Is it just me or is Verbatim's quality going downhill?

[KPackratt2k]

For almost four years now, I've been buying Verbatim discs as those have been the most recommended brand next to Taiyo Yuden (which is no longer in business). For my single layer DVD Video discs, I typically use the Verbatim DigitalMovie DVD-Rs since I really like the design of them. The last few times I bought these discs, I had to throw away a few of them because they had scratches and marks on them, but I'd blame that on the packaging rather than how the discs were manufactured.

Now, here's where I'm starting to question Verbatim's quality control in the recent years. About 4 times during the past few months, I ended up with defective burns. The discs were burnt and verified without any problems, but once I attempted to play those discs on my DVD players, they would either freeze at a certain point in the film or simply not read. Admittedly, one of the defective discs had a mark on the data side, but the other three looked perfectly fine to my eyes.

I've used two different DVD burners (an Optiarc AD-7233S and an HP GH40L (made by Samsung)) and this still didn't change my luck. I've burnt the same images onto new discs (still the same Verbatim type) and sure enough, those worked flawlessly, so we can rule out the possibility of the images/drives being bad.

I know about how CMC-made Verbatims are poor quality counterfeits that should be avoided at all costs, but these ones (at least the 10-pack type) are actually identified "MCC 02RG20" which should be genuine (Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation).

Has anyone else noticed Verbatim's quality going downhill (with the exception of CMC discs) or is it just me? Post your recent experiences here if you have any.

[dbminter]

CMC, which now owns Verbatim, appears to have changed the manufacturing processes of its Verbatim DVD-R and DVD+R to the point I no longer use them.  The most recent batches of both types of discs were producing constant failures, and those that did succeed didn't play back properly.  So, I had to switch to Taiyo Yuden DVD-R.  TY's are still made.  Even though CMC bought TY, they are also under a brand called CMC Pro.  Despite CMC's involvement, the DID is still TY, so they still appear to be quality discs.