help buying the best blank cd's

[tyronemoss]

can someone help me with buying blank cd's. i have a samsung 48x24x48x16.. and a yamaha 44x24x44x.. can somebody tell me which media to buy for these 2 cdrw brands.. thanks.. T. Y.

[BuddhaTB]

If you want the best, stick to Taiyo Yuden. They can be found at retail stores under the brand of Fuji, Memorex, and etc. Make sure it says "Made in Japan" on the label, so you know you are buying Taiyo Yuden CD-R's. Just check out the hot deals section and I'm sure you will find great deals on Taiyo Yuden Media.

[tyronemoss]

i had read something on the internet about the darker the dye the better. is that true??.. and what dyes should i buy?

[coolestnitish]

The darker the dye, the better the tattoo looks on your Yamaha using DiscT@2. As most of us don't have that feature, its more important to look at better companies' media than the dye.

[tyronemoss]

im not talkin about disc tatto im talkin about the quality of a cd. and is it true the darker the dye is the better the quality of a cdr.?

[cfitz]

No. The color of the dye that you see with your eyes has nothing to do with media quality. The lasers in CD burners operate in the infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum while your eyes respond to the visible light portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Thus, the color you see with your eyes has nothing to do with what the drive sees with its laser.

cfitz

[tyronemoss]

so you all saying Taiyo Yuden are the best..
what about
Verbatim, TDK, Prodisc, Princo, and Mitsui..... seems like they are all the same prices but Mitsui. what about that company is that any good or should i just stick with Taiyo Yuden??

[cfitz]

You won't go wrong with Taiyo Yuden. Verbatim is good also, but make sure to get the DataLife Super AZO discs, not the ValueLife series. Mitsui is very good quality, but quite expensive. Discs made by Ritek and CMC can also be good (e.g. TDK, Imation), but many consider them to be a couple of steps behind Taiyo Yuden in the quality race. If you do purchase Ritek or CMC media, stick with the name brands like TDK or Imation, and stay away from the generics like Hypermedia, Staples brand, etc. It seems that Ritek and CMC make CD's with different grades of quality, and the generic brands sell the lower grades.

cfitz

[tyronemoss]

So when buying a cdr wut do i look for? Lacquer, Recording Film, Reflective Layer, Substrate


And thanks for all of your responses

[BuddhaTB]

You look for who made the CD-R and what kind of quality & reputation that manufacturer has.

[tyronemoss]

ya but don't the other stuff matter?
shouldn't you look at the companies reputation after you find the specs of something

[cfitz]

BuddhaTB has given you good advice. But, if you want to explore more, here are some starting points:

1. lacquer: It is important for this to be tough, since it protects the most vulnerable top (yes, top) side of the CD. You won't find much information about this, but some manufacturers such as Mitsui claim special "heavy-duty" lacquers (they call theirs "Diamond Coat" - it does look thicker and tougher than others).

2. reflective layer: The two choices are silver or gold. The silver in pressed CD's is actually aluminum (Al), but in CD-R's it is a true silver (Ag) alloy. The gold should be actual gold (Au), but some manufacturers have been known to add color to their discs to make silver look like gold. The silver has higher reflectance in the infrared band of CD lasers so it returns slightly more power to the laser, but it can oxidize if exposed to the air. Gold is chemically nonreacitve (it is a noble element) so it will always remain shiny. In a well-made CD no oxygen will get to the reflective layer, so this shouldn't be an issue. However I have a bad batch of Sony CD-Rs that I bought ~9 months ago that have started corroding from the edges. Some long-term archivests swear by gold for the extra insurance. These days I think Mitsui is your best source for genuine gold CDs - beware of CDs that are colored gold but aren't actually gold.

3. dye: The three main families are cyanine (the original dye-type, developed by Taiyo Yuden as the reference media when the CD-R standard was being drawn up), phthalocyanine and AZO.

Cyanine is easiest to burn, since it has the most tolerance to variations in laser power. However, cyanine in its native state is sensitive to light so it must be stabilized with added chemicals. Projected lifetimes in a protected environment are 30 to 70 years. Color is blue-green.

Phthalocyanine was the second family to be developed. It is less tolerant of variations in laser power so requires better control to burn properly. It is not sensitive to light in its native state, so is naturally more resistant to degradation due to exposure to light. Claimed lifetimes have ranged as high as 200 years. Color is a very light gold with a hint of green.

AZO is unique to Mitsubishi Chemical/Verbatim. It comes in two variants. The original metal AZO is very dark blue but only good for lower burning speeds, up to about 16x maximum. Super AZO is a variant designed for higher speed burning. It is a lighter shade of blue. Both are claimed to have lifetimes exceeding 100 years.

4. substrate: As far as I know, all CD's are made wih a polycarbonate substrate. Polycarbonate is a very tough, impact resistant plastic. I think the only difference you will see here is that some cheap manufacturers may use a thinner substrate than quality brands.

By the way, your diagram is in error. The layers should be (as seen top to bottom while sitting in your burner, where "top" is the label side of the disc):

label
lacquer
reflective layer
dye
substrate
/\
/\
laser

I hope this gives you a little information. Search the web for more.

cfitz

[tyronemoss]

thank you for going through that trouble just for lil ol me
i apriciate it alot thanks

[cfitz]

Glad to help. I hope it proves to be worthwhile for you and other interested readers.

cfitz

[tyronemoss]

just wondering.. are you a employee from a cd burning company. beacuse u know alot of stuff

[tyronemoss]

just wondering........
at this site http://www.dsgi.com/cgi-local/SoftCart. ... taiyo.html
they seel 74 and 80 minutes cd's at the same price. whats the catch?

[cfitz]

just wondering.. are you a employee from a cd burning company. beacuse u know alot of stuff

Nope. I've just been doing this a little while. You can learn just as much and more.

cfitz

[cfitz]

they seel 74 and 80 minutes cd's at the same price. whats the catch?

No catch. It is common practice, because it doesn't really cost any more to stamp out an 80 minute blank than it costs to stamp out a 74 minute blank.

cfitz

[BuddhaTB]

I hope it proves to be worthwhile for you and other interested readers.

Thank You cfitz for the info, its very interesting. I basically learned everything about the inner workings from a CD-R just from that post alone.

I told you guys, cfitz knows his stuff.

[tyronemoss]

then why can't they make an 99 minute cd????

[cfitz]

then why can't they make an 99 minute cd????

They do, but they aren't very popular because they are outside of the CD standard, and tend to be more difficult to burn properly. You usually have to burn them at slower speeds to get good results. And even that isn't a guarantee. Not all burners can burn them, and not all readers can read them.

cfitz

[BuddhaTB]

I don't think Taiyo Yuden ever made 99min CD-R's. However, good 99min CD-R's are getting harder to find.

[cfitz]

Oops, antecedents lost in the mist.... Yes, I was not implying that Taiyo Yuden ever made 99 minute blanks. I was using "they" in the generic sense of "CD-R manufacturers in general". But, I guess if one follows back through the threads and into the link, it appears possible that tyronemoss was referring specifically to Taiyo Yuden.

BuddhaTB is correct, as far as I know - Taiyo Yuden never made 99 minute blanks. He is also, in my experience, correct about 99 minute blank discs becoming harder to find.

cfitz

[cfitz]

Here's a link to a recent thread that lists a number of sources for 99 minute blanks:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7269

cfitz

[tyronemoss]

how long do you think it will be brfore 99 minutes cd's hit stores