Meritline's junk Ritek G04/cust. supp - Rima rocks!

[Shtirlits]

Hi,

So, after reading so much positive stuff about Ritek G04 I ordered 100 DVD-R disks from Meretline (102-002-050).
http://www.meritline.com/rit4xcerhigd.html

All of the disks (all 100 of them) have what appears to be like drops of glue or something on their sides...I have never seen anything like this. Is this normal? I think I remember reading here people talking about this, that their Ritek G04 from Meritline have bad sides. I thought ok well; if they burn fine I don't care too much. So, I burned 5 disks at 4X using external USB 2.0 LG GSA 4040B and Nero 6.

First of all they don't seem to burn at 4X. It takes around 20 minutes (give or take a few minutes) to burn a full DVD. That comes out to about 202 MB per minute, which puts it in the neighborhood of about 2.5X, but clearly not 4X. Why doesn't it burn at 4X?

Second, the disk played in both DVD players (stationary Sony and computer one), but I have noticed that the movie skips during the play. One movie started skipping in the beginning and at the end. Another one skips closer to the end. Why does that happen?

For the record, I never had a problem with my DVDs skipping and I was using cheap CompUSA's DVD-R for like 70c each 1X that for some reason burn at 2X in Nero 6.

So, what do you people think is going on here? Why doesn't it burn at 4X and why all the skips?

Your advice is greatly appreciated!

P.S.
For a contrast I called Rima’s customer service.
They told that they never heard of Ritek disks with the artifacts on the edges of the disks like I have described and offered me to send a free sample of their Ritek disks. I customer support person picked up the phone when I called and they send me a confirmation email in like 10 minutes after I called about the sample disk. I called Meritline’s customer support, no answer, I left a message and asked them to call me back, no answer. Still waiting to get RMA number from them VIA email.

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[defense]

apparently meritline is pulling a fast one again. Getting Grade B media and selling it for the price of Grade A. If the disks burn perfectly and play perfectly, I wouldn't worry about it. I purchased a spindle of G04 silver tops and noticed the same thing. However, I didn't purchase them from meritline, and I knew ahead of time their appearance wasn't perfect.

I posted this in a thread..read my second paragraph in my second post. Here is the link:
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=190236

As I said though the write side looked just like any other Ritek i've ever used (perfect) and as I said..they burned and played perfectly...all of them.

So I wouldn't be too concerned if they all burn fine.

[Tom81]

As anyone ever got a reply from Meritline customer service?

[LanEvo7]

For the record it does take 15-20 min to burn a 4x dvd because of other factors besides burning the data. But Meritline seems to need some improving with their customer support. They'll might answer you on this forum since they come here every now and then. Sad that you have to openly report this in a forum for any action though.

[stiltman]

apparently meritline is pulling a fast one again. Getting Grade B media and selling it for the price of Grade A.

How do you know what the grade is?
Are the codes different?
Is the labling different?
I keep hearing this grade stuff, but I've yet to see anything that can prove what grade a certain disk is.

[Shtirlits]

So I wouldn't be too concerned if they all burn fine.

That is the thing. They burned without any errors, but when playing the movie skips in more then one place. The same movie burned on a different brand doesn't skip.

[youngblood]

I ordered 100 GO3 Ritek DVD-R's back at the end of November at $74.00 (free shipping) and still have not gotten them. I paid them through Pay-pal so after a 8 days went by I called and they said they recieve the money but not the order of the discs. I said I have a confirmation from pay-pal saying it was confirmed on the 100 Ritek DVD-R's. Now the price is $85.00 and they told me they would send them out today I said I needed them last Monday (that is when I thought I was getting them) but now I have to wait another week. They told me they could send them to me 2-day Air but it would cost $13.00 extra. I said "can't you waive the postage" because they knew I sent the money back on Nov 29. They told me they couldn't they were honering me the $74.00 price compared to the $85.00. I was shocked they couldn't eat the $13.00 for postage. I feel they had my name and if they didn't know what I order? (it was on the pay-pal confirmation) they should of called me because I am a regular customer. I will think next time before order from them again....YB

[defense]

How do you know what the grade is?
Are the codes different?
Is the labling different?
I keep hearing this grade stuff, but I've yet to see anything that can prove what grade a certain disk is.

