2X on 104 with Ritek-G03

[jankster]

OK got my 100 pack, here are my results using RitekG03 (dark purple) on my Pioneer 104, 1.31 firmware, 2X burn speed using Nero:

3-bad. You know right away if they are bad, there is a darker burn band at outer edge of disk, they play until the "dark band". All failures where 4.0-4.35 GB.

12-good all under 4.2 GB

The last 8 burns where all good.

Don't know why some fail and some don't. The largest good one was 4.20GB.

At 1X or 2X (if they make it) burn speed they play "ROCK SOLID" on my stand alone player, never have seen any pixelization or drop outs of any kind. I've tried the ultra cheap $.85 USD DVD-R's and I've had problems with these (very light purple, sent them back). Kind of early to make a final decision on the RitekG03, but at $1.20 USD they seem like they are very good media even if you only used 1X. If I could get the failure rate up to 1 out of 10 I would be very happy cause it only takes 25 mins to burn a movie. My time is worth that.

Has anyone figured out why they fail? At this point it seems to be random. With my last 8 burns at 2X all working good, it gets your hopes up. I think the closer you get to filling up the disc to max capacity, the greater your chances of a failure because I've never had a failure below 4.0GB. Maybe the disk wobbles greater at the edge or something like that. The RitekG03 seem to be thicker then the ultra cheap ones.

If you are thinking about replying, only to slam me because I use cheap media, please do not reply.

The Jankster

[thxtof]

Interesting.

I had the same problem than you:
for 5 Ritek G03 out of 100, I got errors in the last 100-200 MB... but I was burning in x1. So may be your problem does not have anything to do with the burning speed.

All the other one play perfectly, so it's still a good ratio.

Did anyone find out why Pioneer removed x2 burning support for Ritek G3 x2 in V1.32 firmware yet ?

[padre]

jankster

I'm wondering if the tolerances are 2x marginal at the outer edges of the disc, and that's why they seem to have removed 2x burning of RitekG3's from the v1.32 firmware.

I have a A03, so I'm up to v1.90, but can't burn the stuff at 2x. I burn all my PrimeDisc (which ADVDinfo shows as RitekG3) at 1x and don't have any that have problems at the end. I've burned quite a few that are beyond 4.2gb. Maybe it's a combination of things?

You're right about the ultra-cheap nonames, like DVDPro and stuff. They seem to be 1/2 the thickness of the Riteks, and I swear you can see through them!

[jankster]

THXtoF,

I think the media can be bad at the last 100-200 MB. If you pay 2-3X to get top quality media, you most likely will not have these problems. Is 2-3X more money worth the 100-200 MB???

My burning strategies are always changing, this is where it is at:

1. Movie < 4.1 GB burn at 2X

2. Movie 4.1 - 4.30 burn at 1X

4. Movie > 4.30 then chop leading/trailing credits, compress a VOB, or split to 2 DVD-R's. If you never fill the disc to 100%, you will never see the failures you do. By the way, 100% full for me is 4.36GB

[thxtof]

Well I would agree with you if I could also burn the Ritek G03 in x2 ;)

But anyway I have a similar strategy than yours:

1) if the movie is < 4.1 GB and it's not one of the movie of the year, I'll burn it x1 on a RitekG03

2) if the movie is > 4.1 GB or if it's one of my 10 favorite movies of the year then I'll burn it on a TDK x2.

Sometimes after ripping/cleaning everything you end-up with a DVD-R almost full: 4.35 to 4.38 GB, and I would expect to be able to burn it without any problems. But I noticed that if I get the problem, it's always after 4.0/4.1 GB...

So I don't mind paying $1 extra and be able to burn in x2 on a branded media :)

[fletch]

2 burns on Ritek media @ 2X so far -

One image was 4689 megs (Resident Evil) - watched it last night, no problems.

Other was 4590 megs (Elton john concert.. Don't laugh).... Watched all the way thru, no problems..

So all my burns using the Ritek G03 media and the firmware 1.31 have been sucessful, so much so that I have just bought a 100 pack . I love writing @ 2x... man, it saves some time...

2 discs burn succesfully is far from conclusive I realise, I will be doing more, I will post my results as I go..

Playback is on a standalone Pioneer DV-525

Cheers

Fletch

[jankster]

I burnt 3 more last night. Now up to 11 in a row without errors. However the last 3 where under 4.05 GB.

I can live with this!!!!

[thxtof]

Way to go man !

You better not upgrade your firmware to v1.32 then ;)

[jankster]

I burnt 5 more:

1 bad, it was 3.8GB, the classic "thin dark band" right at the end.

3 good, including one at 4.28 GB, almost full.


Now I'm thinking 2X failures are random. Maybe even firmware related. Why do they always fail right at the very end, even if the end of the burn is not close to the edge of the disc (i.e. my 3.8GB burn)?? The dark bad has always been very thin.

The 5th one I burnt last night was at 1X. I had no others to burn, so why push my luck? The advantages of 2X (or 4X) burning is only when you have a pile of movies to proccess in a short time.