A german magazine has exposed DVD media to UV irradiation. The amount of irradiation equaled about 20 days of exposure to direct sunlight in germany (meaning, for spain, california, or even australia, it would equal less than 20 days...).
The following discs were not even recognised any longer (no manufacturer IDs mentioned. For some discs, it's clear who made them, for some it's not):
- princo dvd-r
- intenso dvd-r (digital disc dessau?)
The following discs were recognised, but crap afterwards
- verbatim dvd+r
- intenso dvd+r
- sony dvd+r
- tdk dvd+r
- maxell dvd+r
The following discs did not suffer damage at all / did not suffer significant damage:
- verbatim dvd-r
- maxell dvd-r
- tdk dvd-r
- traxdata dvd-r (probably ritek g03, certainly not Vivastar!)
I don't get this report. Are they saying DVD+R discs don't last as long as DVD-R? If so, why -- I can think of no good reason why it should be the case, they are made of the same materials.
The Intenso, Princo, Verbatim (MCC for DVD-R, CMC for DVD+R) and Sony (ie Lead Data) results come as no surprise to me whatsoever (garbage media), but for DVD-R to consistently do better doesn't make any sense at all. It also suggests that many manufacturers have a long, long way to go before their discs can be considered acceptable quality.
Any clues?