@ stiltman..I posted this in the link above. Grading is an internal thing and you aren't going to ever know you're getting a GRADE A disk unless it's advertised as such. That is the unfortunate part. The problem is that as media prices become so much cheaper, these online sites start pulling more and more shady business practices to make sales. There have always been lower Grade Ritek....just because of the sheer number of disks Ritek produces.

I got some very valuable information on the Grading of disks from someone who oversees a media manufacturing plant in Taiwain. If you have any specific questions on how the grading process works or how a disk is manufactured....ask me and I'll get the exact answer from them.

But as I said..the gist of it is that appearance and physical condition of the dye are certainly important in the grading of disks. The Grade A Riteks are as close to perfect as you can get. But even Ritek..whether they intentionally produce lower grade media or not...do SELL it. I can find out whether they intentionally produce lower grade media..and I will. Most of their lower grade media was in Asia, but apparently many of these Ritek Grade C disks have been sold in the U.S. That's why there is a growing epidemic of more and more people who have come forward and said they have had issues with Ritek.

This also confirms what I said numerous months ago in that sticky above...which is basically that you can NOT say "X" media is great and "Y" is terrible..because at ANY GIVEN time it can change. Verbatim was used as an example..now we see Memorex outsourcing CMC...then it was Optodiscs lower grade media which MANY people had problems with, and now it's RITEK. Of course, the GRADE A RITEK's are still rock solid..but it all boils down to "BUYER BEWARE." If you get shafted from an online site with GRADE C RITEKs or lower...then return them immediately and go somewhere else. You'll know they are lower GRADE disks if the appearance is poor...just like my experience and shtirlits. Grade A RITEK disks are clean as a whistle all around.

If the disks burn perfectly but aren't the best looking..then they are GRADE B..just like the ones I purchased most recently. But if you start getting burn errors or disk issues with the Ritek..that's the #1 indicator..return them IMMEDIATELY. It's unfortunate that people can't rely on Ritek 100%...but I suggested a while back that this was very probable.

@ Shtirlits, then those ARE NOT GRADE B..like the ones I got. They are probably Grade C...and they are "HIT OR MISS." You got shafted..plain and simple....those disks aren't part of a bad batch either because of the visible dye and glue issues on the disk. It's very apparent to me meritline and some of these other online sites which will find out from very soon...have decided to go the "PHONY MAXELL" media id route for those who remember that huge scam.

My belief is that these online sites are having a harder time with sales of media because very high quality media is being sold CHEAPER at places like TARGET, COMPUSA, BEST BUY, WALGREENS, AND SAMS CLUB. I said this a long time ago...why would anyone in their right mind order media online and either, A) pay for shipping, or B) have to wait for the media when they get media the same day, at a higher quality, for a cheaper price.

So I believe by these online sites purchasing lower grade media...they are making more PER DISK....but shafting the customer in return. Yea....the people on this forum will get taken care of...but how shady is that? What about the other thousands of people who have no clue why they alll of a sudden purchased "THE HIGHLY COVETED" RITEK disks and now they suddenly error out or won't burn. @Shtirlits, I reccomend you get a hold of meritline via phone or email..get an RMA...get some solid media or your money back...and purchase from one of the major retail stores.

[Lobe]

I doubt the codes would be different for grade B media, as the grade was decided after it's already been produced, correct?

anyway, Meritline is the worst! bad customer service, poor packaging Fake media...dishonest all around. getting ripped off by them once was enough.

Yes, rima is great! one of the best places I've bought from, including all types of online stores.
And the Ritek G04's I got from them 2-weeks ago 60 discs in not a bad one yet. I placed the order online and then sent any email after that asking for some other samples of cases. No problem, they emailed me right away and were able to include them with my order... sadly that is rare these days.

Meritline: "sorry, we don't give out samples"

After all that's been posted here and elswhere, I can't believe people still give Meritline their money.

[defense]

I doubt the codes would be different for grade B media, as the grade was decided after it's already been produced, correct?

The Codes would be EXACTLY the same...so yes, that is correct.

I did purchase some RITEK G04 under the "RIDATA" name a while back..and their media ID was slightly different then the authentic RITEK G04s..but both disks were excellent, GRADE A disks.

