Originally posted by: TipsyMcStagger
How do you find out if something is CMC?
I mean, it says HP on the spindle, do other companies outsource DVD+R production to this CMC company and then slap their name on it?
TO ANSWER EVERYONE'S MEDIA CODE QUESTION (And I don't mean to yell.. just to get your attention)
The greatest website to go to is videohelp.com. Basically, go
here and type in the brand name, select the speed and media type (-R, +R, -RW, +RW) and it will return the media code.
And yes, people slap their own label on these discs all the time. There are only a few manufacturers of DVD media and almost none of them actually sell their own discs save Fuji, Ritek and Optodisc.
Why is the media code so important?
Well, back in the infancy of DVD burners, disc compatibility was a BIG, HUGE issue, where certain players couldn't burn at the right speed or just not at all. It's a combination of quality control and DVD firmware/laser support.
The thing to understand is that DVD burners are not at all like your CD burners. CD burners basically could burn any blank CD. Back then the only thing to worry about was the color (blue, gold, silver, green). The manufacturer wasn't that big of an issue, but the color was. Silver was best, gold, blue then green was worst for reading and it was vice versa for burning (I worked tier 5 tech support for Philips CD-burners back in the day. I was the supervisor's, supervisor's supervisor that you had to wait 2 hrs to get to). DVD burners are much more complicated. Color of the disc doesn't matter (since they all look silvery, goldish) but the media code does.
Each burner has firmware (software inside the DVD burner that moves the laser, sets the power level and controls the motor) and the firmware has a huge table of manufacturers, media type (-/+RW) and their speeds. Every time you put in a blank DVD the burner cross-references the media code embedded in the blank DVD with the table in the DVD burner's firmware. What ever speed the manufacturer of the DVD burner suggests for the media type of the blank DVD inserted is used. So, if the firmware says burn a TTH002 media code (TDK 8X DVD+R) at 2x speed, it'll burn it at 2x EVEN if the TDK box says 8x.
So basically, go to videohelp.com and check out your burner and the type of media you want to get before you buy it. Asking the salesperson at bestbuy or OM or wherever is going to get you nowhere as they can't possibly know all that information.
Typically overall Fuji, TDK and Verbatim media is best. Also, CMC that are higher speed are much better than they used to be (8x or faster). But when in doubt, check the place of manufacture. If it says
Made in Japan, you're probably going to be ok.