Writing CDR: slower speed-> better quality???

  • Thread starter Thread starter Franzino
  • Start date Start date
F

Franzino

New member
A guy who master's CD's professionally did some testing with CDR's and told my something about burning CDR's. If you want the highest quality of writing on CDR (with your equipment) it's better when you write on 2-speed instead of the highest available speed. Reason: when you write on 2 speed the laser moves slower then on 8 speed, so the laser burns longer on the same spot. This means deeper grooves with holds the data. So when you play this CDR, the laser of the CD player will have a more accurate route to follow. Resulting in less skipping and better quality. Anyone with the same experience, haven't tested it myself buy it makes sense to my.
 
yes, it's true.
I'm not sure about the reason though- but it does make sense. It's just because at a slower speed you get a more accurate write, for the sole reason that it's going slower. As with anything you do, the slower you do it the more accurate you're able to do it... although your reason makes sense too, I'm sure that's another part of why slower is better.
-Mike
 
true dat

I have always burned my CD's at 2 speed even though i do have a 10x burner for that reason. It is better quality and when burning audio it is better to burn slower. With files, you can burn faster.
 
It is true, yet I still burn all mine at full speed and have never had any problems with my burns.

/.v
 
Burning on CDR.

You are all quite correct. The major problem is with CDR's is that different companies that make them i.e TDK, Sony and Traxdata etc. all use a slightly different dye on their CDR's. Multi-speed drives have no problem reading this media, but some standard drives will not play them.
The basic message is this ' If u want to use your CDRs on a standard machine, burn the CD as slow as possible. You will probably also find that some CDR's work better on certain machines(why this is I don't know, but it's True!!). My personal advice, if u want excellent recordings, don't skimp on the quality of your CDR's, spend as much as you can.Happy Burning!! Djq.
 
Re: Burning on CDR.

djq said:
You will probably also find that some CDR's work better on certain machines(why this is I don't know, but it's True!!).
Click to expand...

usually the best CDs to use are the ones by the same company that makes your CDR.... the theory being, they test their CDs and in their CDRs and vice versa- plus, why make a recordable CD that doesn't work as well on your own CDR as another company?
:)
-Mike
 
it makes no difference to sound quality, but certain cd players wont play cdr's that are burnt at high speed. as i general rule i burn at real time or 2x if im not in a hurry, but i never burn faster than 4x. this is only with audio tho. if you burn data you can burn as fast as your burner will write, as long as your cdrs are rated for that speed.
 
OK I did the test myself and I now write my CDR's at 2 speed. I can write at full speed whiteout having any problems. But when I play this CDR in my car's CD player it sometimes skip. When I play a CDR that's been written at 2 speed there's no problem. So now I write all my CDR's at 2 speed, just to be save.
But damn this takes a long time:o
 
Cd Burning

The increase in burning speed lately has been largely due to the interface speed between the hardware (i.e. cdr and computer). Digital data can be no better or worse. If it is corrupted than it cannot be read. If it is intact than it can be read. As far as the laser burning deeper on a slower spin drive, it stands to reason. However, professionally made cds are universally better than homemade cds. This is due to a lamination that is put on to factory-produced cds in their last phase. Home-created cds lack this protective coating; hence, they are incredibly easy to damage.
 
yup its true! i have an 12x speed burner, but i never even used that speed, i always used the 2 or 4. my college professor in my computer class told me that using the lower speed, you can have better quality and more accurate readings. also you can check the green or the blue side of the cdr that were burned under high speed, the color is ussually ligher in color, and the ones that were burned in low speed has a darker green to it.
 
mmm....darker green:)
yes, initially i thought when i got an 8 speed, cool, i can burn audio at 8 speed.
but no, it seems that in order for my cds to play on especially older cd players, i must burn at a lower speed. if this still doesn't work, i will just have to get louder speakers, so that everyone in Sydney can hear my music when i play it:D
 
I disagree with some other people's opinions that writing to a cd slower will increase the quality of the audio.

I work for Dell computers as a tech support associate in one of their call centers.. Why do I do it? I don't know.. I got a fast *** connection to the internet and I can wear almost whatever I want to.. anyways, here's my opinion.

The music that you are burning onto your cd is, at it's true core, data. If you have a cd-burner capable of burning data at 12x or 8x or 4x or what have you, then you have a cd burner that is capable of buring a wave file at 12x, 8x, 4x, or what hve you. A wave file is DATA when it is on a hard drive. A wave file is DATA when it is on an audio cd. The difference is that normal cd players have a DAC (digital to analog convertor) chip inside them that decodes that DATA and the end result that comes out is the audio that you hear.

It is capable to get buffer underruns or overruns while burning wave files, mp3 files, pure data programs, or whatever, onto a cd, because of the burst transfer rates of the source drives involved with whatever is on the cd.. I have been burning cd's since 2x was the fastest speed available, and I now have a 12x burner. There is NO decipherable difference, in my opinion, and logically, since the wave file itself is data in form, and the audio cd is data in form, as long as your 1's and 0's are present, then your audio will sound the same.

