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I got a few samples of Memorex's new Pro Gold archival DVD-R media. The media uses a TDK MID (TTH01). Manufactured by MAM-E?

Sorry dolph.. I only have a few of these. When I get more I'll send you some.

no quality scan ?
did you burn any of these ?

I will later. I'm at work right now.

What drive do you want me to burn with?

on the drive i have: BenQ DW1620.

just kidding. i don't care on what drive.

Ian wrote:I will later. I'm at work right now.

What drive do you want me to burn with?

Any BenQ will do

Here you guys go...

not very pretty...

I guess Memorex is using B Grade media for their Gold media, just like their regular media.

Hmm I'm not suprised. Fact is that any TTH01 disc I have seen not sold under the TDK brand hasn't performed nice.
So this is just a long those results.

And if that was with SOLIDBURN on it makes me wonder how bad it would be without it.

(SOLID BURN -> MULTIVARIATE OPTIMALISATION ->REAL OPTIMALISATION !)

That was with Solidburn off. I figured I'd use the drive's default writing strategy.

Ahh.... so THAT is how MAM is going to keep people buying THEIR Gold media at huge price differences.

Here's some scans of my MAM-A 4x DVD-R Gold Archival Media

dolphinius_rex wrote:Ahh.... so THAT is how MAM is going to keep people buying THEIR Gold media at huge price differences.

Here's some scans of my MAM-A 4x DVD-R Gold Archival Media

That scan doesn't look so hot either.

[buck] wrote:

dolphinius_rex wrote:Ahh.... so THAT is how MAM is going to keep people buying THEIR Gold media at huge price differences.

Here's some scans of my MAM-A 4x DVD-R Gold Archival Media

That scan doesn't look so hot either.

I would say there is probably a MINOR defect in the disc, and that overall the quality is good.

dolphinius_rex wrote:

[buck] wrote:

dolphinius_rex wrote:Ahh.... so THAT is how MAM is going to keep people buying THEIR Gold media at huge price differences.

Here's some scans of my MAM-A 4x DVD-R Gold Archival Media

That scan doesn't look so hot either.

I would say there is probably a MINOR defect in the disc, and that overall the quality is good.

I'm not one to be super picky about PIF totals, but 8000PIF with the majority clumped together in a certain area is NOT good.

The jitter is amazing though!

crap... just realized the scan didn't work properly. Take a look at the speed line, it's reading at 4x CAV, and not 8x CAV. I've seen this happen once or twice in previous scans, but I thought I'd caught them all.

I'll repost that scan at 8x later when I can re-do it.

Memorex and I have been going back and forth about the less than stellar results I got. My theory was that it was because a) these were early samples and b) they used a TDK MID. Drives using the default TDK strategy may not give good results with this media.

Memorex came back and told me that "the Pro Gold DVDs are rated up to
8x, but that the highest quality burns are produced at the 4x speed." According to them, the final retail packaging will include this information.

Personally, I think this is pretty cheesie. If you're buying media rated at 8x, you should be able to get good results at this speed. It's not like 8x media is bleeding edge anymore.

Anyway, as soon as I can get some final, retail samples, I'll post some more tests at both 4x and 8x.

I agree, the concept of advertising an 8x DVD-R and then telling people to burn it at 4x is pretty lame.

Is MAM-E doing the same? How about those new Kodak discs?

Well MPO advertises there gold media as 4x while it does come with the MPO 8x MIDCODE.

Point is the high ammount of PIF might be drive reflectivity related.(probably lower on this gold media !)
If that's the case the numbers are not that nice but should be not that problematic over time.
I guess the real test will be to scan these after some months and then after some years.
Some disc can burn nice but can become unreadable after months.

On MAM-E's site they advertise only 4x -R Gold media.
I have seen 2 stores selling MAM-E gold tth01 as 8x.

I have no problem with selling an 8x MID code as 4x... but I have a problem with selling an 8x MID code as 8x, and then telling people to burn it at 4x.

dolphinius_rex wrote:I have no problem with selling an 8x MID code as 4x... but I have a problem with selling an 8x MID code as 8x, and then telling people to burn it at 4x.

Sounds like those special Japan-only MXLRG03 discs, the Mori media (named for a Dr. Yasuhiro Mori). They're 8x but recommended to burn at 6x or 4x for drives that don't have a 6x write strategy.