What do you all think of these prices??

[atreides93]

These look pretty good to me! Especially for a brick & mortar store! I haven't been by there in years, but I guess they're still in business. I think I might stop by and pick up some of these TDK's.

http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0159725

[PC-GUY]

You like their prices?:confused: I've been to the store and even with the sale prices you have to hold on to your wallet sometimes.:rolleyes: Just my two cents but in this economy it might be worth one.

[atreides93]

Well 4X TDK disks for a little over 2 bucks a piece??? what's not to like about that? Can you get them cheaper somewhere else?

[PC-GUY]

See I use DVD-R and I like ritek the best. So if they are just as good in DVD+R, I would get them from shop4tech and get them in bulk for less.
DVD+R 4X 4.7GB Bulk Media by Ritek
qty. price per unit
25 $39.75 [$1.59]
50 $77.50 [$1.55]
100 $149.00 [$1.49]
300 $432.00 [$1.44]
Also free shipping and no I don't work for them. I just feel why pay more if you don't have too. I've had bad luck with most other media.

[markrb]

Best Buy everyday has 100 packs of Ricoh 4X (TDK) +R discs for $189.00 with free shipping. On occasion they have a sale for $130 for the same discs, but you have to get them right as the store opens or you are out of luck.

Mark

[Kedirekin]

Also, Best Buy's everday price for 25 pack of 4X DVD+R TDK is $49.99. That's $2 per item - 40¢ cheaper than the microcenter 5 pack, and only 10¢ more than the 100 pack.

That said, I think the appealing price points are strongly dependant on usage. If you use 2 disks a month, the 5 pack probably hits your sweet spot. If you use 50 a month, the 100 bulk pack is probably more appealing - prices won't drop much in two months.

[atreides93]

Thanks for the heads up, I didn't think to check out Best Buy.

[Toona]

compUSA has a sale goin on now they got some cheap disks but they might just be that ... "cheap"

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=302415&pfp=BROWSE

[PC-GUY]

Originally posted by Toona
compUSA has a sale goin on now they got some cheap disks but they might just be that ... "cheap"

http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=302415&pfp=BROWSE

I purchased a 10 pack of these and they burned at 2x on my PIONEER 104 (1.33) so far so good.:cool:

Device Information:
Current Profile: DVD-R

Disc Information:
Status: Empty
Erasable: No
Free Sectors: 2,297,888
Free Space: 4,706,074,624 bytes
Free Time: 510:40:38 (MM:SS:FF)

Pre-recorded Information:
Manufacturer ID: OPTODISCK001

Physical Format Information:
Book Type: DVD-R
Part Version: 5
Disc Size: 120mm
Maximum Read Rate: 10.08Mbps
Number of Layers: 1
Track Path: Parallel Track Path (PTP)
Linear Density: 0.267 um/bit
Track Density: 0.74 um/track

[PC-GUY]

Originally posted by atreides93
Thanks for the heads up, I didn't think to check out Best Buy. atreides93
You might want to check them out this week, (Sep-28-03) if you can use -R. :confused:
TDK 25-Pack DVD-R Discs
(DVD-R47CB2) 5395645
$29.99 After Instant Rebate:cool:

[leisuredoc]

@atreides93,

I picked up 25 spindle of TDK -R's at Best Buy (under US$50) and DVD Decrypter's manufacturer lead-in says TDKG02, which appears to be legitimate based on klona's ADDVDInfo list over in the "Burning" forum.

My question is: does Ritek make these, as Ritek's lead-in goes something like RITEKG03, RITEKG04, etc. Or, is it just a coincidence that both manufacturers use G0X as a product ID?

Thanks,

leisuredoc
:confused:

[Toona]

just wanted to let you all know
It's been 10 months now since I bought those compusa dvd-r's and they are trash now luckily I caught them in time to transfer them to the harddrive and then to a new blank. They make a horrible noise in my liteon DVD-rom and can't even be read in my DRU500A. So just as we all probably expected these are trash and should be avoided.

[alexnoe]

Local prices here now:

(all juwel cased media)
Verbatim DVD+R 4x (some writers: 8x): 1,90 Euro
Verbatim DVD-R 4x (NEC 2500: 8x): 1,80 Euro
Taiyo Yuden DVD-R 4x (NEC 2500: 8x): 2,00 Euro
Taiyo Yuden DVD+R 4x: 2,50 Euro

[brett]

Those seem like some really bad prices you guys are listing.

Newegg has Ritek G04 50-packs for $45.99 ($0.92 each) with free FedEx shipping.

I've never seen anything to make me believe G04's aren't just as good as TDK or Verbatim/Mitsubishi discs. I've used over 50 of them and have re-ripped several of them.

I even have plenty G03's that are over a year old that work fine. With G04's under $1, though, I wouldn't get anything else.

[leisuredoc]

@ brett,

Careful, as I purchased a 200-pack lot of Ridata DVD-R G04's in December from rima.com which supports 4X burning. This was because I could not find any Ritek G03's anywhere at any price (I used to love them to death).

I always burn at 1X on my Pioneer 'A04 since I think slow burning makes an improved result.

Also, after every burn, I always run the disk through K's Probe on my Liteon DVD-ROM at max (8x) speed to see how the thing looks.

The Ridata G04's are crap IMHO. No comparison to Ritek G03's that I used to buy. Best Buy sells Fuji -R's for around USD$2 each and they are "lead-in" marked RitekG03, but still fall short of the old G03's that I used to buy.

Short of Taiyo Yudens, I have never found any media that comes close to the old Ritek G03's in terms of K's Probe errors. I imagine that many people don't even know how bad the quality of their burns are.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

Cheers,

leisuredoc
:confused:

[atreides93]

Wow, first I've heard someone say the Ridata G04's are crap...
hmm....welll if that's the case, then all dvd-r media is crap. Verbatim just uses ritek's...and optodisk and princo are known crap...

I burn all my movies on ridata G04's..so far, no problems. haven't had any issues where a movie stopped playing.
i suppose if i used a probe tool on every disk i might not like what i see...

[alexnoe]

Verbatim just uses ritek'sWhere??

[brett]

Originally posted by leisuredoc
@ brett,

I always burn at 1X on my Pioneer 'A04 since I think slow burning makes an improved result.

...

The Ridata G04's are crap IMHO.


I also have a Pioneer A04. Burning 4X media at 1X doesn't in any way improve the quality of your burn. Even attempting to burn 4X media with the wrong firmware can supposedly damage the A04. It needs a different "write strategy" to correctly burn high-speed media. The best thing to do with the A04 is:

If you have 1X or 2X media, burn it at 1X (since there is no true 2X media).

If you have 4X media, burn it at 2X -- and use the 1.41 firmware.

Maybe this isn't the source of your problems. Ritek does seem to have questionable batches now and then, and their packaging sucks ... but they're by far the best of the cheap media.

[leisuredoc]

@ brett,

Thanks for the fresh insight - I hadn't thought of that. I still have a large bundle of Optodisks that were really quite good at the time (over a year ago), and a small bundle of Accudisk (Lead Data) that were even better. I guess once those have been consumed, I can flash the new firmware. What's to lose - the A04 is ancient history and most DVD-5 burners are wholesaling with huge discounts in anticipation of the new, greater size format. DVD-5 burners may become the leading choice in boat anchors in a short time.

Regards,

leisuredoc
:D

[theReal]

Verbatim just uses ritek's

Nope - all Verbatims I know of have the manufacturer code MCC XXXXXX and MCC stands for "Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation"