Verbatim CD-R's are junk , Beware

[Neil]

Hello

For anyone who has burned CD's for Music, or Data, I've found VERBATIM
CD'S are the worst. The average seek time is > 7 seconds for newly
burned discs. I thought I had a problem with my CD-RW Drive, so I
cleaned the optical laser with a cleaning CD, then lightly cleaned it
out with compressed air. I tried other brands from TDK, Maxell,
Imation, CD-R's and they all work fine.

I also looked at the model of my player to make it was MULTI-READ
COMPLIANT, and it is. It appears that the stamped out( bright silver
surface type) CD's from the Software Companies work the best. The
average seek time is less then a couple seconds. These VERBATIM CD-R's,
the surface refectivity is very low, so the laser takes longer for it
to read the CD. If there was a mechanical problem with my drive, it
would of showed up on ALL the discs, not just Verbatim
CD-R's but it doesn't. My friend had the same problem with a burned
CD I gave him from the stack, and he has a Brand new SONY CD_RW/DVD
Writer Drive on his system.

Avoid them like the plague! I'm thinking of dumping these CD-R's and
buying some others to replace them. You might have better luck with
your machine,model,make etc, but I will never buy these again!!

For those who are wondering which ones I'm referring to, on the side of
the blue and white packaging, there is a reorder number# 95028

I wrote Verbatim a Email,I notified them that there could be
manufacturing flaw with the CD-R's I got at christmas.

No Reply!!

-Neil

 

[Travis Jordan]

For anyone who has burned CD's for Music, or Data, I've found VERBATIM

Try Ritek / Ridata CD-R's. They work great.
http://www.newegg.com/app/searchPro...DEPA=0&bop=and&description=ritek&InnerCata=71

 

[[email protected]]

So CD-R quality can be judged by the seek time? Interesting. I just
got a pile of no-name Chinese disks - $15 for 100. We'll see how they
do.....

- Jerry

 

[Jerry G.]

I've never had a problem with the Verbatim. I found them to be the best in
my CD players for reliability. When burning disks to be played in CD
players, using a slow burn is better for reliability.

--

Jerry G.
=====

Hello

For anyone who has burned CD's for Music, or Data, I've found VERBATIM
CD'S are the worst. The average seek time is > 7 seconds for newly
burned discs. I thought I had a problem with my CD-RW Drive, so I
cleaned the optical laser with a cleaning CD, then lightly cleaned it
out with compressed air. I tried other brands from TDK, Maxell,
Imation, CD-R's and they all work fine.

I also looked at the model of my player to make it was MULTI-READ
COMPLIANT, and it is. It appears that the stamped out( bright silver
surface type) CD's from the Software Companies work the best. The
average seek time is less then a couple seconds. These VERBATIM CD-R's,
the surface refectivity is very low, so the laser takes longer for it
to read the CD. If there was a mechanical problem with my drive, it
would of showed up on ALL the discs, not just Verbatim
CD-R's but it doesn't. My friend had the same problem with a burned
CD I gave him from the stack, and he has a Brand new SONY CD_RW/DVD
Writer Drive on his system.

Avoid them like the plague! I'm thinking of dumping these CD-R's and
buying some others to replace them. You might have better luck with
your machine,model,make etc, but I will never buy these again!!

For those who are wondering which ones I'm referring to, on the side of
the blue and white packaging, there is a reorder number# 95028

I wrote Verbatim a Email,I notified them that there could be
manufacturing flaw with the CD-R's I got at christmas.

No Reply!!

-Neil

 

[b]

I've never had a problem with the Verbatim. I found them to be the best in
my CD players for reliability. When burning disks to be played in CD
players, using a slow burn is better for reliability.

Agree totally with Jerry. They have been the only brand I've used over
the last 3 or so years. Both the silvery and the white label area type.
Never had any problem, data or audio.
Maybe the OP simply had bad luck or a bad batch...
regards, Ben

 

[[email protected]]

Hello

For anyone who has burned CD's for Music, or Data, I've found VERBATIM
CD'S are the worst.

