Final verdict on Fuji CD-R's

[pchilson]

Has anyone made some difinitive conclusions on the quality of the Prodisc's that Fuji is using now? Are they of sufficent quality to be trusted or do we find a new "brand" to trust? Any suggestions on what to buy to get decent quality blanks short of Ty? Brands? I like to buy 50 count cakeboxes...

I would like to continue to use the Fuji's if they aren't junk as they are readily available and (so far anyway) you at least can count on the discs being from the same manufacturer. With the other brands you never seem to know what is in the box...

My burners are Lite-on 523252 and Lite-on 522452

Thanks

[dolphinius_rex]

There was some testing done on them in the Media Compatability thread (it's sticky up near the top). The discs look fine. I'll be doing a review on them later myself, when they become available in Vancouver. It's still on "made in Japan" stock right now, which I suppose is technically a good thing!

[David]

The Fuji Prodisc's seem to be good disc I did a few more burns at lower speed to see how they handle it the results didn't vary too much from the 52x burn I did which is posted in the media compatabilty thread.

[tazdevl]

FYI CompUSA is selling the Prodiscs... BestBuy has TY. I'd assume they still have a pretty big inventory.

[vsekh]

The Fuji 100CD spindle at Bestbuy are Prodisc media as it says made in Taiwan. The 50CD spindle still says made in Japan and TY media.

[pchilson]

I appreciate the replies but am looking for a little different response...
Maybe I can clarify.
On a scale of 1 to 10, with Ty manufactured media being 10.
What general quality rating would you give Prodisc?

Also I am looking for a Brand, by spindle count that I can rely on to be a given manufacturer.
Example...
TDK 52x 50 pak is always Ritek.

I always went by this before with the "made in japan" Fuji's.
(If it said Fuji on the outside it had Ty on the inside.)

Just looking for something I can count on. As are all of us.

Thanks

[rdgrimes]

TY = 10
Prodisc = 7
Ritek TG = 9.9

I'm just finishing a 100-ct spindle of the Fuji Prodisc and they have been very consistant, have scanned over 1/2 of those burned.

[pchilson]

TY = 10
Prodisc = 7
Ritek TG = 9.9

rdgrimes, what are you buying to get the "Ritek TG" media?

[rdgrimes]

TY = 10
Prodisc = 7
Ritek TG = 9.9

rdgrimes, what are you buying to get the "Ritek TG" media?

TDK usually

[TheWizard]

Just make sure you look for the right TDK spindles to ensure Ritek discs inside. Look at this thread for photos and clues:

http://www.cdrlabs.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=7280

[dodecahedron]

TY = 10
Prodisc = 7
Ritek TG = 9.9

rdgrimes, how would you rate Verbatim DataLifePlus in that list ? (granted, they are sometimes inconsistent...maybe depending on manufacturing plant)

[rdgrimes]

AZO is pretty drive-specific, some love it and some don't. The 52327S drives loves it, I'd give it a 9, other drives it would be a 7.

[dodecahedron]

mmm...Verbatim DataLifePlus - 9; Ritek TG - 9.9.
i was under the impression that Verbatim DLP is better than Ritek usually. especially on drives that love it as you put it.

i guess i'm gonna look for some Ritek TG and try some.

[dolphinius_rex]

Ritek has *REALLY* improved their quality lately! I'm crossing my fingers that Ritek will start sending me samples of their new media types for testing soon

I have *NOT* been impressed with Mitsubishi Made discs (azo) but then again, I mainly use LiteON based drives. It will be interesting to see how my Plextor Premium burns them!

EDIT: Oops, I forgot to mention that I finally found some of the new "made in Taiwan" fuji CD-Rs at one of my local suppliers, so I will be buying some on my next paycheque, and hopefully I can review them in the next 2 weeks or so.

[dodecahedron]

I have *NOT* been impressed with Mitsubishi Made discs (azo) but then again, I mainly use LiteON based drives. It will be interesting to see how my Plextor Premium burns them!

that was true for older LiteOn models, but recent ones (48x and up ?) were/are very good with Mitsubishi media.

[pchilson]

I have just recently found in a little out of the way place what looks to be some older stock of Fuji's.

4 50 pak spindles of Fuji Audio CD-R, no speed rating.
They all have the spin top on the cake box and "made in japan" on the label.

I am guessing these are Ty made discs, but being Audio does SmartBurn limit the writing speed of these?

I have never bought Audio discs before but I have gleaned from posts that they are typically speed rated from 1x to 32x. Is this true?

What is the possibility of these discs being burned at 48x to 52x? (Lite-on 52x burner)

The store also has some 50 count spindles of Maxell Audio CD-R in the gold wrapper.
They also state "made in japan" on the label.
Are they possibly Ty discs or perhaps Maxell made?
Are Maxell made discs considered good?

Same questions as above about burning speeds on these Maxell's.

Thanks

[dolphinius_rex]

I have *NOT* been impressed with Mitsubishi Made discs (azo) but then again, I mainly use LiteON based drives. It will be interesting to see how my Plextor Premium burns them!

that was true for older LiteOn models, but recent ones (48x and up ?) were/are very good with Mitsubishi media.

My 48x drive does not like Mitsubishi made media. Maybe the 52x writers do though? My LiteON DVD burner will probably do well with them though

[rdgrimes]

The 52327S drive absolutely loves AZO, better than TY sometimes. But of course that may change from batch to batch.

[pchilson]

TY = 10
Prodisc = 7
Ritek TG = 9.9

I just bought some Maxell 48x RiTek TG
that would support that asessment.

[rdgrimes]

The only thing we don't know about the new RitekTG is it's stability over time. We do know about TY.

[pchilson]

Naw. But we will, given enough time... hehehe

I'm impressed with what I see so far.

Fuji has bailed on us so we need to find a new, easily identifiable source of quality media.
Until Maxell changes sources they have my vote.

[CDRecorder]

On my LTR-52327S, the new Fuji Prodisc media seems quite reasonable. The result on my 48125W, however, was very poor. Both discs were burned at 48x (Smart-Burn limit for both drives).

[pchilson]

I may at some point try the Fuji Prodisc. But not till I see further reports from users that they are getting good results.
Then and only then will we know if Fuji jumped purely for monetary reasons or if they saw a viable alternative.

It takes time and hard work to build a good reputation.
It takes bad decisions and moments to tear one down.

We shall see.

[dolphinius_rex]

Naw. But we will, given enough time... hehehe

I'm impressed with what I see so far.

Fuji has bailed on us so we need to find a new, easily identifiable source of quality media.
Until Maxell changes sources they have my vote.

Maxell has been using Ritek for their regular line of CD-Rs for a VERY long time! longer then fuji using T.Y. even I think. Maxell Pro discs are always made by T.Y., and their Maxell 80XL-S line is made by Hitachi Maxell themselves. Maxell is possibly the safest media to buy with respect to knowing the manufacturer before opening the packaging.

[RJW]

According to internal quality standards the Fuji Prodisc's should match TY media quite cloes.
However burnqaulity is a different story.
TY is the companny that invented the cd-r. For this reason most manufacturers spend a lot of time optimising there drive for this respectable manufacturers.
Other disc manufacturers are most time not as good optimised by the most drive creators.
Second thing is that TY doens't vary much in dye compostition.
For this reason TY works best on most burners.
Also Cyanine is more tollerant for overpowered burning as pthalocyanine.
So less problems occur if the laser power isn't correct.