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Kodak/Verbatim BD-R Mini Review

ThatM1key

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This mini review focuses on the "Kodak BD-R 25GB 50-Pack (Branded Surface not Inkjet)". My drive is rated at 12x write.

Edited 2-16-22: I have done a 2nd Dish Washer Test. If you would like to see this test go to post #7 or go to this link: https://audiosciencereview.com/foru...-verbatim-bd-r-mini-review.30976/post-1092066

I initially thought Kodak making BD-R was strange and also the fact there technically an entirely different company these days just like Atari. There were cheaper then the Verbatim (I do use too) BD-Rs and so I picked them up a year ago. First thing I noticed the speed difference, Verbatims are rated at 16x while the Kodak's are rated at 6x. Usually slower speeds on disc's means that the quality is less.

Specs of the Kodak BD-R:
Disc ID: UMEBDR-016-000
Disc Type: BD-R
Disc Size: 120 mm
Disc Class: 0
Disc Version: 1
Number of Layers: 1
Layer Type: Writable
DVD Layer Present: No
CD Layer Present: No
Channel Bit Length: 74.50 nm (25 GB Per Layer)
Push-Pull Polarity: Positive
Recorded Mark Polarity: HTL
BCA Present: Yes
Maximum Transfer Rate: Not Specified
First PAA of Data Zone: 131,072
Last PAA of Data Zone: 1,658,494
Status: Empty
State of Last Session: Empty
Erasable: No
Free Sectors: 12,219,392
Free Space: 25,025,314,816 bytes
Free Time: 2715:27:17 (MM:SS:FF)
Next Writable Address: 0
MID: UMEBDR-016-000
Supported Write Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x

Specs of the Verbatim BD-R (Reference):
BD Disc Information:
Disc ID: VERBAT-IMe-000
Disc Type: BD-R
Disc Size: 120 mm
Disc Class: 0
Disc Version: 1
Disc Time Stamp: 03/2010
Number of Layers: 1
Layer Type: Writable
DVD Layer Present: No
CD Layer Present: No
Channel Bit Length: 74.50 nm (25 GB Per Layer)
Push-Pull Polarity: Positive
Recorded Mark Polarity: HTL
BCA Present: Yes
Maximum Transfer Rate: Not Specified
First PAA of Data Zone: 131,072
Last PAA of Data Zone: 1,658,494
Status: Empty
State of Last Session: Empty
Erasable: No
Free Sectors: 12,219,392
Free Space: 25,025,314,816 bytes
Free Time: 2715:27:17 (MM:SS:FF)
Next Writable Address: 0
MID: VERBAT-IMe-000
Supported Write Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x, 10x, 12x

As you can see the Kodak BD-R is also HTL not LTH, which is very good thing. It can write at 8x but I only write at 4x for all my disc's. The Kodak (UMEBDR-016-000) is made by 'AVIC UMEDISC (HK) LIMITED' while Verbatim (VERBAT-IMe-000) is made by "CMC Magnetics Corporation". Kodak's BD-R manufacturer is used by other companies while Verbatim's BD-R manufacturer is (I think) solely for Verbatim because CMC owns Verbatim.

Coaster Experience:

In my personal experience, In terms of coasters, it's about the same amount as the Verbatim's (Which is 1-3 discs per 50 discs). I didn't notice any weird speed issue and write retries. acted like a verbatim. In term's of when they become coasters, you'll most likely experience a medium error before it writes whole, does a verification file compare and spits out an error.

Disc Washer Test:

I don't have pictures, so your going to have to take my word on this (This was many months ago). This test see's if the Kodak & verbatim disc's (1 each) can handle a dish washer heavy duty cycle. Both disc's were burnet full at 4x and had file verification done. After the dish washer was done, I pulled both 2 discs out, the Verbatim had surface moisture while the Kodak had the same thing + moisture had gotten under of the layers, which had big circles. I cleaned them down and let them cool. I put the Verbatim into my drive, showed up instantly and all files worked surprisingly and the kodak was 100% dead, drive tried hard but nothing.

Pricing:
Kodak BD-R 25GB 50-Pack: $27 to $34 USD
Verbatim BD-R 25GB 50-Pack $37 to $47 USD


Conclusion:
What do I think of this? I think the kodak held up pretty well for the money, very good at burning and very few coasters. Do I recommended them, it really depends on market value and what your needs are. Important data like family photos? No I wouldn't, regardless of price. Regular Data like Games?, I would.


