As it turns out, “thrift shopping” in Japan via the internet can be both very enjoyable as well as very dangerous. In this series of posts, I’ve been examining various optical media I’ve obtained from Japan, both in-person and online, and they just keep on coming as the listings are refreshed and more products get put up for sale. It’s been an amazing trip “back-in-time” but also an opportunity to share some of the fun and beauty of older optical discs.
TDK DVD+R 4x UV-Guard
The first disc in this post will be a rather special one – a Japanese market TDK product from back when TDK were making their own discs, unlike now when their brand is used to rebadge primarily CMC products (but occasionally Ritek too).
This is a five pack of DVD+R 4x-rated discs with hard coating and UV guard. This is a rather special product, as hard coating (later advertised under the Durabis 1/Durabis 2 names) was a TDK specialty, using a diamond-like coating made of carbon. Perhaps this is why such products often get a strange translation of being “carbide series” discs.
As with discs of the era, a compatibility warning features in the plastic colour shrink wrap itself. This particular pack has a product code of DVD+R47HCX5G and a barcode number of T490693352241 and is Made in Japan. The graphs seemingly show how PI error rates evolve over exposure compared to an ordinary DVD, making the case that the UV guard coating improves longevity.
A look from the side shows these discs being packed in ordinary-size jewel cases, rather than the slim-line cases of later products.
The front inlay and rear inlay are simple, offering ample room for noting contents and advertising the fact they are printed on 100% recycled paper.
The tray is clear, so the rear inlay also makes use of the back to provide handling precautions.
The disc is a logo-top which has a gold-bronze colour at the top, branded at the edge and with the Super Hard Coat / UV Guard logos. The disc itself has a clear polycarbonate substrate but a yellow “layer” on top of the data side, resulting in a disc that looks unlike any other DVD+R I’ve handled before.
Perhaps a more realistic colour can be seen by using a camera instead.
On the left side is the unburned disc and on the right side, after burning.
A close-up of the stamper code.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R:TDK-001-000] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD+R] Manufacturer Name : [TDK Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [TDK] Media Type ID : [001] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors = 4.70 GB (4.38 GiB)] Recording Speeds : [1x-2.4x , 4x] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 11h (Method 1) - ADIP Information 0000 : a1 0f 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3f 00 00 00 00 .........&.?.... 0010 : 00 00 01 54 44 4b 00 00 00 00 00 30 30 31 00 38 ...TDK.....001.8 0020 : 23 54 37 12 02 4e 72 02 a0 69 15 15 0b 0b 08 08 #T7..Nr..i...... 0030 : 01 19 1b 0c 0c 0c 0d 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0040 : 01 00 38 38 02 2a 60 1c 06 2e 23 10 04 1e 1d 01 ..88.*`...#..... 0050 : 00 00 02 2a 60 1c 06 2e 23 10 04 1e 1d 01 00 00 ...*`...#....... 0060 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0070 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0080 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0090 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00a0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00b0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00c0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00d0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00e0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00f0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ DVD Identifier V5.2.0 - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The media code for this disc was TDK-001-000. Definitely something we don’t see much – I still recall when TDK media became affordable, I was seeing many TTG02 or TTH02 but these were (as far as I was aware) made by CMC under license and were not Made in Japan products.
For a 4x-rated media, it wouldn’t be expected that the disc score well in TE/FE at higher speeds, but it would seem the result at 12x is only just a tiny bit borderline which is a good result for media of this age.
At 8x, it met all requirements and at 4x, it would have except for a single FE spike which might have been drive-induced.
To test the media, I decided the Pioneer DVR-111L would get the honours – it completed a 4x burn with the normal OPC pattern for the drive.
Readback in the DW1640 was smooth sans for a single dip. Error rates looked acceptable – a little elevated at inner diameter on the PIE, but jitter was low and stable and PIFs looked good too. Not a burn to complain about, especially considering the age.
The DH16A6L agrees with a smooth TRT, but the jitter does go up towards the end, which is a bit different to the DW1640. Still a good result.
This leads me to ask the question – just how effective is the UV coating? I have a “little garden spectrometer” but no dedicated broadband source that reaches into the UV. I settled using an incandescent globe for a quick test, throwing in the black CD-R for a check too.
The result is quite interesting. It would seem that compared to “clear” hub areas which transmit about 90% of light in the case of DVDs (losses likely due to surface reflections, scattering in adhesive), the TDK disc actually shows a dip in transmission for wavelengths shorter than 500nm. At about the peak, the transmission is only 20%. I suspect it’s lower for UV wavelengths, but as I was “running out of light” in those wavelengths and this simple spectrometer is also not highly accurate for relative measurements, I don’t have a definitive answer. But this compares favourably to the clear DVDs transmitting about 75-80% in this range.
