CD-R's

[Bake]

Quick question... is it a bad idea to play CD-R's is the tg 16 cd player or duo?

[twor2005]

I used to play them on the Turbo CD. They worked fine but the thing eventually died. Hard to say if that was a factor.

A CDR literally broke my Duo though, almost. It would play other discs fine, but every time I tried this one (which had no scratches) I could hear the Duo reving up, trying to read the thing. Like an idiot I let it keep trying and pretty soon the discs would no longer spin when I started up. MONTHS later, I read somewhere that the laser housing was merely jammed and managed to unjam it, but since then I try to avoid CDRs.

Others will report no problems though, so its up to you. I'd listen carefully when it loads though.

[GUTS]

I tried playing a couple CDRs of games on my Duo and now it cuts out on music on some original games.  Don't know if they're related, but the timing is quite the coincidence, so I've decided to stay away from CDRs just to be safe.

[KingDrool]

CDRs killed the CD part of my old Duo.  It just stares blankly at me now...

[Keranu]

I used to use CD-Rs on my Duo every now and then before I read ab00t how they can kill your Duo. Now I try to avoid CD-Rs because of this, but I would like to know this for sure: Can CD-Rs officially break your Turbo Duo console?

[zborgerd]

I don't really think that CDRs actually "cause" damage to the drives.  Note that everyone here seems to have experienced it on DUO systems (not systems with the CDROM add-on).  I've used CDRs with my TG-16 for years.  It's true that they are a bit harder for the drive to read, but I don't believe that they cause actual damage to the reader.  I feel that the DUO has some serious design problems that don't also affect the standard TG16/PCE CDROM2 system.

I've had some disagreements on the subject with some folks on the board.  My general opinion is that, if your machine has problems reading disks, it's likely that the drive is on its way out to begin with.  I'm not sure if there is a way to recalibrate the drive (most CDROM drives can be calibrated by a professional), but since I don't actually own a DUO though (yet) I cannot prove this theory.

I'm currently playing a patched Xak III (and soon will play English Ys 4 thanks to RIGG) on my system, with a 15 year old reader, and it works great.

You'll get a different response from everyone on this, depending on their perception.  My opinion is that, if you want to play any CDs are all (pressed or burned), avoid the standard DUO altogether and buy a CDROM2 addon or DUO-R(X).  The failure rates just seem to be way too high when it comes to the audio problems and general CDROM read failures.

[twor2005]

Its worth mentioning that many cheaper cd players like off-brand boomboxes and the like can't play cdrs, at least as of a few years ago. The reason given is that they cannot read the darker dyes of the cdrs, the lasers being too cheap. Likewise before I quit using cdrs in my Duo a few worked and a few didnt- the very same ones that all worked in my TGCD. So maybe the Duo was made with what would now be considered cheap parts.

[D-Lite]

The main reason I believe it's a bad idea to play CDRs in a Duo is the fact that the Duo, being very early generation CD hardware, has crap error correction.  Realize that burned discs are subject to writing errors, especially if you burn them past 4X.  Hell, even 2x discs don't always work.  The Duo has poor/no error correction and will often struggle to play these discs.  This is largely compounded by the fact that the lasers go off-calibration over time and need to be redone.  

In a side note, I was able to have a few e-mails exchanged with Bob Frasure at Retrogames and he indicated that he fixed Duo lasers with some equipment for realigning the laser.  I'm hoping to add this capability soon

[KingDrool]

D-Lite, as soon as you are able, please let me know.  I'd love to get my old Duo up and running again.  I emailed that guy at Retrogames I don't know how many times with no response.

Thanks!

[Keranu]

I think Jammaniaclord said how he found a way to fix this problem awhile ago. Hopefully there is a easy way to fix it someday.

[NFERNO1]

The main problem with CDR's in Duo's is the Duo itself. The Duo is cheaply made, and very likely to fail on you at one time or another, whether you use CDR's in it or not. I have 3 of them, and they have all crapped out at one time or another. Even the one I bought new from Telegames 5 years ago, with less than 20 hours TOTAL play time on it, quit working. No way I'd send it to Retrogames, and pay them $65 to swap my dead one for one of their refurbished ones. Try calling game stores, and electronic shops around your area first. Theres a place called Games N More here close by that does system repairs, and even though they had never repaired a Duo, he was willing to take a look at it, and figured out the problem. Long as its not an exclusive component, or something you can't get anywhere, you might get lucky. So, now I have all my Duo's working, but I'll stick with my original CD unit. Its never failed me.

[D-Lite]

The main problem with CDR's in Duo's is the Duo itself. The Duo is cheaply made, and very likely to fail on you at one time or another, whether you use CDR's in it or not. I have 3 of them, and they have all crapped out at one time or another. Even the one I bought new from Telegames 5 years ago, with less than 20 hours TOTAL play time on it, quit working. No way I'd send it to Retrogames, and pay them $65 to swap my dead one for one of their refurbished ones. Try calling game stores, and electronic shops around your area first. Theres a place called Games N More here close by that does system repairs, and even though they had never repaired a Duo, he was willing to take a look at it, and figured out the problem. Long as its not an exclusive component, or something you can't get anywhere, you might get lucky. So, now I have all my Duo's working, but I'll stick with my original CD unit. Its never failed me.

Big question:  what was wrong with it?

[zborgerd]

The main problem with CDR's in Duo's is the Duo itself. The Duo is cheaply made, and very likely to fail on you at one time or another, whether you use CDR's in it or not. I have 3 of them, and they have all crapped out at one time or another. Even the one I bought new from Telegames 5 years ago, with less than 20 hours TOTAL play time on it, quit working. No way I'd send it to Retrogames, and pay them $65 to swap my dead one for one of their refurbished ones. Try calling game stores, and electronic shops around your area first. Theres a place called Games N More here close by that does system repairs, and even though they had never repaired a Duo, he was willing to take a look at it, and figured out the problem. Long as its not an exclusive component, or something you can't get anywhere, you might get lucky. So, now I have all my Duo's working, but I'll stick with my original CD unit. Its never failed me.

Big question:  what was wrong with it?

Probably a pot on the CD reader.  Just another wild guess though.  

[NFERNO1]

Believe it or not, they all had power supply problems. Worked fine one day, then the next it would do nothing. Like it wasn't plugged in at all. I didn't ask for the technical explanation of what it was, just happy he could actually solve the problem.

[Keranu]

I must know, if I play CD-Rs on my PCE CDROM 2 system, will it damage it in any way like they damage Turbo Duo units?