Dvd-r, Dvd-r+w, Cd-r, Cd-r+w

[ducker]

Dvd-r, Dvd-r+w, Cd-r, Cd-r+w <media types>

I'm just getting in to this finally... yea I'm WAY behind the curve on burning my own CDs.

What media should I use to burn audio CD's? I'm guessing CD-R would provide perhaps better quality then CD-R+W?
(and the same with DVD's??)

Also, any difference in media Stock??? or are all CD/DVD media the same....?

(ie. cables... high end cables aren't going to help you THAT much)

 

[Doug917]

CD-R is what most use for burning CDs. CD-RW is if you plan on rewriting over old info on the same disc. Personally, I just use CD-R. As far as brand, I'll buy Imitation or whatever name brand. I try to stay away from the really cheap store brands (Comp USA, etc.). The name brands are so cheap anymore, it's now big deal buying them over the store brands.

 

[MDS]

CD-R for audio CDs. CD-RW can be erased and rewritten many times whereas CD-R cannot be erased or rewritten - once the session is closed you cannot add any more data to it. The 'quality' of the recording is dependent on the burner and the quality of the media, regardless of whether its format is CD-R or CD-RW. CD-RW discs are much more expensive than CD-R so unless you want to have one disc that you continually re-write (say to make a new mix CD for the car), stick with CD-R.

There are only a handful of manufacturers that make blank discs - Mitsui, Taiyo Yuden, and Maxell to name the most popular. You cannot know which manufacturer made the disc based simply on brand name; eg 'Memorex' CD-R may be made by TY for some batches, but Mitsui for others. Additionally, there are at least three different formulations of dye and reflective layer on the discs: cyanine, pthalocyanine, and azo. The combination of dye and reflective layer material (silver or gold usually) results in the color you see when you look at the recording side (eg. azo discs usually appear blue or purple, cyanine with silver reflective layer usually appears green, etc). It really doesn't matter - they are all good. There have been a few studies to try to determine longevity of the various formulations, but none have been conclusive as to which is actually the 'best'.

The firmware of most modern CD burners have 'write strategies' that specify the right power calibration for the laser and other variables for a wide variety of discs so practically any disc will yield good results if you stick with a known brand - just avoid the really cheap discs (like 'Great Quality CD-R that Fry's sells - they are lousy quality, IME). CD burners often recommend a brand/type of media that have been tested to work well with that burner, so that's always a good place to start.

 

[ducker]

Ah ok. I always thought even with CD-R's you could append/add more information later. perhaps that doesn't work that way with putting audio information on CD-R's.

I guess maybe 5 CD-R+W's and a good stack of CD-R's and I should be good to go!

the burner I'm getting is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106988

 

[jaxvon]

Good call on ordering from Newegg. So many people still waste their money at Best Buy and the like...

 

[Buckeyefan 1]

CD-R for audio CDs. CD-RW can be erased and rewritten many times whereas CD-R cannot be erased or rewritten - once the session is closed you cannot add any more data to it. The 'quality' of the recording is dependent on the burner and the quality of the media, regardless of whether its format is CD-R or CD-RW. CD-RW discs are much more expensive than CD-R so unless you want to have one disc that you continually re-write (say to make a new mix CD for the car), stick with CD-R.

There are only a handful of manufacturers that make blank discs - Mitsui, Taiyo Yuden, and Maxell to name the most popular. You cannot know which manufacturer made the disc based simply on brand name; eg 'Memorex' CD-R may be made by TY for some batches, but Mitsui for others. Additionally, there are at least three different formulations of dye and reflective layer on the discs: cyanine, pthalocyanine, and azo. The combination of dye and reflective layer material (silver or gold usually) results in the color you see when you look at the recording side (eg. azo discs usually appear blue or purple, cyanine with silver reflective layer usually appears green, etc). It really doesn't matter - they are all good. There have been a few studies to try to determine longevity of the various formulations, but none have been conclusive as to which is actually the 'best'.

The firmware of most modern CD burners have 'write strategies' that specify the right power calibration for the laser and other variables for a wide variety of discs so practically any disc will yield good results if you stick with a known brand - just avoid the really cheap discs (like 'Great Quality CD-R that Fry's sells - they are lousy quality, IME). CD burners often recommend a brand/type of media that have been tested to work well with that burner, so that's always a good place to start.

Wow, and I was going to say CD-R's are more user friendly in automobiles and older cd players, while CD-RW's are more finicky as to where they play. I've never noticed a difference in sound quality, and have used both. I buy Maxell and TDK. CD-R's are fine once you get a handle on your software. Super cheap. If you mess up, it's a few cents.

Nice run down anonymous. You ever think about changing your handle to "AV-Guru"? I'm sure Clint can keep your tenure!

 

[ducker]

great info in here... thanks all!!!
especially the tidbit about cd-r+w having finiky playing in some players... as nice as it would be to rewrite a newmix CD every few days, if these CD's don't like my car or an older CD player that would stink.

personally, I love his title

it threw me off for a few weeks.

and as far as newegg is concerned.. love it, been using them for quite some time!! Them, and www.zipzoomfly.com. Both great service, cheap and respectable companies. I'd rather pay a buck or two more then use some of the more questionable online venders.

 

[MDS]

Nice run down anonymous. You ever think about changing your handle to "AV-Guru"? I'm sure Clint can keep your tenure!

When I first found this site I didn't know too much about it and didn't think I would hang around, so I just randomly picked Anonymous. The email address I used was temporary and went away, which is why I never got the registration confirmation email (hence it still says 'awaiting registration conf').

