Choosing Just the Right Media Quality

CD-R and CD-RW media is readily available and extremely inexpensive. In you are going to all the trouble and effort to capture video, edit and author your creative work, prepare it for distribution and store it for years; simply picking up the cheapest media in the store obviously isn't a wise choice.

If you're lucky, you only know the media is bad after you have produced your video and try to play it back on the recorder or another player. If you're unlucky, you find out that the media has gone bad 2-3 months later when you attempt to play the video that is now stored only on the CD-R or CD-RW media.

To protect themselves, buyers need to know:

• Will media from manufacturer X record at the desired speed?
• Will it perform well at that speed?
• Will the disc, once recorded, be readable on the wide variety of players available?
• Will it retain the video data, over time, under less than ideal conditions?
• What type of guarantee does the manufacturer provide with its product?

Let's begin by putting cost differences in perspective.

Despite the fact that CD-R and CD-RW disc quality and capabilities can differ widely, disc costs vary by only a few cents and all can store volumes of video. In making your selection keep in mind that the time you expend in creating the video is substantial and valuable.

The cost of a disc is really irrelevant. What really matters is the value of the video that will be recorded on it. How important is it? How long do you want to keep it? What would be the cost, in time and money, to replace it? The fact is, if your video is valuable enough to be put on a CD-R or CD-RW disc, the real issue is whether the disc can be trusted--not how much it costs.

Sunlight and temperature, as well as humidity can be a major factor in the degradation of CD-R and CD-RW discs. Unless precautions are taken during manufacturing, the more extreme the exposure, the faster the deterioration. Verbatim uses industry standard accelerated aging tests to obtain comparative data and to determine an estimated lifetime. Tests show that the media has a projected data life of at least 100 years.

To extend the data life of the media, the reflective layer must remain intact. Manufacturers put a protective layer over the reflective layer because when it is pierced, the reflectivity of the read/write laser is reduced, and this causes media errors. For added protection, Verbatim developed a dual-protective layer production technique which is standard for all of the firm's CD-R and CD-RW media.

Today, CD-R and CD-RW discs can be recorded at a variety of speeds. Depending upon the application and the drive, users can write media at 1x, 2x, 4x speeds and newer, higher-performance media is now available for 6x, 8x, 12x and higher speeds.

While optimized for high write speeds, Verbatim also suggests that for certain applications, users record in real time. Especially when producing video CDs, the lower write speed ensures higher video quality and fidelity. Another application where slower speeds are recommended is when the user has a slow or overburdened system. By slowing the recording speed, the demand on the system is decreased, and buffer under-run (ruined discs) can be avoided.

Drive compatibility is another critical factor. Variations in recorders and CD, DVD players/readers can cause media compatibility problems. These difficulties can be as subtle as slow read times and as serious as the inability to read at all. To provide media that meets the broadest range of recording requirements, Verbatim continually works to enhance technologies. To ensure read and write performance with every major CD-RW, CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive/player; the company works closely with hardware manufacturers providing them with off-the-production line media so they can test their drives' writing and reading performance.