Page 1 of 2

Which Blank Media Works Best with Which CD-RW Drives?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:48 am
by TheWizard
Many of your prayers will be answered as I have taken up the task of compiling a list of which blank CD-R's work best with which drives. I have researched old posts on the forum from users describing which media works in their drives and which does not. However, since drives are constantly changing and new firmwares are always being released, several of those old tests are now outdated. What I ask all of you to do is post your results in this thread, and when the thread is of ample size I will compile all your findings with my current findings and form one giant list. Through time and effort, hopefully I can keep the list updated.

If you would like to contribute, and I urge you to please do so, then post your findings and leave nothing out. I kindly ask that you post the following in your results:

- Drive Make & Model (e.g. LG GCE-8320B)
- Firmware Used During Time of Tests (e.g. 1.04)
- CD-R Brand/Manufacturer & Rated Speed (e.g. Imation/CMC 80min 32X)
- Maximum Successful Burn Speed Without Errors (e.g. 40X)

A few notes:

1. Any CD-R/CD-RW drive, no matter what the maximum or minimum writing speed, is fair game regardless of when it was manufactured.

2. If you have tried a certain brand of media that has not worked in your drive then simply leave the Maximum Successful Burn Speed blank or write N/A. It is important to know which media does not work with certain drives, so please do not leave this information out.

3. To set the standard, please only post the Maximum Successful Burn Speed Without Errors, that means any percentage of errors over 0% is unacceptable. This is to negate any borderline calls; the aim of this list is to definitively answer which media works best with which drives.

4. There is no set number of results that you have to submit. If you have tested 50 different kinds of media in a CD-RW drive, good, post all your findings! If you have only tested 1 kind of media in a CD-RW drive, fine, your research still counts!

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:48 am
by TheWizard
To start the ball rolling, I'll give a few of my findings just so the rest of you know the format to follow.

Drive Make & Model: LG GCE-8320B
Firmware: 1.02

CD-R Brand/Manufacturer & Rated Speed --- Max. Successful Burn Speed

CompUSA/Hitachi Maxell 80min 24X ............ 16X
KHypermedia/CMC 80min 32X ..................... 32X
Unbranded/CMC 80min 12X ........................ 16X

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:48 am
by aviationwiz
Drive Make & Model: Lite-On LTR-48125W
Firmware: VS06

CD-R Brand/Manufacturer & Rated Speed --- Max. Successful Burn Speed

Fuji/Tayio Yuden 80 min. 40x............40x
KHypermedia/CMC 80 min. 16x........40x

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:48 am
by TheWizard
Out of curiosity, those Fuji's have the sticker over the original rated speed, correct? If memory serves, they are 24X or so. I know they can burn at 40X no problem, thank Taiyo Yuden for that. 8)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:48 am
by Action Jackson
TDK 24/10/40 B
firmware 57S2
SmartBURN

Every media I've used burned successfully @ 24x.

Kodak 650 mb 6x Gold, Gold/Silvers
Kodak 700 mb 24x Gold/Silvers
Imation 700 mb 24x................................. [CMC]
Maxell 650 mb 8x Goldtops ...................... [Ritek]
Maxell 700 mb 24x Silvertops.................... [TY]

AHH

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:49 am
by WALTER
sony crx195a1/e1
zys5 firmware

good with:

memorex black cd-r 16x----- @ 16x
Imation 40x------------------- @ 32x and 40x
maxell 16x---------------------@ 16x

bad with:

tdk 16x-------------------------@ any speed

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:49 am
by TheWizard
Do you know the manufacturers of the discs you listen, Walter? The Imation's are most likely made by CMC; the Memorex's, Maxell's, and TDK's could be any number of manufacturers.

woops, sorry

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:49 am
by WALTER
sorry "wizard", i'll look into it. apologies for screwing up the thread. :-? :oops:

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:49 am
by Ken
Drive Make & Model: LG GCE-8320B Flashed To GCE-8400B
Firmware: 1.02

CD-R Brand/Manufacturer & Rated Speed --- Max. Successful Burn Speed

Memorex/Ritek 80min 24X ............ 32X
Fuji/Taito Yuden 80min 32X .......... 40X

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:49 am
by Kennyshin
Ken wrote:Drive Make & Model: LG GCE-8320B Flashed To GCE-8400B
Firmware: 1.02

CD-R Brand/Manufacturer & Rated Speed --- Max. Successful Burn Speed

Memorex/Ritek 80min 24X ............ 32X
Fuji/Taito Yuden 80min 32X .......... 40X


OMG... I thought you were me. :D

Re: woops, sorry

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:50 am
by TheWizard
WALTER wrote:sorry "wizard", i'll look into it. apologies for screwing up the thread. :-? :oops:


Don't worry, Walter, I wasn't expecting this thread to be flawless. I anticipated deviations from the topic like most other threads, just as long as some people respond to my original post with results and you did. I thank you. :)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:53 am
by Alejandra
LiteOn 40125S converted to 48125W
FWs: ZS0A, VS02, VS06

Code: Select all
Samsung/Ritek 16x .............. 48x
Benq/Acer 32x................... 48x * up to 665MB if more @ 40x
Samsung/CMC 32x ................ 40x
Imation/CMC 24x 32x 40x ........ 40x
Melody/CMC 32x ................. 40x
LG/Prodisc 16x ................. 40x
Samsung colors/Prodisc ......... 40x
Princo/Princo 48x .............. 40x
OfficeMax/DST 24x .............. 40x
OfficeMax/DST 16x .............. 32x
Maxell/Hitachi Maxell 12x ...... 32x
HP/Hitachi Maxell 8x............ 32X
TDK/Ritek 32x .................. 24x
TDK/Ritek 16x .................. 24x
Kidak/Kodak 24x ................ 24x
Verbatim/Mitsubishi 24x 32x .... 16x
Sony/Sony 24x 32x .............. 16x
TDK/TDK 16x .................... 16x
Verbatim/Mitsubishi 8x 16x ..... 16x


With the LiteOn 24102B all media can be wited @ 24x except for TDK/TDK and Vermatim/Mitsubishi that can be writed @ 16x.