[dallastx]

I will never order form Meriteline again myself. I placed a order wenesday around 1pm. I need 100 pk g03 by friday, so i did 2nd day air. Most companies would have processed the order and sent it out for delv for friday. I didnt recieve any type of confiramtion so I called and they told me it was going to ship out today (thursday)! Now, im never the one to complain but if i pay you for second day shipping i expect my order the second day not the third. Of course they tried to give me a excuse i was a hr to late when opalcing the order, and i cant cancell the order becasue it has already been processed. All i have to say is i order dvd's every month from diffrent companies and 2 times this has happened through meritline NEVER AGAIN WILL I ORDER FROM THEM

[stiltman]

@ defense, Ask your friend how they track the different grades. I assume they must track them, as they will sell them to different distributors at different prices. Do they use the run numbers? Is there a way we can track the DVDs the same way they do?

I just bought a batch of orange tops from PCclub. The last batch I bought were perfect @ $1.20pc. These were $.80pc

[defense]

@ defense, Ask your friend how they track the different grades. I assume they must track them, as they will sell them to different distributors at different prices. Do they use the run numbers? Is there a way we can track the DVDs the same way they do?

@ stiltman..he's not a friend..he's an acquantaince....but I guess that's not important. I will ask him and let you know. He actually knows the CEO of Ritek and that is how I found out that I was incorrect on another post where I said I don't believe Ritek is manufacturing the majority of Ricoh media. Some other posters..RaagaMan..and Metaluna said RITEK does infact, manufacuter the majority of Ricoh's media. They were incorrect on a few minor details in the thread..but they were correct in their main points. But I immediately asked this guy if he wouldn't mind checking this out for me if he got the opportunity..he did and he confirmed what they said was accurate, and my info was incorrect.

I'll find out the info you want and post it...give me a maximum of a few days.

[DaveS]

you know I just got my order of 45 taiyo-yudens from meritline..at first I thought I was ok b/c mine did ship right away and arrived as expected.

however, I have the same glue problems on the side that others seem to have ...almost like there's too much glue and extra got squeezed out...

the surfaces all look very good ... the only defects I see are on some there are a few very tiny nicks in the burn sufrace at the very outer edge, outside where it looks like it would burn (e.g. on the smooth margin of the outer edge)

1 of 1 burned no problem on my set top (although 1x) and plays fine on my standalone player

I get no read errors on dvdinfopro.

Based on what you guys are saying, these are more like a grade B - burns fine but looks a little ugly b/c of the glue. Kind of dissappointing b/c I didn't think I was paying a grade B price...so next time I will stay away from meritline on these

the beall's I ordered look really good - no glue problems at all and the surfaces all look good (and for less $ than the TYs)

I guess I shouldn't worry about the nicks but I can't tell...

[chirsnorton]

Hmm... I just placed a first time order with meritline. Haven't gotten my riteks yet, but I hope I don't have the same problem as you guys. Oh well, they were a good price, let's see if they're ok.

[DaveS]

I think next time I'll look harder at rima esp b/c you guys are giving them better reviews than meritline (although I wonder if this changes over time)

[defense]

Based on what you guys are saying, these are more like a grade B - burns fine but looks a little ugly b/c of the glue. Kind of dissappointing b/c I didn't think I was paying a grade B price...so next time I will stay away from meritline on these

Yea...those sound identical to the last batch of Riteks I got...but I knew in advance there were some cosmetic issues with the disks..I got a great deal and the disks all burned perfectly...so I didn't care.

But I've NEVER heard Taiyos having any issues at all....even cosmetic related. My cousin has purchased only Taiyo Yuden exclusively...and every last one of them are as clean as you can get. Taiyo Yuden even puts a "TWIST SCREW" cap on the top of their spindles...not that plastic or Styrofoam piece on the top that can still allow the disks to shift and damage. No...the Taiyos...at least the ones my cousin has purchased...all have that twist screw top which keeps the disks very tight while shipping. They are amazing disks....but I hope we don't start seeing more and more issues with them now....especially for what they cost.

[stiltman]

OK I decided to check the media codes on the disks I bought 2 months ago and the ones I just picked up....Looks like the same DVD-Rs but look close


DVD-Rs from PCclub 2 months ago
Run number starts with H4-6L and H4-8L
00000000 00 6C 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 52 00 02 65 0E 0B .l...@....R..e..
00000010 FE FF 80 00 03 52 49 54 45 4B 47 00 04 30 34 00 .....RITEKG..04.
00000020 00 00 00 00 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 06 06 0F 12 ................

DVD-Rs from PCclub this week
Run number starts with H4-5L
00000000 00 6C 00 00 01 40 C1 FD 9E D8 52 00 02 76 0E 14 .l...@....R..v..
00000010 88 9A 80 00 03 52 49 54 45 4B 47 00 04 30 34 00 .....RITEKG..04.
00000020 00 00 00 00 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 06 08 12 11 ................