Here is some Kodak BD-R (Same Disc ID) write tests done by "zenonz" on CDRInfo.

Here is also some Verbatim BD-R (Same Disc) write tests done by "sec" on CDRInfo.
 
Last edited:

garbulky

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I was curious how you arrived at this use of technology? Do you use recordable Blu-rays a lot?
 
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ThatM1key

ThatM1key

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I was curious how you arrived at this use of technology? Do you use recordable Blu-rays a lot?
I use them mainly for backup's. The reason why I use BD-Rs instead of hard drives is because I had a 4-year old drive die on me, cooled and well cared. I lost many many family photos, documents, other memories and such.

Backing up to BD-Rs is similar to having a NAS or ZFS. Your data is split across many disc's instead of a hard drive or a few of them. Todays "standard" BD-Rs can last 20+ years because of the "Rock Hard" layer that is also found in M-Disc DVD-R's. There is M-Disc BD-Rs but there has been no testing on them and since BD-Rs in general have this "Rock Hard" layer, they can be classified as M-Disc's.
 

MCH

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I work in a lab where we test materials regularly and i need to say that your dish washer test is very smart. I've never thought about it but it is indeed an easy way to do a homemade accelerated stress tests at virtually no cost
 

garbulky

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I use them mainly for backup's. The reason why I use BD-Rs instead of hard drives is because I had a 4-year old drive die on me, cooled and well cared. I lost many many family photos, documents, other memories and such.

Backing up to BD-Rs is similar to having a NAS or ZFS. Your data is split across many disc's instead of a hard drive or a few of them. Todays "standard" BD-Rs can last 20+ years because of the "Rock Hard" layer that is also found in M-Disc DVD-R's. There is M-Disc BD-Rs but there has been no testing on them and since BD-Rs in general have this "Rock Hard" layer, they can be classified as M-Disc's.
I can certainly sympathize. I too had a drive that was functioning just fine but then sat idle for a while and afterwards refused to start up. For somebody to be so familiar with this stuff enough to test things out and even have a coaster benchmark, you must be using a whole lot of them?
 
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ThatM1key

ThatM1key

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I can certainly sympathize. I too had a drive that was functioning just fine but then sat idle for a while and afterwards refused to start up. For somebody to be so familiar with this stuff enough to test things out and even have a coaster benchmark, you must be using a whole lot of them?
A part of my family said I should get a backup hard drive and put in storage. That's why I don't want one, I don't want to see later in life that the drive died, just like your experience.

I don't how many I used but I currently have 3x Verbatim 50-packs and 1x Kodak 50-packs. I need to get more Kodak's. For large data that I don't entirely care about, I use WinRAR. Main RAR parts on Kodak's and Recovery RAR part's on Verbatim's. For important data (No WinRAR), I create double Verbatim BD-R's for each cluster of 25GBish data, a backup for a backup.
 
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ThatM1key

ThatM1key

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I have done another Dish Washer Test. Both tests were burned using 1 large file at 4X with verification at the end (IMGBurn). Picture note text is related to the picture above not below.

Before The Heavy Duty Cycle:


BT1.jpg



BT2.jpg



After the Heavy Duty Cycle:


AT.jpg

I almost forgot to pull out my phone to capture. Both disc's had the same surface moisture before I wiped.


AT2.jpg

After the wipe. There is no spots, dots and bubbles that I could tell of.


AT1.jpg

The spots on the Kodak BD-R, those are not on the top surface, those are below the top surface, cannot be wiped.


The Read Test:

Kodak BD-R:

Kodak.jpg

I initially thought the Kodak would still work but I guess not again. I was rooting it again because of it's similar performance to Verbatim and less cost.

Verbatim BD-R:
LG.jpg

I'm still a little be stunned this time again. Windows Explorer did see the disc but struggled to perform a simple "Drag And Drop" into a folder, went from 22 megabytes/sec to 1 megabytes/sec. I decided to create an image of the Verbatim BD-R, sure enough it read well with no errors and no drops in speed. I copied the large file out of the ISO and compared both hashes, and they matched! For security reasons I do not feel comfortable giving out hashes on this specific test.
 
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