A special utility is needed to determine the disc ID code
It’s getting harder and harder to be a good consumer of digital goods nowadays. It’s generally known that high – quality media are far more reliable than ‘bulk – quality’ Chinese or Malaysian products, but still many people lack knowledge or willingness to pay closer attention to their buying choices. Also companies that outsource discs production to media vendors want to keep an average user unaware of the disc origin. But sooner or later consumers will have to face the truth which is as follows: with the proliferation of cheaply-made discs about half of all media on the market are inferior quality!
Everytime you use bad, cheaply-made media you risk loosing your data. Buying a good disc will save your time and money in the long run. But buying a good discs does not always mean paying for what’s on the top of the shelf. You may be pleasantly surprised!
Here are a few tips on how to search for a high-quality discs. First of all, it’s the manufacturer that matters, not the brand. It’s the reality of the globalised economy where all possible stages of production are outsourced. The most reliable factories are placed in Japan, Taiwan and Singapore, the least – traditionally in China and Malaysia. However, the most important criterion, which reveals the media manufacturer is hidden. It’s the disc ID. You will not find it on the packaging or on the disc surface. In order to read the media ID code, you have to place it in a DVD burner drive which has the utility needed to read the code, such as ImgBurn or Toast. Or you can simply download the software from the Internet.
It’s also good to do a small research on the Internet. There are a few reliable, consumer-oriented organizations which publish an annual review of good and high – quality media. What appears with the greatest frequency and is really worth an extra search while buying is: Verbatim DVD – R, DVD + R or DVD + R DL, made in India, UAE, Singapore or Taiwan (avoid ‘Life series’ or ‘Value series’ discs); JVC Taiyo Yuden DVD – R or DVD + R from an authorised dealer only; Sony DVD + R and DVD – R manufactured in Taiwan only. So, appropriately, the highest quality media ID codes are: TAIYOYUDEN, TYG01, TYG02, YUDEN, MCC, sony D05
And what are the benefits of this extra investment in quality buying? The answer is: better disc sustainability, 95- 100% success rate (comparing to 0-50% performed by the worse), the most successful burns and data safety. It’s worth it!