Mentioned this in the media sales thread, but I've consulted this site for sales for over a year now, and more and more I've noticed a great hostility towards the Ritek media code. I often rush to Office Depot anytime they put there 50pk's on sale JUST BECAUSE there ritek, and I get great results out of the stuff. Also love there 8x +R that comes bundled with the 25 cdr's. I guess the bottom line is, am I one of the "few" that actually likes the stuff???
Do a search for RITEKG05 on CDFreaks.com. That will help explain it. Basically, Ritek completely destroyed it's reputation with large swaths of more knowledgeable users, and this hostility has taken some time to filter down to the masses. People who do a LOT of media burning have declared Ritek persona non grata for at least two years now.
i was also going to mention cdfreaks.com. Whenever i read threads over there it's hard to not stumble over references to G05. As for myself i only ever used one tub of 50 Printable G05's, probably a couple years ago now. Trouble is i can't vouch for ore against my 50 as i never seem to play or have a need to recopy any of them
I for one have been using GO5`s for over 18 months with very few burn errors. I viewed a couple of early backups again before I made comment on their reliability. Not a problem with playback,sharp,crisp and no pixilation or freezing. What more are we expecting? I have read comments on this forum before that the "freaks" viewpoints cannot always be relied upon.So what changed when they comment on Riteks?
If Ritek media work for you then it`s a plus. Ritek media work for me so it`s a double plus. For those who say it`s crap media? well that`s their problem I say.
By the way, I live in OZ and am not a Ritek employee...LOL
CDfreaks posters have a partially irrational hatred of Ritek, just as Afterdawn posters have a partially irrational hatred of CMC. Both sites are a bit off the mark.
CMC and Ritek both make mediocre media, neither good nor awful.
Your comment on irrational hatred is exactly right. However, CMC and Ritek both make good media (CMC makes most of Verbatim's DVD discs except for the DL versions). Taiyo Yuden discs are more consistent and more compatible, but they are also more expensive and the company has had to cut the middleman (retailer) out of the equation in order to keep up sales. CMC had some production problems two years ago that have been corrected through serious efforts to run a cleaner factory, but the problems people cite in this forum seldom indicate that their symptoms appear related to those problems.
Maybe my experiences a couple years ago have also continued to color my views of Ritek and CMC. For example, I've currently got a spindle each of RitekF1 (Memorex branded) and CMCMAG.AM3 (HP branded) that have given me some pretty good burns on discs I've given away to others.
I guess I tend to compare everything to TY and Verb since they have spoiled me.
"Spoiling" is the right choice of word. Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim do everything in their power--and patents and political connections--to make sure every drive will work with their discs (although TY slipped by moving to 16X too slowly to have the universal support to which they are accustomed). That makes users very satisfied with their performance. These companies also "spoil" the field for other manufacturers who lack the connections they Japanese brand have. Sony pulls other shenanigans to intentionally block their competitors at the expense of all customers who are unaware of the tricks--until such tricks explose in Sony's face as in their batteries, their rootkits, their implementation of PS3, their dummy files on their movie DVDs, and so forth. As your recent experience with CMC and Ritek show, their quality often rivals--but does not exceed--that of Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim. I get to see a bit more than most people do about what's happening behind the scenes as well as what actual production quality is versus compatibility. The quality/compatibility distinction is a difficult issue because the symptoms are the often the same for consumers, and I try to note the distinction when one brand or another is attacked for the wrong reasons. In the last six months the tone on After Dawn has changed dramatically to more knowledgeable, more helpful, and more restrained responses as the distinction between quality and compatibility is more clear.
Ritek was good then bad & perhaps back to good now although I don't buy it anymore. Here are the codes & my experiences with them on a Plextor 716-A.
G03 (2x) burned well at 4x & has not gone bad.
G04 (4x) Seems to be stable.
G05 (8x) burned great but goes bad (unreadable) within a year of burning. I lost 75% of files on this media & will never buy it again.
F-1 (16x) Seems to be stable so far.
I only buy Tayio Yuden & Verbatim now. Nothing else although sony media is good stuff.
My experiances with the GO5`s are completely at odds with yours Bratcher.Maybe burning speeds or storage makes a difference, I wouldn`t know. All I know is that my burns from 18 months ago are still okie dory.
Originally posted by wolves:My experiances with the GO5`s are completely at odds with yours Bratcher.Maybe burning speeds or storage makes a difference, I wouldn`t know. All I know is that my burns from 18 months ago are still okie dory.
Consider yourself very lucky. A lot of AD forum users have had bad luck with Ritek GO5. I burned it both at 8x & 4x. Kept them in those slimline plastic cases in small stacks about a foot high on my shelves. Now I use those CD wallets that hold 200 to 500 discs each. Lots better storage that way!!
I don't use Ritek CDR's either anymore since some of mine (old data CD's) have become unreadable over a few years. No labels used & the discs that failed are around 4 years old.
