Verbatim Playing Fast'n'Loose With CDR Branding

[scuzzy]

I've just become an outraged Verbatim customer - and I never thought I'd find myself saying that. They've never ever let me down .. until this afternoon. And now they've done it big time. They appear to be marketing CMC Magnetics CDR media as their own Verbatim branded disks, and the very first one I tried resulted in a coaster.

 

I was burning a couple of Linux CDs this afternoon, and the first burn used the last of a 25-disk cake of Verb CDRs I bought last Autumn, so I opened up a new cake of 50 Verb CDRs I bought a couple of months ago, that I had thought were IDENTICAL when I bought them - check out the pic of the top labels I've attached. It turns out I didn't pay enough attention when I bought the new batch.

 

 

They're NOT IDENTICAL - anything but.

 

The 25-cake has the Azo dye that IB identifies as

"CD-R (Disc ID: 97m34s23f, Mitsubishi Chemical Corp.)"

the disks are a (rather lovely) mid-blue colour underneath, and silver on top (with a very discreet almost invisible Verb logo).

The 50-cake has some other dye altogether .. unidentified on the packaging, but identified by IB as

"CD-R (Disc ID: 97m26s66f, CMC Magnetics Corp.)"

the disks are that anaemic light green colour underneath, and white (not printable) on top with a much more obtrusive Verb logo and other identifying marks, such that there really isn't room to write more than about 2 lines of info on them with the marker pen and still have what you've written easily readable.

 

THE NEW DISKS ARE CRAP

 

I was burning two copies of the same Linux ISO: the first one burned fine, but the second one did this :

 

I 14:55:41 Operation Started!

I 14:55:41 Source File: I:\LinuxMint-8.iso

I 14:55:41 Source File Sectors: 352,331 (MODE1/2048)

I 14:55:41 Source File Size: 721,573,888 bytes

I 14:55:41 Source File Volume Identifier: Linux Mint 8 Hel

I 14:55:41 Source File Application Identifier: GENISOIMAGE ISO 9660/HFS FILESYSTEM CREATOR © 1993 E.YOUNGDALE © 1997-2006 J.PEARSON/J.SCHILLING © 2006-2007 CDRKIT TEAM

I 14:55:41 Source File File System(s): ISO9660 (Bootable), Joliet

I 14:55:41 Destination Device: [1:1:0] ASUS DRW-1608P2S 1.39 (F:) (ATA)

I 14:55:41 Destination Media Type: CD-R (Disc ID: 97m26s66f, CMC Magnetics Corp.) (Speeds: 4x, 10x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x)

I 14:55:41 Destination Media Sectors: 359,844

I 14:55:41 Write Mode: CD

I 14:55:41 Write Type: SAO

I 14:55:41 Write Speed: MAX

I 14:55:41 Lock Volume: Yes

I 14:55:41 Test Mode: No

I 14:55:41 OPC: No

I 14:55:41 BURN-Proof: Enabled

I 14:55:41 Filling Buffer... (40 MB)

I 14:55:42 Writing LeadIn...

I 14:56:07 Writing Session 1 of 1... (1 Track, LBA: 0 - 352330)

I 14:56:07 Writing Track 1 of 1... (MODE1/2048, LBA: 0 - 352330)

I 14:58:53 Synchronising Cache...

W 14:58:54 Potential 'WaitImmediateIO' Deferred Error - (0/3) - Incompatible Medium Installed

W 14:58:54 Synchronise Cache Failed! - Reason: Incompatible Medium Installed

W 14:58:54 Retrying (1 of 3)...

W 14:58:54 Retry Failed - Reason: Incompatible Medium Installed

W 14:58:54 Retrying (2 of 3)...

W 14:58:54 Retry Failed - Reason: Incompatible Medium Installed

W 14:58:54 Retrying (3 of 3)...

W 14:58:54 Retry Failed - Reason: Incompatible Medium Installed

E 15:02:44 Synchronise Cache Failed! - Reason: Incompatible Medium Installed

E 15:02:44 Failed to Write Image!

Aaaarrggh.

