Best CDR Blanks?

Music on a CD is 1s and 0s. All you are doing is manipulating data. A standalone burner does not do anything special to the bitstream just because it's made for music. In fact, computer burners no not even involve A/D-D/A conversion at all! Even if it is a digital connection, some standalones do sample rate conversion. With computers you have control over your data. With the standalone you have no idea or control over what's happening.

The standalone burners are for those who can't be bothered with computers. Period.

Luke, If you get a bad CD on an IDE system there are many reasons for this that in fact do involve anythging from the burner to the hard drive and transfer rate, and it does involve writing speed. This is not to suggest that SCSI is better than IDE. In fact, these days there is no difference other than that true multitasking is possible with SCSI.

 

CD Recorders v. CD Burners?

Grant,

Since I am not an audio or computer engineer I cannot speculate on the technical aspects of recorders versus burners. In my case, I am transferring analog information into data, so I need those A/D and D/A convertors on my recorder. I know that it makes great sounding CD-R's. I have to assume that data is influenced and affected by the quality of circuitry and devices it passes through, however. I have heard that the quality of convertors is very crucial to the sound of recorded CD-Rs.

Bob

 

I do the same things you do. With computers, it's all in the soundcard and the way the software in question handle the data.

 

Hey Grant,

Come on, tell us how ya really feel.

Hope this message posts, my damn computer has been bothering me all day.

Jeffrey

 

Weeelll.... I don't know if I agree with that! I know I've said this before, but here goes again:

I have a computer with a cd-rw and a standalone dvd-ram.

Still, I chose to get a standalone cd audio burner, because my stereo setup is all the way accross the hous in another room. I don't want to lug my computer over to the stereo constantly, and I don't want to have some ridiculously long cable running from the stereo to the computer (shudder).

The solution of getting a pro audio cd burner that could fit nicely in my stereo rack made sense in this contact. And it's not because I'm affraid of (or can't be bothered with) computers.

So there



HZ

p.s. I loaded up on around 600 of the Kodak pure gold's -- I'm set for quite some time!

 

No, that's not true. If you get a buffer underrun, your computer (ie, slow HD, slow IDE channel, whatever) is to blame. If the disc burns all the way through, it is NOT the fault of the computer, IDE, SCSI, whatever. If you don't get an underrun, your machine is fast enough to burn at that speed, period. Any problems you may have are due to the burner itself or the media.

 

Well, that's exactly what I meant by my statement. I didn't know you guys were going to misinterpret it!

Yeah, i'm good to go for a while too!

 

Isn't that what I stated before???

 

Have you updated the firmware of your Plextor ? It is available on the Plextor website.

Background: The firmware contains information about optimal write strategy for CD-R blanks that are known to it. If you use CD-R blanks that are not known to it, it will have to make a write test on its own, and maybe that doesn´t lead to optimal results. So keeping your firmware up-to-date is a good idea.

Clearly something is wrong in your case, because Maxell and Memorex blanks aren´t so bad that you should get any failed burns with this state-of-the art device.

Hope this helps.

 

Re: Re: Best CDR Blanks?

Again, a major reason people produce coasters is because they try to burn too fast.

 

Hmm. I've been using a somewhat similar setup -- Plextor 8/4/32, bundled with EZCD Creator and Plextor's own ripping software (Audio Capture) -- for a couple of years now and have *never* had a coaster -- using all sorts of brands. (Currently using cheap-o memorexes). This is an ATAPI drive in a Gateway PC/Pentium II/Windows 98 environment. I always rip to hard drive .wav first (using Audio Capture set to highest error correction), *then* burn to disc, btw.
I burn at the fastest speed I can.

My understanding is that you shouldn't be burning coasters with a Plextor, period; they're built *not* to do that. They're supposed to calibrate to whatever blank you put in, and avoid buffer underruns as well. Or at least they were when I bought mine. There's also a software tool either on EZCD or the PLextor tools that lets you determine the optimal burn speed for your computing environment.
Is your computing environment compatible with the 32/12/10?

 

I can tell you that I run an old Gateway 2000 with Win98, a cheap HP burner, and CD Creator Deluxe 4.x and I never burn coasters with any brand. But I also burn at 2x. I do not do CD-to CD copying. I make a disc image on the HD for that, and for compilations I rip all songs onto the HD first, then burn disc-at-once.

These days I rip CDs with Cool Edit Pro 2.0 or Sound Forge. My burner does perfect DAE so I use it instead of the crappy CD ROM that came with the PC. In fact, I tested both with CD Speed included with Nero and it confirmed what I have always believed about my burner.

 

Hey Mikey,

I know that our moderator (Claviusb) rips using the same Plextor as you but running with EAC, and does a fine job I might add as well as no coasters.

 

Thanks....

Thanks guys....

I think I have a combination of problems.

One of them is that almost every time I burn a CD with EZ Cd Creator, it hangs at the end. The CD does burn (usually) however, the program hangs and I have to go to task manger to end it...theres def something wrong there.

I also burn a lot at 12X, because thats why I spent the money on the 12x burner!!

Since I disabled the virus protection from starting in the system tray, that *has* helped a little.

But I WOULD like to find out why EZ Cd Hangs after almost every burn.

thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated!!

Mikey

 

Mike,

Have you tried slowing down the burn speed to 2x or 4x?

 

speed

Actually, Dave, I havent, because I guess I'm saying to myself, "Why did I buy a 12X Burner if I cant burn at 12x?"??


I guess I could drop it to 8X and see if the program hangs, that probably a good experiment.

Mikey

 

Mike,

!2x speed is fine for data, but your burning more than just data here. If you get no success burning at 8x at least try 4x as it may solve your problem, can't hurt.

 

Speed?

Dave,

Good point! Since I use a HHB CD recorder versus an outboard "burner" I make my CD-R dubs in real time. I am always satisfied with the results by doing so!

Bob

 

Data

Well, actually Davey, before I would drop the speed to 4X or even 8X (and lose all that time burning) I would change burning programs. In fact I'm going to try EAC for burning tonight.

I use EAC for ripping and it does that very, very well.

I hear Nero is really good as well.

Mike

 

The absolute best CDR media is PRINCO! Try them you will love them.

 

Mike,

Please don't ever call me Davey again! I HATE IT!! It's a real sore spot with me.

Thanks

 

OK

Ok, DAVE.

I guess youre not a Monkees fan, then...............)

sorry about that.

 

Princo has one of the worst long term failure rate of them all! I just hope you don't plan on keeping the music you have on them just to save a few bucks.

 

Hi Michael

I'm not Grant, and he may have different data, but on this web page Princo is listed among the lesser quality companies, in regards to longevity. However, they also list Ritek as terrible and I've read information on other pages to indicate that Ritek has really done a major turn around lately and has become one of the better manufacturers of blanks.

I know I've seen a number of web pages condemning Princo, but a search displayed ed only the page I've linked. I'm not taking sides either way, but I am saying that maybe Grant saw some of the same material I have and drew a negative conclusion.

Personally, I'm of the belief that it's all trial and error. You have to match the burner with the blank with the best burn speed --for you-- to find the "best" sound. A Sony blank may work well on a Teac but sound poor with a Belchtech CD-R burner.