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What's wrong with CMC?

Discussion in 'CD-R(W) Media' started by Bgn, Jan 20, 2005.

  1. Bgn

    Bgn Member

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    I really wonder why everyone on this forum seems to say that CMC's are bad?

    I have bought spindles of the following CMC's cdr media and have NEVER had one disk burn bad!!! I bought these because they were the *cheap* at the time and have never regretted it:

    HP-blue/silver top = all good
    -----------------------------
    ATIP: 97m 26s 66f
    Disc Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics Corp.

    Verbatim Valuelife-whitetop = all good
    ---------------------------------------
    ATIP: 97m 26s 66f
    Disc Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics Corp.

    Old Samsung-goldtop-bluedye = all good
    --------------------------------------
    ATIP: 97m 26s 60f
    Disc Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics Corp.

    I have, however, always regretted buying the *cheapEST* cdr's around, which have never been CMC's, actually:

    Sooner-silvertop = 60%bad!
    --------------------------
    ATIP: 97m 26s 11f
    Disc Manufacturer: Postech Corp.

    Bestbuy = 10% bad
    -----------------
    ATIP: 97m 32s 19f
    Disc Manufacturer: Prodisc Technology Inc.


    -BGN
     
  2. bratcher

    bratcher Active member

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    Whether a disc burns good or bad depends on the speed you burn them plus what CDRW drive your using with those discs.

    I have a TDK VeloCD 52x CDRW drive. My disc results are as follows.

    CMC (Imation & some Memorex) fair. Can't burn data without errors (as checked by Nero's CD-DVD Speed)above 32x in my drive. Audio? Anything above 8x skips in places so I burned audio at 4x & they were fine.

    Lead Data (Frey's GQ) good. Could burn data up to 40x without errors. Audio any speed although I usually burn that at either 4 or 8x. Why? Slower burns are better.

    Ritek (Best Buy's Dynex brand) very good. Few errors up to 52x!

    Basically I stay away from CMC & Gigastorage because they are lower quality & use Ritek or Tio (spelling?) Yuden (TY) as both are very high quality discs. Fugifilm was TY for awhile & I loved them! Don't know about Mouser Bour (indian made) as I haven't tried them.

    Off the shelf CDR's use different manufacters (I think Memorex changed recently) so I now buy discs in 100 packs from www.rima.com which is a great company. They even gave me free samples (2 each) of some CDR discs I requested. They sell discs from the actual makers so I know what I'm getting without testing a disc first. I've bought Ritek & TY with great results on the discs & wonderful service from the company.
     
  3. Bgn

    Bgn Member

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    My thinking currently goes like this when buying blanks based on my "good" and "bad" experiences:

    a. from a store, I can't get the ATIP or know for sure who is the real manufacturer of a cdr is.

    b. therefore, there is no choice but to rely on the brand/vendor.

    c. CMC's are not too bad - but I really think it depends on the brand/vendor. Big world-class name brands/vendors like HP, Verbatim, even Samsung have a reputation to uphold - they MUST do some kind of quality control / quality check standards before accepting a shipment/batch received from CMC before they will but their brand on it and release it to the market & put their reputation at stake.

    d. therefore, it comes down to trusting the brand/vendor's quality standards placed on the manufacturers like CMC or whoever else they choose to use.

    I therefore suspect that big-name branded CMCs are better than no-name bulko CMC's. That is why my CMC's seems to be "good" - they are all from big brands that must have passed some sort of quality check from the brander. I really wonder sometimes if no-name bulkos that have been rejected by the big-names from CMC!
    All the no-name bulko's I have bought have had some "bad" while never had any bad with big-name brands.

    What do you all think?
     
  4. bratcher

    bratcher Active member

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    My experiences with Imation & Memorex tells me that CMC isn't as good (quality wise) as TY ot Ritek. I can't burn data (on CMC) above 32x (as I've said before) or audio CD's above 8x Ritek & TY do a lot better in my drive as does Prodisc.
     
  5. nightborn

    nightborn Member

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    Whats the point in not getting any coasters if none of the discs are going to work after 2 years?? ... Personally I would rather spend more, get a couple coasters and have my discs last forever than spend cheaply on CDRs with a low coaster rate but don't last more than 2 years (CMC) crap!
     
  6. Bgn

    Bgn Member

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    Do you have any proof that CMCs don't last over 2 years? The Samsungs (CMC) and others that I burned over 4 years now are still reading perfectly fine. I have archived my work on these and treat them as instructed; upright in their jewel case in a cool dry place. On the other hand, there seems to be proof that the RITEKS that folks here like so much does not seem to last over 2 years.
     
  7. nightborn

    nightborn Member

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    Do I have any proof? what kind of an idiotic stupid question is that????

    Do I really need to prove to anyone that my media for my own use does not work? yeah, I have proof, I have an entire 50 pack here that won't play, what more do I need to "Prove" to myself they are SHIT! Idiot.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2005
  8. Bgn

    Bgn Member

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    If you are not going to engage in intellient conversation, then there is no point in posting.

    The purpose of this discussion is that I would like to understand -
    1) if CMCs in general are bad, or only those that are of no-name/low-name that are "bad". I am trying to determine, based on my experiences, if perhaps those quality name branders have higher pass/reject standards than those that just go for low price points.