As for CDs, the transmission of a clear hub area is a little higher in some wavelengths (80-90%) perhaps due to a lack of internal glue and interfaces, but the black CD-R showed significantly lower transmission at around 70-80%. The CD-R showed a bit of a pass-band behaviour for wavelengths longer than about 740nm making it “UV-guarded” by default, but also potentially losing laser energy (lower reflectivity) making it more difficult to read than an uncoloured CD-R.
So it would seem the UV-guard is doing what it claims and that wouldn’t interfere with ordinary operations, as DVD lasers are around 650nm. Pretty cool and my first “coloured” DVD.
LG Super Multi Versatile Drive! 8x DVD+R
This was a particularly interesting 10-pack spindle, as it was LG branded, with a clear reference to the GSA-5160D or its family member of external SuperMulti drives. I owned one myself and it was quite a decent drive for its time – it was the one that got me around layer-break issues on some less-popular or less-high-quality DVD+R DL discs back in the day. The enclosure is still being used today (USB 2.0 + Firewire 400 to IDE) with a different drive, of course.
Looking at the “sash” that wraps around, it’s clear this stack of discs were never meant to be sold! It appears to be a promotional product, or perhaps a “sampler” included with the drive itself. Perhaps on a clean-up, someone discovered these left in the original drive boxes and decided to donate/sell them … but regardless, it is a very interesting media to deal with.
The logo-top of the disc advertises the drive well, but does leave some room for you to write informataion on. The underside of the disc is not something I’ve seen before – it has “thin” borders like older discs but the stamping codes were hard to identify at all.
On the left, an unwritten sample and on the right, after burning.
The stamping code was hidden exactly where the hub-stacking ring is, thus using the HSR as a bit of a “magnifier”. That’s high precision!
There is even an IFPI code (L556) hiding here too.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+R:SONY-D11-000] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD+R] - [DVD+R] Manufacturer Name : [Sony Recording Media Co.] Manufacturer ID : [SONY] Media Type ID : [D11] Product Revision : [Not Specified] Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors = 4.70 GB (4.38 GiB)] Recording Speeds : [1x-2.4x , 4x , 6x-8x] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 11h (Method 1) - ADIP Information 0000 : a1 0f 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3f 00 00 00 00 .........&.?.... 0010 : 00 00 03 53 4f 4e 59 00 00 00 00 44 31 31 00 38 ...SONY....D11.8 0020 : 23 54 37 14 00 32 6f 00 96 6a 17 19 0c 0c 0a 0b #T7..2o..j...... 0030 : 01 19 1b 0b 0b 0e 0f 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0040 : 01 00 38 38 00 26 5f 24 0b 2e 23 10 04 1e 1d 01 ..88.&_$..#..... 0050 : 00 00 00 26 5f 24 0b 2e 23 10 04 1e 1d 01 00 00 ...&_$..#....... 0060 : 02 00 54 70 00 2d 5f 6a 20 13 0c 0a 00 18 00 00 ..Tp.-_j ....... 0070 : 00 00 00 3e 5f 6a 20 13 0c 0a 00 18 00 00 00 30 ...>_j ........0 0080 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 0090 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00a0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00b0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00c0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00d0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00e0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ................ 00f0 : 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........ ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ DVD Identifier V5.2.0 - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The discs are, surprisingly to me, SONY-D11-000 – a media type I have never handled myself and apparently does appear in Sony branded stuff from time to time (but not with certainty). Given the LG branding, I was surprised they didn’t throw in their own LGE08 DVD-R media instead.
On the TE/FE test, it seems this disc has more FE than expected, but at high speeds, it’s got a characteristic that doesn’t show the hockey-stick behaviour at the outer edge which is usually a sign of good quality.
As an 8x rated disc, surprisingly, FE peaks at 8x on the inner diameter, before settling to an acceptable level. It seems 4x is a better bet, while 2.4x is also (unsurprisingly) okay.
Once again, I entrusted the Pioneer DVR-111L to write it at 4x. It produced a nice and normal OPC filled writing speed graph.
Readback on the DW1640 did show a couple of dips, but those may be disc/drive mechanics related, as the quality scan showed excellent results.
The DH16A6L showed a perfectly smooth TRT with the same excellent error levels in the quality scan. While this seems like “promotional” media, they certainly didn’t skimp on quality it seems.
