The Archival Century Disc Introduces Carl Glassford’s Digital Time Capsule.

Case Color

Black White Clear (sort of)

Case Color

Black White Clear (sort of)

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When it comes to the elite getting married in our area, you can bet Bill Wagy is one of the first people they try to hire (if he’s available). I’m sure Bill Wagy has a laundry lists of accomplishments I am unaware of, so all I can say is that Bill is a super guy and we appreciate this testimonial (without compensation, mind you) and we appreciate his business.

When office networks became commonplace and companies began installing LANs and WANs (Local Area Networks and Wide Area Networks), a method for backing up the entire system needed to be installed. Usually, this consisted of a backup tape that someone needed to change daily and/or weekly.

But, even magnetic tape backup systems would fail from time to time. When CDs became more prominent and popular, people began backing up their own data on CDs just in case the tape backup system didn’t network correctly and get the most recent revisions from a workstation.

Have you ever bought a pack of CDs or DVDs and every once in awhile you came across one that for whatever reason just wouldn’t record anything? And then, came across some that said they recorded your data, only to find later that the disc still appeared blank? Yet, at that point, even though it appeared blank, it read as though you had already recorded on it, only to have to discard yet another disc.

That was the point where you and I both began to feel that CDs and/or DVDs were not as reliable as we once thought they were. I mean, isn’t a disc just a disc? Aren’t all discs created equal?

The truth is, most DVDs and especially CDs lost their value early on. Back when CDs were first introduced, they were practically giving them away with new computer purchases just like Microsoft WindowsTM. Back then, if you bought a new computer with a CD player/burner, you may have gotten a coupon for free CDs or a discount on a particular brand of CDs with your computer purchase (nowadays most computers come standard with a dvd player/burner).

I know that the disc industry frowns on my telling you this, but for years now, you and I have been buying a mixture of grade A, B, and even grade C discs from the local office supply store and especially cheap discs online. But, the truth is the truth and that’s what happens. The manufacturers began “mixing” the great with the good and the bad in order to keep their costs down and to get the general public accustomed to using CDs.

Now that CDs and even DVDs have become ‘the norm’ for recording music, images, photos, and even home videos, people are becoming more aware that there has to be a better way to store all of these things.

So, here’s the jist of all of this. Bad discs are bad simply because they are manufactured in mass production runs and at the end of these runs, the stamper die which includes the silver metal layers, the media dye, and the plastic substrate that the disc is attached to, are not pressed as accurately as the those in the beginning of the production run.

In order to save money and in order to make a ‘complete run’ most manufacturers considered 500,000 to be the threshold. Which means that the last 100,000 or so, would be less effective than the first 100,000.

In 2007, Mitsubishi created a new disc, which we call the Century Disc. This disc is not only fine-tuned to be accurate every single time you use it, it has so many features that I almost have to write a book about it.

The Century Disc has ultra-precise groove tracking simply for one reason. This reason is that Mitsubishi did a lot of testing over the years and decided that 25,000 discs per production run is the threshold where they feel the stamper die (more on this below) begins to lose its near-perfect impression power.

Every manufacturer has to use a machine that ‘stamps’ the metal layer and the media dye on the substrate (the plastic part of the disc). The difference is in how well the stamper die is manufactured, the media dye being used, and the recording layer (which is usually silver or semimetallic form of silver/alloy).

The machine presses each substrate at a high rate of speed and stamps each disc like a cookie cutter. Each time it presses a disc, it creates pits and grooves on the recording surface and these are the areas the laser writes your data to. If you have a misprint like an offset penny or coin, then you can relate to this analogy and how important it is to get it right from the onset.

If you have an offset or misprint disc and it is not detected, then, your data either gets recorded incorrectly or not at all, and the end result is the same. No recognizable data on your disc either way.

Years ago, this didn’t seem to be a problem. Why? Because none of us (at least not the average person) knew that there was a difference in disc quality. I, for one, always thought that a disc was just a disc and there was no difference between them.

