CDRLabs.com

My CenDyne (Lite-On) 52x24x52 burner has problem to recognize these CD-R media: Philips 48x, ValueDisc 32x, I/OMagic 48x, Imation 48x, Precision 40x. Some person here says it is because all these brands are CMC CD-R media, which are incompatible with Lite-On burners. Those cheap media are very popular now - some of them are free after rebates. I should either avoid these media to fit my Lite-on, or get rid of my CenDyne ($50 Lite-on, good) burner and switch to Pacific Digital ($10 Top-G, best) or Buslink ($20 Aopen, better) 52x24x52 burners. These two have no problem with these cheap media !

What else brands are CMC CD-R media?

Check the media compatibility thread, both to see what works well with your drive and to see various brands that are made by CMC:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6005

cfitz

I wouldn't say that they're incompatible, but the quality of these discs really varies. I've had good luck with Imation's 48x discs.. but the 48x CMC's from Philips are absolute crap.

Like cfitz said, check that forum thread.

I just got a spindle of 50 of the "Optimum" brand.
It was under a dollar after rebates.

They are CMC 48x rated.

Burned @ 52x:

Those dips were caused by my e-mail checking the server. I watched the traffic on Zone Alarm as it occurred.

How's the quality?




Not as good as 48x Fuji (TY) @ 52x:



As Ian said, each batch of CMC discs is basically a crap shoot for quality.

Thank you all. This is the list I collected from the link and my experience with my OEM Lite-On. Looks like it depends on different burners even they are all Lite-On.

KHypermedia 32x, 48x, no problem found
Optimum 48x, no problem found
Philips 40x, no problem
Imation <48x, no problem
I/O Magic 40x, no problem
Hi-Val 16x, no problem
AT&T 48x, no problem

I/O Magic 48x, hard to start burning,
Precision 40x, hard to start burning,

OfficeMax ValueDisc 32x (unbranded), no luck, all bad
Philips 48x, no luck
Imation 48x, no luck