I doubt the Admins would change my username and keep my post count, but if they would I would change it to match the username I use on other sites and supply my permanent email address.

 

[Audioholics]

I doubt the Admins would change my username and keep my post count, but if they would I would change it to match the username I use on other sites and supply my permanent email address.

Sure we would. Email us what you want it to be: info@audioholics.com

 

[korgoth]

if youre interested in dvd burning, firstly get a plextor burner. Its the best quality you can find by far. When it comes to burning dvd, you want a good burner so you dont have to watch skips or something in your dvd however long later and redo it all.

dual layer came out a while ago but its still pretty expensive, and not worth it in my eyes. Your burner will have the capability but its not even needed.. each disc is about 5 bucks, compared to the 40 cents of other media.

dvd-r and dvd+r are typically the same thing, they were rivaling medias. DVD-r supposedly plays on about 95% of players while dvd+r plays on about 90%..

rw is rewriteable, just like cds.

media is all different as well, and in this case makes a Huge difference... TY is accepted as the best, but pretty expensive. ritek, and the newer prodiscs are the best deal. (www.supermediastore.com)

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm, for your media issues.. prodisc's new media is actually made by MCC..

 

[korgoth]

Ah ok. I always thought even with CD-R's you could append/add more information later. perhaps that doesn't work that way with putting audio information on CD-R's.

I guess maybe 5 CD-R+W's and a good stack of CD-R's and I should be good to go!

the burner I'm getting is:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106988

you actually can add more to a cd later if its an mp3 compilation, but only if you dont finalize the cd. and you have more room to put more stuff on later.

they are so cheap though that is really doesnt even matter.. only about 10-20 cents each

those lite-ons are cheap and pretty nice, definately worth the money.
but if you want something with a little more reliability and universal get a plextor.

that drive might be pretty picky about media, and its firmwares. plus the cache is only 2 mb, which is good enough, but dont do any multitasking while burning things. i dont think you should come across any problems with it with cd burning, but more if you get into dvd burning.

plex's all have 8mb buffer now,

 

[ducker]

yea I considered the plextors... but they are around the 80+ range. Not what I'm willing to part with right now for burning capabilities.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[ducker]

Ok, this is a little off topic, perhaps for the forum, but perhaps not

I've noticed that on the first round of CDs that I burned that they don't play that well on some of my CDplayers. Specifically a boombox I have at work. An RCA circa 2000.

Yet in my car (a 1998 Acura Integra) the CDs play clean in a stock player.

I want to make sure I'm getting good burns, perhaps if I slow the burn speed? I left it at the default (48x).

Also, what's the difference between DVD-RW, and DVD+RW I didn't notice this before.
I guess there are a few differences. I can just google it too.

I guess time to go get a new CDplayer for my work. (too annoying to use my PC, plus I like the radio from time to time)

 

[MDS]

Low cost players, such as your boombox, as well as older players use lower power lasers and have difficulty reading CD-Rs because the CD-R has a lower reflectivity than a commercial pressed CD. This problem is almost non-existent nowadays as all manufacturers strive to make their players compatible with CD-R.

When I previously mentioned the different formulations for CD-R I should have added that the discs that use cyanine dye and silver reflective layers tend to be more reflective and easier to read in older players. I had the same problem years ago with my old Onkyo 6 disc changer and at that time I found that Memorex discs worked well for that player. I have no idea if they still use the same formulation. It will mostly be a crapshoot trying to find discs that yield good results for play in an older player. I would suggest you buy only a handful of each brand if you are going to experiment and then once you find ones that work well, then go ahead and buy in bulk.

 

[ducker]

ooops, as I look at the spool of 100 I picked up It's hard to see what color the unter side of the CDs are until you buy them. These look to be a goldish coloring with a very,very slight green tint to them.

they work well on my PC too... found one bad track thoug :/

After doing a few searches I can easily get a CR-R, CD-RW boombox at bestbuy for a paultry $30

As far as the different types of DVD styles.. I haven't gotten around to searching info on that.

 

[korgoth]

one easy way to test it is just look into the cd through a light.. if you can see through it, thats not a good sign..

try and pick ones that you cant see through.

-rw and +rw i think is the same thing with dvd-r, dvd+r , they were just rivialing companies.. most players should play both fine. there arent really any advantages or disadvantages with either one.

 

[ducker]

ah hell. I can see through these... heh
well, they will work for the most part, next time I'll spend more on the CDs.

 

[korgoth]

well i should add, that most all of them you will probobly be able to see through at least somewhat.. so dont test them by sticking it directly over a light, just point it at a light somewhere

if you only see a tiny bit that should be fine, but if you can stick it against your monitor and still read fairly easily, then its most likely crap.

 

[ducker]

putting my nose in the center (bear with me.. hehe)
I can see through it view the PC screen.

Last night I ripped 2 more. I dropped the speed to the lowest (8x) so far the first CD is playing fine on my older CD player.

perhaps that had something to do with it too??

 

[MDS]

You know that is another interesting area of debate - rip and burn speeds. In GENERAL, it's best to rip slowly but burn at the burner's top speed. At slower rip speeds, the firmware will re-read suspect blocks (the way EAC does in software); whereas burners are supposedly 'optimized' to burn at their highest speed. I rip at 4x, but when I burn I use 24x.

However, like most general rules there are exceptions. For example, I had a Genesis CD with a large visible scratch. When i rip that at 4x, the audible pop caused by that scratch was perfectly preserved and still audible in the wave file (you could easily see the spike in the waveform in Sound Forge). Ripped it at 40x and the pop was gone.