Maxell unbranded 2X DVD-R media online. Is it real?

[VEFF]

I have seen "unbranded Maxell" 2X DVD-R media at one online site (and its twin).
The picture looks a lot like their house brand 2X DVD-R media,
and the writeups (specs etc.) are almost identical.

Has anyone ordered this Maxell media yet?
Does it appear to be Maxell?

I know I can use Nero or ADVDInfo to check the media ID, but I assume that can be relatively easily faked (like with the Princo 2X that have a fake TDK media ID)...

Thanks!

[jase]

The media probably is Maxell.

The Datasafe company in the UK badged Maxell media for a while.

They stopped because of terrible batch/quality control (worse than Princo would you believe).

Personally, I'd avoid...

[VEFF]

Thanks jase.

Wow, so you think the unbranded Maxell might be worse than Princo?
I have used branded Maxell DVD-R media with great results...

There is a deal now for Maxell 2X unbranded from $1.12 to $1.34 a disc (depending on quantity) + shipping.
I have about 70 (DVD-R and DVD+R) blanks left, which is one reason why I was hesitating, plus sometimes BestBuy has great deals on Verbatim (once $1 a disc AR + tax on purchase price) and the fact that to get $1.12 per disc you have to buy 500 I believe.
I am also thinking of getting 4X media when my 70 2X-2.4X blanks are depleted, as opposed to 2X media.

[jsl]

The media probably is Maxell.

The Datasafe company in the UK badged Maxell media for a while.

They stopped because of terrible batch/quality control (worse than Princo would you believe).

Personally, I'd avoid...

And how do you know that the Datawrite media wasn't Princo with fake Maxell mfr ID? Since Datawrite are selling Princo media with fake TDK mfr ID I find that more likely than that Maxell are making cheap crap media.

[jase]

Because despite the lead-in, TDKG02 Princo media was still characteristically Princo -- it was obvious. The Maxell media is the same as the branded stuff (which incidentally was as good as branded at first, but the quality fell back. There were rumours that this Maxell media was grade B reject stock which Datasafe bought up, but I stress this is a rumour ONLY).

[VEFF]

I just read a post on dvdrhelp.com by someone who SAYS he sent a sample to Maxell who said that these are counterfeit.
I don't know if it is true...

In addition, every single user review for these at dvdrhelp.com was very bad.
Glad I stayed away.

[jase]

Yes.

I managed to obtain some of this media and I would also say it's counterfeit. It looked like either MBI or Nan-Ya media to me -- NOT Maxell. I was going by what a trusted correspondent on one of the forums was saying -- seems he was wrong.

It doesn't surprise me. Datasafe were claiming that the TDKG02 Princo/Prodisc was real TDK so I wouldn't believe anything they say anymore.

There is a company in the UK selling unbranded Maxell media, and they are usually trustworthy. I have these on order now and will let you know....

[VEFF]

I can't believe some of the rather popular media web sites that make these false claims about it being Maxell media.

I won't be buying blank DVDs for a long time anyway now: I just bought a boatload of Verbatim DVD media 2X, 2.4X and even 4X) (and some Ricoh Japan branded as Memorex DVD+R as a substitute) on sale at Office Depot last week for $32.77 + tax per 30 discs with NO rebates.
I will probably burn some DVD+R and DVD-R MP3 discs with them, in addition to the usual data, video etc.

[seaegg]

I've burnt 45 of those so-called counterfeit Maxell discs which I bought in Canada. Ive burnt them at 1x and 2x speed using Pioneer DVR-104 without a single coaster. They've played flawlessly in the Sony NS315, Sony NS725, Pioneer DV-656a, Pioneer DV-440 and a Panasonic RV32. I will keep buying them until they prove unreliable especially since they only cost CAD $2.50 apiece.

[HyperYagami]

The media quality is mostly OK. However, I have one disc where I have a lot of stuff (4.36GB) and end up getting a disc-at-once error. Apparently as long as you don't burn all the way till the very end of the disc everything will be OK.

[seaegg]

Actually 95% of the diskd I burnt had on at least 4,689,000 bytes. I guess my Pioneer players are just good readers or the disks I got were good.