I've used to have good success over the years with Verbatim quality and they used to be worth the extra few dollars. Sadly this is no longer the case, you may need to look elsewhere, I am disappointed.
This purchase from November 2010 shows the discs are now made in India, so even though they have the same product code as the ones that used to be made in Singapore or Taiwan, they are not up to the same standard.
They have a very heavy chemical "stink" to them. The few discs I have leftover from the previous Verbatim purchase have no such smell.
During burning, there are several "pauses", even at only 8x - again, only on the ones from India and not Singapore/Taiwan, with the same burner.
"Disc Quality" scan by Nero CD-DVD Speed shows many more errors on the India made discs vs Singapore/Taiwan discs.
So perhaps Verbatim sold off the rights to use their name for another manufacturer or perhaps the India factory is not up to par, but I am upset that I wasted money and trust on this purchase. Verbatim 97459 4.7 GB up to16x Branded Recordable Disc DVD+R (100 Disc Spindle)
Having brought approximately 5 or 6 hundred of these disks and in all that time only finding 1 of them to be bad; it is easy to recommend them. I have purchased many different brands before and none of them can compare. Buy these!
EDIT: This review applies to Verbatim 95098 specifically!
Bearing in mind that some media and some optical drives just do not get along, I would say that these discs (manufactured by Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.) are the closest in quality to the cream of the crop (Taiyo Yuden) that I have come across.
The thing to remember when buying blank DVD media is that brand name means little: you want a good manufacturer. For instance, I have burned some TDK media for a friend and noticed that one batch was manufactured by Ritek and another by CMC Magnetics.
I strongly suggest checking this page before you buy:
[...]
Be sure to check out the freeware tool DVD Identifier, as well, so you know who is manufacturing your media:
[...]
Hope this helps to cut back on "coasters!"
EDIT February 2011: Not sure why Amazon removed my links to websites that review and rate CD/DVD/BD media after they had been up for quite some time. I suppose a quick Googling will suffice....
I haven't written a review on Amazon in years, but I want to for this product because I am so disappointed in it and I want to corroborate what others have said about the "Made in India" discs.
I've had great luck with Verbatim media in the past; I've burned many DVD-Rs, CD-Rs, and Dual Layer DVD+Rs--and I've had virtually 100% success with them. I also have burned a few other brands (Maxell, Sony, a few Memorex) and have had very good results with them as well.
I was sure these (16x DVD+R) would be of great quality like the others, but these are honestly the worst discs I've ever used.
I haven't even finished this spindle (I have around 15 or so left), but I have already had about 20 bad discs. They seem to burn OK, but then cannot be read. I tested the bad discs in multiple players, so the players cannot be blamed. I use a good quality burner (Lite-On), use good software (K3b or GnomeBaker), burn at half the rated speed (8x for these 16x discs), and other discs (including other Verbatim products) *after* these ones have worked fine--so in my opinion, this particular media is the problem.
In fairness, the majority of these discs have actually been successfully burned. However, even if every remaining disc is good, this spindle will have a failure rate of 20%, and that is way too high. It's a waste of resources, time, and money.
Exactly which brand/maker of DVD+Rs works best for you depends on your DVD drive. I know from many reviews that Verbatim DVD+R 8x and DVD+R 16x work wonderfully with NEC 35xx drives; I have been using that combo for 1.5 years now and never had a single coaster or issue reading the data back in.
I've purchased things from Amazon before but I read some reviews about packaging and Amazon's practice of sticking air pillows on the sides instead of using peanuts underneath (the old fashioned way). As a result, many Amazon customers have reported getting spindles with a few cracked discs on top due to corner impacts during shipping! AMAZON SHOULD NOT SKIMP ON THE QUALITY OF PACKAGING IF IT WANTS TO KEEP CUSTOMERS! Some items are just too delicate to use a air pillow on the side.
I wound up buying them from Newegg instead who has a very high, well respected reputation, free shipping, and was selling the spindle for the exact same price. You just have to pay a little tax. The extra tax was worth it knowing the ITEM IS PACKAGED BETTER. A shipping box filled with a generous amount of peanuts, and the spindle buried inside. That means Newegg cares more too as far as I'm concerned. You can collect the extra peanuts in a big trash bag to use when you ship your own packages.
By the way, my Panasonic DVD recorder and LG Burner read and burn the Verbatims perfectly. - Dvd - Verbatim Dl Dvd - Blank Media'
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