Buying the correct Bluray (BD-R/BD-RE) for your drives.

[jimmy2times]

Hi all.

 

I am by no means a technical expert or a whiz when it comes to bluray media, but I am not extactly a novice either. After many years of burining DVDR and DVDR-DL, I have a massive archived collection of optical discs from 2005-6 that still play and read well, discs that I brought for around £1 at the local market at the time. 

 

However buying, burning and achiving bluray is a much more tricky and labourious business than its predecessors - did I mention EXPENSIVE. Even one coaster gets me so upset, so its definitely vital to check the media you buy is compatiable with the drive you are using, keep the firmware recent and also LOOK OUT FOR THE MID CODE of the disc media you utilize. It can be identified by placing the media into the drive you have, loading up IMGBURN and clicking on 'mode' then 'discovery' and looking at the list on the right hand side. The MID code will then be available to you.

 

MID which stand for "Media IDentifier" Code, are essentially an identifer  signature that indicate the genuine manufacturer of the media, version, media type, capacity, etc. FORGET THE BRAND OF THE MEDIA YOU BUY. Verbatim (Said to be the best), TDK, Taiyo Yuden (said to also be great), Ritek (try to avoid this, its generally substandard, though not in all cases).... INSTEAD YOU SHOULD LOOK AT THE MID CODE OF THE MEDIA

 

I brought a 25 pack of JP sourced Verabatim printable 50gb Dual layer BD-R media a couple of months ago which were fantastic. They all successfully burnt. They had the MID code: VERBAT IMf (000)

 

I rebrought the same batch (after being impressed by the performance) from the same seller and about 12 have failed so far, which may be my burners fault as well, nontheless they has a different MID code: MEI-T02-001

 

You may buy a pack of Verbatim media on the internet for example and find they carry a TDK MID Code or visa versa, this is because the brand name on the pack/spindle is merely a selling point, these companies more often than not outsource the production of these discs to secondary firms and companies many of which are based in Japan (said to be the great quality), China (said to be notoriously poor quality), Indonesia (known to be poor quality), Middle Eastern states (Also inferior quality). You should acquaint yourself with these codes and indeed with your burners compatibility with these codes should you desire to not be constantly out of pocket and playing Frisbee with your costly discs.

 

 

Below I have included pictures of the disc brands and their supposed associated codes. It all depends on what supplier you use and if they 'repackage' the discs, meddle with its integrity or indeed simply mask their real Identity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

  

 

 

Edited October 23, 2013 by jimmy2times

[Subzero99]

ok thanks

Edited October 24, 2013 by Subzero99