isn't it odd?

[SilverBlade]

Isn't it odd how (in the DVD Media page) that a lot of people rate a the Ritek G04's (https://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia.php?selectmedia=94#comments) very highly, yet it is made in Taiwan, and according to lordsmurf's nomorecoaster site, its a 2nd class media. Not a lot of people have rated the Maxell or TDK's, which, according to the nomorecoaster site, is 1st class media.

Isn't that odd? or is it that more people buy the Ritek's cause they are cheaper then the Maxell or TDK?

[deck]

Yes i buy GSC003 that are clased as 3rd rate media by that site. The cost me less than a 3rd of the price for the 1st class media so thats why i buy it. Also i have never had a problem with writing or playback so paying $20 compared to $70 for 50 discs is a easy choice.

[jimmalenko]

Up until about 6 months ago, Ritek was good. verging on very good. Somewhere along the way the quality of their media has consistently deteriorated very badly, probably from using a different manufacturer. So there's a fair chance that the reviews may have been done before then, or conversly, LS has updated his site since then.

[chas0039]

jimmalenko hit the nail on the head. Most of the ratings, here and at supermediastore are older than when the problem started last Summer. G05 seem to be OK so far though so I am hoping they stay that way.

[Fandim]

Somewhere along the way the quality of their media has consistently deteriorated very badly, probably from using a different manufacturer.

That statement isnt really correct, and that's the main problem with Ritek media... Nothing about it seems to be consistent... It hasnt gotten consistently worse(as some people used to hate it even in Ritek's glory days)...it goes back and fourth now it seems varying batch to batch according to most people... I personally have no oppinion on Riteks, but it seems to be the general consensus that it's either great, or horrible...or great & horrible.

Seth

[jimmalenko]

Somewhere along the way the quality of their media has consistently deteriorated very badly, probably from using a different manufacturer.

That statement isnt really correct

Just a correction - that statement is not factually proven (nor did I claim it to be)... a.k.a. my opinion, nothing more

[lordsmurf]

Not really. More people buy bulk than not, at least of users on this site, so you'll get more bulk reviews than not. Maxell and TDK do not really do bulk.

RITEKG04 started as good as RITEKG03, quite decent media, but is barely even worthy of a 2ND class disc these days.

It's unreliable and has FAR TOO MUCH variance in quality from batch to batch. Even excluding the fakes.

G05 is better than RITEGK04 (so far!) but is about on par to what RITEKG03 used to be.

Every now and then peple buy cheap media and get good results. But it's usually just luck and combination of other factors. Good luck repeating the success.

[Myrdhinn]

Could it be possible, controls for bulk media isnt' as stringent as for manufacture for a company? What I mean is, say when TY makes disks for Fuji I assume it's an all in one process including Fuji labeling but with bulk they may not be as stringent since their bread and butter is making disks for companies like Fuji. I don't know since I've no idea of workflow in creating a dvd.

[lordsmurf]

Could it be possible, controls for bulk media isnt' as stringent as for manufacture for a company?

Unlikely.

[Fandim]

About the whole 'bulk' thing...Main flaw with that theory, is that most of the times, the retail version of the disc is on par with the quality of the bulk version...

I.E. Princo / Ritek / Ricoh / TY etc... They all seem the same quality regardless of if obtained through retail, or bulk. (If anything - I've had worse experiences with Retail Princo than bulk.)

Seth

[Fandim]

Jimmalenko, I just meant the use of "consistently" wasnt really correct, that being the main problem, etc. Not attacking your oppinion at all, as everyones entitled to theirs, as well as many people share this sentiment.

[jimmalenko]

Jimmalenko, I just meant the use of "consistently" wasnt really correct, that being the main problem, etc. Not attacking your oppinion at all, as everyones entitled to theirs, as well as many people share this sentiment.

No problems

I should say that I meant "consistently deteriorating" in the context of "getting poorer and poorer over time", not "consistently" as in "happening everywhere"

[Hawseman]

Isn't it odd how (in the DVD Media page) that a lot of people rate a the Ritek G04's (https://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia.php?selectmedia=94#comments) very highly, yet it is made in Taiwan, and according to lordsmurf's nomorecoaster site, its a 2nd class media. Not a lot of people have rated the Maxell or TDK's, which, according to the nomorecoaster site, is 1st class media.

Isn't that odd? or is it that more people buy the Ritek's cause they are cheaper then the Maxell or TDK?

It's harder to write good things unless you've been burned (no pun). My take on this phenomena is this;

Most of these chaps/chappettes have had issues with very cheap media. This lead to searching this website for answers. After hearing about Ritek, which is still cheap (but better), they were elated and wrote bangup reviews. Now they have playable dvd's.

Anyone who regularly uses Maxell, or any class A media, wouldn't come to this site just to write praise about it....they're too busy completing successful burns.

Taiyo Yuden gets a little more press here because it's not exactly a household name.

Make sense?

[Quantum]

I was a big Ritek user for a long time because it worked well in picky Xbox machines and was relatively cheap. However, the Japanese media like Taiyo Yuden, Maxell, and Sony have fallen a lot in price where it doesn't make sense to use anything else due to quality and price concerns meeting. Heck you could get Taiyo Yuden 8X from Best Buy for $8.09 a 25 pack a week ago with the 10% off digital coupon that was floating around. That's 32 cents a disc for some of the best blank DVD media around. I was paying $36 for a 50 pack of RitekG04 6 months ago (72 cents a disc).