Maxell 8x DVD-R with CPRM
Maxell used to be a recognised brand for quality optical media. However, as I’ve come to realise with recent products, they have become a Ritek-aligned brand and their products have very much been a lucky-dip since Maxell announced their exit from the optical media business outsourcing their optical media business in 2008. As a result, I had little hopes for such “green” Maxell packages – the older “Data Media Design” packages usually yield genuine Maxell products. But seeing as I was making an order and this was an 8x-rated pack, I decided to give it a shot.
From the rear, the pack has a code of DRD120WPB.S1P10SA and a UPC of 4902580506230. Despite being a Maxell product, it is Made in Taiwan. The discs in particular are CPRM compliant, a key selling point in Japan where DVD set-top video recorders are both capable and strict about enforcement of copy protection especially when recording from their satellite/cable sources.
The pack has ten discs in slimline cases. As part of the later era of discs, they began to lose their character, ditching logo-tops for full-surface printable which is abundantly obvious from the illustrations on the sides.
The folded inlay card is blank on one side and has lines on the other.
The disc has subtle branding along the top, but visually, has thin borders, metallisation in the hub area (for better print appearance) and is visually clearly a Maxell product.
After burning, this is what it looks like.
Unlike other discs, Maxell decided to throw their stamping code into the clamping area instead. This is the first time I’ve seen this on a disc – but it does make authenticating their products easy (and counterfeiting difficult).
There is a barcode “burned” into the burst-cutting area (BCA), likely for CPRM. Interestingly, it was right next to the pre-embossed area when un-written so I suspect drives know when burning not to disrupt the barcode.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:MXL RG03] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD-R] - [DVD-R] Manufacturer Name : [Hitachi Maxell Ltd.] Manufacturer ID : [MXL RG03] Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4.71 GB (4.38 GiB)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 0Eh - Pre-Recorded Information In Lead-In 0000 : 01 40 c1 fd 9e d8 52 00 02 86 0e 0d 88 9a 80 00 [email protected]......... 0010 : 03 4d 58 4c 20 52 47 00 04 30 33 00 00 00 00 00 .MXL RG..03..... 0020 : 05 88 80 00 00 00 02 00 06 09 0b 15 87 78 90 00 .............x.. 0030 : 07 88 80 00 00 00 00 00 08 08 14 0d 0f 0c 08 00 ................ 0040 : 09 98 07 0e 0b 68 88 00 0a a0 00 20 00 20 10 00 .....h..... . .. 0050 : 0b 06 16 1b 85 56 85 00 0c 99 bd 88 80 00 00 00 .....V.......... 0060 : 0d 00 00 d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......... ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Control Data Zone'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'CDZ'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 10h - Physical Format Information Of Control Data Zone 0000 : 25 0f 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 12 7f 00 00 00 00 %........&...... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ DVD Identifier V5.2.0 - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
As expected, these discs are MXL RG03 – genuine Maxell stuff rather than Ritek.
Testing of TE/FE showed a bit of an increase towards outer diameter, but 12x seems to be just okay.
Lower speeds passed with flying colours, so a good result overall.
Once again, I asked the Pioneer DVR-111L for a 4x burn, but this time, there were two deeper “dips” in the OPC pattern suggesting the disc may have been a bit problematic.
Readback on the DW1640 was smooth but the PI error rate was elevated throughout, which is not something I would have expected. The errors are within limits, but it is very uncharacteristic of high-quality media, but I have heard some users having issues with some Maxell discs towards the end of their run.
The same pattern is borne out by the DH16A6L’s assessment. Upon further examination of the surface of the disc, the dips from the write could probably be attributed to more dye spatter …
… which previously showed up in the Ricoh 2.4x discs which were also Made in Taiwan. I suppose not being Made in Japan is a negative, suggesting poorer quality controls perhaps.
Mr Data 4x DVD-R
Mr. Data is obviously not a Japanese product, but I did have the opportunity to pick up a 5-pack of their 4x DVD-Rs and decided that I would since I was making an order anyway. This is going to be a CMC product, no doubt, being relatively “low cost” it came in clear shrink wrap with the only branding being on the inlay card. The UPC is 4710212126783.
Inside the inlay, there is a tabular structure for recording details.
The disc itself has a non-full-surface-printable layout – this was the only choice for inkjet printable discs prior to the non-stacking-ring and inner-metalisation methods became commonplace.
The dye has the familiar colour, after burning.
