Ricoh Ultra Speed 16x DVD+R - tested in 3 drives

C0deKing 2005-08-29 19:32:03 UTC #1

Ricoh Ultra Speed 16x DVD+R Media

I just received some new media - a 50 disc spindle of Ricoh Ultra Speed 16x, made in Taiwan.

So lets see how it performs in my three currently installed drives.

1/ BenQ 1640 - BSKB
2/ LiteOn 1693S - KS0A
3/ NEC 3500 - 2.TG

First up the BenQ 1640 using BSKB with Overspeed, Solid burn and WOPC enabled. The drive burned the disc at 16x in 6:00. While the read scan is perfect the PIEs are quite high at the end of the disc and the jitter gets up a bit high towards the end as well.

C0deKing 2005-08-29 19:35:13 UTC #2

Next the BenQ 1640 with Overspeed and Solidburn disabled and WOPC enabled. I tried this twice with similar results. The results speak for themselves, I think.

C0deKing 2005-08-29 19:37:05 UTC #3

Next the LiteOn 1693S using KS0A. The drive burned the disc in 5:54, faster than the other drives but the result is not very good. Very high PIE and PIF counts at the middle and end of the burn. The resulting read curve reflects the quality of the burn.

C0deKing 2005-08-29 19:38:47 UTC #4

Next the NEC 3500 using 2.TG (thanks to Liggy and Dee). The burn time was 6:07 and is the slowest of the three. The PIFs are very good and even though the peck PIE was higher than the BenQ, the total is much lower. An excellent read scan but I would still like to see a much lower PIE count at the end of the burn.

C0deKing 2005-08-29 19:43:46 UTC #5

Lastly I tried a 12x burn in the BenQ with Overspeed, Solidburn and WOPC enabled. This is an excellent result at this speed, with very good PIF and PIE counts. This is reflected in the resulting read test.

C0deKing 2005-08-29 19:44:57 UTC #6

Conclusion:
All up a little disappointing. Some of my 8x media will burn better at 16x than this media does and some of my 8x media, half the price of this media, will burn the same at 12x. If youâ€™re looking for media to burn at 16x, with these drives and current firmware, then I would personally suggest you try something else.

Wesociety 2005-08-29 21:40:24 UTC #7

Nice! thanks for the tests.
RICOHJPNR03 burnt @ 12x on the Pioneer A09 fw 1.58

Two_Degrees 2005-08-29 22:04:07 UTC #8

C0deKing,
I wonder if you just got a bad batch of R03? YSS got good results with his 740A and his 1640 (fw BSHB) at 16x. It also wasn't too bad on his 4163B. Another Japanese DVD test site webmaster, Pochi, got pretty nice results on his 1620.

lui_gough 2005-08-29 22:17:08 UTC #9

I burn RICOHJPNR01 at 12x using solidburn with gr8 results. It seems really dissapointing the write quality of these

C0deKing 2005-08-29 22:36:43 UTC #10

Nice burn

I've attached a LiteOn scan of the 12x BenQ burn for comparison.

C0deKing 2005-08-29 22:39:38 UTC #11

Thanks for the links. Yes it's quite possible - it wouldn't be the first time and it won't be the last, but it tends to make me shy away from the media anyway, if it's going to have batch problems like this.

zevia 2005-08-29 23:04:13 UTC #12

Codeking,

I am with Two Degrees. It is most likely a bad batch. One of the scans show "No Additional Sense information" error right at the spot when the write speed extremely dropped.

More scans of RICOHJPNR03 burned on:
1. BenQ DW1620A B7V9 @16x
2. BenQ DW 1640A BSKB @16x
3. LG GSA4163A 1.04 @16x
4. NEC ND-3540A 1.W4 @16x
5. Plextor 716A 1.08 @16x

DieseI 2005-08-29 23:36:49 UTC #13

zevia, did PR kick in? According to the scan it seems it didn't. If so, great burn for PX-716 @16x with PIF max = 2.

C0deKing 2005-08-29 23:51:52 UTC #14

Thanks for the scans - they're much better than mine :). The "No Additional Sense information" error is still a mystery to me. If this media is so different that the standard strategy wouldn't work, why did the burn in the other drives look okay at the beginning of the burn. I still wonder if this is some sort of bug when Solidburn is disabled.

Was you RICOHJPNR03 Ricoh branded or some other brand?

Pulsee 2005-08-30 00:53:40 UTC #15

@C0deKing

My 1653S CSTR Doesn't Seem To Mine Ricoh R03

But All My Other Drives Are So So.

C0deKing 2005-08-30 03:30:47 UTC #16

Thanks, I'll try one tomorrow in my 1653S and see how it does.

zevia 2005-08-30 06:19:51 UTC #17

Yes, the PR kicked in at the end, as usual....

zevia 2005-08-30 06:20:29 UTC #18

It is Memorex 16x from bestbuy in the US.

code65536 2005-08-30 07:05:43 UTC #19

Is Ricoh still being made by RiTEK?

Wesociety 2005-08-30 07:28:30 UTC #20

Yes, my Memorex brand RICOHJPNR03 was manufactured in Taiwan by Ritek.