A disc cannot wear out a laser (with the "exception" of some very early Pioneer 2X DVD-R drive models that would go into perpetual burn if they tried to record a 4X DVD-R discs. It wasn't the disc that caused the problem but the aging or overheating of the laser that never turned off. Pioneer issued a firmware update that fixed the problem.) The analogy about eyes, high definition, and taxicabs is bizarre. The laser is a diode at a fixed wavelength that does not change. A reading drive will scan a disc only so many times before it gives up, and the pickup head focusing unit does all the work--not the diode.

Mitsubishi does not manufacture discs except, perhaps, on a test bed. They manufacture dye, and they own the Verbatim brand. The manufacturing is done by CMC, Moser Bayer, and a plant in Singapore for the DL discs. All of these plants use Mitsubishi's stampers.

Memorex outsources from mostly from CMC and Ritek with some production going to Moser Bayer (a company very difficult to work with), and Prodisc. In the days when huge orders would overwhelm CMC's plant, CMC would sometimes fill the orders with production that had used Mitsubishi stampers or Philips stampers; but mixed discs never went into the same spindles even though the packaging was the same. As long as discs met A-grade specifications and the packaging was all-Memorex, Memorex would accept them. No major brand I know of accepts anything less than A-grade under its own name from the factories. (There was a case of one major brand accepting B-grade CD-Rs, but they came up with a different brand to sell them at rock-bottom prices. That was the only way they could meet their volume commitment because sales of their own high-priced, respectable brand were too low.)

As for DVD+R DL discs, Verbatim sticks with the older production method of photo-polymer production for 8X discs. This is expensive because there are extra steps and one polymer layer is wasted after use. For 8X DVD+R DL discs, Ritek has moved to a new method developed by Ricoh using an "inverse stack" that uses fewer production steps, wastes no parts, and is better for reducing contaminants. The IS process is cheaper, and Ritek passes the cost savings on to their customers who, in turn, pass them on to consumers. Unfortunately, not all 8X DVD+R DL drives have firmware added to record to these IS discs; and no 4X DVD+R DL drives will work with them either unless a drive manufacturer issues a firmware update--not likely. You need a new drive to take advantage of them.

Recommendation from digitalfaq are nearly worthless since half the information found there is out of date, erroneous, misleading, or simply bizarre. The other half is correct. If you can tell the difference, the site is worth a read; but most people are not optical engineers by trade, so they mistakenly take that information as gospel.

What I'd like to know is how a disc that works year after year, has low intial error rates, and keeps reasonably low error rates can be considered "crap" simply because of its brand name.