Tell Tale TDK CMC's vs. Ricohs

[DVDeeZ]

I needed to grab a couple of things during lunch at Best Buy today, boy they get a lot of my biz. While there I went to the TDK's and checked out the DVD+R 4x disks which some have said are CMC and some said Ricoh. I noticed something very interesting. Best Buy had two different 100 pack DVD+R 4x TDK spindles. The average person would think they were all alike but if you look closely there are some tell-tale differences.

The 1st is one of the spindles where it says "up to 4x compatible" said it twice in bold "blue" background with white print. It says it one one side of the spindle and then on the other. But another spindle had the same "up to 4x compatible" marking with one "blue" background and the other a dark "GREEN' background. The second thing was that the bottom of the spindles were completely different. The one with the Green background was more flat with a circle in the middle while the other one was more "caved in." And the third difference I noticed was you could clearly see inside the spindle where the sterophoam circle pices are which hold the media in place were different. In the spindles with the all blue background the sterphoam pieces were solid white. While the Green background had a "sponge" look sterophoam pieces. Definitely two completely seperate tell tale differences.

I decided to rip off the shrink wrap on the Green background 100 pack quickly and look at one and I immediately noticed they were Ritek/ Ricoh manufactured disks. The dye was like all other ricoh disks and the serial number on the hub was the same as all ricoh disks. I put it down and went to rip open the shrink wrap of the blue background disks but a best buy employee saw what was going on and said I couldn't do that. I said I already did it and he looked dumbfounded, like they usually do. I thought about ripping the shrink wrap completely off the second spindle just to see if they were CMC disks like I thought, but I was in a mild mannered mood so figured i'd just leave it half way ripped off and find out some other time. If anyone gets that second described spindle, it would be nice to know if those are defintely CMC disks. Can't see why Ritek would do three completely different things with two different spindles.

Oh, the last thing I noticed was when I touched the surface of the Ricoh TDK disk is that it was a matte type rougher surface. It wasn't glossy like the Verbatim or TDK Ricoh disks. I wonder if it's cheaper to use that Matte surface over the Glossy clear coated surface. My hunch is it is. The TTG01 disks I have are a glossy surface but look identical to the rouch Ricoh ones I saw today. But the dye on the one I looked at today was flawless like most other Ricohs.

Don't know if anyone else finds this interesting, but I sure know I do. I'm really curious to know if that other spindle was definitely CMC produced disks.

[naturalzinc]

i have found that the RICOHs have a code number that starts w/ a "D" and the CMCs start w/ a "C+DR47G" on the inner ring, just before the write surface (both in very tiny print).

usful fact if u are gonna go crazy in the store and open up packages like that :P

[lordsmurf]

I decided to rip off the shrink wrap on the Green background 100 pack quickly and look at one .... I put it down and went to rip open the shrink wrap of the blue background disks but a best buy employee saw what was going on and said I couldn't do that. I said I already did it and he looked dumbfounded, like they usually do.

You're just like me. Except I think Best Buy employees are dumber than dirt, so I'll normally tell them to go away, I don't need their help (which also gets the dumb look while they stare ). Or just look at them and say "why not" while continuing to do it anyway then say "too late, may as well look since it's already open" (again, dumb stares).

Last I saw was CMC was black, RICOH was gray spindles. But that was months ago.

[awlchu]

The Best Buy in my area (Indiana) is very willing to return media that is opened. As far as I can tell, their return policy does not specifically single out media with any special 'no return' policy. Is this not true in other areas of the country?

I have been lucky. All the 100pc spindles have been RICOHs media, which burn well at 8x on my Plextor drive.

Do you know why Best Buys Sales persons wear a blue shirt? To match the color of their face due to the lack of oxygen to their brains!

[Pacis]

i have found that the RICOHs have a code number that starts w/ a "D" and the CMCs start w/ a "C+DR47G" on the inner ring, just before the write surface (both in very tiny print).

usful fact if u are gonna go crazy in the store and open up packages like that :P

Good to know that!
I did observ the Ricoh's start with "D"...
Thanks for the info, naturalzinc

[DVDeeZ]

You're just like me. Except I think Best Buy employees are dumber than dirt, so I'll normally tell them to go away, I don't need their help (which also gets the dumb look while they stare ). Or just look at them and say "why not" while continuing to do it anyway then say "too late, may as well look since it's already open" (again, dumb stares).

lmao, don't you just love those blank stares? What gets me most is that those rock heads look at you like you're ripping and opening up their shit. It's like those jackasses at the deli you ask for a little extra cheese and they look at you as though you're asking for their house. I love when they do that, I really have fun with those kind of people.

