If RiData's BD and HD-DVD discs are as good as their DVDs and CDs, I would expect that they will also become a major source of free coasters for bartender schools across the country.

I've used Ritek's DVDs and not had any problems whatsoever. Why are you so down on them?

I used to buy Ritek DVDs and CDs in years past, just accepting that "rejects happened."

Then I switched to Taiyo Yuden and haven't had a reject since.

I have found that the Ritek / Ridata disks have been either excellent or unreliable, and eventually realized that counterfeit "Ritek" and "Ridata" brand disks are sold on the Internet by a number of dealers. A little Google searching will reveal the embedded manufacturer coodes and packaging details for those who wish to avoid the phony disks.

Various forums have similar reports to indicate that this is the true explanation as to why some people love the Riteks and others do not.

I've bruned a few thousnad DVD-Rs with 7 burners, so I know it is not the hardware or software I use which makes the Riteks so unpredictable,

I eventually switched to only buying Verbatims from a reliable source (like Newegg) and my coaster rate dropped essentially to zero.....


Larry

The Riteks I bought were from Meritline or Supermediastore. It seems unlikely that they would carry fake Ritek discs, and the batches I checked the media codes on were genuine (and I also used several different brands of drives: the latest Sony, Pioneer, NEC with up-to-date firmware).

I also noticed that Meritline doesn't classify Ritek as being Professional Grade: http://www.meritline.com/dvd-r-blank-media-1.html.

For what it's worth- in 2003, Meritline did sell me unlabelled "Maxell OEM" DVDs with the Maxell media code, which were not authorized by Maxell. When I contacted them, Meritline claimed they were authorized, despite Maxell directly denying it (!) See also:

http://www.bealecorner.com/trv900/DVD/UnbrandedDVD.html
http://www.maxell.co.jp/e/release/20030704.html

Since I started using Taiyo-Yuden 8x DVD-R exclusively from rima.com I have had no problems with DVDs.

I use both Ritek and TY - I have a few coasters once in a while but not that many with Ritek. I think Ritek has a better printable surface.

When I burn TY 8x DVD's and I set Nero to burn max speed, I often get 12x, and that's cool.

/Ulf

For a while in Oz it was hard to get hold of Riteks, G04 or G08, which had always been extremely reliable for me.

Then I found that Phillips DVDs were in fact Riteks, and used them for a while, but they had "Phillips" indented near the center, but now they are available again under their own Ritek name, without the indent.