I normally use Ritek DVD+R x4 purple Grade A overprints obtained from several UK sources via post, I 've burned about 150 of these at x4 with no probs. Visiting a local store I notice stacks of what seemed to be the same disks under a sign saying "Ritek DVD+R - purple dye". The price was good so I bought 25. These disks are not happy burning at x4, after two failures I closely compared them with my old Ritek media. The old media says "Manufactured by Ritek Taiwan" in tiny letters around the edge, the new ones say "Manufactured in Taiwan". The new disks also have a black ring around the very edge of the disk and also the spindle hole, presumably covering up serial numbers. Cursing my lack of vigilence I checked the media descriptor block and found it was identical to my old disks don to the last digit, including the RICOHJPN ID. Are these Riteks? perhaps lower grade media overprinted as grade A? All of my (good)old disks have been overprinted Arita, you can see the shape of the letters through the purple overlayer, these new disks have a different, unidentifiable original logo. So, correct descriptor block, missing "Ritek" fine print and added black rings. Has anyone else came across these "fakes", if that is what they are?
Arita is a brand that Ritek use for their not up to scratch media. Those are disks that for one reason or another have failed their stringent quality checks and that`s why they are not pure A grade. With overprints you`re always taking a gamble and that is even aknowlledged by some stores that sell them as no warranty is offered on them because those disks have failed some quality check by the manufacturer. If you want A grade media buy Ritek not overprints. It costs a bit more but is worth it. With overprints all you need is to come across one bad batch and all the savings you`ve made so far are out of the window because now you have to go out and by another batch and take another gamble. _ _X_X_X_X_X_[small]Athlon64 3400+ 1024 DDR NEC 2510a[/small]
Mystery solved! I've stripped some of the coating from a coaster overprint and these disks are "mountain and stream" riteks, these are grade D media that are usually dumped in Asia or South America with duplicators. Someone is overprinting these as Grade A overprints and selling them on in UK, the sure way to spot these dodgy disks is:- rim print says "maufactured in Taiwan" instead of "manufactured by Ritek Taiwan" and there are black rings printed around the disk edge and spindle hole. As I mentioned, I have burned many Ritek DVD+R purple overprints with no problem, they were always overprinted Arita, not this grade D crap. I have seen the bogus disks in several small computer shops in my area, also a friend just ordered some Ritek overprints from Scan Computers by mail and received the bogus disks, although the illustration on their website shows the black ring-free version. Beware!
e-net strikes again Yes it is true, as I have been saying for a while e-net Distribution are taking these low-grade reject Ritek DVD-R discs and overprinting them as "Grade A". Now they may well say that the "Grade A Media" is just a brand name. I call it misrepresentation, borderline fraud.
E-Net? Are these the Scottish based distrubutors? Their home page shows only branded Ridisc, Ridata, Arita and Datasafe, is this "fake" overprinted crap a side-line of theirs?
Yes, they have sidelines. As a general rule of thumb, if the disc makes mention of "dvd-recordable.org" (or .net) then they're from e-net, which runs that website.
The biggest clue is the black printed circle inside the centre hub, Ritek only ever put this on the disc if it is D grade or below. Arita is used for the B and C grade discs. Mountain and water is below that.
The Ridisc isnt a grade A disc its mixed grade but providing your not doing a big burn on them you should be OK