There is a difference and that’s why a lot of recording professionals prefer one brand over another and computer geeks prefer another brand over other generic brands. Unless you researched this, you probably didn’t know and had no reason to check into it. I know that I didn’t give it any thought until I came across the Century Disc. Now, I seem to absorb everything I come across about discs, substrates, media dyes, and anything related to optical media.

If you read my article on “Why The Century Disc Became So Important To Me” you will understand my passion for this product. I don’t want to get into all of that right now so that I can stay on subject.

If the average or ordinary CD or DVD is manufactured at the rate of a half-a-million or more at a time, using the same stamper die/press, and at the end of that run you end up with a mixture of A-rated, B-rated, and C-rated discs all boxed together, how can you tell which of these discs will be good or bad?

You can’t tell by looking at them, you just have to take your chances, throw some away, hope that the ones you have recorded to are good ones and end up with 10% or more being trash. That’s the way it used to be.

With the Century Disc, only 25,000 discs are manufactured per stamper die run. Which means, even though you may pay more for a more precise and more accurate disc, you get the peace of mind in knowing that every disc you use is dead-on accurate. No worries about whether or not your presentation, video, critical data, or even your photo images are actually on your disc.

The peace of mind to me, is worth the extra cost. I hate it when I used to think that I backed up my files onto a disc, deleted those files from my hard drive (assuming I had them on disc), and later found that I no longer had those files because they were nowhere to be found.

You get the idea. Have you ever had to copy your files, whether photos, data, etc. more than once? I’m sure if you’ve used discs you have already experienced this problem. I look at what my time is worth and realize that I would rather buy an expensive disc that I can count on each and every time then to buy cheap discs only to rerecord something I thought I had already recorded.

The fact that the BLER (Block Error Rate) on the Century Disc is consistently tested at 15 BLER per second or less, compared to the average decent disc which inherently and consistently has 30 – 50 BLER per second, this leads me to believe that the Century Disc is always at least twice as good as any other disc I could buy.

What is Block Error Rate anyway? First of all, all discs have Block Errors. Block Errors are what determines whether a disc works or fails. The industry has determined that a disc (CD or DVD) is trashed at the rate of 220 BLER (block errors per second).

I don’t want to get into the technical aspects of block error rates in this discussion, but I will tell you that block errors are one major factor in determining whether a disc is A++ grade like the Century Disc or a low C-grade as in many other mass-produced discs. Since CDs and DVDs have ratings, why don’t they put these ratings on the packaging? So far, I have never walked into an office supply store and seen a CD or DVD package that states “A, AA, AAA, or A++ rated discs.

The Century Disc is an A++ rated disc which also has the same scratch-resistant protection as the new Blu-ray discs. I say this because it is manufactured at the same facility as our TDK OEM Blu-ray discs and the hard coat is applied using the latest technology and newest equipment available today.

The Century Disc is a truly archival media. It has a 24-karat gold layer that encapsulates and protects the silver recording layer. It is tested to last well over 100 years. I know, we won’t be here then and why should we care? I used to think exactly the same way. Then, I began to think, “Hey! I can save all of my family photos for my grandkids and I can save all of my mom and dad’s photos from when they were young and pass them on too.”

Not only is the Century Disc designed to last a lifetime (over 100 years), but it is also designed to be compatible with almost every CD and DVD recorder/player on the market today and yesterday. Why? Because, the Century Disc uses Mitsubishi’s patented DRL (Dual Reflective Layer) Technology. Most discs have a silver reflective layer, the Century Disc takes that into consideration and gives you a 24-karat gold protective layer on top of a real silver (AG) metal reflective layer for extra compatibility. Now you get the best of both worlds all in one disc.

