Identifying dyes...

I'm new to this... I would like to know what dye/process is better, and what's the difference?

Dye (Long strategy; e.g. Cyanine, Azo etc.)
or
Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)

... anyone know if Gigastorage makes good CD's?

Thanks!

 

Differences between dyes:
Cyanine and Azo have blue or green color.
Phthalocyanine has light gold color.

Supposedly phthalocyanine will stand up to extreme conditions better (sunlight, heat, humidity, etc.) and maybe have a longer life span. And supposedly the pits burned on phthalocyanine discs can be read easier (at least that's what Mitsui discs claim). No guarantees though. The manufacturing quality of the discs is really more important than the dye type.

Gigastorage CDs are not so good - basically generic quality. The best discs out there are Mitsui, Kodak, Taiyo Yuden. Mitsui & Kodak use phthalocyanine dye while Taiyo Yuden uses cyanine. I think Kodak has quit making discs however.

 

In Canada, I think that Prodisc is the easiest-to-find manufacturer that build Phthalocyanine CD-R. Ther home-brand is "SmartBuy" and I can find them at FutureShop or RadioShack. I use them and they work very good. Never had problem. They exist in normal and black bottom. There's the ATIP information :

ATIP: 97m 32s 19f
Disc Manufacturer: Prodisc Technology Inc.
Reflective layer: Dye (Short strategy; e.g. Phthalocyanine)
Media type: CD-Recordable
Recording Speeds: min. unknown - max. unknown
nominal Capacity: 702.83MB (79m 59s 74f / LBA: 359849)