MID

MID is an acronym for manufacturer ID. Manufacturer ID is a code placed on blank DVD-R and DVD+R media to identify the disc's manufacturer.

Which are the best?

The general consensus for the best manufacturing IDs for blank DVD media are the following:

MXLRG02, MCC00RG20 and YUDEN000T02.

The first, the MXL is from producer Hitachi Maxell. The second is from Mitsubishi Chemicals and is used by Verbatim. The third is from producer Taiyo Yuden, known for exceptional quality DVD-R media.

Which are the worst?

Although I am sure you have heard the old tale "stay away from CMC Mag" media and although CMC is not as reliable as the aforementioned DVD-R media, there are still worse, much worse.

PRINCO, DAXONAZ2 and WFKA11 are generally considered the worst media possible and burn correctly under 50 percent of the time. If you see cheap media by Princo, WealthFair Investments, or Daxon stay clear.

How can you know your manufacturer ID?

To find out which are the MIDs of your media after they have been purchased, run them through the programs noted at the end of this item, Nero CD-DVD speed, or DVD Identifier. While in the store however, this will be impossible to do, so a good way to look for better media is to see where they were manufactured. Japanese manufactured are the best, whereas Malaysian and Chinese are the worst. Most are made in Taiwan so if sticking to Maxell or Verbatim, even if made in Taiwan you should be fine.

Fakes

In early 2007, Verbatim brought attention to the world that fakes MIDs were being attached to inferior discs. It was later proved that the Chinese based Infosmart was leading the way, placing MCC, MXL and YUDEN MIDs on their inferior discs. Stay away from anything Infosmart related.

Verbatim warns about misleading DVD media (8 March 2007)- Verbatim/Mitsubishi Kagaku Media Co. has issues a warning on the company's website about a number of prominent and not so prominent brands in Australia and New Zealand distributing certain types of blank recordable DVDs with MCC MID codes and other information.