Ritek set to mass produce rewritable BR & HD-DVD Discs

[akrako1]

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=s...&intsrc=kc_top

Ritek set to mass produce rewritable Blu-ray discs
The company will also mass produce HD DVD-RE

May 22, 2007 (IDG News Service) -- Taiwanese disc maker Ritek Corp. plans to start mass producing BD-RE (Blu-Ray Disc Rewritable) discs as well as HD DVD-RE (high definition) discs in the third quarter of this year, a small but important step to helping reduce the cost of such discs for users.

A handful of Taiwanese companies dominate the disc mass production business, including Ritek and rival CMC Magnetics Corp. These companies license disc technology from developers and then spin out as many discs as they can in a bid to drive down the cost of each disc and earn as much revenue as possible.

Initially, however, BD-RE and HD DVD-RE discs will be pricey. The average cost per disc will remain around $10 in retail outlets, despite production costs of around $5 per disc, said Eric Ai, a Ritek representative. Prices won't likely come down until other mass disc producers in Taiwan win accreditation to make the discs, and ramp up volumes.

Each single-layer BD-RE disc has a capacity of 25GB, enough to hold three hours of terrestrial digital high-definition TV, or six hours of standard TV. HD DVD-RE discs can hold around 20GB of data, while DVD discs hold 4.7GB.

Now we just need the price of the burners to come down...

[kush]

..and a company like TY or MCC/Verbatim to get in on the act. Ritek's SD DVD media sucks (in comparison to TY/MCC at least) - I wouldn't trust their HD-DVD/Blu media to be any different.

[Nilfennasion]

How long would it take to burn a recordable Blu-Ray at standard speed, anyway? I doubt my computer (or any computer extent before 2006 for that matter) would be capable of burning either format at more than 1X.

The format that gets affordably burnable first will win. Of that much, one can be assured.

[Joe The Dude]

This is indeed good news.
However, I too will hold off until:
~ TY starts making them.
~ The cost of burners comes down.
~ The cost of 25GB Single-layer Disks comes down to about $3 each.

I'm curious as to how Blu-Ray and HD-DVD handle dust and scratches compared to traditional DVD-R Media.
I've tried googling for information about it, but have yet to come across a definitive report.

[RabidDog]

I think computer burners are a mere side-show in the battle of the formats. What is really needed is a dual format burner. People could be burning HD-DVD on DVD at the moment, I'm surprised its not getting more publicity or support. Is HD-DVD burning bult into vista? , thus showing Msofts undying support for the format??
Should be able to get a lot more than 6 hours of SD on one of these...

[SatStorm]

On May 2009, probably I'll jump on this. But before, no.

[robertazimmerman]

Ritek? Ha! Ha! They make the worst quality CD-Rs I have ever used. None play in my car stereo, their DVD-Rs have significantly more errors than my current favourite Taiyo-Yuden and I've had a few of their CD-Rs that my burners spit out.

Hey Ritek! If you gave these new discs away for free, I wouldn't take 'em!

Roberta