Recently we discovered that many of our recorded DVD media had readability 
problems. Most are suffering from "dye spread" which is a defect in 
manufacturing which appears only when recording takes place. We have done 
some research on this issue and we have learned a few things. While we had 
been buying name brand DVDs to avoid any quality problems, what we have 
found out is that brand does not matter, Media ID (disk manufacturer) does. 
While our name brand media indicate that it was manufactured at one of the 
best rated facilities, it obviously is of much lower quality. The second 
thing we found out is that for printable CDs (which our media is) there are 
counterfeit media being circulated which have faked Media ID indicating it 
is of better quality. 

A good source for information on the quality of DVD media can be found at: 
(no PPI endorsement intended):

    http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

A good (free) tool for revealing the Media ID is:

    DVD Identifier (http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/)

I thought I'd bring this to your attention since it potentially can affect 
PDS activities across the entire system. In the past we have wanted 
information like that presented in the DigitalFAQ white paper. When the DDL 
existed it had performed tests, but could not provide any specific 
manufacturer recommendation because of "liability" issues. Perhaps we 
should circulate this third-party white paper to aid others.

I could send this to the tech mailing list, but I thought you may like 
handle it in a pro-active way.

-Todd-