For some time, I've had good success with Verbatim 4x hub printable DVD-R, but, did have a callback on one recently. I replaced it with a Taiyo Yuden 4x hub printable DVD-R and problem was solved. Right now Taiyo Yuden is my favourite.

TY gets my vote as well as being pretty good stuff. For masters I use DVDs and CDs from a local guy who runs every batch through his CATS scanner.

Ritek DVD-R 4x. Excellent dependability, reasonably priced.

Taiyo Yuden 4x or 8x have worked consistently well for me. Many other brands have not.

Verbatim 8X DVD-R. Im on about number 400 and like to use the Plextor 716A for burning as it looks like it burns deeper.

JJK

I like both the Verbatim DataLife Plus and even the Sony DVD+R with AccuCORE. I've never had a single disc failure with either.

Ritek G04 DVD-R
Have burned hundreds with just a hand full of coasters
Also seems to be widely compatible with home players

We also use the Ritek G04 4x. Only two bad burns out of hundreds. Excellent price, we buy from supermediastore.com. Over all, good media.

I, too, had very good luck with the Ritek G04 4x media, but they changed their dye formulation on their 8x G05 media and I had nothing but problems with them on a variety of burners.

As other have pointed out, Taiyo Yuden makes a very high quality disc, although I haven't personally noticed much practical difference between them and the Verbatim DataLife Plus discs.

John

Verbatim's are usually excellent because most of their DVDs are OEM'd by Taiyo Yuden, Mitsubishi, Ritek,and Ricoh. Unfortunately they also get some of their disks from Taiwanese CMC (the worst of the worst with a typical 50% failure rate). DVDInfoPro can tell you who is the OEM of your branded disks.

Verbatim 8X DVD+R. Not one hicup. Plays great in anything it's thrown at so far.
Jimmy

The Verbatim "DataLife Plus" discs are made by Verbatim's parent company, Mitsubishi Chemical, who also developed the azocyanine dye technology. Verbatim's cheaper discs are indeed obtained from a variety of sources. The "DataLife Plus" discs are premium quality.

The 8x DVD-R media to which I refer has a manufacturer's part number of "94971" and an identifier code of "MCC 02RG20." www.supermediastore.com currently has a sale on them, spindle pack of 50 discs for $21 after rebate with free shipping.

John

You can check out a number of independant tests using accelerated aging at:
www.prodisc.com.au
They pretty much backup what I'm hearing, some media is failing after 12 months of careful storage. I make a point of warning my clients that DVD-R media will most likely not last as long as their VHS tapes did. The very best DVD media with careful storage may if we're lucky last 50 years, the worst can go as quickly as within 12 months. Certainly better quality burning helps it last longer but withour very expensive hardware test equipment you just don't really know.
CD-R technology is capable of much better archival results, the best of the best should last 100 years, with luck 300 years. The two biggest problems with DVD-R technology is the use of AZO dyes, they really do not last. Silver is also much worse than gold however gold is not reflective enough to work in most DVD players, bummer.

If any other this concerns you (and it should) have your work checked regularly by someone with a CATS scanner, this will reveal not only problems with the media but also the burner.

The public has not been well educated about this, I think in a few years time there's going to be hell to pay, just about everyone I talk to assumes that DVD-Rs will last the same as pressed media i.e. close to forever, yet this isn't the case. In my opinion every set top DVD burner and blank disk should come with a warning about the short life expectancy of all DVD+/-R and DVD+/-RW media.

Bob.

So far, all of this has been sheer speculation. Only time will tell. People have been saying this for some time, now, and still no problem. I have DVDs burned on -R (that's all I've ever used) well over two years old and so far they are just as good as the day they were burned.

How 'bout we save this discussion when there's really something to discuss.