Ricoh variability

I didn't believe rdgrimes at first when he said that Ricoh media is very variable. Well, I believe him now! Here are two burns on Ricoh media...

Same computer.
Same burner.
Same firmware.
Same burning software.
Same OS.
Same data size (well, almost the same).
Same burning procedure.
Same burning speed (8x).
Same brand (Fuji).
Same media type (RICOHJPNR01).
Same source (bestbuy.com).
Same "made-in" (Taiwan)
Did I miss anything in this list?

The first burn was done on a disc from an old batch of media that I could a few months ago. The next burn was done on a new batch that I just got recently.

As you can see, while the first burn was perfect, the 2nd burn was a complete coaster (so far, about half the discs I've burned from this 2nd batch have coastered). (Note that the KProbe scan for the 2nd disc is very short; I cancelled the scan after about 27%, around 1 GB--shortly after the 6x->8x jump point in the burn)

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Last edited by code65536; 24-05-2004 at 09:15.

I'd send them bad boys back...

I should also add that what I have above is more of a case of extremes. C0deKing also had a similar experience, though not as extreme. He had a Ricoh batch that performed better than even my good Ricoh above. And he's also had a Ricoh batch that has performed somewhere in the middle, between the two batches shown above (i.e., not coasters, but PI averages in the 20's when many of his older Ricohs had PI averages < 1).

Here's one of my discs that code65536 was talking about (Imation DVD+R 4x). They produce very consistant results and read without any problem:

Time to find out the good and the bad ones.

Made a test this evening on my new (25pcs) spindle of SONY DVD+R´s 4X (made in taiwan).
Same good burn-quality as on my first spindle with this brand three months ago.

Very nice scan, Pinto. I myself have seen the variable quality of the Ricoh's. I've noticed it more in my new spindle of Ridata branded 4x DVD+R's (Ritek R03's). The interesting thing is I have a LDW-451S that is soon to be replaced by a HP 420i as the main burner and if I use GSB7 (read-hacked/bitsetting hacked) firmware on it I get pretty good burns every time out. However, if I use Codeguy's burn-fixed firmware and move the drive up to 851S ever single one comes out a coaster no matter what speed they are burned on with PI's easily climbing past 300 and even up to 600. Variable quality even on GSB7. One scan can show PI's under 10 with a nice low 1.xx average and the next disc can scan between 30-40 in the PI range. The PO's look great which is the main thing but even so, very variable from disc to disc on the GSB7 firmware for me.

So you got these just recently. That's good to hear. I have a 50x spindle of Sony +R turning up later this week. I was a bit worried they might be MCC002 but I get the impression Sony has dropped these for the RICOHJPNR01 (good move). If they are as good as yours I will be over the moon.

I'll post some results as some as I get them...

I've definitiely experienced the variability of RICOHJPNR01 first-hand.
My current batch results in high PI errors at the end of almost every disc.

PS: code65536, those "new" discs are horrible!

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Last edited by wesociety; 24-05-2004 at 07:27.

Here's a Ricoh branded disc (these are the best). Same drive, firmware and burn method (8x) as the Imation disc above.

Talk about variability.
Here is a disc from the same Memorex RICOHJPNR01 spindle!
This one is excellent! Burnt at 8X.

Shame it wasn't a full disc. Would have been interesting to see what happened at the end...

good point!

Hello,

Sony 4X DVD+R Made in Taiwan: RICOH,
Sony 4X DVD+R Made in Singapore: MCC002.

Bye!

Andreas Huwe