Ritek G03's(DVD-R) aren't such a great deal anymore.

[tgferg67]

I can't see buying this off brand media anymore at these prices. I also question there life expectancy. I'm think of making the switch to the Samsung BeAll media. The are just a little more than the Riteks. For example at Meritline 100 Ritek G03's are $1.19 a piece while the Samsungs are $1.54. The Samsungs claim a 100 year life expectancy and government agencies use their media.

Anyone have problems with the Samsung BeALL media?

[tingwc]

I agree. I am down to 25 Ritek's left, and I need to make a decision soon on what to purchase. I'm thinking about buying some ACCU's at CDRDVDRMEDIA, 100 for $84. It also said 2x burning on the DRU-500a. Any thoughts on this dvd-r?

http://store.yahoo.com/cdrdvdrmedia/higqual47dvm6.html

[wot_fan]

Evidently no one has had any bad experiences with Samsung BeALL media.

I think my next spindle will be made by Samsung. The cheapest/only online retailer that I have been able to find for a 100 dvd-r spindle is http://store.yahoo.com/cdrdvdrmedia/ ($154+S/H). Does anyone know of any seller with a better price?

Please, if anybody has had a problem with these especially with a sony burner, please respond and share your experience.

TIA,
wot_fan

[Faustus]

If the Riteks go up to more expensive then Samsung I will switch, but I'm not switching just cause the price has creeped up a little. Prices do that. I also have heard good things about the samsung disk, but have not used them myself.

Wotfan, read book 10 yet?

[disturbed1]

I bought a sample pack of the Samsung some time ago. Not any issues in the burning or playback department. I buy Ritek now because they're cheaper, but if the price goes above $110, I may look for another brand. Samsung is on that list.

Has anybody tried the Maxell unbranded yet?
http://www.bestsonic.com/be100pa47gbd.html

[VinnySem]

I love the Samsung/BeAll disks. I buy the jewel cased/white top ones, the price difference between those and spindle pack is negligible. They burn @ 2x in my Sony DRU-500UL, and playback flawlessly in every set top player I have tested. They feel well-built too, not flimsy and flexy like some of the other less expensive brands. 25 for $40 at CDRDVDRMedia.com, oe $1.60 apiece.

[oldfart13]

I'm trying to keep my purchases in my own currency but usually have to buy outside my community. The Riteks have worked well for me in the past but I'd like to try some of the G04s so I can get some real speed burning done with my Pioneer A05. I'd use other brands but they don't seem to be available and (weirdly enough) even the few Chinese computer parts resellers in town have no idea what I'm talking about when I want to buy Riteks or other brands...

[That_Kid]

I too was a little upset by the rise in price in the riteks. I have a Pioneer 105 and now that the hacked ritek G03 firmware is out I don't mind so much. $1.10 is a decent price for reliable 2x media. It's not worth the 60 cents extra for the G04s when its only 15 minutes faster per burn.

[wot_fan]

My only experience is with the Ritek media. I have burned 60 or so out of a 100 spindle. I have had some problems with burns that use the whole disk (4.2+Gb). Others have played fine with my Lite On drive but have problems in my stand alone player. I have to assume it is the media because a second burn (done the exact same way) results in a disk that plays fine in all my players.

Overall 1 in 10 seems to have problems in my stand alone. My other concern is how long will the riteks be playable? The BeAll clame their media lasts for 100 years. Time will tell...

flaystus,

I had it pre-ordered. I really enjoyed it, but like all the rest, I wish there was more. I hate having to wait 2+ years to find out what happens next.

Sorry everybody for the off topic post, but this IS Wheel of Time we are talking about

Thanks everybody for your comments.

wot_fan

[player]

I also had the same problem with a recent purches of 1x Riteks. I think I will give Samsung BeAll media a try.

[wot_fan]

I just ordered a 100 pack of the BeAll media ($1.61 each w/shipping) from cdrdvdrmedia.com.

