Some Best Buy items for Sept. 8-14

[CrimsonKing]

Originally posted by: MoonPie

Originally posted by: wolf papa
dumb question maybe, but who makes the TDK drives?

either Lite On or Sanyo

if it is lite on which was the case with my TDK drive, u could turn it into Lite On 48x and i did just that

Okay, is there a way to tell from the serial #'s on the TDK box? I just got one tonight at my local BB. Also, if I found out it's a Sanyo, is it still a good drive, or should I return it?

Thanks!

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Gilby
I tried the Verbatim DataLifePlus when it was on sale awhile back. IMO, equal in quality to Fuji. Seemed to have a good coating, and a nice dark dye. I had no problems burning with them.

That said, I rarely if ever see DataLifePlus at Fuji (or other TY) special prices, and as they aren't better than Fuji-TYs, I've not gotten any more.

Both the DataLife Plus and T-Y Fujis are quality-made media, but the Fujis use cyanine dye, which is both cheaper, and of shorter longevity, than the azo dye. I would use the DataLife Plus for longer-time archival-grade stuff. (Actually I do, I have some azo media with the Yamaha brand label on them. Works really well. I've had some Hitachi-Maxell media "fade" on me, to the point that some of the discs won't play on a certain drive, but the Mitsubish (who makes all those azo discs) media still reads fine. I consider them up there with Kodak InfoGuard media.) CMC media... is crap. I use it for throwaways. Ritek, depends on other factors, but still more or less crap, although slightly less crap than CMC. ProDisc, Princo, seems to be "decent, low-grade" media. Slightly above throwaway, but definately not archival-grade. I use well-coated topped ProDisc media for audio use, and Fuji's for 80min audio use. (My 80min CMC discs won't play in my portable CD player at all.)

 

[VirtualLarry]

Originally posted by: Buck_Naked

except that you know the Cdmedia world page is, in a word, ancient, right?

What Mikewarrior2 said.... The cdrmedia info is several years out of date.... and should either be updated or put to rest.

The Fuji TY's are an exceptional product at an unbelievable price...

Dave

I vote for "put to rest". The "color determines quality" argument wasn't true then, and it isn't true now. The quality of manufacture, well, depends on the manufacturer and their QC processes, as well as the quality of the supply of raw materials, and matters much, much more than the type of dye used.

For example, the generally-considered T-Y Fuji discs, are made using cyanine dye, one of the traditionally-regarded cheapest and lowest-quality dye layers. Yet they are of considerably higher quality than both cyanine-based, as well as p-cyanine based, CMC and Ritek media. It's the little things that make the difference, as well as, the dye layer. Such things as the polycarbonate base disc thickness (you will find the cheaper discs are thinner (out of spec slightly), and as such also tend to warp and wobble a little more), the accuracy of the pre-groove, etc.

They actually "stamp" the pre-groove into the discs, just like they do the groove in regular pressed CDs. These "stampers" wear out after so many discs. The better-quality mfg'rs will "stamp" only as many discs as will result in quality media. The cheaper ones will keep stamping them out until the metal stamps are largely destroyed (well, hopefully not that bad), with the resulting variance in quality of the discs.

Now, some discs, such as the azo dye-based media, are in a unique situation. Mitsubishi Chemicals owns the patent on that dye type, and to my knowledge, is the only one actually making azo-based media. My personal experience with those types of discs, makes me believe that they are a high-quality mfg'r. Most CDR companies based in Japan are generally quality.