Maxell -- Who REALLY Made the MIJ DVD-R and DVD+Rs?

[mrlar]

Hi... this may be a moot point now, since Maxell has shifted to Taiwan for their DVDR medias, but there are still enough of those "Made in Japan" Maxell DVDRs out there that this is a valid topic.

I'm wondering if someone can tell me who actually MADE those Maxell 8x DVDRs (both the + and -). Actually, what about the 4x DVD+RWs as well? I have a few of those marked Made in Japan.
[EDIT: Sorry, the +RWs were made in Taiwan.]

I've seen a post where someone said he thought the "-" was Mitsubishi Chemical, and the + was Matsushita -- but nothing to back up where he got this information from.

Another poster somewhere said he was sure Maxell made their own product, somewhere north of Tokyo. But I can find no information on this -- that while they do have a research facility there, that they actually manufactured their own product. They don't have the look of TY. They could be Ricoh (I can't tell by looking), so I guess it comes down to a few, right? Maybe Ricoh, Matsushita, Mitsubishi? I'm wondering if someone can help me out, I AM really, really curious who made these discs. THey're GREAT quality, never had a problem with them!!! I just bought 100 more +s at Office Depot (the last of the MIJs in my local store).

Also, I'm curious, I didn't even know that Matsushita and Mitsubishi were making DVD media. (a) Is this true? and (b) are they still making it, or have they stopped? I know in the past many companies that used to manufacture media have stopped due to the low profit margins (back in teh VHS days, Scotch/3M left the video tape manufacturing market because their profit wasn't deemed large enough). What about Ricoh? I'm wondering what other MIJ companies actually MANUFACTURE in Japan still (other than TY). Does Ricoh?

But in the end, I guess I just want to know -- who made these Maxell MIJ discs? (the - and the + and the +RW). Does anyone really know? I imagine it wouldn't have been too hard to find out, if someone worked at Maxell, or knew someone who did. Anybody?

(Interestingly, my one experience with Mitsubishi Chemicals was in the LaserDisc days -- Mitsubishi made the cleanest laserdiscs I'd ever seen -- eve more than Pioneer LDCA -- except they were also the most prone to rot. When a Japanese-language LD Box set I bought rotted, and everyone else in Japan wrote that theirs had rotted too, I contacted Mitsubishi Plastics directly, sent them my discs, they looked them over, and declared every single one was rotted, and they did a re-pressing. I still have the letter from them somewhere). So I'm hoping if it IS the case that Mitsubishi made the "-" discs, that they will hold up.

I must have hundreds of each one -- mostly the DVD-Rs, though over the last few months I switched to the "+" (liked the silver color better, and while my drive saw the - as 16x and + as 8x, I never burn above 8x because I'd rather have it error free than fast).

Thanks!

[dolphinius_rex]

So far, all of Maxell's Japanese media with their own MID code is made by Maxell. Most of their Japanese product in general is made by Maxell, but some of it was OEM'd to Taiyo Yuden on occasion.

Mitsubishi DOES make their own DVDR/RWs, but their Japanese plant is ONLY for R&D now... but they *DO* have their own plant in Singapore still as well.

Matsushita is more difficult to be sure of... they outsource a *LOT*... but it's possible they may still make some DVDs (I don't know... although I kind of doubt it).

I don't know who would have made Maxell Made in Japan DVD+RWs... the only Japanese maxell DVDRWs I know of are DVD-RWs, which were made by Maxell themselves as well.

And FYI, only Maxell's consumer stuff is OEM'd to Taiwan... their P/I (Professional Industrial) media is still their own!

[mrlar]

First a quick correction -- I took a look at my Maxell +RWs, and they're made in TAIWAN, not Japan, sorry. I only use them occasionally, but have used hundreds of MIJ -Rs and +Rs. It's a shame Maxell is going to Taiwan for their product now. I understsand the cost concerns, but they've always been known as a better maker. I guess TY has the rep of being "the best" so they can afford to charge more and keep manufacturing in Japan, where Maxell is more consumer-end oriented, and maybe they can't compete with pricing against Taiwan? I know that over the last year, Office Depot had REALLY good deals on them every few weeks. Pretty much 90%+ of all the discs I've ever burned have been MIJ Maxell. I've had some TYs that I thought were good, but no better than these Maxells.

So if Maxell actually DID manufacture their own product, what are they doing with the manufacturing line once it's shifted to Taiwan? Are they just using it for their professional grade?

By the way, Maxell is actually Hitachi, right?

[RJW]

Mitsubishi DOES make their own DVDR/RWs, but their Japanese plant is ONLY for R&D now... but they *DO* have their own plant in Singapore still as well.

Only R&D for DVD media. The japanese plant does produce MO-disc's.

[RJW]

So if Maxell actually DID manufacture their own product, what are they doing with the manufacturing line once it's shifted to Taiwan? Are they just using it for their professional grade?

Hmm they are not moveing lines to taiwan.
They just place large orders at companies like RITEK.
Now the japanese lines will be used for the professional grade and some OEM's Maxell has. It is more profitable to make media for these brands (like Mori) and to use a different OEM for there own medis as to just make media for themselves alone.

[texascbx]

I have some 8x R+ Maxells and they are Ridata R03. Pure junk.

[Gen-An]

And FYI, only Maxell's consumer stuff is OEM'd to Taiwan... their P/I (Professional Industrial) media is still their own!

Dolph, what do you know about Maxell's CD-R media like this? I know it's made in Taiwan, but do you know if it has a Hitachi-Maxell ATIP or is just OEM Prodisc or Ritek?

[dolphinius_rex]

And FYI, only Maxell's consumer stuff is OEM'd to Taiwan... their P/I (Professional Industrial) media is still their own!

Dolph, what do you know about Maxell's CD-R media like this? I know it's made in Taiwan, but do you know if it has a Hitachi-Maxell ATIP or is just OEM Prodisc or Ritek?

Hitachi code would be made in Japan But those discs will be Ritek made CD-Rs for sure. The description on those discs is pretty pathetic, you have to seriously dig into customer reviews and specific details about the media to see that they're white inkjet printable, and not shiny silver as they sort of appear to be in the picture!!

[RJW]

Since when are maxell printable cd-r's Maxell. So far all printable maxell disc's I had in my hands were made by Taiyo Yuden.
It might be different for different markets.

[dolphinius_rex]

Since when are maxell printable cd-r's Maxell. So far all printable maxell disc's I had in my hands were made by Taiyo Yuden.
It might be different for different markets.

I was saying that *IF* they were having a Hitachi code, *THEN* they'd be made in Japan.... not that if they were made in Japan, then they'd have the Hitachi Code

But all Maxell inkjet printable CD-Rs in North America have been made by Ritek for a while now

[Gen-An]

There is Hitachi-Maxell CD-R media made in Taiwan; I think Daxon/Acer/BenQ/whatever-the-heck-else-aliases-they-have makes them, so I was wondering about those in the link. The older ones had cyanine dye (I have one such disc, 12x silver inkjet printable CD-R) but the newer ones use pthalocyanine.

[Scour]

Hello!

My Maxell CD-R 48x (or 52x?) is made by Ritek.