The reason I could care less about ripping open spindles of media like that is because of how screwed up it is that the media business is as deceptive as it is. How many people really have a clue about media id's, etc? Not many, and finding this site and reading info really helps immeaserably. Most of the CMC disks I've seen have a light type of "scratching" on the disks. The Verbatim CMC's, the Memorex CMC's, etc. The scratching was almost identical to that spindle of Fuji DVD-Rs I got from Best Buy a month ago on your reccomendation. I've just got bad luck. I can't possibley believe you had the same type of issues with the dye on those disks because your results were great. I've also had terrible luck with TDK switching on me, Memerox, etc.

And yea, it used to be grey sindle vs. black, not anymore. But in this post are tell-tale ways to tell "for now at least." But my luck has got to be the worst, all those problems and time wasted with the above mentioned disks and then/now the prodisc problems i'm having. Why are 95% of my prodiscs burning with that ring right after the lead-in? I don't know but if it's gonna happen, it will happen to me. The crazy thing is that I just realized that one of my standalone players skips right at the point where the burn ring is, freezes and skips right there, between 8:00 minutes or so into the movies. But my other two players play right through that burn ring like it's not even there. Glad at least I can play them but i'm definitely concerned about them getting worse. Boy does that suck.

[overloaded_ide]

I seldom buy media in a walk in store, but I would like to know what those were also or what to look out for when they have the big sales. Are they having a sale on good stuff or do they bury it in the back till the crap stuff is gone? If the packaging is different then the product probably is too.

When at Best BUY or any store that offers a return policy, open up the product and look it over before buying it and don't feel bad doing it either!

Look at it this way, you are doing them a big favor as well as yourself, right!

First you buy a pack of disks, cashier has to ring it up, stock boy has to put another on the shelf. You get home and open them, you don't want those, so you have to drive all the way back. You tie up the customer service girls time, she has to inspect the product, void the sale, count you out your refund. Then they have to repackage the item to be sold again or toss it in a return bin to send back someplace. And that was just the begining you see. Accounting has to enter the sale, compute the tax for the state and enter that, figure the profit on the sale, etc... Then you return the item, they have to remove the sale, attempt to ballance out the tax, subtract the profit and enter a loss instead etc...
Other things happen too, like someone had to count the money and put it in the bank the day you bought them etc...

The store has to pay for all of that just because you bought something you did not want!

So rip off those shrink wraps and be happy, your doing the store a big favor by doing it!

And talk about Blue Faced Best Buy employees with dumb looks
I was removing a $200 printer from the box when one made the mistake of telling me I could not do that. I simply asked him can I return it if I don't like it (as I continued to unpack it), he said yes I had 14 days to try it out. So I explained in more detail to him the big favor I was doing the store by reading the manaul before buying it. Rather unusual look on his face as he helped me take it out of the box
Course I do live about 150 miles to the nearest Best BUY so a 300 mile round trip for a return is not much of an option to me.

Wal-mart employees also have blue shirts
They are a wee bit smarter though, it's 50 miles to the super center, they now just ask me as I walk in, "What would you like to open today"?
I buy tons, but they know good and well I do bring back what I don't like and I think they are actually starting to like my reading the manuals in detail BEFORE buying stuff. Saves us both alot of time.

[lordsmurf]

What gets me most is that those rock heads look at you like you're ripping and opening up their shit. It's like those jackasses at the deli you ask for a little extra cheese and they look at you as though you're asking for their house.

AMEN !!!!!!!

Why do people act so greedy with stuff that's not even their's? Why the hell do they care? I don't care about things that aren't mine (owned by the company). Why must they act so cheap when I want a few extra packs of Ketchup? Weren't those intended for customers anyway? Or if I want to inspect the VCR/DVD recorder before I carry it home? What's the problem? WTF?!

I've made a conscious effort to belittle people that do this. I think their behavior is disgusting. When I ask for ketchup at a fast food place, and they give me two little packs for my super-sized fries, I look them in the eyes and say "do you by chance purchase this ketchup for the store with your own money?". They say "no". Then I respond "well good, then how about ******* giving me enough ketchup to finish this whole bag of fries, and not be greedy, handing me only two of these things!" I think cocktail and tarter sauce at seafood places is even harder to get.

I see this with food more than anything else. Why do people that get paid minimum wage act so stingy with stuff that were meant for the customers?

