Customer Reviews

AmazonBasics 8.5 GB 8x DVD+R DL (50-Pack Spindle)

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(31)
1 star:		(78)

 

 

It's silly to buy any inexpensive rebranded discs. They multi-source and you never know what manufacturer's discs you will receive. The "Amazon Basics" discs I received are UME Disc Ltd. which digitalFAQ.com ranks in the lowest quality category (Jan.2010). Someone else in this thread reported getting Ritek. It's the principle reason why consumer reviews vary so wildly and are not helpful to other consumers. With global marketing, fluxuating wholesale pricing/availability, and warehousing timeframes it's fair to assume that source variability increases as rebrander purchase prices decline.

Stick with the widely available Verbatim(1) or Taiyo Yuden(2). Burnable discs are actually a very crude storage technology(3) with inherent product variability even within a single high-end facility. It's worth minimizing the many points of failure by (trying to) buy from a single known-good manufacturing source (and using a known-good burner). It affects burn success rates, write-ability across many burners, readability across many devices, and media shelf-life(4).


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(1) Verbatim's better lines reportedly use only Mitsubishi Chemicals discs. Mitsubishi's proprietary and closely guarded metal AZO dye is considered absolute tops. Verbatim's "Value Series" multi-sources with Ritek & CMC being reported by users. Not so good.

(2) Taiyo Yuden is the only maker who also retails their discs. As of Dec.2009 they're known as JVC/Taiyo Yuden. Manufacturing standards are considered the best with their dye running a close second to Mitsubishi's. The reason to buy TY is you know what you're getting ... counterfeits excepted of course. Buy from reputable sources.

(3) Commercial optical discs the reflective surface is mechanically stamped metal foil which is then sandwiched in plastic. An entirely different technology which is superior at all levels: raw materials, the fab process, ease of quality control, and shelf life (essential limitless). By comparison we're stuck
+ shooting a low-power laser through a rapidly spinning disc
+ using dozens of differently manufactured $25-50 mechanical devices
+ in hopes of achieving consistent melting patterns in varying dye-soaked layers of plastic
+ which are impossible for manufacturers to always get evenly spread on all discs
+ and fabbed by different people in different locations using different proprietary dyes
+ with our different software to control the process
+ then using different devices to read the thing.
And that's why commercial discs are always readable by even the crappiest of hardware whilst the best of burned discs are never readable on even all good hardware. It's kinda amazing burned discs work as well as they do.

(4) Mostly an issue confined to re-writable media. They require crystal-laden inks which breakdown much faster. While there is some variability in write-once ink stability it's far outweighed by realities fully in the control of endusers: moisture & temperature levels & swings. These are what breakdown all materials over time. Plastic and ink are no exception.

NOTE: most, but not all, footnote info taken from [...].

Dual Layer DVD's are harder and harder to find. It's almost impossible to find them on sale anywhere. I was excited when Amazon introduced this Baiscs program and included Dual Layer discs in the mix.

The discs do not disappoint. A spindle of 50 arrived in a nice neat cardboard box. The packaging was easy to open, except for destroying the packing slip while opening. The spindle is a 'cake box' type, and it seals up very nicely. The outer shrink wrap is clear plastic. The DVD+R DL you see in the picture is a paper wrapper around the discs inside. Fortunately the DVD+ DL words are printed large and in dark black ink on a silver background on each disc, and the cake box is crystal clear. If this hadn't been the case, it would be extremely difficult to identify which discs are inside (I have spindles of four different single layer manufacturers, and two other dual layers).

The first question I had, do they burn at 8X and do they work? Well a good solid resounding yes they do burn at the published speed. They do work well. They are not a magic silver bullet. I have a DVD player that refuses to play any dual layer discs; I've tried Sony, Verbatim, Memorex, and now Amazon Basics - none work at all on this player. However, the Basics disc does play in players that are happy with dual layer discs.

The critical question everyone should have on their mind - the manufacturer. Pretty simple to fire up DVD Identifier; and voila RicohJPND01, revision 067. That should make everyone fairly happy. They fall exactly in the class of DVD blanks with Sony and Memorex - dual layers (the Sonys I have were moserbaerIndiaMBIG101's), not the first class grouping.

