[TriLUG] CD-R problem and blanks for sale.

Sun Mar 17 02:49:12 EST 2002

Well actually my experience proves otherwise. I have used expensive and
cheap CD-R's and CD-RW's, primarily for data. I have found that there is NO
significant difference between the expensive ones than the cheapest ones I
can buy (at least the cheap ones from Compusa either branded "Compusa" or
not branded with anything [100 for $15]. Rather my experience has been  that
you get more coasters if you DON'T write the entire disk all at one time (as
opposed to writing one track and then another, and another, etc.). I would
also advise that you not copy one data disk directly from one CD directly to
your CD-RW, as I've had problems when I try this. Rather write the data to a
temp file on your hard disk and burn the disk from this temp file.  This
apparently eliminates most of the buffer over and under-run problems which
seem to be the major cause of "coasters" (although you can now buy more
expensive CD-RW's which claim to have very large hardware buffers to
eliminate this problem as well). Keep in mind that, as they say, "none of
these suggestions may work with your system just because they work with
mine"!! You have choices to make and you have to figure out the ones that
fit your computer hardware.

    There are only a couple of things that MAY signify the different quality
between cheap vs. expensive brands, and those might be how many years the
disk will hold its data and secondly the different colors of the CD-R(w)
which may cause certain colored diskts to work better with one burner than
with others because different color lasers are used in the CD-RW's ( this
tip from the technicians at Intrex and some friends of mine have also told
me that they had better results burning disks of a particular color as
opposed to others--the color in question is the color on the side that is
burned [not the label!!]), although I haven't experienced this problem. Gold
ones are "said" to be the best longest lasting ones, but now they have
Silver ones and very few gold ones. Are the Silver ones now better than the
gold?? I simply don't know. I'm not saying I believe all this, but I've
heard this from others, and as they say "where's there smoke there's usually
fire".
     When just about anyone begins to burn CD's they invariably create a lot
of coasters until they figure out which options to use to get perfect CD's
FOR THEIR PARTICULAR COMPUTER!!--what speed to use, whether to write the
data first to a temp file or to simply read it from its source directly,
etc., etc. I would imagine adding a new operating system into this mix could
also cause some problems to solve. A lot of this is dependent on the speed
and the amount of memory in your computer. The only way to figure out the
best settings to use is simply trial and error.
I've created a lot of coasters just figuring all this stuff out FOR MY
SYSTEM (and that was when the cheapest CD's were $1.00 each!!), but now I
hardly ever end up with a coaster (but I also now have 500 megs of RAM).
Don't neglect to consider the possibility that your CD-RW may be defective,
esp. considering where and who is manufacturing them now--there is
definitely a difference between something made in Japan vs. Malasia.. Hope
you get your problem solved.
Al Johnson.
================

----- Original Message -----
From: M. Mueller (bhu5nji) <bhu5nji at yahoo.com>
To: <trilug at trilug.org>
Sent: Friday, March 15, 2002 2:16 PM
Subject: Re: [TriLUG] CD-R problem and blanks for sale.

>
>
> On Friday 15 March 2002 01:51 pm, you wrote:
> > I haven't tried them on another system. I did create some audio cds for
> > my wife and she hasn't complained, so I'll assume they were error free.
> > One of my co-workers bought the cds, so I'm sure I'll find out if
> > they're just total crap.
> > I used some Memorex disks with my burner and they worked like a champ.
> > I'm just chalking it up to random incompatability.
>
> Suspend your chaulk.  I think there is determinism at work here. I've been
> told by sales associates (snickering, like they would know anything) at
> retail outlets that el-cheapo CD are good for music.  For data, I was
told,
> you better buy a name brand el-expensivo product (smirk; more expensive is
> good for the store, not me).  In music and video, loss of bits and bytes
is
> accounted for and tolerated in the DSP in the D to A direction.  (Who's
going
> to notice Bruce Willis had a 10ms blemish on his forehead from flipped
bits
> in an action scene?) In data apps there is 0% margin of error.  I don't
know
> the ISO9660 protocol, but if there are checksums on datablocks, that could
be
> the reason you are getting coasters from your roaster - bad CRC on read
> verify, or just plain old failed bit-by-bit failure on verify. Your
> experience corresponds with the sales associates' recommendation.  How
'bout
> that?  Personally, I chickened out and bought the more expensive CDs, so I
> didn't test the hypothesis above.
>
> Mike M
>
> >
> > Ken
> >
> > On Fri, 2002-03-15 at 04:57, M. Mueller (bhu5nji) wrote:
> > > Can you burn the CDs using a completely different system (friend's,
> > > employer's)?  Can you make music CDs with them?
> > >
> > > Mike M
> > >
> > > On Wednesday 13 March 2002 10:52 pm, you wrote:
> > > > I've been going nuts trying to figure out why my burner keeps making
> > > > coasters. It seems like it doesn't like the blanks i have. To that
end,
> > > > I have 100 blank 80minute 24x CompUSA disks for sale, $10. Your
milage
> > > > may vary or not. In other words, I don't guarantee that they'll
work.
> > > > I'll bring them to the meeting tomorrow night if anyone's
interested.
> > > >
> > > > Ken
> > > > _______________________________________________
> > > > TriLUG mailing list
> > > >     http://www.trilug.org/mailman/listinfo/trilug
> > > > TriLUG Organizational FAQ:
> > > >     http://www.trilug.org/~lovelace/faq/TriLUG-faq.html
> > >
> > > --
> > > Mike  M.
> > >
> > > Support TriLUG. Reply directly for details on how to send a check.
> > > No amount is too small.
> > >
> > > Subscribe to all the TriLUG lists at
http://trilug.org/mailman/listinfo
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>
> --
> Mike  M.
>
> Support TriLUG. Reply directly for details on how to send a check.
> No amount is too small.
>
> Subscribe to all the TriLUG lists at http://trilug.org/mailman/listinfo
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