Riteks Gone Bad; Looking for New Media

[2nadroj3]

I've slowly been discovering that all the burns I've made with Ritek discs (These) in the past 6 months or so have gone bad. They originally checked out with no errors and played through flawlessly, but now have tons of errors and won't play. Most, but not all, have some form of burn mark on the dye side, whether it be a little ring around the hub or a strange star-like pattern shooting out from the middle.

I'm burning with a Plextor PX-708A and am almost positive, but not completely, that the burner is not the problem. I seem to remember burning these same Riteks on other burners in the past and getting the same spots/patterns on the dye side.

So right now I'd really just like someone to tell me what media out there is generally considered the best; longest lasting and fewest errors. After lots of frustration, I've found that Taiyo Yuden is highly regarded, but there seems to be alot of variations ("value" discs, different ID tags, etc.). Somebody please help me before my head explodes. Thanks.

[RJW]

There seem to be problems with quite some RitekG05 so far only Maxell, Traxdata and verbatim branded ritekG05 do not have these problems when it comes to longlivety.
So it's the media.

Hmm I personally will not recommend TY after the bonding issues. (use search) also the value media will have a 16x TYG03 code I don't know how good the plextor 708A handles these. So incase you go with TY you might prefer to use the normal 8x rated stuff.

[21st Hermit]

Not my experience.

Yours are 8X white printable. I've purchased two different flavors of Ritek so far:
1] 4X +R in jewel cases from Amazon
2] 16X +R cake box from NewEgg
both matte silver finish.

I've seen no discoloration or reading problems.

Hermit

[dolphinius_rex]

Not my experience.

Yours are 8X white printable. I've purchased two different flavors of Ritek so far:
1] 4X +R in jewel cases from Amazon
2] 16X +R cake box from NewEgg
both matte silver finish.

I've seen no discoloration or reading problems.

Hermit

As RJW said, the problem is very much with the RITEKG05 media. From what you've said, you only purchase DVD+R media, and you skipped 8x completely. So I'd say your experience in this matter has no relevence on 2nadroj3's problem.

[2nadroj3]

So incase you go with TY you might prefer to use the normal 8x rated stuff.

Plextor's Media Compatibility Chart doesn't mention any of the TY 8x discs that I could find on Supermediastore or Meritline as being compatible. But I don't completely trust that Plextor is up to date with that list either.

Any more suggestions?

[2nadroj3]

I've decided to try the TY 8x discs for no other reason than the fact that I had to make some kind of decision because there doesn't seem to be any clear cut facts or reliable word anywhere as to what is "good" or not.

So, judging from what's on THIS list, what do you guys think is the best? Thanks.

[2nadroj3]

I'm at the point where I'm starting to wonder why anybody burns DVD's anymore because, apparently, every single brand and type of disc is horrible. Right now I'd be willing to pay anything just to find a decent brand that's not reported as having multiple problems. It's crazy, I can't find anything that doesn't have at least an equal share of terrible reviews.

[dolphinius_rex]

I'm at the point where I'm starting to wonder why anybody burns DVD's anymore because, apparently, every single brand and type of disc is horrible. Right now I'd be willing to pay anything just to find a decent brand that's not reported as having multiple problems. It's crazy, I can't find anything that doesn't have at least an equal share of terrible reviews.

Sad but very truie...

Right now I'm using double checked TY (checked for bonding problems), double checked Maxell Plus series (checked for rare bonding problems), and Acro Circle.

[RJW]

I'm at the point where I'm starting to wonder why anybody burns DVD's anymore because, apparently, every single brand and type of disc is horrible. Right now I'd be willing to pay anything just to find a decent brand that's not reported as having multiple problems. It's crazy, I can't find anything that doesn't have at least an equal share of terrible reviews.

Sad but very truie...

Right now I'm using double checked TY (checked for bonding problems), double checked Maxell Plus series (checked for rare bonding problems), and Acro Circle.

I use these days 2 disc's (from different manufacturers) for the normal stuff and 3 for the important stuff.
Plextor does support 8x TY perfectly. (only problem that I have with TY is that most batches contain quite some bad bonded disc's. )

[2nadroj3]

How do you detect bad bonding? Is it a physical problem that you can see or is it something that can only be seen by some kind of scanning software?

[Gen-An]

How do you detect bad bonding? Is it a physical problem that you can see or is it something that can only be seen by some kind of scanning software?

In the really bad cases supposedly the disc's layers will come apart with little force applied (i.e. removing them from a jewel case) but in other cases I have no idea unless you actually try to separate the bonded layers and why the heck would you do that?

[dolphinius_rex]

How do you detect bad bonding? Is it a physical problem that you can see or is it something that can only be seen by some kind of scanning software?

In the really bad cases supposedly the disc's layers will come apart with little force applied (i.e. removing them from a jewel case) but in other cases I have no idea unless you actually try to separate the bonded layers and why the heck would you do that?

I always rip a few discs apart from my spindles now. It's a good way to get an idea of the manufacturing quality of the disc.