UPDATE: (04/11/04)
Several members have contacted us about there concerns about yet more ritek media - this time Ritek discs sold under the brand name "Arita". Your concerns have been summed up by the comments posted on disqworld.net under this thread:

Worst Ritek DVD media ever produced-look in!!!

I just bought some arita 4 speed dvd-r from a respected online retailer on opening the packet i came across some of the worst discs in the history of the world. I am going to scan them and find some webspace so i can upload them. Out of 50 discs more then 10 of them are like this.

Arita is a Ritek owned brand name you would think that for their own brand they would use some half decent quality discs.

UPDATE: (15/06/04)
I have just received an email from Ritek regarding my article on the Ritek media and they are concerned about any misunderstanding that this article may have produced and this is what they have to say.

We noticed that a "Hot Stories" in your web page hyperlink to an article which described a story about Ritek "landscape" or "mountain water" DVD-R quality.It questioned what's happened to Ritek DVD-R quality? For this, we have something to say.

Actually, Ritek has some qualified distributors to handle all "landscape" or "mountain water" low-grade DVD-R sales; they are mainly for copy market in Southern East Asia or South America. Bundling with duplicator, by special tune-up enhancement to feature low-grade DVD-R a better performance. But, according to pictures shown with the article, it indicated an obvious poor manufacturing defects.

We have same feeling that this should be a dumped DVD-R material, should be scrapped and would have no possibility to re-ship to market side. If it indeed happened, we regret to hear that had brought trouble, upset and inconvenience to this user.

I am awaiting an official statement from them to add further light to the matter

Over the last 6 months or so I have noticed a deterioration in the quality of the Ritek DVD-R media that I have been using, and having received a lot of complaints after I originally praised them as being one of the best all round disc on the market, I decided that it was about time I voiced my opinion.

I expect this problem has arisen with the fact that inferior brands have come onto the market at a reduced price and Ritek wanting to keep up with the sales has supplied their B, C, D, & E grade discs at competitive prices. These prices are tempting but represent a false economy when you realise that over 90% of these discs are likely to be rejects.

I have examined some of these discs and I can clearly see the defects. I would put them down as 'C' grade or worse.


What the problem discs look like

The discs which are causing the problems are the ones described as 'Landscape', 'Mountain Water' or 'Mountains and Streams' and should be avoided at all costs. Here are 5 scans taken from a single 25 disc spindle:


The red circles have been added to highlight where the problems are


More of those red circles...


... another coaster...


... and another...


... and another, very disappointing.

I have done a survey on the various Ritek discs and as far as I can tell the grading is as follows.

Grade A
Ritek own branded, Ridisc & Datasafe.
There should be no problems with these brands whatsoever.

Grade B
Arita: This brand was originally used by Ritek to move their surplus cancelled orders and was usually an overprint and sold off as a cheaper alternative to the Grade A discs. It was as good as the Grade A apart from the overprinting. As of late, however, I have heard reports from various sources of these discs starting to be of an inferior grade.

Grade C or Worse
The worst disc is the ones sold as 'Landscape', 'Mountain Water' or 'Mountains and Streams'.

The majority of these discs have obvious manufacturing defects which can be seen from the scans. These defects would have easily been picked up by Riteks own Quality Control so it seems obvious that these discs are known to be inferior and IMO should be marked up as such during manufacture instead of being described by the resellers as:
"Manufactured by RITEK. Great quality disc with a new top surface!"

Ritek have stopped supplying the silver unbranded disc and you will find supplies of this disc diminishing as stocks run out.

I still think that the Grade A Ritek is one of the best discs around. It offers very good value for money but the willingness of Ritek to obviously allow their inferior quality media to be marketed in the UK without any indication as to the quality upsets me and leads me to start looking for a comparable and more consistent disc manufacturer.

If you are thinking of purchasing any Ritek media I advise you to get assurance from your supplier as to the quality and a guarantee as such. If you are a reputable supplier thinking of marketing such media please describe them correctly so that the end user knows what he is buying.

Added:  Friday, March 26, 2004
Reviewer:  Flash

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