I have several movies ripped and ready to burn that are 4.3+Gb. So far the Ritek media works less than half the time if the the movie is 4.2+Gb. They seem to burn fine, but when played they get really bad artifacts at the end of the movie or just plain stop playing. We will see how the BeAll preforms.

I'll let everyone know what I find out.

wot_fan

[Doggiedaddy]

Has anyone done any extensive testing on LEDA brand? I would be interested in any info pro or con on this media. These are available on DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW in standard, 2x and 4x. I have a couple of + and - writers each and am about to re-supply media. The cost and site reviews look good on shop4tech but I have not tested myself.
Site also has own brand media ranging all the way down to .85 cents ea. @ 500 spools?

http://www.shop4tech.com/user.htm?go=view_cata&s_cata=88

[dowzup1]

The 'LEDAS' that shop4tech sold me turn out to be Princo 1x. They've been about as solid as Ritek G03s in both burn and playback so far for me. They are also working fine with the new 2x firmware hack for the 105.

dowz

[sparker]

Anyone know the average lifespan of non-guarenteed DVD-R media?
I use a lot of purple Bulkpaq and have no problems with them, and while I dont care whether or not they will last 100 years, I'd like to think I could still watch them in say 10 years time.

[dowzup1]

My take on lifespan is that technology is bound to retire your discs before rot does. As lasers evolve, we will find ways of cramming increasing amounts of data on our media, meaning that we'll likely be copying this stuff over to something new and spiffy soon enough.

I remember in '96 we thought zip drives were the bomb. I was burning cd's by '99 and dvd's by '02. What a ride, eh?

dowz

[sparker]

Thats true, but then my wedding video is still on VHS (I'll get round to converting it one day!), and that was 1988. So I do want a reasonable lifespan out of my media.

[rubberman]

After doing a little research on the online stores, I have found that cdrdvdrmedia.com is the cheapest at $32.25 w/ free shipping. Heres the breakdown:

Rima $30+$4.15ship=34.15
Meritline $29.75+5.84=35.59
allmediaoutlet $35.00 free ship
shop4tech 46.00
supermediastore48.00

still prices arent as good as they were 2 months ago.

[aybesea]

I agree. I am down to 25 Ritek's left, and I need to make a decision soon on what to purchase. I'm thinking about buying some ACCU's at CDRDVDRMEDIA, 100 for $84. It also said 2x burning on the DRU-500a. Any thoughts on this dvd-r?

http://store.yahoo.com/cdrdvdrmedia/higqual47dvm6.html

I've been very happy with these. In fact, I just got in a shipment of 500 today.

[monoxide77]

can somebody post back in 100 years and tell us how the G03's are holdin' up?

[monoxide77]

I remember in '96 we thought zip drives were the bomb. I was burning cd's by '99 and dvd's by '02. What a ride, eh?

ahh... i remember my first CD burner. It was a Smart and Friendly 2x back in '99. at a cool $220 it was the coolest toy on my block. everybody was amazed. "hey can you burn me a copy of Godsmsck's CD?"
"Sure, this little baby can burn a whole CD in 40 minutes!"

[aybesea]

Damn, as soon as I posted I opened my new shipment of 500 ACCU's. The first two wouldn't burn to completion. Looks like these are on their way back to California!

[oldfart13]

What about the Princo 4X discs that are starting to show up over here? Are they better or worse than Ritek G04s? I'd like some opinions before I plunk down money on a spool of 100...

[VinnySem]

Damn, as soon as I posted I opened my new shipment of 500 ACCU's. The first two wouldn't burn to completion. Looks like these are on their way back to California!