The stamper code did have a familiar text format, but the font was not the “fine-line” small-lettering that CMC discs often carried.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:CMC MAG. AF1] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Disc & Book Type : [DVD-R] - [DVD-R] Manufacturer Name : [CMC Magnetics Corp.] Manufacturer ID : [CMC MAG. AF1] Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4.71 GB (4.38 GiB)] ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 0Eh - Pre-Recorded Information In Lead-In 0000 : 01 40 c1 fd 9e d8 52 00 02 85 0e 15 98 9a 90 00 [email protected]......... 0010 : 03 43 4d 43 20 4d 41 00 04 47 2e 20 41 46 31 00 .CMC MA..G. AF1. 0020 : 05 cc c0 00 00 00 01 00 06 0b 11 11 87 78 80 00 .............x.. 0030 : 07 88 80 00 00 00 00 00 08 0b 1a 0d 0f 0b 0b 00 ................ 0040 : 09 98 08 0f 0b 00 88 00 0a 80 00 00 00 00 10 00 ................ 0050 : 0b 06 1c 13 a8 88 65 00 0c 98 9a 88 80 00 00 00 ......e......... 0060 : 0d 00 00 d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......... ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Control Data Zone'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'CDZ'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 10h - Physical Format Information Of Control Data Zone 0000 : 25 0f 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 12 7f 00 00 00 00 %........&...... ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- [ DVD Identifier V5.2.0 - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com ] ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
This particular disc is a CMC MAG. AF1.
On TE/FE, it seems the TE is a bit bumpy on this disc, with some elevation towards the outside. The disc is compliant at 12x and borderline at 16x, surprisingly good results for a 4x rated disc.
At lower speeds, the curves settle down even further.
The Pioneer DVR-111L is tasked to write the disc at 4x and it does so mostly cleanly, but with a worrying OPC dip at 3.5GB.
The DW1640 TRT is mostly clean, save for a single dip, but the quality scan shows something gradually getting out-of-hand by about 3.0 to 3.5GB. This corresponds to the behaviour of the DVR-111L during writing. This suggests the outer edge of the disc is not burned well – something is definitely “out of spec”.
The DH16A6L reads it back perfectly smoothly and its quality scan doesn’t show any evidence of these issues – instead, giving the burn a glowing review. I suspect this means there’s some sort of parameter shift towards the outer edge that bothers the DW1640 more than it bothers the DH16A6L, but a good burn should bother neither.
It’s not a perfect result, but it’s still better than some of the issues I’ve been having with modern CMC-made media.
Bonus: Mitsubishi 2.4x DVD+R
Digging through my own personal collection of stuff, I discovered the jewel case for this, but no disc. While it didn’t come from Japan, it appears to be a Japanese market product so I thought I’d throw it in here too. At least we can admire the artwork for a blank Mitsubishi 2.4x DVD+R (DPR47U1) that was Made in Singapore.
The front inlay gives an idea what the disc would have looked like. If I recall correctly, the disc would have been an emerald green.
The artwork advertising the disc is on the rear inlay and despite its use-case being “for data”, it has a very RGB motif which often is “related” to TV and video. The disc would have most likely been an MCC-001.
Maxell 12x Master Quality 650MB CD-R
I wasn’t going to neglect CDs, although the opportunities for purchase have dwindled over the years. This was an authentic Maxell 12x disc of the late 90’s era, but for the privilege of one disc, I spent more than the cost of a Big Mac. That’s pretty normal as these things get scarce.
This disc is Made in Japan and has a product code of CDR74MQ.1P and a barcode number of T4902580340766. The design seems to show the disc excelling in multiple areas (surface durability, shelf-life, burner compatibility, reader compatibility and error rate) along with a schematic representation of its layers.
It’s packaged in a colour shrink-wrap with a peel open marking along one edge.
The single inlay card has index locations on one side and instructions on the other.
The top of the disc has a gold and clear design, while the underside of the disc has a blue-green aqua colour. Perhaps it’s a modified cyanine of some sort, but not quite the “electric vivid blue” of Verbatim AZO of the era or as green as the later Verbatim Crystal AZO.
This disc was packed in a slimline case, which isn’t as “slim” as modern slimline cases, but not as thick as the ordinary jewel case. At first, I thought of the CD single case, but this one had a bit of a different design to it, accepting a front inlay but not anything on the rear.
The disc itself was a blue-green colour to the eye. Perhaps a little more blue than it was green, a colour rarely seen nowadays since phthalocyanine discs dominated the market around the 24x era.