I'm very pleased with these discs. Any time I can find Dual Layer discs for under one dollar each, I'm happy. These fit into a very sweet spot of media quality and price per disc. If you need dual layers, this is a good place to purchase.

September 28, 2009 - Burn number 10, not a single flaw yet. No failures, no disc problems. For the record, my two DVD burners are under 1 year old, with current firmware, and are both manufactured by TSST corportation, Models S203N and S223Q, Samsung burners. Product links for my burners: 20X DVDRW DVD Burner - Black SATA, and Samsung SH-S223Q/BEBS Internal Half Height Supermulti SATA 22X Lightscribe DVD-Writable Drive.

I ordered a pack to try these out since they are fairly new and there inst a lot of information on them. as stated in another reviwe the media code on these as of this date are Ricoh, which are not great, but there are worse, mine were made in china.

that being said, they worked great, i had no problem burning them in my liteon drive.

re: xbox360 backups, they work, i tested these on a liteon drive and a benq drive, both read these disc wonderfully without a single hitch, i usually burn at 4x, but i burned a 360 backup at 8x just to test and it has been reading perfectly no problems at all.

at this price point i can say i am very happy with this product.

Mission: Backup nearly 8 GB of photos

Tools: Roxio Creator 2010 and a Sony DRU-830A drive

First attempt: Failed part way through write--"media error"

Second attempt: Failed part way through write--"media error"

Third attempt: Failed part way through write--"media error"

Concerned that I might have a problem other than the disks, I popped in a +R DL of another brand. Wrote without a problem.

Tried a fourth Amazon disk--"media error"

Up to this point I'd let Roxio default to the 8x the disks are rated for. I set the speed at 4x, and at that speed I was able to write (and subsequently read) a disk!

I then tried 6x--"media error"

To make certain the 4x success wasn't a fluke, I wrote another copy at that speed. Another success.

Based on my initial experience, these disks will work at 4x, but not at the rated 8x, in my system. Given that I'm using a common software package and a decent drive I believe the quality of these disks is marginal.

I've only used 10 discs. But out of them I had 8 bad burns. I admit, another dvd burner can often solve media issues. I know this for a fact. Finding the right burner is alot harder though. My burner loves Verbatim, occasional error, maybe 1 out of 20 discs. My burner likes old Memorex. Occasional error maybe 3 out of 30. My burner seems to hate anything else, new Memorex, Playo. I can go on and on.

The media code is Ricohjpn-D01-67. Rebadged to amazon basics. If I got one good thing out of this, I know to avoid wasting my time with this media code.

I highly suggest anyone using these discs. To not just burn your media. But verify it as well. This reads the media that was burned to make sure it has no errors. Out of my 8 discs with problems. Two stopped during writing errors. But the other 6 found problems during the verify process. Usually around the 88% to 97% mark. If I didn't verify my discs. I wouldn't have known they burned bad. If a disc burns bad, you can never rip it again and it will probably play poorly on other devices as well.

I'm just going to repack the unused up with the 10 used and return it. 2 good discs out of 10 is not worth it. Too bad, cause I love amazon and I loved the price. Would have loved to have a cheap alternative to Verbatim. I guess its not to be.

Package and all that was great, the discs themselves also looked fine. Nothing physically the matter with them. They just burned poorly. My burner is an Optiarc AD-7200S updated to the latest firmware.

Thanks for reading.

I've noticed that there seems to be either a very high reported success rate or a very low success rate with these discs among the reviewers here. For what it's worth, I have burned thousands and thousands of optical discs over the years and I have never come across an entire 50-pack spindle of discs of any type, DVD+/-R or CD-R, that predominantly failed to burn-- a claim that many of the reviewers here are making. If your results are that abysmal, I would strongly recommend switching burners, burn speed, and/or burning software. If none of that works, or is not an option, buy Verbatim. They cost over twice as much per disc as these, but you are paying a premium for high compatibility with subpar hardware and software, which most people use.

I personally have had excellent success with these discs. The media code on mine are "UMEDISC DL1", made in China. I strongly recommend all reviewers here to also share the media code of their discs, so it will be easier to keep track of who is making the "good" ones and who is not-- assuming that there are multiple manufacturers making these. I suspect Amazon may be using different OEM's to manufacture these discs, due to the intermittent availability of this product as well as the constantly fluctuating price. (As I write this review, the discs are $32 and change. I bought my spindle for about $25, and with a little patience the price will almost certainly drop to that point again.)