/[ 1 3 6 ]
http://www.rhythmatik.com
 
burn your master mix down at high speeds then spend major $$$ for pressing and see how lucky u get .... = pitting ....
 
I recently copied a few of my favorite CDs for my friend on CDRs.

First I burned at 4X speed. Upon a critical listening, while the music was definitely all there, I could hear a difference in shimmer in the sound. It was like the copy was missing that silver lining which made me say AHHH! in the original. I threw away this copy, and made rest of the copies X1 speed while I'm in bed or running on errands. I suspect that different brands of blank CDRs may sound subtly different as well.
 
Interesting topic,

I had very very bad expereinces with CD burnin' :
- Glitches
- I had a CD and in the middle of track 2 I heard the audio from track 1. The laser didn't jumped to track 1, no, I had audio data from track 1 in track 2.
- More Glitches
- During the burnin' process empty buffers so I was left behind a worthless CD
- MORE Glitches
- etc.

Now I am that paranoid: I don't burn CD one-to-one.
I rip the wave from the original audio Cd (at a slow rate to avoid glitches) and after I have ripped all the waves I burn them at 1-speed with testing on.
This way I have the guarantee that I have no glitches.

I have a HP-burner and a Philips CDROM-reader.
The Philips-thing is the weakest link. However when I started burnin'CD's the Philips-thing worked fine.

onethirty6bpm
I disagree with you.
All these experiences from people in this forum shows that CD-Writers don't write data properly at high speed.

Those 1's and 0's have to be present in a good condition.
 
dj funkifize said:
. . . . As with anything you do, the slower you do it the more accurate you're able to do it...
Click to expand...

yeah, like sex. That's why it takes me a minute and a half, instead of a minute

Actually cd burners don't burn grooves or pits into CD-R cd's. That's how real cd's are made. W/ cd-r it is actually burning a little bubble into the layer right above the reflective layer. When the reading laser crosses over this bubble, it interprets it as a pit. I'm not sure but I think pits represent 0's. So, it is logical that slowah = mo bettah

And in my opinion, those "for audio only cd-r's" are much higher quality, regardless of write-speed. Nowadays they are much cheaper. They used to be expensive because the RIAA (yes folks, the same mofo's that buried napster, and are restricting your right to share your stuff) was taking a cut of the price to compensate for the piracy that cd-r's encourage. I wonder how much of that cut was actually returned to the artists. . .
 
I don't believe speed has anything to do with it- anyone back DATA up with their CD-Rs?- if there were any errors, you'd notice it in a hurry!
 
I whole-heartedly agree with onethirty6bpm and filtersweep. I studied computer science for a few years, and found that often times what makes logical sense thinking about computer hardware and software in non-computer terms is wrong.

About the color on the write-side of CDR's:
Darker and lighter colors do no conotate write speed. These different colors are simply caused by the different materials used for making the write material. However, most people agree that the darker colored CDR's last MUCH longer than the more pale ones. If you want your CD's to last more than a decade or two, don't get the lighter colored CDR's!

About the difference between audio and computer data on CD's:
No difference! It's all data, as filtersweep said. Audio CD's are only different in that they have a (some people call this thing by different names) table of contents or a directory at the beginning to tell the audio device track size, playing time, etc...

As for write speed:
As far as I know, the main reason people get skipping on audio CD's when writing at high speeds is a slow computer. When you have a slow computer, low amounts of RAM, or are running other applications while writing, the computer can not make the calculations it needs to make in order to get all the little bits written down in the right order. Sometimes, calculations will be missed or skipped, and that's where you hear crap on your CD.

Hope that sheds at least some light on the mystery of CD's. If anyone can lend more info I'd love to hear it! Can always learn more, right?

:cheers:
 
-how come a miscalculation or a skipped one results in a "skip" on an audio cd, but could result in a completely corrupt directory structure or inaccessible files on a data cd, if it's all data?
 
Add to the fact that many old CD players were never designed to read CDRs. I had a player from 86 (no lie) that sorta read some CDs and not others.

I find that some brands of blank CDs do not work very well with my burner (a relatively new one)- I need blue/black/green dye layers- those silver CDRs don't work consistantly for burning for me (I get the error messages right away)- but silver works great for the CDRWs.... go figure.

Data is data is data in the digital world.

If there truly IS an issue with burners, it is that Adaptec EZ CD creator and Nero do NOT burn true red book spec CDs- even at the 'disc at once' setting. It is a close approximation that works on like 95% of CD players, but you wouldn't want to make a glass master directly from a CD burned with that software (you could use Wavelab or CD architect, etc...).

Would all of you like a SLOWER hard drive, like 5400 rpms or less so that you are more comfortable with your PC's reliability? Slower access time so you are CERTAIN the head is properly positioned? I think NOT. How about a slower processor so it takes its time to do its work accurately, methodically. Maybe less RAM so there is less memory addresses for your CPU to worry about. Thank god components don't get tired, stressed out, disgruntled, depressed, or hung over (unless overheated or exposed to poorly coded instructions). It's all just binary data- on/off- with no grey areas.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top