Originally posted by: jrichrds
Originally posted by: MrCoyote
Originally posted by: unclebud
*points out that the lite-on cdrw drives (that the taiyo yuden are burned in) are made in taiwan*
It's not that it's "made in Taiwan". The problem with Taiwan discs, is that they don't use TY, which is supposed to be the best recording surface(dye) available for burning CD-R's. If Taiwan would start using the TY dye, then it would be good. But they don't...They use that crappy CMC or Ritek or other cheap junk. I'm looking elsewhere for discs now, if Fuji is not TY. They just lost a customer.
TY (Taiyo Yuden) is a company, not a dye. They use cyanine dye.
I have found Mitsubishi (Azo) and Ritek (pthalocyanine) 'made in Taiwan' discs to be quite good...low C1 error counts on my LiteOn burner. I don't like CMC (pthalocyanine) discs...much higher C1 error rates.
Of course, I prefer TY discs.
I agree, mostly. However, cyanine dye, is not nearly as light-safe as the other two dye types, so for discs that may be exposed to direct sunlight, or used for long-term archiving, I actually avoid all cyanine media, including T-Y.
It is true that they have a mature and stable cyanine dye formula, as they were one of the inventors of it. The thing that (IMHO) makes T-Y so good, and so compatible, is there high level of quality-control, and precise base groove in the round CD substrates, along with a nice solid top-coat/sealant layer.
I actually consider Mitsubishi azo/"super azo" discs to have just a good a quality, and that dye type is supposed to have the greatest light-resistance. I've never ever had a disc that I burned on those types of media be unreadable in a CD-ROM drive, unless the drive itself was completely dead. I've had plenty of other types/brands of media rejected by finicky/marginal readers. But not Mitsubishi, and generally not T-Y. (Verbatim DataLife Plus discs are Mitsubishi super azo, in case anyone didn't know.)
The other thing is, cyanine dye is cheaper than metal azo, which is why those Verbatim discs are rarely if ever FAR, and generally go for $0.30 - $0.50 each, while T-Y cyanine discs can be had for cheaper, and of course any Taiwan disc, with their "lottery" style of quality-control, can be had for nearly nothing. (About what they are worth, in terms of long-term stability.)
I agree that CMC discs are pretty much the worst. I've had K-Hypermedia discs that burned fine initially, actually go totally unreadable in the span of less than a year. I don't use them for anything important. I don't know why Imation keeps using their media, IMHO they are crap. Perhaps Imation purchases their 'A'-grade media, and they sell 'B'-grade to K-Hypermedia.
Ritek used to be crap, back in the cyanine dye days, but IMHO they're really turned around, and their higher-grade stuff is actually quite good. Those white/blue "AT&T"-logoed CD-Rs in the 50/100-spindles, are made by them, and sold by Verbatim.