Again, you see a product that may or may not fit your needs? Rip that shit open in the store, and get a closer look. They get enough money in that place to afford a roll of tape to seal it back up.

[awlchu]

I never tried to run a disk tool on a BB computer to read the media ID. Has anyone tried to do it while in the store?

I bet that would turn the blue-boy's balls blue!

[Pacis]

I've had the will to do such a thing, but I didn't have the guts :P
They would certainly turn blue

[DVDeeZ]

@ lordsmurf, that was funny, we must be related because I do the exact same thing! Yea, how people can be so greedy with not only things that aren't theirs but things that as you said are meant for the customer's in the first place. I think part of it though is something you mentioned, they make minimum wage and are more bitter then not so the only way to make them feel good is to at least try to take pride in their work and if they're making a sandwich the rockheads actually start to think the lettuce and cheese and sauces are theirs. Coo Coo, have you seen the subway slices of cheese? They are itty bitty friggin' triangles. It takes like eight of them to make a single slice of actual deli sliced cheese that's why I don't even eat there. That's why I hate those subway "jared" commercials, of course you're gonna lose weight on the subway diet, they don't put any meat or cheese on their subs!

[DVD_Ripper]

I've made a conscious effort to belittle people that do this. I think their behavior is disgusting. When I ask for ketchup at a fast food place, and they give me two little packs for my super-sized fries, I look them in the eyes and say "do you by chance purchase this ketchup for the store with your own money?". They say "no". Then I respond "well good, then how about ******* giving me enough ketchup to finish this whole bag of fries, and not be greedy, handing me only two of these things!" I think cocktail and tarter sauce at seafood places is even harder to get.

You can almost see at Burger McTraining School the manager telling them:

"ok... only give them 2 packs of Ketchup to start... they cost us .002 cents each so start with 2 packs... if they ask for more only give them 3 more... the $32 million we spent on research shows that giving them 3 more normally appeases most people and they wont ask for more"

[Pacis]

i have found that the RICOHs have a code number that starts w/ a "D" and the CMCs start w/ a "C+DR47G" on the inner ring, just before the write surface (both in very tiny print).

usful fact if u are gonna go crazy in the store and open up packages like that :P

My experience with CMCs:
They start with CPDR47G on the inner ring.
But that's too difficult to read without taking the CD out of the box/spindle. So, there's no other way, but unwrap the whole thing

[airwid]

As much as I agree with you all, the fast food places here are much more generous with their condiments than in other places. My travels to Europe have produced many an encounter with fast food employees who have to charge 25cents per pack. Luckily for me I like fries with no ketchup (as long as they're not crap fries like in-n-out or mcd's). At least these bastards told me that up front, instead of other places where they asked me if I wanted ketchup, and thinking it was free, I would say yes. Later I look at my receipt to find that they still charged me anyway. The better restaurants pull that crap with bread, deceiving naive Americans into thinking that like America, the bread is included with the meal. You won't find out until you receive the bill that the bread was $10.00. Ah well, what do you expect from a continent that charges even their customers to use their bathrooms. One internet cafe I went to had only one employee on the premises, and she wasn't there to help with computer problems, but only to collect the quarters from bathroom users.

So, in my opinion, it is your duty to your country to ask for obscene amounts of ketchup, open up packages at Best Buys, and sh*t for free in somebody else's toilets. God knows that if we don't, companies will try to go Euro on us.

[lordsmurf]

Ah well, what do you expect from a continent

You've obviously never been to Canada. As much as I love the place, some real stingy bastards up there. No free refills (in fact "refill" isn't a word, you want more, buy another one), no free condiments, no free shitter (must make a purchase to go take a leak), nothing. I'm surprised they didn't charge for air. Not everywhere mind you, but in a lot of the place I went this was the cases.

[airwid]

You've obviously never been to Canada. As much as I love the place, some real stingy bastards up there. No free refills (in fact "refill" isn't a word, you want more, buy another one), no free condiments, no free shitter (must make a purchase to go take a leak), nothing.

I spent 2 days in Victoria, and 2 in Vancouver, that's the extent of my time in Canada. So I really didn't have time to notice that if that was indeed the case. Keep in mind that many European places still charge PAYING CUSTOMERS to use their toilets, which still makes them the kings of stinginess, IMO. But I guess there will always be someone else contending for the throne.

One American I met in Denmark wondered as we walked by a Hard Rock Cafe why anyone would want to eat at such a touristy, American place. Having just had lunch there, I replied with two words: "Free refills" (as far as I know, the only estabilishment in Europe that's heard of that concept).

[naturalzinc]

serious hijack!