500 Accu's? That's a hella big cocktail party, all those coasters

Sorry, I had to... I got 2 of those in a sampler pack I ordered from cdrdvdrmedia.com, and they both coasterized after 2% burning on my DRU500UL. Every other blank in the pack burned to perfection. I like the Samsungs best, good price for the quality and compatibility. They have played in 7 different brand set-top players, 2 the Playstation 2, and the XBox. If you get the jewel-cased media and not the spindle pack of the Samsungs, they have a nice "branded" white top, which I like for asthetic reasons over silver topped media. There is no real price difference between the jewel cased ones and the spindle pack.

I have read in this forum, however, that "white top" Accu's are actually made by Sony when tested with one of the DVD identification utilities, and that many users have had great success with these. Try downloading DVDInfo and check the actual manufacturer of the media. The ones that came in my pack were actually silver top, "LD" was the manufacturer shown in DVDInfo. And like I said, both failed right off the bat. The others that came in my pack were 2 Ritek G03s, 2 G04s, 2 Samsungs, the Accus, and 4 Meritline disks that turned out to be made by Ricoh.

[rubberman]

anyone know of other stores that may be cheaper than what i listed above? thanks

[wot_fan]

I received my 2 fifty packs of the BeAll dvd-rs last week. I have burned 11 large (~4.2+Gb) dvds without a single coaster. They all burned at 2x and have played on every player that I own. I realize that 11 dvds taken from ONE spindle is a very small sample to base judgments on, but I have to say that I am very satisfied with my purchase. 8) IMO the BeAll disks even look of a higher quality than the Riteks.

For those that care the 11 dvds sizes were 4.19Gb, 4.20Gb, 4.21Gb, 4.23Gb, 4.23Gb, 4.24Gb, 4.26Gb, 4.32Gb, 4.33Gb, 4.33Gb and 4.36Gb. One of the 4.33Gb failed 3 times on my Ritek media before I got the BeAlls.

Maybe I just got a bad spindle of the Ritek media, but lately the only way I can get a good burn (even on dvds <4Gb) is to burn a 1x. One in three of the last 20 have been coasters.

My BeAll Media
00 6A 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 50 00 02 57 0E 14 .J...@....P..W..
87 88 80 00 03 42 65 41 6C 6C 20 00 04 47 30 30 .....BEALL ..G00
30 30 31 00 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 00 00 001..........…

My Ritek Media
00 6A 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 50 00 02 37 0E 0B .J...@....P..7..
FE FF 80 00 03 52 49 54 45 4B 47 00 04 30 33 00 .....RITEKG..03.

wot_fan

[boden11]

99? my first burned cd was back in 05/23/1997 on a gold (actual gold reflective layer) KAO disc that was a baragain at only $4 at a swap meet cuz I bought a pack of em. anyone top that? still got it too and it works fine

My take on lifespan is that technology is bound to retire your discs before rot does. As lasers evolve, we will find ways of cramming increasing amounts of data on our media, meaning that we'll likely be copying this stuff over to something new and spiffy soon enough.

I remember in '96 we thought zip drives were the bomb. I was burning cd's by '99 and dvd's by '02. What a ride, eh?

dowz

[oldfart13]

I have one that I just checked that was burned on a Sony Gold CD dated January 4th, 1996. The programs still can be read from the disc just fine...

[Xblackout]

HI People. I am Back.

After a 2 month trip to europe i am finally back to burn my DVD Again

It seems the market has fluctuate a bid. Especially for the Ritek G03, I guess their price will not be as competitive as before.

I just recieve the 100pack Optodisc Gold media from http://www.supermediastore.com surprising enough it actually burn 2X in my DRU500A. No Coaster. Have anyone tried those yet!!

I think these disc are so far the cheapest but reliable disc that I can find on the market. Haven't seen anyone offer at this low yet!!

How about the 2x Maxell that been going around. How's those discs? Have anyone tried?

[oldfart13]

The REAL Maxell's or the fake ones? The Pine 5 packs seem to be Bulkpack with fake Maxell IDs. No way shape or form will they work in my Pioneer A05 with the 1.00 firmware. Doesn't even see those discs. REAL branded Maxell 2X discs work perfectly....