What speed do you burn at?

[DanG]

Hi, I'm using a PlexWriter 161040A for the first time.

There seems to be no recommendation in the documentation to burn at top speed, or slowest speed, but I remember reading an opinion in this forum along the lines of these burners are not not maximized to burn at the slowest speeds.

Does it make a difference in burning music? I was brought up "half-speed mastered is better", but that was an analog world. Does it matter in a digital world?

TIA :)

[Grant]

In digital the opposite is true(r). But I burn at 2x and 4x. You actually get more errors at 1x.

I was never convinced that half-speed mastering for analog was the way to go. I was never impressed. The regular pressings always sounded better.

[Paul L.]

Here is a great resource, Andy McFadden's CRD-FAQ:
http://www.cdrfaq.org/

[pigmode]

I haven't had any problems at 4x with a Sony CRX140E.

[Unknown]

Have never had a bad disk while burning music at 2x or 4x which seems to be the best speeds for my particular drive. I had problems at 1x and 6x.

[Highway Star]

I also use a Sony CRX140E (came/w Sony VAIO 360) and although it does fine using 8X I prefer 4X. The first time I began using it I tried the 1X and 2X for the first 9 or ten discs but was getting the occasional error (I was also using HP discs at the time?). Using Sony silvers and Maxell Pro's now at 4X and no probs. Been rather lazy of late and haven't been burning much. I need to upgrade my software because I can't burn from albums right now. Any suggestions on that?

[pigmode]

Telefunken, there was a thread a couple of weeks ago.

Use EAC 0.9PB11 for extracting: http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

Setup can be tedious, but it's worth it. Here's a good tutorial: http://www.ping.be/satcp/tutorials.htm

For burning software you can use EAC or Feurio, which is share/nag ware.

[Claviusb]

Find out all the data you'll want to know about burn speeds... here (http://www.emedialive.com/EM2000/starrett5.html)!

[pigmode]

Interesting claviusb. I'm not sure what to make of the test results, but it might seem safe to move up to 6x. I'd have to run some samples first.

I never burn in the background, btw. Anyone else?

[Highway Star]

Thanks for the info/links pigmode.

[Claviusb]

I still never burn past 4x, reading the data 4x seemed to have the least amount of Block Errors (on the brands of blanks I use anyway). I feel I can definately hear distortion on discs burned at higher rates. I thought it was interesting to see that according to this data 2x speed generates some haevy duty Block Errors. Maybe that's why I can't even access that speed on my newer Plextor.

[Sckott]

The whole thing in my expereince has been to use what works for you. This includes the writer & blanks that you use.

Used to be that CDRs were really strong, and bunrning at 2X 4X was a luxury. I can burn at 16X without any problem, but if it's not some CDR I want to use in the car (like an audio CD backup) I use strong blanks and burn at 8X - 10X.

But the writer and blanks are relevant. You may find this to be true. If you have a Plextor, you have the "Caviar" of CDR drives. Writes on even some cheaper CDRs stand up tall.

[Holy Zoo]

Originally posted by pigmode:

I never burn in the background, btw. Anyone else?

I never burn in the background, mainly because on my previous computer (a 333mhz imac) it'd always choke and create a coaster.

My newer machine is twice that speed and running OSX (unix), and seems *much* more robust, still - I'm playing it safe and start a burn and walk away for 15 minutes.

I'll probably be doing this 20 years from now out of superstion. :)

[pigmode]

Same here Holy One. The odd chance that corruption might occur is too scary a thought.

[PsychFan]

Originally posted by claviusb:
Find out all the data you'll want to know about burn speeds... here (http://www.emedialive.com/EM2000/starrett5.html)!

Ah, a link to EMedia, my old employer. And Bob Starrett's a very very nice (and knowledgable!) guy ...

I burn most of my music CDs at 6x (unless someone I'm trading with requests something different), which is the max my drive will do, with virtually no problems (and I burn a lot of discs). I guess I'm just impatient ...

[Sckott]

One thing you might not realize is, some CDRs work well in regular use, but if IT becomes your only copy, you might have a problem copying what seems to be "OK" written CDRs.

I've really noticed some discs that have jumped ship, and copying them again has been both cost and time consuming. Your copy is good, but is it good enough to be re-duplicated??

[PsychFan]

Originally posted by Sckott:
I've really noticed some discs that have jumped ship ...


Funny, but this has never happened to me, and I've been burning CD-Rs on a VERY regular basis since July 1997. I still play the first mix CD I ever made all the time. Works as well as it did the day I burned it, on all kinds of players.

But now you've made me paranoid, so I'll be making 2nd copies of everything now ...
;)

[Doug Hess Jr.]

Just from my personal experience, if I want to make sure a CD will play anywhere, I burn at 4X or less. Anything faster and my wife's Jam Box and some older CD Roms won't read the discs. The burner is only a year old and writes at 16X so I'm not talking about some outdated burner...and this is with all types of media. So my burn speed depends on what the CDR is for.