:wink:

Edit: FW for LTR 24102B is 5S5A

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:54 am
by TheWizard
Ooh! All nicely done in a coded box, I like. :) Thanks Alejandra.

It's interesting to note that the Sony media recorded faster in the 24102B than in the 48125W.

Two questions:

1. Do you know the firmware version of your 24102B?
2. Do you know if the Verbatim discs you used were Super Azo or Metal Azo?

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 3:54 am
by Alejandra
1.- 5S5A

2.- Verbatim/Mitsubishi 8x (Dye Type 0) and 16x (Dye type 1) are Metal AZO, the 24x (Dye type 2) and 32x (Dye type 2) are Super AZO.

I don't understand why the P-CAV an CAV FWs doesn't like sony media, with SZ0A (Z-CLV) you can even write at 40x with Smartburn Off with no probs. The 24102B only has Z-CLV method.

:o

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:00 am
by TheWizard
Umm, nobody else has any results they'd like to share? I remember seeing a lot of requests for a list that rates the best media for certain drives, so I thought this topic would be hotter than it is. If my effort in compiling this list is waste then please let me know and I'll halt. If I'm freaking out too soon then just slap me around! :)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:00 am
by Alejandra
Here are some pics from Metal AZO and Super AZO:

Image

Image

:)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:03 am
by Action Jackson
TheWizard wrote:Umm, nobody else has any results they'd like to share? I remember seeing a lot of requests for a list that rates the best media for certain drives, so I thought this topic would be hotter than it is. If my effort in compiling this list is waste then please let me know and I'll halt. If I'm freaking out too soon then just slap me around! :)


Nothing wrong with this topic.

Maybe it would be a bit more informative to have people list the media that DIDN'T work with their CDRW's.

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:03 am
by dodecahedron
Alejandra wrote:Here are some pics from Metal AZO and Super AZO:

Image

Image

:)

nice pics, Alejandra.
by the way, are these new (i mean rather recent) CDs?
the Verbatims i use have a totally different picture on the paper sleeve. maybe different packaging in Europe than in America.

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:05 am
by TheWizard
Action Jackson wrote:Nothing wrong with this topic.

Maybe it would be a bit more informative to have people list the media that DIDN'T work with their CDRW's.


Umm, yes, look at point #2 in my original post. :wink:

2. If you have tried a certain brand of media that has not worked in your drive then simply leave the Maximum Successful Burn Speed blank or write N/A. It is important to know which media does not work with certain drives, so please do not leave this information out.

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:06 am
by Action Jackson
TheWizard wrote:Umm, yes, look at point #2 in my original post. :wink:

2. If you have tried a certain brand of media that has not worked in your drive then simply leave the Maximum Successful Burn Speed blank or write N/A. It is important to know which media does not work with certain drives, so please do not leave this information out.


Doh!

I missed that one. :oops:

I gotta stop cruising so many forums at the same time....... 8)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:06 am
by ryus
I havent tried too many different media for my Plexwriter 40X

so here:

Smartbuy 32X (Prodisc)..... sucessful at 32X
ePerformance 32X Prodisc) ... " 32X
Princo 48X (Princo) .............. " 32X



Doesnt anyone here also have the Plexwriter 40X ? I want to know which media will burn at 40X on this baby! Or maybe Plextor needs to release a new firmware for this drive or somethin, and hopefully it well change the drive to a CAV!!! :P

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:06 am
by TheWizard
There have been successful burns at 40X on the Plexwriter 40X. Take a look at these examples:

CD-R Brand/Manufacturer & Rated Speed --- Max. Successful Burn Speed

Fuji/Taiyo Yuden 80min 24X...........................40X
GQ/Lead Data 80min 40X...............................40X
HP/Taiyo Yuden 80min 24X.............................40X
Memorex/Taiyo Yuden 80min 32X...................40X
Memorex/CMC 80min 40X...............................40X
TDK/Taiyo Yuden 80min 24X...........................40X
TDK/Taiyo Yuden 80min 32X...........................40X
TDK/Ritek 80min 40X.......................................40X
Unbranded/Taiyo Yuden 80min 24X................40X

Taiyo Yuden manufactured CD's lead the charge, but apparently 40X rated Lead Data, CMC, and Ritek discs can keep up.

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:07 am
by ryus
Thanks!

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:07 am
by TheWizard
My pleasure. :)

PostPosted: Thu Jan 01, 1970 4:07 am
by dodecahedron
ryus wrote:Doesnt anyone here also have the Plexwriter 40X ? I want to know which media will burn at 40X on this baby!


Verbatim is pretty good for the Plex 40x.
check out:
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=4471
http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=3649

ryus wrote:Or maybe Plextor needs to release a new firmware for this drive or somethin, and hopefully it well change the drive to a CAV!!! :P

not likely, i think it is technically impossible for the plex to burn CAV or P-CAV