The stamper code in the middle of the disc reads C0525R74C C00. This shot was taken post burning (and burning mishap).
ATIP Information: Disc ID: 97m25s23f Manufacturer: Hitachi Maxell Start Time of LeadIn: 97m25s23f Last Possible Start Time of LeadOut: 74m30s00f
The ATIP data is shown above.
I didn’t want to over-speed the disc and not having many CD-era drives remaining, I decided to entrust my LiteOn DH16A6L to write the disc at 8x. It did so, without any OPC dips, likely just “flying blind”.
This proved to be a big mistake, as after a tray cycle, the disc simply wouldn’t read a valid capacity in the DH16A6L anymore. After swapping it around a few drives, the iHAS624 can see that it had been partially burned but not closed.
I tried multiple drives to close it – the DH16A6L when it recognised the disc decided it didn’t even want to try, while the DW1640 threw a write error in doing so.
Eventually, I can see that the Pioneer DVR-111L was able to see it as closed, but it can’t read anything from the disc at all …
… while the BenQ now suddenly decided the disc was just empty. Not having any luck reading the disc in anything, I decided to try writing it again in the BenQ which promptly bailed out.
Perhaps the media had degraded, or perhaps none of the modern burners were prepared to meet such an old disc with an uncommon by now dye type. Regardless, it was a bit of a waste and with only one sample, I was pretty bummed about this.
Fujifilm 12x 650MB CD-R
Thankfully, there were more to play with including this Fujifilm 12x disc. This came in a standard jewel-case sized package, but had two discs for the same price.
This product is Made in Japan with a product code of CD-R 650D 2T and barcode number T4902520204080.
Just like the Maxell, it is packed in a colour shrink wrap with an easy open on one edge.
The inlay card is a single sheet with precautions on the outside and indexing space on the inside.
The discs have a matte and clear finish, a very tasteful and clean design on the top. The underside has a bright emerald green dye, no sign of any blue, being much more traditional cyanine colour.
The way they shoved two discs into one jewel case is a bit of an abomination though – they invented a tray that would carry the other disc, but it simply just doesn’t have enough “grip” on the hub of the disc to keep it in place. As soon as it closes, those discs are coming out of that flimsy tray!
The underside of the disc – unwritten on the left and written on the right.
The stamper code area has F006G04-74MIN etched into it, but also seemingly “clocking lines” at a width of each character spacing. That’s something I’ve never seen before.
Sectors: 336,225 Size: 688,588,800 bytes Time: 74:45:00 (MM:SS:FF) ATIP Information: Disc ID: 97m26s40f Manufacturer: FUJI Photo Film Co. Start Time of LeadIn: 97m26s40f Last Possible Start Time of LeadOut: 74m45s00f
The information on the disc ATIP is as above – you get 45 more seconds than the advertised 74 minutes, which is considered generous.
This time, I let the Pioneer DVR-111L write at 4x and it read back somewhat jittery towards the end but still smooth.
I’m not sure if the DVR-111L can be trusted with CD quality scanning with just one speed (non-CLV) selectable and a jittery speed curve. The resulting C1 result looks fine but the amount of C2 errors suggests a bad result. I’m not inclined to trust this, however.
The more trustworthy DW1640 seemed unfazed, with a smooth TRT and zero C2 errors on the regular disc quality test. The C1 rates were quite low too and jitter was very acceptable. The advanced test did show some E12 errors, but no E22 or E32 errors, which is good.
The DH16A6L sees no issue at all with the burn – a smooth readback and very reasonable amount of C1 errors. Many of these simply likely are due to outgassing coating the polycarbonate surface in sparkly fine “dust”. In all, I think this disc is actually still good after all these years!
Conclusion
Definitely a trip back in time using some of these discs, but a shame the Maxell 12x CD-R didn’t manage a good burn on my one and only sample. The Fuji did well even after all these years – it’s likely that disc is at least 25 years old. The TDK UV Guard definitely does its job according to the spectrometer, while the old CMC seems to do a better job than the new CMC. Promotional LG-branded Sony discs work well, while the Maxell DVD-R 8x seems to have dye streaks and high PI error rates. Both have their stamper codes located in unusual places. I also manage to find the packaging for a Mitsubishi 2.4x DVD+R, but not the disc.
While this part has been pretty big, it’s not the end just yet. I can reveal there will be one more part to this series … before I start a few different mini-series on other types of optical media (some of which, also originate from Japan but are better covered in a separate posting). I’m glad it’s not far from the end as my wallet sure is looking a little thinner than usual …