Prodisc vs. Ritek. I may have some comparative data.

[chas0039]

I think I have uncovered one of the possible reasons why Prodisc is so cheap. I just got a Liteon 167T and I downloaded Kprobe2 to see what I would find. Much to my amazement I found that Prodisc S03s almost all had PI errors if 180 average or more at 4X. The PIF was a respectable .66 but even the 2X scan was close to 100 PI. Now I am running a 1X test to see what happens. This was counter intuitive since the last test I ran on these was a CDSpeed transfer test at 14X where Prodisc gave me a straight line.

Even more interesting was the results I got with a bunch of Ritek G04s that have been the subject of much discussion here. While my CDSpeed tests showed the Riteks falling apart above 8X in the transfer test, the Kprobe scans were PI 12 and PIF .66 even up to 8X.

I am now re-thinking the Prodiscs as well as the RIteks, especially as 8X reading is very rare. While 180 PI is OK, a reading of 8 to 12 is worth a lot. At least I have been led to believe so.

Since I am relatively new at this and almost everything in this area I know I read on the web, I am sure I have made some erroneous conclusions or have done something wrong. I know, for one, that I am not supposed to run Kprobe on a ROM drive but that is what I have. I suppose a ROM is less critical but that would mean an even worse rating for Prodisc. Any comments are very welcome; that is how I will learn.

[aglips]

I've been using the Ritek G04s for about a year now and have never come across any problems with them. Never had a coaster unless it was my fault. I've even started burning at 8x with my NEC 2500a and all the movies run perfectly and no read errors with DVDinfopro.

I just ordered a 100pack of the prodiscs which I shold have by next Wednesday and I'll start using them and let you know how they go.

Have you been able to play those DVDs even with those PI error readings?

[chas0039]

Other than the errors seen on Kprobe neither my Riteks or my Prodiscs have ever been any problem. It would appear as though what Kprobe is showing is differing degrees of quality rather than any indication of a problem.

[Shudder]

My guess is LIte-on just doesn't work well with them. I've never seen anyoen with a Pioneer have issues.

[thor300]

You have a bad burner, thats all i think. i have a bad burner for -R myself, doesnt matter what media i use. Will never buy a burner that is not pioneer again, cant believe i was stupid enough to think that i could save a few bucks and still get a good burner... About your case, if you get the same results on 1 or 2 more burners of different brands, you have the chance that some forum users will trust your results.

[chas0039]

The last two posters missed what I was saying; sorry I was not clear. These discs were burned on two different Pioneer 107Ds and some on a Panasonic E-50. The ROM drive is a Liteon and I have since heard from some people that ROM drives can read higher than normal results in Kprobe, so my observations may be off base.

[DVD_Ripper]

No problems with G03 or G04's -- they are still good 6 to 8 months later ... but some S03's I have are now starting to exhibit an occasional read error on my set tops (these are also 6 to 8 months old)...

Am I going to need to dupe the S03's? Jury is still out

[thor300]

Ok, sorry, i thought you burned them with the LiteOn