CD-R brands and my SCD system

[SamIAm]

I'm not going to lie: I play CD-Rs. Often it's of games that I actually have real copies of. Often enough, it's not. Let's just say I'm doing my part to keep market prices low. No, don't thank me.

Anyway, in the past, I always used TDK CD-Rs with green bottoms burned at 8x. I wish I could tell you exactly what type of dye they use, but at the moment, I can't. Anyway, in my two Duo-RXs, these have always done fine. The systems never seemed to have more trouble reading them than they did real CDs, and the drives never sounded like they were struggling or anything. After hundreds of hours of CD-R gaming, I can't detect any signs of deterioration in either of them.

However, I recently got a Super CD system, and a different phenomenon with it was instantly obvious. When playing my TDK CD-Rs, the drive will occasionally emit a weird "thunk" like sound when it seeks something. Interestingly, this is not accompanied by a noticeable delay in reading the track, as sound tests from certain games seem to prove. However, it happens quite often. In my TDK CD-R burn of Dracula X, the "Op. 13" track in the sound test almost always causes this thunk to happen, especially if I play it after playing a different track later on in the CD.

So, maybe the Super CD system just doesn't like CD-Rs? That's what I was thinking. I was even resigning myself to never playing CD-Rs with this particular console. But then just for the heck of it, I burned a couple of other CD-Rs using my recently purchased, blue-bottom Taiyo Yuden CD-Rs at 16x...

The "thunk" sound doesn't happen with the Taiyo Yudens.

Now, maybe the cause is the 16x burning, or maybe it's that I'm using a different burner from when I burned the TDKs. Unless I buy some TDK CD-Rs again, I won't be able to properly isolate the problem. Anyway, this is a relief, as I can now go back to playing my favorite shooters with the audio tracks pre-amplified (if you haven't tried this, you should).

I do know that the effect of CD-Rs on these old systems is something that people around here worry about a lot. A popular theory is that CD-Rs cause the laser to work harder in order to focus and read the data. It sure seems reasonable to me that subjecting my SCD to 10,000 "thunks" might cause some real mechanical trouble. However, given the ease with which it's reading these Taiyo Yudens, I'm going to keep on playing CD-Rs. It just means I have to reburn some things.

If you have experienced trouble with CD-Rs on your system, and you aren't scared of ever trying them again, I really do recommend spending a few dollars and trying some different brands, and possibly even experimenting with different burners and burning speeds if you can. FWIW, it has always seemed to me, whether making CD-Rs for this system or for others, that the brand is the most important factor.

I guess that's all. I'm off to do some burning!

[GohanX]

The Duos I've had never really cared what type of media I used. My pce cd drives are a lot more picky.

My black us drive will read almost anything. One of my white drives works perfectly with Taiyo Yudens but nothing else. My third drive won't read cdrs at all but is perfectly fine with real discs.

[grolt]

I appreciate this thread and the feedback so far because I'm trying to find something that will work for my setup as well.  Thus far I've had some difficulty playing burned discs on my PCE Duo.  I've used both Memorex and Taiyo Yuden discs (green base) CD-Rs and both have really given my Duo a hard time.  It will play the game, but there can be 30 second load times for a video or dialogue, and sometimes it will fail to play the background music for a screen.  Both of my discs have been 700MB, but I see there are 650MB CD-Rs out there - what ones are you guys using, and would that make a difference?  I'm intrigued by your success, SamIAm, with blue-bottom discs and wonder if anyone else has had that kind of success.  Just for reference, do you have a product number or name or anything for that particular Taiyo Yuden disc?

As it stands now, I do get the odd thunk sound after a lengthy read-attempt period, but mainly the problem just seems to be a lot of loud scanning and long load times on my system.  I've only tried a patched Ys IV thus far, and all the official games I've tried have read without fault.

[Punch]

Record that seeking sound for us.

Ideally you should only use Mitsui Toatsu discs (MAM-A Gold) and silver JVC/Taiyo Yudens as they are the only ones retaining any kind of quality, other newer CDRs are garbage and give older drives a hard time.

[xelement5x]

I appreciate this thread and the feedback so far because I'm trying to find something that will work for my setup as well.  Thus far I've had some difficulty playing burned discs on my PCE Duo.  I've used both Memorex and Taiyo Yuden discs (green base) CD-Rs and both have really given my Duo a hard time.  It will play the game, but there can be 30 second load times for a video or dialogue, and sometimes it will fail to play the background music for a screen.  Both of my discs have been 700MB, but I see there are 650MB CD-Rs out there - what ones are you guys using, and would that make a difference?  I'm intrigued by your success, SamIAm, with blue-bottom discs and wonder if anyone else has had that kind of success.  Just for reference, do you have a product number or name or anything for that particular Taiyo Yuden disc?

