Verbatim(Mitsubishi) and Ritek should be ashamed of themselves. I realize there are R+D costs that need to be recouped, but $15 for ONE blank disc? I know they can be found cheaper, as low as $9.50 in some places, but thats with a major retailer, and buying 6 at a time. I do not have a DL drive right now, but will get one as soon as a manufacturer decides they want to provide a media product without gouging people on the price.

I will never buy another Ritek, or Mitsubishi product again if I can help it. Very hard to do considering Ritek OEM's to everybody, but I'll try.

I will keep using my Sony DW-U10a until these media prices come down into the atmosphere. It's bad enough that a blank single layer disc is still being sold by some bandits for up to $4.00 each, but $15 ? HARD DRIVE space is cheaper than the blank discs for crying out loud!

On the other hand, BRAVO to NEC for releasing such a quality drive as the ND-3500A at such a reasonable price! It's too bad I won't buy it until I have something to use it with.

Am I alone with this feeling of disgust toward those two media manufacturers?

-NotesGooRoo

I remember paying $5 a pop for 2x DVD-R and $15 for 1x DVD-RW. Deal with it.

(in reply to NotesGooRoo)

Its very natural that DL media costs so high, the manufacturing process is very slow, i was told that all discs were made by hands, meaning there isn't a machine that can build the discs automatically like normal DVD +/-R media...Higher manufacturing costs -> higher end price cost...hopefully the media prices will continue to drop down to acceptable levels, but i wouldn't count to see 1~2 Euro prices very soon

(in reply to kidsafe)

quote:

ORIGINAL: kidsafe

I remember paying $5 a pop for 2x DVD-R and $15 for 1x DVD-RW. Deal with it.

You're a manufacturer's dream come true

(in reply to kidsafe)

quote:

ORIGINAL: emperor

Its very natural that DL media costs so high, the manufacturing process is very slow, i was told that all discs were made by hands, meaning there isn't a machine that can build the discs automatically like normal DVD +/-R media...Higher manufacturing costs -> higher end price cost...hopefully the media prices will continue to drop down to acceptable levels, but i wouldn't count to see 1~2 Euro prices very soon

They surely will come down eventually, to a level where they can still make a profit. My problem is, we all know that they WILL come down, but in the absense of competition they are gouging. The profit level has to be at least 600% at this stage, which to me, is obscene. I can buy 200gb of HD space on a good drive, and the same space on DL media would cost me up to $350. The WORST one of all to me is Verbatim(Mitsubishi) with their "Solution Kit". I wonder how many people bought the pack without reading and thought they were getting 10 pieces of DL media at $3 each. Ritek is not so bad, they are only playing the market as it was set. Which from a business perspective is the only responsible thing to do for stockholders.

I never spent $15 for any blank, the most I have ever spent is $5 for blank 1x CD-R's back in 1997. Actually $100 for a 10-pack with a $50 rebate, TDK.

As far as discs being made by hand, I doubt that to be true at this point. The only thing they could possibly do by hand that would produce usable media would be pulling a lever on a stamping machine. Sure, the prototypes were made by "hand", but there is no way Ritek has hundreds of people making discs by hand for them at this stage of the product lifecycle. The media is new, but still old enough to be mass produced.

So who is suffering here? The drive manufacturers. I'm sorry, but $90 for NEC's new 3500a is almost TOO cheap. If the media were priced better, I believe they would be getting at least $150 for that drive. In fact, ALL of the DL drives came out for peanuts compared to the first DVDR drives, and CDR drives. The feature is only as good as the ability to use it.

Oh well, I hope they come down soon. I would really like to get a new drive or two. I am willing to pay up to $5 for a blank, but not a cent more. I guess it has to do with my purchase history. It's the most I have ever spent for a blank disc of any kind, and I am not going to exceed it.


-NotesGooRoo

(in reply to emperor)

When i said that media is made by hand, i was refearring to the fact that there isn't an automated 100%, without human hands, at some point of manufacturing procedure, human has to be used -> much more time to make a disc, and the manufacturing process cost is higher than with normal media, so according to manufacturer side, this explains the high cost of the DL media.

Users who find that DL media is expensive shouldn't use it, unless they can afford it...If you remember the same thing happened when DVD-R media introduced, hopefully at 4~6months when other media manufacturers introduce their DL media, prices will drop, unless there is a hidden agreement to keep media prices high enough to prevent movie piracy...

(in reply to NotesGooRoo)

quote:

ORIGINAL: emperor

....unless there is a hidden agreement to keep media prices high enough to prevent movie piracy...

Thats the funny thing. Newegg.com had Ritek's for $11.99 when they first got them. That lasted for a few days, no mention of a sale. Then all of a sudden they raise to market price, $15. I am usually not a conspiracy theorist, but I just thought that was strange. Escpecially since NewEgg is famous for beating everyone else's prices. The $11.99 was right on par with their normal pricing. $14.99, the same as everyone else, is not.

Just something to think about.

-NotesGooRoo

(in reply to emperor)

[Deleted by Admins]

(in reply to NotesGooRoo)

It could be that a shortage of media increases prices...

(in reply to Deleted User)

Traxdata 9.95 (1)
9.50 (5-)

Ridata 8.65(1)
7.65(5-)

Verbatim 11.50 (1) ( In my local store here in Germany 9.99 € at this time...)
10.65(5-)


(all in € )

http://www.ddvd.info/

(in reply to emperor)

[Deleted by Admins]

(in reply to lonelyger)

I do think the price still make sense but I would prefer to wait till it is cheaper

Mitsubishi's DL disc cost about ¥1,100 for one in Japan which is about US$10 or Euro €8.35

(in reply to Deleted User)

[Deleted by Admins]

(in reply to arith)

A lot of people don't quite understand just how much R&D went into this media type! Not only that, but making the media itself is VERY difficult, and evem Mitsubishi who currently has some of the best success rates, can't even get 75% of their attempts to come out at 'A' grade level. Ritek is far FAR less sophisticated, and has much less success in making their media. So a high failure rate, and a large bill for R&D means, VERY high selling prices. This is not because the profit margins are set high, but because they've sunk millions of dollers into this technology with no return for quite some time!

(in reply to Deleted User)

That's ture.

So, no need to be so unhappy for the price. Since the price still too high to most of the people who might consider to use it to backup their own DVD-9, they will stay to wait and have another solution to backup (as we all know, using SL media) instead of buying DL media.

Only some people who need to burn data larger than 4.7GB in on disc will not care about the price. But who will?

(in reply to Dolphinius_Rex)

Lower Price, more people will buy these medias....

Is the quality of the Ritek like the Verbatim DL...???
My Pioneer DVR-108 will burn Verbatim 4x, Ritek only 2.4x..... so i will buy Verbatim...

(in reply to arith)