Burned CD/DVD quality

[RJ967]

Which has the most effect on quality of burn on a CD or DVD. I have a car stereo that is sensitive to burned CD's more so than original's which is as it should be considering the burning equipment. I just want to get the best performance/value package I can put together by picking equipment that compliments each other

Is there a combination that you have found to be more successful than others?

Which piece of hardware should I look at for DVD burning and does R+ or R- make a difference. Is it worth the $ to spend more to get a SATA drive of the same brand? I don't even know what SATA means, as you have probably already surmised I am a noob which is why I am here asking the experts.

I am going to do a little upgrading and just want the best value equipment, meaning it is worth it to me to spend $39 on something of better quality than $29 for a similar unit of less quality but if it means I get 5% more performance and have the newest and coolest for twice the cost I am not interested.


Thanks for your help.

 

[ther00kie16]

CD and DVD burners are mature technology so there's not much difference between the most and least expensive. SATA is just a different interface from PATA so it doesn't matter which you get but get SATA if your computer supports it. For DVD, - is the official format last I checked. + is a newer format that's supposedly better because of lower failure rates. However, not all players support - and +.
For CD burning, Windows Media Player does the job just fine. Nero is a popular choice for burning DVDs which is why it's included with many burners.

 

[Blain]

If your CD player is picky, use high quality media burned at medium to slow speed.

 

[Slugbait]

but if it means I get 5% more performance and have the newest and coolest for twice the cost I am not interested

Price difference seldom equals performance difference. Everybody makes drives that can burn at 20x, but nobody has ever burned at 20x...no media.

Anyway, price difference is usually quality. For example, save a few bucks on a Lite-On, and it sounds like an airliner is taxiing under your desk...or spend a few more bucks and get a quieter drive. Or save a few bucks on some brand like Mad Dog or whatever, and then buy another drive a year or two from now. Otherwise, price difference is too small to quibble.

If your CD player is picky, use high quality media burned at medium to slow speed

Agreed. TY burned at it's native 8x should be just fine, those things play in every laser device I have.

 

[Zap]

Besides burning at lower speeds, you can try using blank discs made for standalone CD audio recorders like this stuff. I used to have a car player (factory Ford in my 1998 Contour SVT) that was picky about CDR discs and the ones made for music/audio seemed to always work. These are actually a bit different than "normal" CDR discs in that standalone music CD recorders can use these but can't use regular CDRs, while computer burners can use both.

The other thing was that my player liked media which used PhthaloCyanine dye. I used to have a little program that would tell me what dye the disc in the CDR drive used. However, some people reported that theirs liked Cyanine dye more. What you'd need to do is to round up all the discs you've burned, find out what works and what don't, and find out the dye on all them. Chances are that most of the ones that worked will use one type of dye. The program I used was "CDR Identifier." Should be available online somewhere.

 

[Blain]

With some players you may need to use a Red Book standard 650MB disk rather than the 700MB versions.

 

[Zepper]

I'd say that recording speed is more of a factor in the final quality - I use 16x or less when burning for audio players. If I want the best, I'll drag out my old Plextor SCSI burner that can only do 4x max - it burns great audio CDs. Recorders have more of an issue with recording chemistry than players do. All players care about is that there is adequate contrast, so using a high contrast media us usually helpful. Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs have a high contrast Cyan medium while Verbatim Datalife uses a high-contrast AZO medium. If it is easier for your eyes to tell the difference between the written and unwritten areas of a disc then it will be easier for your player too. DVD-R is more like the commercial product, so use that when burning for home theater style players. I suppose using the audio specific CDs may help, but you'll be paying an extra "troll-toll" to the RIAA for the privilege...

.bh.

 

[RebateMonger]

Originally posted by: Zap
Besides burning at lower speeds, you can try using blank discs made for standalone CD audio recorders like this stuff.

I was under the impression that the only "for sure" difference between "Audio Recording" CDs and "Data" CDs was that a commission had been paid to the recording industry for the music CDs. It was presumed they'd be used for copying copyrighted music and have identifying data on them that the standalone audio recorder sees.

As you noted, it's hard to predict what type of CD a specific audio player will like. Hopefully by now most car audio players can handle most CDRs without difficulty.

 

[Soundmanred]

Originally posted by: RebateMonger

Originally posted by: Zap
Besides burning at lower speeds, you can try using blank discs made for standalone CD audio recorders like this stuff.

I was under the impression that the only "for sure" difference between "Audio Recording" CDs and "Data" CDs was that a commission had been paid to the recording industry for the music CDs. It was presumed they'd be used for copying copyrighted music and have identifying data on them that the standalone audio recorder sees.

You'd be right.
That is the only difference. I see people buying a 30 pack of "Music" cds that are the same price as "data" cds and I inform them that there's no difference.

 

[0roo0roo]

how old is this car stereo, most will read cdrs just fine, even ones built in the late 90s.
many won't read cdrw thats sure.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: Soundmanred
That is the only difference. I see people buying a 30 pack of "Music" cds that are the same price as "data" cds and I inform them that there's no difference.

Regardless of any extra cost, the point was for the OP to be able to burn discs that were usable in a finicky audio CD player. As I stated, my Ford player from the late 90s was one such picky player, and it was able to consistently use a couple different "music" CDRs while it was a crap shoot with normal "data" CDRs unless I specifically looked for a certain dye.

So, how does "don't buy 'music' CDRs" help the OP?

There is no way for me to know, but... just perhaps... companies would make sure that CDRs sold as "music" will play in as many audio CD players as possible?