The Century Disc has a unique, universal printable surface. This means, you or I, can make labels on the computer for our discs, save them on to a disc and take them to a printer or someplace that can print onto the disc surface for us. Now you can have custom looking discs without having to mess with labels that throw your discs out of balance, get crinkled, or smear from the ink not being dry yet. Inkjet printers with a built-in disc printing tray are becoming more popular and are more affordable for the average person now.

Personally, I never use those do-it-yourself labels to make disc labels. Partly, because I didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to write on the top side of CDs. Like I said, I was an optical media novice. No one ever told me not to write on my CDs with a permanent marker, that it could eventually ruin the recording. Now I know.

So, let’s recap.

Ultra-Precise Groove Engineering gives you a higher quality near-perfect disc everytime. Only 25,000 discs manufactured per stamper die run compare to mass quantities of 500,000 (yes, literally a half-a-million).

Ultra-Hard Coat protects your recording surface from scratches, fingerprint smudges, and other elements that could easily render your discs useless.

Universal Print Surface allows you to use the Century Disc with an inkjet printer, thermal printer, have them mass-produced by a silk-screen company, or write on the top of the disc with a permanent marker and none of these processes effect the recording.

Near-Perfect rotational balance because of the design and substrates used, I thought this was worth mentioning because some discs actually have flaws and are warped but undetectable to the average eye. The Century Disc is designed in such a way that it has a near-perfect rotational balance which causes less wear and tear on your laser servo and disc drives overall.

That just about covers it. Did I mention how great they look too? There’s something about the look of the disc that it even looks sharp and unique without printing.

So, here’s my offer. I know you figured there had to be a pitch somewhere right? This offer is actually to your benefit.

I challenge you here and now, buy the Century Disc, available in CD-R or DVD-R and if you do not think it is absolutely the best disc you have found, then return them for a complete refund for up to one-full-year from the date of purchase.

I promise you that each and every disc will perform as it is supposed to perform; and each and every disc will work every single time you use it. It will burn accurately the first time you burn to it and it will read on every CD or DVD player you play it on, or I will gladly refund your money. No bones about it.

Then, I played it on my DVD player. It played flawlessly. It has a resin-based scratch resistant recording surface (SRS Technology) that protects your recordings from fingerprint smudges, scratches, abrasions, and other elements that could easily render a disc useless.

After playing the disc in the DVD player, I tested it on my laptop using VSO Inspector. I first ran the ‘Surface Test’ which showed absolutely no flaws, errors, or problems. Immediately after the Surface Scan Test, I ran the ‘File Test.’

Again, no errors, no problems. The software didn’t even detect the scratches. My disc drive didn’t skip a beat.

Check out the report and screen shots at
http://rmgproducts.com/store/Scratched_CenturyDisc_Results.html

Then, they started using the coating on DVDs, TDK first introduced their hard coat version back in 2005. RMGProducts (us) introduced this disc as the LuxPro. It is and was a very good disc. It was a basic TDK shiny silver DVD with a heavy duty hard coat protection on it. It protected the recording surface from some serious scratches and fingerprint smudges.

The problem was that TDK shut down the Luxembourgh plant and discontinued that version of the hard coat DVD.

Last year, Mitsubishi introduced us to the Century Disc, which we now have the exclusive distribution rights in the U.S.A.

The Century Disc is not just another shiny silver DVD with a hard coat. It is a truly Archival Gold Layer Disc with a shiny silver layer for compatibility. The reason we have found that the hard coat version of other discs hasn’t really taken off is because you have to have a really excellent disc to start with.

The Century Disc works because every disc is one of only 25,000 produced per stamper die run. Which means, they make 25,000 nearly-perfect discs before they add the hard coat resin which protects the recording surface.

I’m not sure why the other manufacturers’ hard coat discs haven’t really taken off but I can tell you there really hasn’t been a whole lot of hype about them. Until the introduction of the Century Disc, I didn’t even know there was a hard coat disc that actually worked, let alone knowing that there was such a thing.

