of the first anonymous" fake discs.
Pioneer brand DVD-R	LeadData, Ritek	2003	Pioneer's PVC quit manufacturing blanks in 2003 (PVC media codes). LeadData and Ritek tried to sell their PioData and Pio branded blanks by loosely using the "Pioneer" brand name in marketing documentation, but that was misleading.
TDKG02	Princo	2001-2002	They wanted to "improve 2x writing" on the 1x write strategy media, as well as insure drives would see the media (not all firmware at the time had PRINCO as a valid media code). Princo admitted to this faking, never tried to hide it, though some resellers tried to pawn off the media as legitimate TDK.
SONY	Unknown	2003	"SONY" is not a valid media ID used by Sony discs. Suspected to be LeadData media.
RITEKG03, RITEKG04	Ritek	2004	This was supposedly faked in 2004. However, it is the opinion of this author that it was just a lame cover story by Ritek for providing subpar quality media, as even the "authentic" media performed poorly at the time.

Blank DVD Branding Data

Although this will change on an annual basis, the following brands are known to use the following media makers for their outsourced discs. Some companies prefer dollars over quality, so be careful. Also be especially careful of "house brands" or no-names. If you end up with an unfavorable media ID, do not burn a test, just take it back for a refund and take your business elsewhere. Some stores have horrible return policies too, so beware.

Brand	Manufacturers: (16x era)	Manufacturers: Historical (1x-8x)
Accu	LeadData
Americal	Ritek, Princo, LeadData
Apple	Mitsubishi, Maxell
Arita	Ritek, Ricoh
BenQ	Daxon, Fujifilm
Bulkpaq	fake MCC, Infosmart, CMC, Princo
CompUSA	N/A	Princo, UME Disc, AML, Optodisc, Daxon
Datawrite	fake MCC, Ritek, CMC, Princo, Prodisc, Anwell
DupEZ	LeadData
Dynex	Ricoh
Emtec	FTI	Ricoh, fake Taiyo Yuden, Interaxia AG, MJC
ESA	CMC
Esbuy	Ritek, LeadData, fakes
Fuji	Ritek	Prodisc, Fujifilm, Mitsubishi(-RW), Daxon, Taiyo Yuden, Ricoh, Ritek
Fuji (DVD+R DL)	Ritek, Ricoh, CMC
GQ, Great Quality	LeadData	Sony, Princo, Ritek, LeadData, Ume Disc, Infodisc
HP	CMC	CMC, Ricoh, Mitsubishi, Fujifilm
Hyundai	fake Maxell, Infosmart
Imation	Ritek, CMC	Optodisc, CMC, Mitsubishi, Ritek, Ritek, Fujifilm, Ricoh, Moser Baer
Intenso	Mitsubishi
Iomega	Prodisc
JVC	Taiyo Yuden	Wealthfair Investments
KHypermedia	N/A	CMC, dake MCC, TDK
Kodak	MAM-America
Linkyo	Taiyo Yuden
LiquidVideo	N/A	Optodisc
Magnavox	CMC
Matrix	Longten, Yi Jhan Tech, Must
Maxell	Ritek, CMC	Maxell, Ritek, CMC, Prodisc, Ricoh, Taiyo Yuden
ME	Gigastorage
MediaRange	MBI
Memorex	CMC, MBI	CMC, Ritek, Moser Baer, Mitsubishi, Prodisc, Ricoh, Infodisc, Moser Baer
Mirror	Anwell, Onidtech, Princo
MMore	Moser Baer
MultiLaser	fakes
Nexxtech	UME Disc, Adv Media Ltd, Mitsubishi, CMC
Nipponic	Interaxia AG
Octron	Ritek
Office Depot	Ritek	Ritek
OfficeMax	Ritek	Princo
Optical Quantum	Philips, MBI
Optodisc	Optodisc
Panasonic	Taiyo Yuden
Philips	CMC	CMC, Philips, Mitsubishi
Phoenix	Infosmart
Pioneer	Pioneer
Playo	Ume Disc, Advanced Media Ltd
Powerdisc	Optodisc
Princo	Princo, fake TDK
Prodisc	Prodisc, Mitsubishi
Radius	Optodisc
Ridata, Ritek	Ritek	Ritek, Ricoh
Rivision	MCC, Ritek, Ricoh, Optodisc, CMC, TDK, Prodisc
Samsung	Optodisc, BeAll
SKC	SKC
Smartbuy	Prodisc
Sonik Data	Ritek
Sony	Sony	Taiyo Yuden, Sony, Ricoh, Mitsubishi
Staples	CMC
TDK	Ritek, MBI, CMC	TDK, CMC, Moser Baer, Philips, Taiyo Yuden, Ritek, Ricoh, Maxell
Teon	CMC, Mitsubishi
Tesco	UME Disc, Advanced Media Ltd
Traxdata	Ritek
Verbatim	Mitsubishi	Mitsubishi, Taiyo Yuden (Europe), CMC, Ricoh, Ritek
Verbatim Value Series Verbatim Life Series	CMC	Ritek, CMC
WinData	fakes, Ume Disc
Xlayer	fake MCC

If you can add to this branding list, feel free to post some information in our forum. As time allows, we track down media for our own testing purposes, or request it from the manufacturer. For unusual brands and media IDs, ask in the forum. In most cases, unknown media IDs or unknown brands are of dubious quality. Some unknown brands are overstock from other media manufacturers. This is often the mark of very cheap media. Buyer beware.