I don't think they are more durable, Terry, but they are more 'compatible' with different DVD machines if you 'slow' down the burn routine a notch or two from it's upper end.

At your age, I don't know if you can afford to wait longer.   

I don't know if my thinking is technically accurate or not, but years ago when CDs were the only rage, that theory about slower the better permeated the scene.
I think the burning process and the coatings might be far better on today's DVDs than the days of the CD only.

I have thousands of DVDs that we burned starting many years ago, and as we select one here and there, there seems to be no problem reading or playing them.
On the other hand, I have a tall tube of CDs that holds (for example) software like Qimage.exe et al, and when I want to resurrect an oldie, I hold my breath, because 1 out of 10 will not read.

Your post caused me to pull out some saved CDs from the 90s. Whoosh! That's me blowing the dust off. 
These seem to work fine.... Maybe I tossed the ones that didn't read.

I still have the adapter from my first external CD drive. !!

Fred

I have another question:
When we needed blanks (DVDs), we tried the least expensive, and then one  step up, and then another step up. Not a big price difference, more like 10 dollars a hundred from top to bottom of the scale.
We did find a difference though.
The cheaper ones had more 'duds' per hundred than the better ones, and the next up, better yet, no duds per hundred.
By more duds per hundred, I would judge 12 out the hundred would fail.

We ended up using the best of the three since the wasted time re-doing the project because of the dud was certainly worth the extra 10 cents.

Any one else with similar or opposite experiences?

Fred

Thanks for the belated welcome, Terry. But I've been here (and on the group) for a while - and have often posted (in my mind) - being a lurker of sorts <grin>.

But Fred may have another answer just as well with:
Since I don't burn 'that many DVD's' I tend to purchase those from the better known brands - usually more expensive that the bottom basement names. So I guess a combo of both might be in order?
Therefore, I don't experience very many (if any) bad dvd's. Lucky I guess.

Terry-

I generally slow down one notch.  I.e, burn 16X at 12X.  I think it is as much the burner as the disc when there are problems.

That said, "you get what you pay for" is certainly true in CD/DVD.  Top of the line is generally considered to be Taiyo Yuden, but you have to buy them from some of the media houses.  Also, the most expensive.

I stay away (!!!) from Memorex.  Maxell, Verbatim, TDK and Sony are good.  Phillips also.  Read the box: made in Taiwan is a good thing compared to made in China.

Also, each company has their good and better.  Their "type" is on the can.  Their part # or RMM; not the barcode.  You can search these on line and see if there are problems.

The dye and the foil backing are the keys to longevity.  Some dyes fade quickly and some foils delaminate.  (To destroy a disc scratch the foil side too.)

Try club.cdfreaks.com and www.cdr-zone.com and see what's what.  They test everything.

I HAVE seen data disappear in as little as two days (Memorex). 

Always let your software do a verification after burning.  More problems will show up here than on the initial burn.

Another thing I have found is checking written discs on the same machine is risky.  They usually work.  The most finicky DVD player is the home video player, so I stick them in there (later) and just see if they will read.  I don't go through them.  Even just sticking them in another computer will do as a test.

Okay, a lot of work and a little paranoia, but I used to tell people (in my IBM days) "what's your data worth?" and how long will it take to rebuild it.

Your post got me searching as Fred did.  I found a stack where I had burned to CDs then burned the same data on five CDs to one DVD.  That was back when DVDs were expensive.

Okay, more information than you wanted to know.  Try those two sites and see what is good.

Terry, because this is a very important issue for me, I would like to share my experience with you on this issue.  First, I archive on Taiyo Yuden products for my clients, but I am not advocating their products...just reporting my experience.  With that said, I also use Verbatim.  I always use ink jet printables and print the disc info onto it.

I might burn 100G or more each month, enough to burn out the CD/DVD burners every so often.  I keep my burn speed down to 1/2 of the rated speed, usually 8x.  I only do this because I archive a lot, and I always verify the burn.  So most importantly, I get less verification errors at 1/2 speed.

I also keep copies of these files on two hard drives, and reburn the discs every three years, I have not had parts on the discs go bad in less than that.  I also transfer older hard drive files to larger storage units as technology develops, and I eventually reburn the disc from the transferred files.

I have very few problems with corrupted files burned at 8x.  I store the discs in a dark, temperture and humidity controlled enviroment.  Guessing, maybe I lose 1 or 2 pictures (NEFs and TIFFs) out of 250G.  I am not very technical, so in a practical sense it appears that these relatively few errors occur during hard drive transfers and are not due to disc error.

I hope this helps.

Here are a few sites reported as McAfee Secure links that I found useful and easy to read.  This one has links at the bottom that I use to learn about different media.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-R

And this one is good too, (though the author uses a mis-spelled Japanese phrase meaning "Thank you very much" in the title name, which btw also appears in the lyrics of Mr. Roboto by Styx)...but it is also secure.
http://www.epinions.com/review/Taiyo_Yuden__DVD_R47WPYSB8__DVD_R_Media/content_215012118148

I have no commercial interest in this site, I post it just for your convenience to see the products and prices of what I use.  It too is reported as secure.
http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-dvd-r-media.html?kwmid=513&kmcid=2945700296&match_type=&gclid=CPSV3ubkuZwCFeFM5QodEjTmnQ

I made an inquiry directly to Taiyo Yuden regarding their media because this is such an important issue to me.  Here is their reply:

"Thank you for contacting us.

Currently our discs are all made in Japan though they are sometimes packaged in China. If you see ‘made in Taiwan’, they are not our media. We have a different grade for Valueline brand and other area.

Best regards,
JVC Advanced Media U.S.A. Inc.
TAIYO YUDEN (U.S.A.) INC.
Chicago (Sales Headquarters & Midwest Regional Sales) Office"

If you want a look, here is a link to this particular "different grade" (low end ) product they mentioned:
http://www.ioproducts.com/tayuvalidvme.html