Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Blank dvd

What brand of blank dvd media do you guys use for backing up your movies? So far I have had the best luck with Sony and Fuji. The worst one I have tried was Memorex, I think so far only around 50% of the disc would work.

I've had pretty good luck with Verbatim. Compusa sells one that has a special coating to prevent scratches and data loss compared to standare blank media. Another brand I've purchased online before is Ritek, it has a very good reputation.

Like you, I have not had much luck with Memorex. Actually, I used to do a lot of copying of my DVD's (the ones I own), but have even stopped doing that, just takes to much time for what its worth.

Another option is burning your movies to Hard Disk portable drives.

I've been kinda wondering the same thing. I back up my owned DVDs for the kid's DVD player in the car so that the originals can stay safe and sound in the Media Room. So far it's been hit or miss, so it's good to see some recommendations that I can try. I suppose it also depends a lot on the brand/model of DVD drive you make the copies on.

Dual layer, or single layer? I only do dual layer any more as having a 104" screen, you start to notice flaws in some regular DVDs, so backing them up and squishing them to a single layer just made it worse (again, only on some, mainly older, titles)...

For dual layer, I am a BIG Verbatim fan. I have tried all sorts of discount brands - Memorex, The Best Buy brand (don't recall the name), Staples brand, and even a few nicer ones like Sony. I have been 100% successful with verbatim. Not just in burning, but in playback as well. You pay more for Verbatim, but can find deals at places like OfficeMax and the like from time to time where you get a 10 pack spindle for $15. ALL of the other brands I've tried had burned "coasters" or I had issues with playback (transitions from one layer to the next were where they usually fell short).

Sirquack mentioned RiTek, but finding a source for their dual layer discs can be tricky. From what I've heard, they are as good as Verbatim, but cost less.

I'm using Verbatim exclusively for DVD-R media at the moment and burning an average of about 500 a week with virtually no failures at all.

I've also used Mitsui and Taiyo Yuden with good success.

You may want to check out CD Dimensions instead of the local retailers...though if you're willing to deal with rebates the office and electronic stores can have better sale prices...

Thanks guys, it looks like Verbatim is the choice for most. I may have to give them a try. I have been reading good things about Taiyo Yuden too.

I forgot about Taiyo Yuden, good stuff if you can find it.

Taiyo's are considered to be the best single layer disc out there and Verbatims the best dual layer. I use lightscribe and the Verbatims work the best for me.

Remember some drives like some disc brands better than others and some like -R vs. +R and vice versa. Buy a small quantity of each until you find the ones that your drive likes. There are programs out there that will scan your burns for you to let you know how well each disc has been burned(depending on burner type). There are also some programs out there that will modify the write strategies of your burner to write better for different media/brands etc.

Taiyo Yuden are the only blanks I use at this point. Haven't had a failure since I started to use them and they play on anything.

Rima.com has them for a pretty good price and they are a well regarded etailer.

I ended up ordering some Taiyo Yudens based on what I have read and the input here. Thanks again guys.