Are we on to something here?

[defense]

@ stiltman...I don't think the differences in those media id's mean much. There was a document at cdfreaks I read a long time ago explaining the differences in media id's. The majority of the numbers in the media id are only for identifier purposes and things which really aren't important to the end user. There are only a few of those lines which directly pertain to write strategy....if I find the document I'll post it...but I can assure you that the Grade A Ritek G04's I purchased a few months ago..and the Grade B disks with the cosmetic glue issues both have the identical media id.

My Ridata Ritek GO4's have a variation..but they burn excellent too. But like I said..i'll get the info you want.

[FulciLives]

Based on what you guys are saying, these are more like a grade B - burns fine but looks a little ugly b/c of the glue. Kind of dissappointing b/c I didn't think I was paying a grade B price...so next time I will stay away from meritline on these

Yea...those sound identical to the last batch of Riteks I got...but I knew in advance there were some cosmetic issues with the disks..I got a great deal and the disks all burned perfectly...so I didn't care.

But I've NEVER heard Taiyos having any issues at all....even cosmetic related. My cousin has purchased only Taiyo Yuden exclusively...and every last one of them are as clean as you can get. Taiyo Yuden even puts a TWISE "SCREWEW" cap on the top of their spindles...not that plastic or Styrofoam piece on the top that can still allow the disks to shift and damage. No...the Taiyos...at least the ones my cousin has purchased...all have that twist screw top which keeps the disks very tight while shipping. They are amazing disks....but I hope we don't start seeing more and more issues with them now....especially for what they cost.

I too have been mostly sticky to Taiyo-Yuden because I was tired of shit media. I've been buying the FUJI 10-packs at BEST BUY. They say MADE IN JAPAN and are Taiyo-Yuden. They are always clean and burn at 4.1x MAX (4.0 AVG) and I run eveyr single one through DVDInfoPro (pain in the ass doing that) and never had one single read error with them.

Price sucks at 10 for $25.00 plus TAX but at least I have no media worries.

Been thinking of buying the Taiyo-Yuden discs from RIMA.COM as the price is cheaper per disc and I don't need the jewel cases anyways that the BEST BUY FUJI package uses but I never seem to have $168+shipping on me at any one time for the 100 pack

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
A couple of months ago I bought the 1x-4x BeAll DVD-R discs from Meritline and out of a 25 pack most had read errors near the very end (around the 4.2 mark).

[defense]

@ fulcilives...yea..you aren't gonna have any media issues to worry about....whether the price is justified or not is debatable..because i've gotten the same results with Gold Topped Opto's and Ritek..as well as Maxell and TDK..that I have with the Taiyo's...all excellent quality disks with flawless playback. I've gotten the same with Ritek until recently....but you are paying that money for consistency...and you have been extremely satisfied. But more and more people who have purchased Ritek have gotten "BURNED"....it's unfortunate...but I love that saying.

[jam007]

I just ordered a bunch of the same discs from meritline. After reading this i got all worried so i opened up a pack to see if I had these "glue marks" and I have not noticed any noticable defects.

But I have not tried burning on them.

Keeping my fingers crossed!!!

>>JAM<<

[stiltman]

@ defence,

I scanned these from the disk. Maybe it will help your contact in our quest to find the answer about the grades

here's the run numbers

[stiltman]

@ defence,

I scanned these from the disk. Maybe it will help your contact in our quest to find the answer about the grades

here's the other numbers that are truely very small, thank god for scanners and Photoshop



BTW, these are Orange top with the stencil mountain scene

[DaveS]

actually, I thought the TYs would be really good (based mostly on your guys recommendations, which I really appreciate!) - these are what I'm using for my own tape archive (kids etc.)

...so, this is what I received from mertline...it's hard to tell from the pic (best I could do esp at 50k max) but the glue thing bothers me a bit ...

[defense]

@ stiltman...thanks for uploading those pics..they look very neat and clean. I'll find out if the hub coding means anything or the media id's in this particular case. Your scanner does a nice job....I don't have mine hooked up because I never use it. I purchased it about a year ago..and have only used it a handful of times...and a few of those times was to upload pics to this forum.....lol.

