Brobear, that ain't me saying anything. It's people who use media giving their feedback on what works and what dosen't. Don't ask for links to be provided and then dismiss them. I didn't give a link to digitalfaq, so im not sure why you brought that up. Go to http://club.cdfreaks.com/forumdisplay.php?f=76 and look for yourself. Here is people, like you and me, posting results of scans from various discs they have burnt. Look at the Ritek scans and look at the MXL scans. Only blind freddy, or someone with an interest in selling Riteks, could not tell the difference. Now I was good enough to give you links to some of the many forum topics with people complaining about Ritek G05's, please be kind enough to send me the links of all the people bitchin about MXL discs? Fact is MXL discs are superior to Ritek. This does not mean that Riteks don't work great for some people, it just means that MXL is more consistant and higher quality than Ritek. There is still people who think Princo is great. So be it. But your comment of "First of all you need to check around the forums to see what is considered good media. Ritek usually ranks better than Maxell's generic (Made in Japan). " is just plain wrong. The forums show by far that MXL has less problems and complaints than Ritek do.
cdfreaks has sub-forums with scans (using Kprobe, CDSpeed and Plextools) of Maxell and Ritek discs which clearly identify the media code and the writer used. Please could you direct me to forums here which have a similar level of information? And posts with guys saying "I've been using Riteks for years and never had any problems" don't count.
I brought up digitalfaq because one of the others here mentioned it. I give it just as much credence as CDFreaks. As I stated, different forums and different websites and you can get a large number of varying opinions. I'm not dismissing your links, but I don't hold them in any higher esteem than others. As I said, I trust the forum here at AD as much as others and being one of the larger forums, there is a larger international membership. There are as well informed and technically oriented members as most forums. As I may have mentioned earlier or should have, I take the forum info with the proverbial "grain of salt". I weigh the info, but I don't take it all verbatim.
They do for the guys like me whose been using them for a hella long time with 100% success. If you've got trouble with your media with your given setup then change it to find what works for you. I use what works for me end of story
I don't want to start anything here, but the only "MIT" media I would buy is Verbatim, otherwise I wouldn't let them near my burner. Made In Japan is what I preferred and go by, especially Maxell (mij by Hitachi), Taiyo Yuden (including FUJI and SONY). I've used tons MIJ Maxell002 (800 plus) and so far they're flawless. However, the choice is yours.
KProbe, for use by those with Lite-On drives, Plextools with those with Plextor drives. The only general purpose tool mentioned was Ahead's CDSpeed. There is other test software. Among those is DVDInfopro, which is free as is the CDSpeed utility. I've seen these apps used with varying results. They've been posted here on AD before. I'm not going to try to track them down, but they are here. I have both the Nero tools and DVDInfopro and am familiar with doing screenshots. I have Capturewiz for capturing and am familiar with posting on Imageshack for hosting. If you want tests, I can run them for you and give screenshots. You only need to wait and I'll do a couple for you here if it'll make you happy. I can probably find some of my buddies Ritek media he's been using for years and is happy with. They still play well and they've been around for some time. A person need not be a member of CDFreaks to know how to run a utility and post it. Sorta like saying, my forum is better than your forum. LOL That starts bordering on the juvenile. My statement was that I give AD the same credence as I do other forums and I'm already a member here and familiar with many of the other members and staff. I'll repeat myself here, I wasn't dismissing other forums or their links, I just don't give them more weight than this one. All I need do is converse with my old buddy BigO on Ritek media. He's been a big Meritline customer for some time now. He's pleased and he's run his tests. Another Afterdawn Addict and friend is Sophocles who is more the tech oriented and he's done his tests and has Plextools as well. He's discussed tests though we felt no need for sharing the captures. He's good at doing screenshots as well when asked. Guess we need to start a thread of post your test screenshots here. However, the real blood and soul will continue to be members discussing the media topics with text messages.
alkohol That's an interesting statement. A lot of people say Memorex sucks because of CMC Mag manufactured media, made in Taiwan. I've purchased Verbatim from Taiwan manufactured by Ricoh. That turned out to be excellent media. Now Verbatim is selling media manufactured by CMC Mag. Just because they put the blue Verbatim label on it, does that make it better than the silver labeled Memorex. Manufactureres use the same lines making the same coded media, the only difference often being the labels they brand a run with. Verbatim is actually one of the brands made in Taiwan that I currently try to avoid because of the CMC association. I like your MIJ list, that's what I earlier suggested people new to DVD recording go by.
I can understand that people are quite happy with their Riteks (even G05s). If it works for them fine but if you examine where people from all over the world using a varity of drives have taken the time to test their media and post the results just as it's obvious Taiyo Yuden produces the highest quality results it's obvious that Hitachi Maxell is better than Ritek.
