CDR-Zone.COM and Big Pockets present the Ridata 4X DVD+R review.

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Posted on Tuesday 25th of May, 2004 at 18:59 by SirQUK
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In association with Big Pockets we present the Ridata 4X DVD+R Media review.

Features
Packaging and presentation
DVD-R information
Burning
Verification and error checking
Conclusion

Many thanks must to goto Big Pockets for sending us this media to review for our CDR-Zone readers. In this review we get to look at the 'RIDATA' 4x DVD+R media.

"Ridata is a name owned by Ritek and all Ridata media comes to meet the same strict guidelines laid down by Ritek."

Features:

Manufacturer: Ritek/Ridata
Lead In Info: Ritek/Ricoh
Top Surface Colour: Green/Blue with branding
Writing Surface Colour: Purple
Write Speed: X4
Max Storage Data: 4.7Gb
Max Storage Time: 120min

Packaging and presentation:

Our test media arrived in a double DVD case ensuring no damage could be done to the discs The top writing surface of the disc is light blue and silver with the Ridata logo.

The recording surface is a dark purple and curiously carries the Ricoh dye code according to DVDInfo, Nero CD Speed and our recording software.

DVD+R information:

In these tests the software used for all the recording where CopyToDVD 3 and DVD Decrypter 3.2.2.0.

VSO softwares new Media information utility - VSO Inspector was used for gathering our information about the inserted media, DVDInfoPro, CDCheck, and Nero CDSpeed were used to check the recorded DVD for errors, and the hardware used was the Pioneer 107 and Plextor 708 DVD+/-RW drives.

As the above screenshot from VSO Inspector shows, the Media Code/Manufacturer ID of RICOHJPN-R01-02 which is proof that it manufactured with the well proven dye by RICOH.

Nero CDSpeed comfirming the media code:

Available burning speeds in our Pioneer 107 showed 1x, 2x and 4x recording available but if placed in our Plextor 708, 8x recording was also available. So if you are a Plextor 708 owner, this could save you buying 8x DVD+R discs, although we do recommend only burning at the recomended speed for best results. Only tests done at the recommended 4x speed using the Pioneer 107 have been shown in this review.

Capacity of the disc was 4.38 GB and compatiability problems should not be present with both PC and newer standalone DVD Players. Readers must be aware that there are some known playback problems on older standalone DVD players.

RICOH are one of the best brands of DVDR+ media in todays market, producing one of the most compatiable dyes around.Very often, it is even possible to record RICOH 4x DVD+R at past it rated speed, if using the Plextor 708 DVD+/-RW.

Burning:

The standard CDR-ZOne.COM recording tests where used to test the DVD-R Media at various recording speeds, these being CopyToDVD from VSO-software was used to burn a Video DVD and Data DVD from my Hard drive. DVDDecrypter was used to burn an ISO image of the same Video DVD.The entire process should take between 14 and 15 minutes to complete at 4x.

The above picture shows CopyToDVD burning the media at 4x.

The above picture shows DVDDecrypter burning an ISO image at 4x.

Verification and error checking:

VSO Inspector was used to check the recorded DVD for any bad sectors that might be present. As the screnshot below shows, no bad sectors where found during the scan:

To check for any errors on the recorded DVD, DVDInfoPro's "CD\DVD error test" utility and CDCheck Media error check function were used to Verify the recorded Media. The tests show that no read errors were reported.

DVDInfoPro reporting no errors on checking recorded media:

CDCheck reporting no errors on checking recorded media:

A second test was carried out to verify the DVD+R file structure. Both DVDinfoPro and CDChecks "Compare" utilities compared the files on the DVD+R to the original source files on the Hard Disk.

DVDInfoPro reported no erors with its compare utility:

CDCheck reported no erors with its compare utility:

As shown in the images above you can see the files on the DVD+R are identical to to the source files on the Hard Disk.

To check the playback, the same playing tests has used on our Verbatim Movie Reel review where carried out.. Both the software DVD Players played the DVD without error and so did the Bush standalone, but skip problems where noted on our Cyberhome 512, which was inline with other DVD+R media we had used on it, as it is one of the older models.

Conclusion:

The Ridata 4x DVD+R media burnt perfectly at 4x using both CopyToDVD and DVDDecrypter, recording either data DVD or Video ISO images on our Pioneer 107, and also had no problem recording at 8X on our Plextor 708 which was very nice indeed. No Errors where found on the Ridata Media used during these tests.

The writing surface, although not the nicest you will ever see was easy to write onto with plenty of room for writing multiple lines. The Ridata media also passed the verification tests meaning no errors where found and we had a reliable backup of our impotant records.

Tested on: