Okay, so I've gotten back into burning PS2 games, right? It's overall been a great time, and I made sure to stick to decent brands like Verbatim, I remember them being the top dog back in the days before my PS2 laser died out.
So, I get the first batch, a simple 25 pack, they all work perfectly. Smooth topside. They're the kind that are so clear you actually see the verbatim logo on the readable side. No issue there.
Three months later, I get another batch, even contemplating getting a 50 pack. I got the 25 pack, same packaging, same exact description, but then I open the box and these fucking things are NOTICEABLY cheaper. Very scratchy topside, which is basically ALL white besides a tiny verbatim and dvd-r logo on the middle, somehow feels heavier.
Now, out of the first batch, I essentially got every game perfectly fine, and also a few homebrew applications. The SECOND BATCH was essentially half a box of duds. One game was not getting past a sony logo (not the system logo mind you), another gives me a black screen after the playstation logo while still clearly spinning and apparently finding nothing for minutes, and some even give me a DVD error, meaning the burn was so bad it didn't even qualify as a game backup.
SOME worked, haven't even checked all of them frankly so I might actually have even more faulty ones, but this is just a complete ripoff. Why the sudden downgrade? Some even downright gave me the deadly "uncorrectable error," a clear sign that these are complete garbage. I know the console's drive is fine, I know the computer's drive burned at least half of these correctly, and I know for a fact the games I ripped are not to blame.
I doubt I can get a refund for discs I've used, plus, probably not even worth it. But, maybe take it as a warning, some Verbatims have the same packaging, but are actually hunks of crap.
Those are the silver reflective layer ones. They use silver because of it's better archival life vs aluminium, I have many pressed CD's that also use silver and the rest is to see how much light shines through.
Printable disc. That's a different item code for sure, not the same discs you used earlier. You say it had the same packaging? What logos were on it? Was the "AZO" logo on it?
You said the printable surface was "scratchy" well that's not normal it's supposed to be smooth.
Well, from what I remember (I will possibly reply later if I find the packaging I left over somewhere in my apartment), they had the exact same packaging. Just the orange and purple (edit: blue, I'm blind I swear) wrapper with the Verbatim and DVD-R logo on it.
Ironically now that you mention it, the single disk jewelcase I bought WAY back DOES have an AZO logo, but it was the reflective layer variety I described before! I did not notice a difference between these disks. This is just BEYOND ridiculous!