What real Taiyo Yuden media looks like
Saturday, December 9th, 2006 at 5:42 amSo, I bought another cakebox of Taiyo Yuden DVD+Rs (finally ran out of my previous batch). Seeing as many manufacturers try to sell fake Taiyo Yuden branded media, I’ve decided to take pictures of the cakebox I just got before I open it.
The wrapper at the bottom (which only encircles the bottom about three inches or so) says “TAIYO YUDEN DVD+R8X Disc MID YUDEN 002 T02″ in black text. The cakebox bottom is flush with top, and has no grip.
See also here, here, here, and here for more information on fake TY media. You may also wish to read my article on archival CD/DVD archival media.
Sorry to bug, but — I just tried gently scraping off the sticky residue, but was completely unable to. Despite its sticky feeling (and ability to attract lint, thus confirming that I’m not imagining the stickiness due to faulty fingertips), it does not scrape off at all the way tape residue would. Is it just glue that got squeezed out the edge during manufacturing and dried on top?
Hmm. Email SMS, I think you may have gotten a defective batch. I’ve never heard of or seen such a weird issue.
Hi again,
Well, I guess Super Media Store doesn’t give a crap or something — I’ve emailed them twice now, with nary a peep from them. I suppose I’ll try giving a call tomorrow, and if that still doesn’t pan out, I’m just going to have to dive in and use these weird sticky DVDs. Sigh. I am not happy with this experience and am reconsidering Taiyo Yudens as well as SMS.
Incidentally, I tried Googling Taiyo Yuden and sticky edges and got maybe two or three relevant hits from others who’ve experienced the same exact thing, though no one ever reported back on whether or not the edge residue affected their burn.
I contacted someone I know at SMS to get this resolved for you.
Hi Patrick,
Like millions of others, I too am extraordinarily grateful to you for your informative and easy-to-understand article on choosing blank DVDs.
I just received my package of 100 silver therman Taiyo Yuden DVD+Rs today, ordered from Super Media Store. I opened it up a few minutes ago and was perturbed to find that the edges of many of the discs have a sticky substance, similar to tape residue — it’s sticky and textured and I could scrape it off with my nails if I wanted to. I noticed it immediately on the top disc, simply by looking at it because most of the disc was shiny and perfect, but a two-inch (or so) arc of the edge circumference stood out with its rough appearance.
I flipped through the rest of the stack randomly and saw (and felt) similar sticky residue on other discs. I haven’t noticed anything sticky on the undersides, only on the tops — although at least one disc had a bottom clear plastic edge that seemed to stick out further, so you could feel that it wasn’t flush with the silver (inner?) layer. Yeah, I know I’m being real technical with my description here.
Mainly I’m worried about the weird sticky crap on the very edges of the tops of so many of my brand-new discs and wanted to ask you if this is normal, if you know what this stickiness is, and/or if I should send for a replacement spindle.
Thank you in advance for any help and advice you can impart!
Amy
Anyone can make a label and barcode, seems reading the disk should provide the origin, but even that can be fake. Let’s check back in 50 years and see.
Mine came from SuperMediaStore, who buys theirs directly from TY in Japan. It sounds like the US office isn’t as well informed as they’d like.
I’m wondering where you got your Taiyo Yuden media from? I wrote to the Taiyo Yuden office and asked them who the legitimate distributors of their products (in North America) are and they said this:
“Here are our direct distributors.
ZEI MEDIA PLUS 800-561-2469 (QC, Canada)
MICROBOARDS 800-646-8881 (US)
DISC MAKERS http://www.discmakers.com *ULTRA series
Uline http://www.uline.com”
Just wondering if the disks you got were from one of those folks? That way, we know that we can refer to the photos you posted and know that those are REALLY Taiyo Yuden disks.
The blue side should be down. They are correctly oriented in the cakebox.
Help!! Just got TY CDs. Which side is up — the white or the bluish shiny?? There are no markings on disks.
As white side is up in the cake box, I presume that’s how they are put in disk drive??
Joan
I agree with you on the superiority of the TY media, but Rima (www.rima.com) also guarantees authenticity of the TY media they sell. Newegg has also recently started selling it, and they are a reliable vendor.
I’ve bought my last several batches of DVD+R’s from Rima, as they cost a bit less that SMS, and these are the real thing.