Love those profound statements. Fans of MCC media might disagree with you, unless you are just saying Taiyo Yuden is one of the best. I don't test all the media I use for backups. The test is if I get great video and audio while viewing on a 60 inch screen. All the media I have recorded to has given me that. Though I use only name brand media. Other than one occasion, I've had a good idea what I was opening. One small batch of those infamous CMC Memorex sneaked in when Memorex went from Ricoh DVD +R to CMC DVD +R. I was one of the first to post it and for a while no one believed Memorex had gone with CMC for both -R and +R DVDs. I got a few coasters, but the ones I got recorded play very well and are a couple of years old. If I could locate one easily, I'd run a test on it just to check it out. The actual quality may be lower than others, but still sufficient to play well. I've used Maxell and I have some Riteks, both play well and I see no difference in quality, function or cosmetic. I've personally burned the Maxells, so no complaints there. I've heard mostly good things about Ritek, so it would be difficult to knock them without personal experience. I've seen some real nasty stories where some bad media got away from Ritek, or they sold it. Much of that was to the EU and 3rd world markets for some reason. All the manufacturers have bad runs at times. I've even heard of the great Verbatim having some poorly assembled media that caused problems. We go by the overall track record and from those I've communicated with one on one, Ritek is some of the good stuff.
Well it is Nice to know that I am still getting a good quality Brand with Maxell using Ritek as there manufacturer. I cant say that I will continue to buy them though because I am picky and want first class Media, and I realy like what alkohol recomends for media It realy sounds to me that he Has already researched all of this. I dont wish to make enemy's or people not like me here at afterdawn but I just wanted to Post my Findings thats all, I dont know what other word to use besides fake when refering to Maxell media being made by Ritek but anyone have any idea what to call it if not Fake.
Thats the thing, I run batch tests on all my burns, once when it was burnt and every 6 months or so. I've posted scans of dvd's around 2 year old in other threads. I could'nt be happier with the Maxell Riteks some scan better than my taiyo yuden 16x DVD+R printables Yuden000 T03. I just don't experience at all any problems with them. I've also saw people in verious forums having trouble with Taiyo Yuden, most likely their methods/set up. Again having used hitachi and Ritek Maxell's I just don't see any diff.
A common manner of differentiating from the generic is to list the brand and the manufacturer, such as a Maxell-Ritek DVD or a Sony-Taiyo Yuden. Adding the manufacturer code is very specific and is what a person should use when talking about a particular media. Just saying a brand name is confusing for obvious reasons, it's not all the same. It's readily obvious what the author means if the reader is at all familiar with media sales/manufacture issues. Fake means "not genuine" in anybody's dictionary. Though made by a manufacturer other than the brand may be confusing, it doesn't make the item any less the genuine product. If not being made by a factory with the brand name makes fakes, then there's some brands that would be all "fake".
Thank you for the Info brobear but what would you call a DVD Media Disc that is made by another manufacturer than the Brand on the Disc if not FAke. You probably mentioned this already but what DVD Media do you currently use for your DVD Movie Backups, in your opinion is Maxell that bad of A genuine brand.
Maxell is a good brand. I've not seen anyone really disputing that. If they work good for you and you're happy with them, there's absolutely no need to change. If you're wanting a real word term for a disc not having the name of the generic, non generic would be most appropriate. Either the disc is the generic, such as Ritek made by Ritek, or a non generic, such as Sony media made by Taiyo Yuden. Not fake, but non generic describes the situation best. Memorex, Imation, and Samsung are just some of the brands that don't have a manufacturer of the same name. Are they all fakes? I still suggest when discussing a particular disc, that the brand name, the speed, format and manufacturer code all be used. That differentiates between the different offerings that sometimes come from a single brand.
I forgot to mention, I'm currently using both the generic and non generic Sony +R media in 8X. I found them on sale at Sams. We're looking at 2/3 being Tiayo Yuden and the other 1/3 being Sony. It was a mixed lot sale. Both work great with no coasters unless I mess up. I got one out of the last spindle, I started a burn I didn't mean to. Before I could stop it, there was a small ring burned. So, I can't say that was a failed disc, just my mess up. Before that I had a large order of Fuji from Office Depot. Those were 4X Ricoh DVD +R and Taiyo Yuden 8X DVD +R (both non generic, but excellent quality nonetheless).
Brobear, there is an issue with the Maxell Riteks being "fake". I bought a spindle of 50 Maxells which turned out to be G05's. The packaging was exactly the same as MIJ Maxells including the statement "using Maxells HGX stamper technology". Now Maxell - Hitachi MIJ discs do use HGX stampers, as this is behind the MXL coded discs. Similar to Sony using ACCUCORE. Now Ritek G05's DONT use HGX stampers they use Ritek stampers which aint HGX. Now this is false advertising, therefore fake HGX MXL discs. If you bought Sony discs advertised as ACCUCORE and once opened you found they were Princo would you be happy? Or would you feel ripped off?
Although this is a little old, a good article. Many members have probably heard of DigitalDolphin. http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/TechNews/Gazin/2005/05/12/pf-1036856.html Links to warnings of fake Maxell and Ritek: http://www.maxell.co.jp/e/release/20030704.html http://www.ritekusa.com/abpress_news.asp?news=15 Maxell and Ritek(Ridata) are both reputable companies, and will issue warning on their websites in regards to fakes. If one has issues with their media, take up with them.
