Most media is produced by a relative small number of factories, located in several different places. The best media generally comes from Japan and Singapore. The worst typically comes from Taiwan or China (in stores) and Hong Kong (online). ... This being said, understand that the media brand means nothing. Apple is a great brand, but they do not make their own discs, instead outsourcing to MXL (Hitachi/Maxell) or MCC (Mitsubishi Chemicals). ... 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.
In steps DigitalFAQ with an exhaustive list of media IDs rated and matched to manufacturers. You'll never buy DVDs the same way again. —MEGHANN MARCO
Who makes the disc: Brand vs. Media ID [DigitalFAQ via Lifehacker]
]]>I've burnt well over 150 DVDs - and only three failed because of software issues, not the media itself.
rima.com - best place to get them
]]>If you really couldn't get more than half of the discs to work, places would be taking them back by the truckload. I think this article is really focused on archiving, not just day-to-day use.
]]>I've always had bad experiences with Ritek in my Pioneer 108A, the DL's would never (not even once) make it to the finishing stage without corrupting. However, Memorex discs (almost universally panned for poor compatibility and performance) work perfectly with my Pioneer.
Overall though, and the general consensus on the DVD boards I have frequented, is that Verbatim is king(particularly the DLs).
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