Ouch I just bought some of the worst CD-R media I've ever tried, it makes even my other junky plasmon discs seem excellent. CDR-intentifier says they're Ritek but I don't know if that's the true manufacturer.

Here's are the details :

The CD-R's are branded "Suntech" and the dye color is really pale blueish-green. The "rated" speed (printed on the media) is 52x but my Pioneer108 refuses to burn them at more than 10x.

CR-identifier reports them as follows :
The only other code on the media is the B80-R-022 in the dye layer near the hub.


Does anyone have any idea of what these media really are, they're totally woeful.

That's kind of strange. Wonder if they might be some very old stock, maybe of the 24x or 32x generation. Or possibly faked.

Yeah I was thinking possibly faked. They were the cheapest 50pk shrink-wrapped pack that I could find at a local computer fair.

Since these days I'm more concerned about DVD+/-R quality it seems I got a little to complacent about CD-R's. Recently I'd found just about even the cheapest CD-R's were still ok but these "suntech" things are just about too bad to even use. When I check the transfer rate in cdspeed it's pretty dodgy even immediately after burning. I think I'll either have to throw these out or else save them to only use if someone I really hate asks me to burn something for them.

Haven't seen Ritek cyanine discs in a long while.

I'll take a look at some of my old Ritek cyanine discs when I get home tonight to see what the serial numbers on the hub/dye area look like.

Oh, BTW -- post a C1/C2 scan so we can see how bad they are :P

Thanks reptile. Yeah I guess that's one possiblity, maybe old stock/seconds that probably should have gone to land-fill. I think "suntech" is just made up brand, I've never seen any other media under this brand.

About the 10x speed though, that's not it's real speed it's only what my Pioneer 108 decides is the maximum. Other drives I've tested them in offer higher speeds (up to 40x on either my LG 4163B or my Liteon burner) but the result is even worse.

I dont have a drive that can make reliable CD scans here at the moment. I'll try to make some scans later when I've got my other system (with a liteon drive) up and running. I did do some scans on these a few days ago but I didn't save the results, I do know that they were worse than anything else I'd previously encountered however.

Ok here's a some quick scans on my Pioneer108. It's not a reliable scanner and always shows some C2 error even when my liteon says there are none. Anyway hopfully it gives a comparative indication of how hopeless these CD-R's are.

The first scan is one of these "suntech" CD's that I've just burnt (at 10x) and the second scan for reference is another cheap brand (azul) which I've had good luck with.

Suntech :
http://img287.imageshack.us/my.php?i...11803novem.png

Other :
http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?i...r108dx1181.png

Nasty. Speaking from experience, the 108 is not a very, eh, "tolerant" CD burner. That said, mine like Ritek media (branded Ridata, Maxell, etc) just fine. As said, I'm thinking old stock or fake.
Consider TDK or Imation MII CDs for your 108 - the cheapest stuff that I've found burns well in the drive. Or a dedicated CD burner (what I use).

-Evan-

FWIW, I've found this ATIP code on legitimate Ritek-manufactured TDK "Certified Plus CD-R"s, circa early 2002. I'm not sure what speed this media was rated for, since it doesn't say on the discs themselves and I no longer have the packaging. Hub marking is "H301K103183941D02" and then a large "80". C1/C2 scans are decent, considering the age of this media.

I'd say your media is fake, and that they just chose some random Ritek code.

How pale is the dye?

All my RiTEK cynanines have quite a strongly blue/green dye - they're 1-16x TDK discs that burn very well... These discs you have might have been stored in hot conditions or something else that might reduce the dye's potency?

Either that, or they are the really old RiTEK discs - even before RiTEK had got to the level of "if there were three discs left in the world and the other two were CMC and Plasmon, under some circumstances might you take it.." level

Thanks for the info kyrowire. Yeah I know those old TDK's that were really a strong blue color, I really liked them. No these ones are nothing like that, they're a really pale bluey-green (like light turquoise). I mean so pale that you'd almost mistake them for phthalocyanine/silver at first glance.

I've got the following ritek media (along with some serials) which might help in telling if they are fake..

TDK Certified Plus 24x Phthalocyanine:
- On reflective ring: RJD80M-50281 80
- extremely hard to read right near centre hub: J313J5111174167C16 80

TDK 1-16x Cyanine (funnily enough this 10-pack of unburnt ones i've got here has something weird happening with the dye! :S:S)
- on hub: J606K104230093A15

IIRC, the old TDKs with the really nice blue dye were manufactured by TDK themselves, and had a TDK ATIP code, not a Ritek one. Haven't seen them in a while -- that TDK dye was great stuff.

Thanks Kyrowire. Those serial are nothing like what I've got and these discs don't look like any other riteks I've ever seen. I'm giving up on these discs and throwing them, they're too bad to bother with. They are mostly barely readable even straight after buring, it's just not worth the effort to burn them. I think they're a fake ritek code, probably some reject media from the some worst of the worst manufactuer.


Yeah I know this getting off topic of my original search but just coincidently I was cleaning out my office yesterday and found a handful of really old CD-R's stuffed right up the back of a cupboard, hidden behind some other junk. There were two "Kodak Gold infogaurd" (1x .. 8x) and one of those old TDK 8x disk (with the really strong blue dye), and yes the old blue TDK hasa TDK atip code.

All of these discs were burnt last century about 1997. You know I scanned all three and they were perfect. Seriously, even if I just burnt them today I'd be happy with the scans. These things hadn't just managed to hold onto their data, they were more like absolutely pristine condidtion. Man what I wouldn't give to get that kind of piece of mind and security with todays DVD*R media, I mean to know that you could just toss it in a cupboard and pull it out 10 years later to find perfect read back and a beautiful scan.

Yes, I know that feeling ....

After going from flawless burns & flawless portability & long lasting discs, then onto the first batch of riteks ... every 3rd disc useless (failed burn), every second (good) disc wouldn't play in Audio players, nearly every disc disintegrating within 3 months.

The first batch of TDK RiTEK's were brilliant for me - although I do have a faulty (i think) batch here - dye has gone cloudy - 10 cd-r's unburnt. Probably due to the instability of cyanine in storage for years, but maybe not.

And yes, the TDK 1-8x were very blue, and brilliant discs, but the RiTEK-made discs that came straight after them performed fairly well but were also quite heavy blue (not as deep as an Azo or older cyanine disc, but certainly darker than what he describes!)

Interestingly though, the RiTEK's that I have burnt have performed flawlessly in picky players for years? :S Talk about inconsistent eh!