    2) You must define what you mean by "bad".
    Just because certain disks don't burn on you burner does not mean they are bad - it means it may not be good for your burner.
    I use 4 different burners, and the HP, Verbatim, and Samsung CMCs have all burned "good".It seems like most people's issues is with Memorex, who isn't known to be a quality brand name and they may not have rigourous testing of CMC batches because they prefer to compete on price rather than quality.

    3) Another quality indicator is to define durability on the burn.
    My 4 year old Samsung CMCs are still durable.
    Durability is dependent on many factors. How you handle and store, how you burned the disk (did you try to butn at 32x when it was rated for 16x)?

    4) Another quality indicator is - does it burn at the speed it says it burns at.

    When we are discussing intelligently about the topic of the quality of a CD, I would propose the following:

    1) Name the brand AND the ATIP (manufacturer) - not just one or the other.

    2) Refer to if it is COMPATIBLE with your drive.

    3) Refer to how DURABLE the burn is and HOW you handle your CDs - how long as a burn lasted before it went "bad" What conditions did you store it at? Did you try to do anything to it that was not recommended (burn 32x to a 16x rated media, for example)

    4) Refer to the BURN Speed- did it burn at the rate specified? Did it verify ok?

    In order to say that CMC is "bad" or "good", we must know of your experiences in ALL these areas, not just because you have 50 coasters because the media does not work well with your one drive.

    Any other suggestions/comments?
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2005
  9. nightborn

    nightborn Member

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    I do not have 50 media that dont work well with one drive, I have 50 media that burned fine at "recommended" speeds, and have played fine, in ANY cd player anywhere for the last 2 years, then all of the sudden they started playing static. It started in the last songs on each disc, and worked its way to the beginning till it no longer played. I had some stored in my car, and some stored in my house (properly stored) if you don't know what that is, look it up. The ones in my car, and the ones in my house all started failing at the same time.

    I think that is clear enough to say that the brand is shit.
     
  10. Bgn

    Bgn Member

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    Ah - yes, then I agree Memorex-CMCs are "bad". Thank-you.
    Has anyone had bad (or good) experiences with HP-CMC or Verbatim-CMC or others.?
     
  11. nightborn

    nightborn Member

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    haha oh my, I just looked at the name of the one who posted if I have any proof, and it is you, the thread starter. Sorry, I just get used to morons saying stupid things in these forums and when I saw that I just thought you were another one them trying to be a dick. I didnt realize it was you. As for the CMCs being Memorex or not, and in my case, they were not, I don't really think it makes a difference. All CD Media made in the CMC plant, regardless of brand will more or less prove the same results. As does Ritek, I agree with your comment on those, they don't last either, even under thier own brand, but once again, any CD media made in the Ritek plant, regardless of the name its been "branded" with will prove the same results.
     
  12. dlc2000

    dlc2000 Regular member

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    i have personally have had more failures with any brand disc made by cmc imation , khypermedia , memorex , etc . i stay away from anything made by cmc . these are not isolated to one burner either . the discs i did get to burn that were made by cmc are now failing to play and they were all stored upright in a dark place without a lot of heat . i have also read many posts here on AD for a year and half now with more people having problems with cmc than i can count . in my opinion anything made by cmc are land fill material . its funny when i stopped using discs made by cmc all my problems went away . go figure ! i agree discs made by cmc are shit !!!
     
  13. nightborn

    nightborn Member

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    oh yes I forgot about hypermedia, those are terrible right from the start though.
     
  14. nightborn

    nightborn Member

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  15. dlc2000

    dlc2000 Regular member

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  16. Bgn

    Bgn Member

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    Good info, thanks to both.

    Well I sure hope my theory about highly reputable companies like HP-CMC/Verbatim-CMC (even Samsung-CMC) at least imposing pass/reject standards for the CMC batches they receive/put their label to is true. I have a lot of work backed up on these which seem so far so "good" (all written good and all reading good)! These were and are good value for the money and I'd still consider buying them again despite the apparent "badness" of CMCs in general (unless someone has a good horror story related specifically to these brands to tell). These brands are readily available in my area(no mailorder/shipping charges etc) and half the price of the "best" brands/manufacturers. I have been using pricey Fuji Film (Taiyo Yuden) for my most critical data, though. But for weekly backups, the branded CMCs I mentioned seems like good value so far based on the "proof" of my intact data. We'll see 10 years from now, eh? But hey, by that time, there won't be any CD-readers to read my backups just like there are no single sided single density 51/4" floppy drives to read my VisiCalc backups!! But I digress... :)
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2005
  17. Bgn

    Bgn Member

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    (double post - deleted)
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2005
  18. dlc2000

    dlc2000 Regular member

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    enjoy your cost savings on the cmc media . you asked for proof and you got it ! both of the sites suggested to you list cmc media as the lowest quality media out there or land fill material as i refer to it as . im glad you have good luck with cmc media and i can tell you that you are the only success story ive heard of to date . now i hope a few years down the road your cheapness doesnt come back to haunt you . discs i burned just barely two years ago on cmc media will not play anymore .
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2005
  19. nightborn

    nightborn Member

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    It will come back to haunt him :p .... but hey Bgn, those Fuji's you're using are excellent, I would continue backing up the stuff you care about on those.

    Oh, and on another note: AVOID anything made by Postech! .. they are shit! ... I think the Pos in Postech stands for Peice of Shit. I have some of those that dont play anymore either, I bought them under the Mitsui brand, I am guessing they were fakes.
     
    Last edited: Jan 28, 2005

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