 

I haven't tried any more of these disks - I'm so outraged I'm currently thinking about complaining to Verbatim Corp (gaah, not sure where I bought them, don't know where the receipt might be) and getting my money back. Though when I've calmed down I may realise that's a hopeless cause, and will just give up on Verbatim (or at least give up on non-Azo dye Verbatim), and gripe about them to everyone I know, and never recommend them again to anyone.

 

And to think: I actually tapped a complete stranger on the shoulder in a computer shop the other week and said "Don't get those Memorex disks .. get the Verbatims ... you'll be glad you did". Never again.

 

I searched the IB forum to confirm what I thought I'd always seen you folks say about CMC Magnetics, and you all certainly don't have a good word to say about CMC DVD media, but I couldn't find any posts about their CDR media.

 

[bTW: LUK, searching for "CMC Magnetics" returns no hits for some reason, and searching for "CMC" isn't allowed cos the term is too short - how should we do this ?]

 

[bTW2: is it normal that the board's "Attachment" facility isn't available when posting in the Chat area ? I had to post that packaging pic to a hosting site.]

 

There ... I feel better already just for having vented all this

[Cynthia]

Use Google instead of the forum search. This will give you results:

 

CMC forum.imgburn.com

 

There is also a later firmware for that drive.

 

http://www.firmwarehq.com/Asus/DRW-1608P2S/files.html

 

Max speed might not be so good. Try some lower speeds.

 

(Speeds: 4x, 10x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x)

 

No attachments are allowed in the chat forum.

[scuzzy]

I've just discovered you can see through the damn things if you hold them up to the light :

 

 

I don't know how "normal" that is for a decent CDR, but you certainly can't see through the Azo-dye type - I just tried.

 

So much for the "Extra Protection" they crow about all over the CMC disks' packaging.

 

BTW: salient features of that packaging:

"Made in China"

Verbatim product code: #43351 (and it says "0805-04" on the same line)

Bar Code: 0 23942 43351 4

 

Needless to say, I no longer have the right bit of packaging (the shrinkwrap) for the old Azo disks.

[scuzzy]

Use Google instead of the forum search. This will give you results:

 

CMC forum.imgburn.com

Ah - thanks very much.

 

There is also a later firmware for that drive.

I've been deliberately not installing that firmware since it came out - the Asus description for it (on their own website) doesn't make any English sense (well it's a bit Engrish), and when I queried it with Asus I got no reply at all ... so I've been sticking with the version you see - it works very well on all other burns I ever do.

 

Max speed might not be so good. Try some lower speeds.

(Speeds: 4x, 10x, 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x)

[smacks self on forehead] thanks for pointing that out ! .... I hadn't noticed - I normally burn everything with a considerably lower than advertised speed; in the case of the Azo Verb disks this is 32x, which I'd counted on IB using for the new disks ... which of course it won't when the media code is different. Grrr and double-grrr.

 

I'll try a lower-speed burn if I don't end up exchanging the wretched disks for something else.

 

No attachments are allowed in the chat forum.

Hmmm .... is that some kind of legacy effect of the legendary "eye-candy" thread ? I can't really see why otherwise ... a Bad Person could upload garbage to Bugs or Support just as easily as to Chat.

 

Cheers

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Yes but I don't read the chat forum very much and so they could easily go unnoticed. (The beta team normally do a Sterling job of un-approving the bad posts though )

 

I too have had issues with Verbatim CD's in the past, and for that reason, I stopped buying them.

 

Now I just get Taiyo Yuden instead, they're by far the best (IMO).

[rastan]

Hmmm, that's a bit worrying. Verbatim has always been my preferred brand in the past.

 

Can anyone here suggest a good source for Taiyo Yuden DVDs in the UK? And which type of Taiyo Yuden DVD is generally considered to be the most durable for archiving purposes? I don't care about speed.

 

Thanks.

 

(p.s. I wanted to post these questions in the Media section but for some reason I'm not allowed to start new topics there).

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Do please note that this thread is for CDs, not DVDs. Verbatim DVDs are still excellent (except the 'Value' range which use the CMC dye rather than MCC or MKM).

 

http://www.svp.co.uk/

 

Then type 'taiyo yuden' in the search box the top.