As stated by the media code, UmeDisc made my discs, and their reputation is less than stellar among the blank media connoisseurs you find searching the internet. Chinese-made optical discs do indeed have a poor reputation for several reasons, too numerous to list here (put succinctly, "they suck"), but it looks like the Chinese may be cleaning up their act these days. I have gone though many spindles of Chinese-made DVD+R DL discs that illegally used Ricoh media ID's. (Ricoh's discs are manufactured in Japan only, and nobody is supposed to use their media ID except them.) The fact that UmeDisc are actually identifying themselves on their product means that they are willing to take credit for it, something that was not apparent before and may indicate improved quality. If you have had poor results with Chinese-made discs in the past, you may want to give them another chance.

A word about coasters: If you are making multiple attempts to burn these discs, and ending up with a large stack of coasters (assuming they are UmeDisc-manufactured like mine), I promise you that it is due to user error. These discs are not made to an excellent specification and they are not very tolerant of sloppy burning. Do not burn them at 8x if your software gives you the option to, even though it says that on the label. Burn them at 4x. I used Nero Burning ROM 9 for these discs and it did not even give me an option for 8x-- smart Germans!

Do not try burning these in a slimline burner, like the ones you find in a laptop or iMac/Mac mini. You are asking for trouble. These discs are difficult enough to burn in a high-quality full-size burner, let alone a tiny laptop drive. You will have a very high failure rate if you attempt this. If you must burn DL discs on a laptop, buy Verbatim.

Use decent software when you're burning the disc. On Windows, the gold standard is Nero. On the Mac, the standard by default is Roxio Toast. Do not try burning these from Windows Explorer or the Macintosh Finder, it is a waste of time.

Do not burn anything irreplaceable on these discs. It is not worth the hassle and risk. Most people are using these discs to copy video games or movies, so it's a non-issue. If you are burning data that is priceless and must be preserved indefinitely, you should be using single-layer 24k gold DVD-R's made by MAM-A, not anything double-layer. If it MUST be a DL disc, you know which brand to choose.

Verify your discs. If the disc fails verification, burn it again!

Finally-- use common sense. You are using these discs to burn a very large amount of data (5-8 gigabytes) in a relatively short period of time (~25 minutes at 4x for a full disc, not including verification time). Do not start the burn, load up Team Fortress 2, and then complain that the burn failed. The computer will be reading a large amount of data off the drive and will need to do so continuously without interruption. If the hard drive is being burdened by other software, it may not respond quickly enough to meet the recorder's demands. If this happens, do not blame the disc-- it's the user's fault! Forgive me if I happened to insult your intelligence during this review, but the amount of complaining about something as straightforward as a spindle of blank discs is quite unprecedented, at least to me.

That all being said, don't expect a perfect success rate. Double-layer discs are finicky, time-consuming and difficult to both burn and read, no matter what brand. I have had a few discs from my spindle fail on me. I have also had the odd Verbatim fail on me. It's tempting to blame the disc--that pathetic, cheap-looking circle of polycarbonate--but it was probably my own fault. (As an aside, these DL discs tend to crap out at one of three points during the burn-- the lead-in, the layer change, and the lead-out--so watch out. I've had various burns fail during all three points.)

Don't forget that you get what you pay for. You are paying less than half the cost per disc compared to Verbatim because these discs are of much lower quality. As such, you, the user, need to pay more attention to the burning process to avoid wasting discs. If your time is too valuable for such a demand, I recommend that you turn to another manufacturer.

There is an old adage about CD-R's that was said many, many years ago, but I think it applies here-- it goes something to the effect of, "burning your own discs is just like flying in an airplane. Hours and hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror."

Hopefully I don't disappointed by not boring you with half a review on the packaging - nothing worth writing about: really not much different than other brands and mine arrived in a large brown box with a shipping label and some puffy plastic inside.

Now, what you want to read: quality and how they performed. Disappointing is an understatement. I tried 12 discs in 3 different computers (none of which have had any trouble with Verbatim) and only 1 of the 12 could be written. However, that one disc was unreadable by that same computer and the other two. So, 12 of 12 were bad. I finally gave up (normally wouldn't have gone past a few, but was in a bind to get a few discs shipped). The errors were random and didn't say much.