As it stands now, I do get the odd thunk sound after a lengthy read-attempt period, but mainly the problem just seems to be a lot of loud scanning and long load times on my system.  I've only tried a patched Ys IV thus far, and all the official games I've tried have read without fault.

I think the 650MB ones are better for the system since it doesn't cause the laser to go all the way to the outer edge.  I seem to remember someone talking about how 700MB CDs would cause the laser to go out too far whilest reading the disc and then get stuck. 

Not sure if this is correct or not.  Take my above comments with a grain of salt, or imagine esteban wrote it instead. 

[Dicer]

I've used Imations for ages and have never had a seek problem or drive noise...

[HailingTheThings]

650mb/74min. CD-Rs are the way to go. Remember that these games are from the 90s and 700mb/80min. CDs weren't really a thing yet. I believe there were CD-Rs used by developers that were lower capacity than 74min. but I'm not 100% Pretty sure 74min. CD-Rs are close enough to those original capacity discs to not cause problems, though-though-though.

[GohanX]

I appreciate this thread and the feedback so far because I'm trying to find something that will work for my setup as well.  Thus far I've had some difficulty playing burned discs on my PCE Duo.  I've used both Memorex and Taiyo Yuden discs (green base) CD-Rs and both have really given my Duo a hard time.  It will play the game, but there can be 30 second load times for a video or dialogue, and sometimes it will fail to play the background music for a screen.  Both of my discs have been 700MB, but I see there are 650MB CD-Rs out there - what ones are you guys using, and would that make a difference?  I'm intrigued by your success, SamIAm, with blue-bottom discs and wonder if anyone else has had that kind of success.  Just for reference, do you have a product number or name or anything for that particular Taiyo Yuden disc?

As it stands now, I do get the odd thunk sound after a lengthy read-attempt period, but mainly the problem just seems to be a lot of loud scanning and long load times on my system.  I've only tried a patched Ys IV thus far, and all the official games I've tried have read without fault.

Take one of your legit cds, use Turborip, then burn it to a Taiyo Yuden and see if you get the same symptoms.

[Jibbajaba]

Third vote for 650MB discs.  I scoop them up whenever I see them for sale at thrift stores.

[grolt]

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.  I went ahead and bought a pack of 650MB MAM-A Gold CD-Rs and will try to burn again when they arrive.  The bottoms of all the TG-16 CDs I have are gold, so hopefully these CD-Rs will make it easier for my Duo to read.

[elmer]

I think the 650MB ones are better for the system since it doesn't cause the laser to go all the way to the outer edge.  I seem to remember someone talking about how 700MB CDs would cause the laser to go out too far whilest reading the disc and then get stuck. 

Here's another vote for 650MB CD-Rs!

AFAIK the problem with 700MB CD-Rs is that the spiral of data on them is more tightly spaced than on 650MB CD-Rs ... that's how the extra data fits in a disc that's the same physical size.

The old consoles were never designed to deal with CDs like that ... so you're pushing them to the limits of what they can read, and that's never good with 25-year-old technology.

What happens is that they fail to read sectors more often, and if they fail too many times, then the drive tries to recalibrate by seeking the head back to the center of the disc, and then moving it back out to the correct spot again.

That's the extra "seek" noises that you hear.

Now, when the drive is really having problems reading the CD-R, it won't be able to properly tell when the head is back at the center of the disc ... and so it keeps moving until the head physically hits the end of it's travel. That's the "thunk" that you hear.

That puts stress on the components, and will lead your drive to an early death.

Now the problem isn't actually because of the 700MD CD-R ... some of them are good, and some 650MB CD-Rs are bad ... it's just that you stand a much better chance of things working well, if you use good quality 650MB CD-Rs that are giving the drive the least amount of trouble to read.

Well, that's my understanding of the issue, anyway! 

[MotherGunner]

Anyone ever use the black playstation type CDR's? Thoughs?

[Gredler]

Thanks for all the feedback, guys.  I went ahead and bought a pack of 650MB MAM-A Gold CD-Rs and will try to burn again when they arrive.  The bottoms of all the TG-16 CDs I have are gold, so hopefully these CD-Rs will make it easier for my Duo to read.

Do you mind sharing a link to where you got[size=78%] them? I am having trouble finding a good deal. I am currently using some very cheap CD-Rs, and although there have been no hiccups I'd rather be safe than sorry.[/size]

[TheOldMan]

Anyone ever use the black playstation type CDR's?

Pretty sure I tried those, bitd. Wouldn't even boot.

[Dicer]

Anyone ever use the black playstation type CDR's? Thoughs?

I had those at one time, older burns, and yeah they worked fine, but this was a LONG time ago...