CDR speeds

[kenomac78]

so is it the disc it self that has to be for a certain speed , or my burner, that has to be set at a certain speed?

i set my computer to burn at 1x yet my version of alcohol 120 only goes down to 4x! its making my cdrs into crap!   the cdr i was using, which now i have ran out, only say 52x, do i need to find a certain brand to get a 1x?

anyone got some help for me?

[Seldane]

You can't burn CDs at 1X, no burner allows it (only ancient ones, but they are crap - they'll screw up your CDs at 1X instead of at 48X, like the modern ones). It's limited to 4X (or higher, like 10X) in the firmware, and there isn't much you can do about it (except get a hacked firmware for your burner, but I doubt you'll find one that allows burning at 1X, since no one would ever want to do that). Doesn't matter what software or CD brand you're using.

Why would you want to burn at 1X anyway?

[kenomac78]

trying to copy some of my games, but they arent playing after i burn at 12 , 8 or 4X so i thought 1x might work.

it might be that those cdrs are junk

[Oli_lar]

burning PCE CDs?

Are the tracks in MP3 or WAV? If they're in MP3 then they will cock up. convert them to WAV first.

Also are they copies you've made or from another source? You need software like turborip to back up PCE/TG16 games as they contain special code.

[Seldane]

Are you using branded media or just plain ones with no name on them or anything? Those discs can be really bad, but it may very well be your burner. Is it old? What model is it? Every disc you burn should work fine, especially when burning at such low speeds. Or maybe they do work, it's just that your system (PCE?) doesn't like burned discs.

Try cleaning your burner. If that doesn't work, update the firmware. Old, failing drives can start working great after a firmware update.

[grahf]

I searched high and low for an old burner that would burn at 1x after reading so many times that it was better. What seldane says is right, the old burners are crap. A modern burner at 4x is going to produce a better burn than an antiquated one at 1x.


It took me a long time to figure out the right way to burn a PCE disk. There are many differnt programs, track at once, disk at once, disk at once with a happy ending, etc. My solution was to try everything until I found the right combination. Instead of wasting CDRs, I just used a CDRW and tested it in magic engine on the PC.

[termis]

I have a really old 1x burner myself, and back in those days, I HAD to burn a PSOne game at 1x or it wouldn't work well (though it'd usually start up, FMV movies would usually skip at parts, and it had a high percentage of crashing during some loading sequence).  So I thought it'd be the same old story for my PCE, so at first I always burned them at 1x as well. 

However, after reading around a bit, as Seldane said, modern burners supposedly give just as quality burns at their respective lower speed cap, like 4x, like the old ones did 1x.  So I've been burning 4x with my "newer" burner for my PCE games, and they all work fine.  (I've yet to try a 4x burned game on my old Playstation 1, though).

You may be doing something wrong during the backup/burn process.  If you're trying burn a downloaded copy and that's not working, try backing up a 1-to-1 copy of an original disc you have and see if that works.  A 1-to-1 backup copy should give you the highest percentage of it succeeding -- if that works, you can blame the bad download.  If it doesn't, try changing the media or try burning it elsewhere and see if it gives you the same problem.

I noticed that my PCE Duo is really sensitive to the type of media I use, but all of them DO work.  Some just make very light scuffing-type noises as they spin.

[rolins]

Well I'm going to say the old burners are still better. At least for me anyway. Mine I think is 10 years old now, and still creates better quality backups at 1x/2x than my dvd burner.

The cd burner I'm using is by LG electronics. Don't know the model number though, but it came included with my HP Pavilion 8668C.

[Nazi NecroPhile]

I haven't had any problems burning at 1x on my geriatric drive, so apparently not all old burners are shit - just dirt slow. 

Head over to www.necstasy.net, verify that your table of contents is correct, repair your ToC (if necessary), and follow their burning instructions.  You may need to experiment with a few different brands of discs to find one that your Duo / TG-CD likes, but most people have had success with Verbatim discs.

[kenomac78]

i think the laser in my PC is pretty good. i really only  dig it up sporadically, so i dont really use it all day everyday. the burner in my  comp is from 06, no problems there. it is a straight copy, so i think that the problem is the  disc themselves, ill try a better brand even if it means to shell out more moolah. 

i had my 4-in-1 disc kind of going, but it took about 10 minutes to load, but then right after the orig. booted right up.  but thanks for all the help.

[termis]

i had my 4-in-1 disc kind of going, but it took about 10 minutes to load, but then right after the orig. booted right up.  but thanks for all the help.

If it loaded, but it took a long time, it's definitely the media.  My Duo's laser also will occasionally get "lost" with CDRs, taking forever to load, whereas that rarely happens on my originals.  Like many have said above, you'll have to test various CDRs until you find the one your machine likes.  I suggest you steal one blank CDRs of different types from friends till you find something that works and stick with it.   

For me, Fuji CDRs seem to work well.  TDK and generic GQ brand have also loaded okay, but as I've said, they make some weird noise as they spin inside my machine.  (Unfortunately, I hear CDRs, even between same brands, differ greatly depending on where and how it was manufactured, so just use some of the info as guideline rather than a rule.)

[Seldane]

Every CD-R brand I've used has worked flawlessly in my PCE. Even my crappy Dracula X CD that I burned on the cheapest media available, that had been under a bookshelf for six months (I had lost it). It was dirty and incredibly scratched, but it worked just fine.

[kenomac78]

well the mall opens up in a few hours s il give a detailed look. i used to just buy anything cheap  coz i used them only for music.

but what i hate is what i call the 'death click'  when after the laser looks for the data, cantfind it, then you hear that loud click when it resets , to look again but you know its not going to find anything

[Seldane]

That death click will also mean the death of your laser... at least if you have a non 3900X-model PS2.

[kenomac78]

get out!  well, i dont think finding a replacment ps2 IF that ever happens will  a problem. but someday the scant number of duos that were mad will run dry, ill be careful

[SignOfZeta]

If a burner is rated at whatever-x, then it supossed to produce perfect recordings no matter what speed you select. The CDs are kind of...pretty much all the same, and anyway they are all going to say 56x or something fast as hell like that nowadays.

If you can't make a usable CD at 4x, then either your burner is junk, the CDs are junk, and maybe you are just trying to play the CDs on some ancient-ass game system nobody has heard of.

I've made quite a few PCE CD-Rs at 24x with no problem.

[kenomac78]

thats my mistake! i was trying to put these in an atari XE!   

[Seldane]

Yeah, I usually burn PCE games at 32X. Works fine.

[kenomac78]

i got  some TDK with the blue bottom, much better, but not quite there,

they load, and get into the game, but some have  sound issues or still hang up later on..