Problems with Unbranded DVD-R
J. Beale May 31, 2003, updated 2005
In 2003 the Meritline company sold a DVD-R they represented as: "MAXELL True
2X DVD-R 4.7GB DVD Recordable General Purpose OEM Unbranded -- Top Surface:
Silver Unbranded; Recording Surface: Purple.
On April 16 2003 and again on May 13 2003, I purchased packs of 25 "MAXELL"
discs from meritline to fufill a customer order. I chose Maxell discs specifically
because in the dv.com
tests by Ralph LaBarge, Maxell had the highest compatability rating among
DVD-R general brands tested. Out of my lot of 50 discs from Meritline, I
found 4 had playback errors in my testing and I rejected those before shipment.
I also noticed on many of them, the top and bottom polycarbonate platters
were glued together slightly offset, and the discs vibrated when spinning
in my DVD burner, and set-top player. However I had a deadline, and had to
use the discs anyway.
One month after I shipped, I heard from a customer
that two of them did not play back on his computer. After some emails,
Meritline refunded my purchase price but only for the two defective discs.
Two years later, I got two more discs back that had initially played but
did not play any more.
In July 2003, Maxell put out a notice about
counterfeit discs.
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