These are the most important things to know about blank DVD media:

You may be surprised, but as many as 75% of your burns can fail due to poor quality blank DVD's.  The good news is that the best media can have a 94%-100% success rate.  Moreover, poor quality dvd's will break down and fail, sometimes in as little as 6 months while the best quality will last for years.  Don't be fooled by brand names, it doesn't make them the best.

Where do I buy the best quality dvd blank media?

excerpt from www.digitalfaq.com...
Trusted USA companies, suggested by digitalFAQ

Rated #1. Supermediastore.com. Favorite from 1/1/2004 to present (as of this writing, 4/17/2007). In recent months, this store has begun to stock many great items, especially when it comes to blank media. And the prices are among the best around. Shipping is lightning fast, and real people answer the phone if you need to call for anything. Not one single "out of stock" problem to date! A division of Linkyo. 

Click one of the links below to get excellent quality blank media from SuperMediaStore.com (our favorite):
#1 Taiyo Yuden from SuperMediaStore.com
#2 Ritek from SuperMediaStore.com

Rated #2. RIMA.com. Cheap and somewhat fast. Great prices, and the discs arrive within mere days. They have a large inventory, and have some of the best deals for 100-, 200- and 500-disc spindles. Excellent return policy on defective media. Has been known to send samples on request, free of charge.

Rated #3. AllMediaOutlet.com. Another favorite place to shop.Cheap and fast. Great prices, and the discs arrive fairly quickly, in about a week or so. They have many deals that include free shipping, have been an authorized seller of Ritek (may have changed at some point), and are rarely out of stock on their media.

Rated #4. DVD-RWmedia.com. Was always a great to place to buy media. Came fast, had great deals. Used them for Princo and Ritek media for thousands of discs. A division of Linkyo. 


Warning! Be careful dealing with these companies:

Americal.com. Expensive and not always honest about their products. They exaggerate about the quality of their discs, cases, and stickers, and I was disappointed several times before I quit using them. They are also known to pull a bait-n-switch and send you products different than what was ordered.


Meritline.com. Although this seemed to be a good company a year ago ,we've recently had complaints that they have Consistent delays, deliver the wrong Items, and have nearly “non-existent” Customer Service.

Shop4tech.com. This review is only about their blank media, not hardware or other products: Their in-house discs may be cheap (Matrix, Sonic, etc), but the quality has historically been some of the worst media around. You have to dig through the site to find mainstream media, and it often has high pricing. Individuals claiming to be shop4tech employees have been banned from online video sites more than once for immature behavior.

Yesbuy.net. Terrible customer service, not great prices, and the discs are normally fake. This company has sold TDK, Maxell and Pioneer fakes. Many of the "2x" and "4x" discs were actually 1x discs with forged media codes. 

Esbuy.com. The products pictured are not what they have available. The discs were completely different when received, and getting a refund took weeks. Prices are extremely high. Most of the media was LeadData, Princo and Ritek. Customer service reps were quite clueless.

CompUSA.com. This store (both online and brick-n-mortar) has one of the worst return policies on the face of the planet. Avoid them at all costs, no matter what you plan to buy. Even if the media is bad, you're stuck with it.

QtcCDR.com. Extremely high prices. Site difficult to manage. Most of the media is low grade. Has been known to sell fake MXL and TDK media.

Naked-Geek.net. Never in all my days shopping online have I come across such a vile, filthy-mouthed individual. Not much is known about this company except that it's owner, Alexander Hanff, has been banned from video forums numerous times due to his unsavory behavior. His "magic" DVD-R are simply cheap AN32 media, well-known coaster material.



Offline USA stores that carry media 

Rated #1. Walmart, walmart.com. A store that is open 24 hours a day and carries Maxell (MXL/TY) and SONY media at low prices. What more could you ask for? 

Rated #2. Fry's Electronics, outpost.com. Huge selection of media, and often the best prices you can find in stores. Excellent selection of DVD-RW and DVD+RW. Sells lots of video hardware too.

1. Office Depot, officedepot.com. Carries most brand-name media using first/second-class Media ID codes, typically at very good prices, especially when on sale. Has had many good sales on Maxell media.

2. Staples, staples.com. Carries most brand-name media using first/second-class Media ID codes, typically at very good prices, especially when on sale. 

3. Best Buy, bestbuy.com. Carries most brand-name media using first/second-class Media ID codes, typically at very good prices, especially when on sale. Watch for CMC products made in Taiwan. Has had good sales on TDK and Verbatim (MCC) in the past.

4. OfficeMax, officemax.com. Carries most brand-name media using first/second-class Media ID codes, typically at very good prices, especially when on sale. Carries FUJI brand media. Avoid the Arita/Ritek deals.

5. Walgreens, walgreens.com. Carries Maxell (MXL/TY) and TDK (TDK) media, often with decent prices and sales.

6. Circuit City, circuitcity.com. Mostly sells LiquidVideo (OPTODISC) media. Has a few other brands.

7. RadioShack, radioshack.com. Has a little bit of media, has been known to have nice sales in the past.

8. Target, target.com. Always has a nice selection of major brands like TDK (TDK).

9. K-mart, kmart.com. Blah. Mostly carries Memorex (CMC) media. Cheap store with cheap stuff.

Will poor quality media really break down in as little as six months?