Yes, all my DVD burners are capable of burning +/- DLs and I burn a lot of both.

There is nothing more to say about their performance. I can add that I use a spindle of 50 over a 2-month period primarily using Verbatim. I can't recall the last time I had trouble burning a disc (that wasn't something I did wrong) so this caught me off guard. Bad batch? Perhaps, but reading some of these reviews tells me probably not just one bad batch. When I bought them, I thought for the price, I can live with a couple bad ones - I figured perhaps some of the other reviewers were doing something wrong since there are some glowing reviews. Re-reading a few of the glowing reviews and subsequent comments made on some tell me they haven't burned that many (and some people contradict their own review in replies to comments indicating something is askew).

One last thing: warranty. I had purchased them just over a month before finally getting to them. I followed warranty instructions (these have a limited 1-year warranty compared to Verbatim's limited lifetime warranty) and explained the issue and requested to return for a refund rather than replacement since I don't have the time or patience to keep returning them. I received a reply saying they would make a "one time exception" to their 30-day return policy if I return in new and unused condition.

Enough said.

DVD media is nothing new to me, for the course of the past 8 years... I have archived in excess of 3000 DVD+r/-r's. Thus I have experience all ranges of branded & unbranded media; from Tayo Yuden's consistent quality to the utter garbage Princo & CMC magnetic. At the end of the day, the saying "you get what you pay for" holds true. Luckily for us consumers, as the yields improved from all the manufactures we started seeing such improvements in DVD quality over the years to the point that if you want to make a DVD of non-archival quality(less than 2 yrs shelf life) any brand on sale will do. On my desk, I have stacks of new DVD's that I received on sale for as little as 10 cents per disk, such media is great for giving to friends, or for storage of various TV episodes.

Now as for DVD-DL, as you all may now realize, there is a serious price increase when compared to DVD media, approaching in excess of $2 per disc for the premium media. For this reason alone, I prefer to use DVD-DL media sparingly. For now DVD-DL is a stop gap until Blu-ray media becomes more cost effective.

During the last 3 years, I have used various DL media on a few writers:Sony, NEC, benq, lite-on, etc. My preference was to use Verbatim DVD-DL, but like all good things, they come at a cost. So I figured,hmmmnn... amazon has always had great service, I'm sure their store brand DVD's are of good standards. I hoped on Prime & order a pack. The package arrived with amazon's frustration free packaging(you'll be impressed for a whole 10 seconds, maybe longer if you were a packaging engineer), insider you'll see that the DVD's are of the highly reflective silver material. In the past such film layers have been known to flake away easily with a little use or by leaving it in a warm place as apposed to a matte coating found on premium discs. Anyway, I still had hope....
Needless to say, i was wrong... over a 40% failure rate, the ones that worked had high write errors forcing my DVD-dl players to reject it for various reasons, enough to bring back memories of CMC/Princo media back in 2003. I tried to like these discs enough to give it several chances using difference OS'S(win XP, OSX, Win 7), yet the same results. Thus after 10 discs & 11 hours of burning time, i have decided to RMA them back to Amazon & return back to Verbatim.

After reading all of the negative views I was very unsure about ordering this product. However, I knew there had to be some truth for the 5 star reviews and figured it was worth the lost cost to find out for myself. Out of the first four burns I only had one sucess and was unhappy. I returned to Amazon to write a poor review and discovered on the product information that it suggest to burn no faster than 4x despite the disc being rated at 8x burn speed. I gave it a try and have burned the rest 46 discs with NO ERRORS or bad quality. I am very happy with the product. For the price I can live with a 4x burn rate. I plan on buying more. I would suggest only burning 4x or lower.

Amazon does it again! I have been using these Dual Layer discs on my Apple MacBook Pro Unibody 17" and also on my 3 year old PC and I must say, BRAVO! I have burned 15 discs now and have not incurred any errors. I have burned 8 Games for my Xbox 360 (burned fine at 2.4x and 4x -- this is all I have tested), 5 HQ Movies (on my upscaling 1080p DVD player, these things look like Blu-Ray!!!), and have backed up all of my important data on each computer, using 2 discs. On Mac OS X, I used Disk Utility and Roxio Toast to burn the Movies and Data Backup and on Windows Vista, I used ImgBurn (for the games) and Nero for the data backup.