That's strange. I have been using them for years CDs and DVDs and have
never had a problem with even one. As a matter of fact they are my
choice brand.

I thought I had a problem with my CD-RW Drive, so I
cleaned the optical laser with a cleaning CD,

You might as well sacrifice a goat or wave turkey feathers over it. I
checked with my PC users group and nobody has ever had any success with
one of these.

It appears that the stamped out( bright silver
surface type) CD's from the Software Companies work the best.

That's because these program CDs are not burned on a Drive like you
find in a PC. They are made by pressing the film against a glass
master before bonding the different layers together. This is the only
way to make thousands of copies at a reasonalble cost and they are much
more accurate. I one visited a place where they made video disk and
the machine they made the glass master on was mounted on a block of
concrete 20' square separate from the building and it's foundation to
prevent vibration. Compare the surface of one you burned to a program
disk. You can see where your drive stopped burning. Remember it burns
from the hole outward.

These VERBATIM CD-R's,
the surface refectivity is very low, so the laser takes longer for it
to read the CD.

I hope you were not using a Mk-1 eyeball to measure this reflectivity
unless you can see infa-red.

I'm thinking of dumping these CD-R's and
buying some others to replace them.

Don't dump them. Take them back to the place you bought them. I
needed a large quantity of DVD's to make copies of family reunion
movies I made back in the 1950's for all the relatives. I bought a
stack of 50 of a brand I had never heard of from MicroCenter that was
on sale. When I tried the first 4 DVD's three of them gave errors
during the burning process. This was the only brand I ever had a
problem with so I took them back to MicroCenter and got a refund after
filling out a form. I bought a stack of Verbatims and made my DVD's.

A few weeks later I received a letter from the MicroCenter Vice
President of International Product Sourcing Group. It contained a
letter apologizing for my trouble and 2 DVDs they wanted me to try.
They wanted me to see if there was an update for the Eprom and firmware
of my burner and install it before trying the new DVD's. I checked the
support site for my drive and sure enough there was an update. There
was also a forum with several complaints about the new update turning
their drive into a vegatable. I downloaded the new code but decided
not to install it until the problem is resolved.

I then tried to burn one of the new DVDs they sent me and it got a
"Session Fixation Error while writing lead out". The DVD would play
all the way to the end but did not return to the main menu.

Like you I have only had a problem with one brand.

Van

 

[Jerry G.]

I am curious to know, with the brand that you had a problem with, did you
try burning the disks at a slower burn to see if they were still not working
right. I found that the slower I burn these, the more reliable they are,
especially in standard home entertainment players. Computer CD drives are
less critical to play disks that were burned in other drives.

I myself have been using Verbatim disks for years. I like them more than
most of the others that I have tried. I like to burn all my disks at slow
speed. I found that when ripping most disks at 52X, I have had more
problems. I will generally use about 4X or 8X at the minimum, and sometimes
I will burn them at about 12X to 16X.

As for upgrading the firmware in your burner, I would not do it, unless
there is a need for it. I found that if something like that is working well,
and did not show any problems, it is best to leave it alone.

Sometimes they come up with upgrades to firmware in these devices, because
something new comes out where there is a problem. If you never start using
whatever is new that is of concern, you will probably never have the problem
to begin with.

A number of years ago when DVD writers first came out, a client of mine
decided for some reason that his new DVD writer needed an upgrade, because
he read some thing on some newsgroup somewhere. He then logs on to that
manufacture's site for his drive. He finds the new upgrade, downloads it,
and then installs it. After, his drive was not working as well for some
reason. It was making a lot of coasters. He tried to find a way to flash it
back, but he could not. This was in the days when DVD burners were many
hundreds of dollars for a basic one. He ended up having to replace the drive
to fix the fault. The new one worked out very well.

