detail information

Our Questions:

Is Ricoh somehow related to Ritek regarding optical media? 

AK> Ricoh has been engaged in the optical media business since 1975 and celebrates its 25^th anniversary this year.  With Ritek we have a strategic partnership since 1999 in manufacturing optical discs.  Ricoh provide own developed material such as dye and precise stamper to Ritek.  All Ricoh media is produced according to Ricoh's original quality specification at Ricoh designated production lines at the Ritek factory.

What can we expect to see from Ricoh in the future? 

AK> We are constantly doing research and developments, and we will release in near future: Hybrid-Discs, LightScribe, DVD+ and -R DL, HD-DVD and Blu-Ray to only mention some.

Why did Ricoh leave the ODD industry, regarding optical drives? 

AK> Ricoh sold burners to have hardware as the vehicle for the Ricoh media business, because Ricoh as a media manufacturer decided to concentrate on the core business.

Will Ricoh release DVD-RW and DVD-R DL media? 

Depending on the specifications Ricoh might or might not build DVD-R-DL media. The DVD-RW media is not that popular in Europe and at the time being we see no major market or request for DVD-RW.

Can we expect to see Ricoh's own manufactured -R media? 

Ricoh only have our own production of plus discs. Minus are manufactured by different companies according to Ricoh's specification.

Can we expect to see any DVD+RW DL media from Ricoh? 

AK> As soon as the (final) specification for this media is ready, we plan to release our own DVD+RW DL media.

Some drive manufacturers like i.e. Pioneer do not fully support Ricoh media; is there any known reason for this? 

Drive manufacturers are supplied with engineering samples of new media to add support for them to their drives. How long it takes them to add the discs to the drive's firmware depends on the drive manufacturers.

Does Ricoh have any plans to make their own HD-DVD and Blu-Ray media?  

AK> Ricoh will develop own HD-DVD and Blu-Ray media - with first discs expected for HD-DVD. Even discs with more than one layer are under development.

Can we expect to see any LightScribe or LabelFlash media from Ricoh? 

Yes, LightScribe is being worked on, but at the time being LabelFlash is not.

What are the quality assurance procedures for Ricoh media? 

AK> Ricoh has own strict criteria to separate Ricoh media into several Ricoh defined grades in quality. Among those Ricoh only allows certain top grades to be Ricoh brand products to assure the best quality.

Lately, there have been media using fake media codes, have Ricoh noticed anything regarding this?

AK> Yes, we have noticed. It is not clear where these discs have been produced as those companies do not have contracts with Ricoh.

Many people prefer discs from specific countries, like media from Japan being superior to discs made in other countries for example. What is the cause for this?

AK> Actually, Ricoh believes that country of origin itself does not make difference, but quality systems put in place does make difference. In case of Ricoh media all of them are designed and made in accordance with Ricoh specification and own high quality stamper and dye. Therefore, Ricoh believes that name of brand,  innovative technologies and it's quality assurance methods represents product quality rather than country of origin.

 

Jan S. (left) and Torsten P. (right)