The 4x DVD + RW blanks is original Ricoh goods! Unfortunately, many other manufacturers tend to cheap third goods under its own label distribute. The blanks are excellent from the processing and the writability. Since all journals recommend a maximum of a 4-fold burning speed with all current DVD burners because the resulting data quality, there is no reason a preferable 8x blank. Currently, this blank is the best choice in the rewritable DVD media. Price / Performance: super!