--

Jerry G.
=====

Hello

For anyone who has burned CD's for Music, or Data, I've found VERBATIM
CD'S are the worst.

That's strange. I have been using them for years CDs and DVDs and have
never had a problem with even one. As a matter of fact they are my
choice brand.

I thought I had a problem with my CD-RW Drive, so I
cleaned the optical laser with a cleaning CD,

You might as well sacrifice a goat or wave turkey feathers over it. I
checked with my PC users group and nobody has ever had any success with
one of these.

It appears that the stamped out( bright silver
surface type) CD's from the Software Companies work the best.

That's because these program CDs are not burned on a Drive like you
find in a PC. They are made by pressing the film against a glass
master before bonding the different layers together. This is the only
way to make thousands of copies at a reasonalble cost and they are much
more accurate. I one visited a place where they made video disk and
the machine they made the glass master on was mounted on a block of
concrete 20' square separate from the building and it's foundation to
prevent vibration. Compare the surface of one you burned to a program
disk. You can see where your drive stopped burning. Remember it burns
from the hole outward.

These VERBATIM CD-R's,
the surface refectivity is very low, so the laser takes longer for it
to read the CD.

I hope you were not using a Mk-1 eyeball to measure this reflectivity
unless you can see infa-red.

I'm thinking of dumping these CD-R's and
buying some others to replace them.

Don't dump them. Take them back to the place you bought them. I
needed a large quantity of DVD's to make copies of family reunion
movies I made back in the 1950's for all the relatives. I bought a
stack of 50 of a brand I had never heard of from MicroCenter that was
on sale. When I tried the first 4 DVD's three of them gave errors
during the burning process. This was the only brand I ever had a
problem with so I took them back to MicroCenter and got a refund after
filling out a form. I bought a stack of Verbatims and made my DVD's.

A few weeks later I received a letter from the MicroCenter Vice
President of International Product Sourcing Group. It contained a
letter apologizing for my trouble and 2 DVDs they wanted me to try.
They wanted me to see if there was an update for the Eprom and firmware
of my burner and install it before trying the new DVD's. I checked the
support site for my drive and sure enough there was an update. There
was also a forum with several complaints about the new update turning
their drive into a vegatable. I downloaded the new code but decided
not to install it until the problem is resolved.

I then tried to burn one of the new DVDs they sent me and it got a
"Session Fixation Error while writing lead out". The DVD would play
all the way to the end but did not return to the main menu.

Like you I have only had a problem with one brand.

Van

 

[James Sweet]

Agree totally with Jerry. They have been the only brand I've used over
the last 3 or so years. Both the silvery and the white label area type.
Never had any problem, data or audio.
Maybe the OP simply had bad luck or a bad batch...
regards, Ben

I've had great luck with Verbatim as well, but with many brands the actual
media is made elsewhere and the stuff created by one manufacture is not
always as good as that from another.

 

[Mark D. Zacharias]

I've had good luck with Verbatims, but their regular line isn't Azo blue
(Mitsubishi Chemical) anymore. Probably have to special order their Datalife
Ultra, or whatever they call it.

Mark Z.

 

[none]

Agree totally with Jerry. They have been the only brand I've used over
the last 3 or so years. Both the silvery and the white label area type.
Never had any problem, data or audio.
Maybe the OP simply had bad luck or a bad batch...
regards, Ben

I've only used their diskettes and found themto be such poor quality
that I didn't even consider their optical media, that and a couple of
my friends had nothing but trouble with their CD-R's.
Besides which they actually cost MORE thansome of the other name brand
CD-R's at my local retailers.
I've had pretty good results with CompUSA's store brand CD-R's and
DVD-R's and they can be gotten on sale from time to time at dirt cheap
prices.
It might be that you got a bad batch considering the other posts
touting the good results with their Verbatim CD's.
Might also be that your particular burner just doesn't like that
brand.
Try the slowest burn setting to see if you get any better results.
If not I'd consider taking the unused discs back for a refund or
exchange.