I an tell you that Mitsubishi tells us that this hard coat protection is many times harder than the disc itself. I can tell you that I tried to scratch it with my car keys and it wouldn’t even scratch. I can tell you that I have taken razor blades, a serated butter knife, a pair of scissors, and other items to scratch the surface and all of them play flawlessly even after some serious scratches.

The Century Disc uses a spin-coat technology that allows the resin to be poured onto the disc, then spun at high speeds in order to create an even coat all over the recording surface.

This resin is another product which Mitsubishi Chemical Corp created for their blu-ray discs. This resin dries clear and is so transparent, it barely adds additional block errors (BLER) to the Century Disc. Which goes to show you, if you have an excellent, near-perfect disc to being with, adding a clear coat to protect the recording surface may take away a little bit from the clarity, but in this case, it really is only a little bit.

We have had the Century Disc tested and each one is only 15 BLER (Block Errors per Second) or less. The results stated that on average the BLER for the Century Disc is 15 and at least one out of ten has an even lower BLER of about 10.

Considering Taiyo Yuden discs, which are an excellent product, have an average of 40-50 BLER and doesn’t have a hard coat, I’d say the Century Disc’s doing something. In fact, at there rates, I have to say, the Century Disc blows away its competition. There is no other disc on the market that even compares. If I am wrong, please feel free to let me know and I will post those results here.

I digress. I started this conversation about the hard coat and got a little sidetracked. The Century Disc has a scratch-resistant coating which we call SRS technology. It is a resin applied to the surface exactly the same way they put the Ultra Hard Coat on the new blu-ray discs. It is a proprietary spin-caot process which applies an very even coat over the entire surface ensuring clarity, even thickness throughout, and is so clear, you cannot even tell there is a coating on it until you scratch it.

Even with scratches like I have never seen on a playable disc before, the Century Disc still plays. In fact, it play flawlessly even with scratches and multiple fingerprint smudges. I wasn’t aware that oily fingerprint smudges could, over time, render a disc (especially DVDs) useless. I guess it only makes sense that since a DVD has grooves 7 times smaller than a CD, that it is easier to damage and render useless.

So, I guess in all of this rambling (it’s late and It’s past my bedtime) I really only wanted to share how amazing this hard coat protection really is. I always think of the Century Disc as the predecessor to the Blu-ray disc.

It has precise groove engineering, which if the blu-ray didn’t have, it couldn’t work because the grooves on the blu-ray are about 35 times smaller than those of an ordinary CD. So, in this respect, the Century Disc is not only a near-perfect product (Thank God someone finally began making one), it also has the hard coat option using the exact same material used on the blu-ray discs. The Century Disc also has a deep dye color due to the newly formulated AZO Media Dye. Which some tests state that supposedly the Pthalocyanine media dye lasts longer, not! I don’t care what ‘they’ say. We live in Florida and our sunshine is intense Y’all. Our company stuck many varieties of discs out in the sun for days at a time and at the exact same time of day, every day. When all was said and done, the only discs still working at the end of the study, were the Mitsubishi discs (including the Green Tune for Audio Mastering CD-R) that used the newly formulated AZO Media dye.

Because of the hard coat, the deep purple/blue media dye, the 24-karat Gold Archival layer that protects the silver compatible layer, and the Universal Printable label surface on the Century Disc, and the Ultra Precise Groove Engineering that goes into every Century Disc made, are the reasons I call this the predecessor to the Blu-ray disc.

I like to say “The Century Disc, is an ALL-Options Inclusive disc, and Failure is not an option.

Did I mention this is an A++ rated disc? It is the highest rated disc quality on the market in terms of any CD or DVD made.

Read my article on why ordinary discs fail. “Ordinary CDs and DVDs Exposed!” This article will give you a little insight to disc ratings and why most ordinary discs have such a high failure rate. You can also download the Disc Grade Chart from the PDF downloads page.

In the meantime, check out the videos on youtube and visit our current site at rmgproducts.com