@ DaveS...I wouldn't be too concerned about the sides..that isn't gonna affect the disk...if they burn and play flawlessly..i'd live with it..but if it really bothers you..send them back to meritline immediately..get your money back..and purchase them somewhere else. As I said...that's really sad that meritline is obtaining lower grade Taiyo's and Riteks and selling them for about the same price as the top notch disks.

[DaveS]

@ DaveS...I wouldn't be too concerned about the sides..that isn't gonna affect the disk...if they burn and play flawlessly..i'd live with it..but if it really bothers you..send them back to meritline immediately..get your money back..and purchase them somewhere else. As I said...that's really sad that meritline is obtaining lower grade Taiyo's and Riteks and selling them for about the same price as the top notch disks.

thanks - that was kinda my thoughts...I don't think it's actually worth the $ for shipping to return them since I think they will burn / play ok (2 of 2 so far no read errors & seem to play fine), so I continue using them & will just keep it in mind for next time...thanks for the comments

[FulciLives]

@ fulcilives...yea..you aren't gonna have any media issues to worry about....whether the price is justified or not is debatable..because i've gotten the same results with Gold Topped Opto's and Ritek..as well as Maxell and TDK..that I have with the Taiyo's...all excellent quality disks with flawless playback. I've gotten the same with Ritek until recently....but you are paying that money for consistency...and you have been extremely satisfied. But more and more people who have purchased Ritek have gotten "BURNED"....it's unfortunate...but I love that saying.

I just wanted to say that I've used MAXELL DVD-R discs in the past (which also come in a 10-pack of CD style jewel cases like the FUJI 10-pack) and was very pleased with them. I would say that they are as good as the Taiyo-Yuden discs except BEST BUY no longer seems to carry them and when they did the price was the same as the FUJI Taiyo-Yuden 10-pack anyways.

In a pinch I bought a 5 pack of TDK 2x DVD-R discs this past weekend from TARGET. They came in DVD style cases and said MADE IN JAPAN (yeah!) and the media code was something like MXL RG01 and they only burned at 2x (as avertised) but I burned 4 of them (one out to 4.3GB) and tested the 4 in DVDInfoPro and as with the MAXELL and FUJI Taiyo-Yuden discs there were NO read errors.

I'd be tempted to get the RITEK G04 DVD-R discs but damn ... too many problems as of late. I don't like paying the prices I am currently but it is WORTH it to me to get quality media. Nothing was worse than running those Meritline 1x-4x "certified" BeAll DVD-R discs through DVDInfoPro and getting 1,000+ read erros from 4.2GB on til the end of the disc.

Blah !!!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

P.S.
I just bought and recieved some 2 disc DVD cases from MERITLINE.COM but I think I am done with them. They seem too "shady" at least with the quality of the DVD discs they offer.

[pauln119]

I bought some of those "certified" BeAll DVD-R media from Meritline as well and found that they don't work with the NEC 1300A, even with the hacked 1.08 firmware. Tried to give the media a negative review and comment that it doesn't work with NEC 1300A writers, but my review was never posted. No wonder the only reviews you see on the Meritline site are positive reviews. In the future, if I were to buy Riteks which work fine with the 1300A, I certainly won't be buying them from Meritline. Newegg.com sells Riteks as well, and based on all the positive reviews of their business, and the fact that they don't seem to censor their negative reviews, I would have more trust in the products that they sell.

[QuaiBoy]

This whole "grade" argument strikes me as a load. Why would Ritek PURPOSELY sell media that they KNOW to be of a lesser quality (what is referred to around here as "Grade C") in the same packaging as the flawless (supposed "Grade A") examples? Makes no sense to me if they care at all about their customers. All this would do is muddy the Ritek name.

I submit that quality control isn't what it used to be at Ritek. Maybe they've had to lower pass/fail standards as of late because of poor yields or sub-par materials. Before you flame me, realize that this suggestion is just as valid as the whole unconfirmed "Grade A-C" argument... who came up with this anyway? I understand internal grading routines are in place, but is there any shred of evidence to support the idea that shoddy Ritek media is purposely packaged in the same wrapper as the perfect examples? Are there any company-based comments to confirm/deny this?

FWIW, I just plowed through a 50pk of the Newegg Ridata G04s without a coaster, and playback is perfect. Dye quality and appearance are impeccable. Also, another A+ for Rima - contacted them last week for a sample pack of specific discs and offered to pay for it. Told me it was free including shipping! That's a company I'll frequent in the future.

-Evan-