User:Derf/CD Burning Shenanigans

These are my futile attempts to burn patched/homebrew ISOs to CD-R to play on my recapped and calibrated Turbo Duo. Pressed discs read perfectly fine. I should open an Etsy that sells CD-R coasters.

Media

Info from Nero DiscSpeed (Disc Info tab).

• CMC Pro (Taiyo Yuden TCDR-ZZ-SB):
  • Manufacturer: Taiyo Yuden
  • Disc ID: 97m24s01f
  • Min speed 16x
  • Capacity 700MB
  • Supported Write Speeds: 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x
• Maxell Gold
  • Disc ID: 97m31s01f
  • Manufacturer: Ritek Co.
  • Capacity: 650MB / 74 min
  • Supported Write Speeds:
    • Disc packaging says 1x-8x
    • iHAS drive reports only 16x (likely no Write Strategy available)
    • BenQ drive reports 4x, 8x, 12x, 16x
• Verbatim
  • Manufacturer: CMC Magnetics
  • Disc ID: 97m26s66f
  • Supported write speeds: 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x
  • Capacity: 700MB

Media Reflectivity

Note the strength of contrast between the burnt vs unburn areas on the disc.

Pressed disc - Very strong contrast

CMC Pro (Taiyo Yuden) - Strong contrast

Maxell Gold - Strong contrast

Verbatim - Weak contrast

Below are scans of the same discs. Oddly, the pressed disc shows almost no contrast in a direct scan.

Pressed disc

CMC Pro (Taiyo Yuden)

Maxell Gold

Verbatim

Media Issues

Delamination can occur in the data layer of CDs. This manifested in one of the discs I tried and I noticed it looked almost like there was a second burn line, but it was wavy and misshapen. This resulted in a large amount of C1 errors.

Taiyo Yuden with delaminiation issue

Burn Quality

Information pulled from Nero DiscSpeed (Disc Quality tab) sorted from best to worst burns.

Pressed Disc: Rising Sun

Pressed disc

Space Ava 201

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 16x speed

BenQ CRW4012P burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 16X speed

BenQ CRW4012P burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 4X speed

BenQ CRW4012P burner, Verbatim, ImgBurn, 4X speed

iHas 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 8x speed

LG WH12LS30 BD burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, max speed

LG WH12LS30 BD burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, max speed

Rondo of Blood (English Patch)

Disc Quality Scan using iHAS

BenQ CRW4012P burner, Maxell Gold, Alcohol 120, PC Engine setting, 4X speed (BOOTED!)

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, Alcohol 120, PC Engine setting

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 32x speed

iHas 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, OPC enabled, 32x speed

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 16x speed

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 8x speed

BenQ CRW4012P burner, Taiyo Yuden, Alcohol 120, PC Engine setting

iHAS 124B burner (AL0S firmware), Taiyo Yuden, Alcohol 120, PC Engine setting

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, Nero, 16x speed

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, max speed

BenQ CRW4012P burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 4X speed

iHAS 124B burner, Verbatim, ImgBurn, 8x speed

iHAS 124B burner, Taiyo Yuden, Alcohol 120, RAW DAO setting

BenQ CRW4012P burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, 4X speed (delamination issue)

iHAS 124B burner, Maxell Gold 650MB 74 min, ImgBurn, 16x speed

Disc Quality Scan using Optiarc

Verdict: This drive resulted in many more errors than the iHAS even when using the same disc, so it likely has a dying laser.

LG WH12LS30 BD burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, max speed

LG WH12LS30 BD burner, Taiyo Yuden, Alcohol 120, PC Engine setting

LG WH12LS30 BD burner, Taiyo Yuden, Alcohol 120, RAW DAO setting

Optiarc AD-7200S burner, Taiyo Yuden, ImgBurn, max speed

Disc Quality Scan using BENQ

All scans failed with "ILLEGAL MODE FOR THIS TRACK (056400)" error on any discs burned by the BENQ itself, discs burned by other drives, or pressed discs despite burning discs well.

Lessons Learned

• Out of all the discs, only the Maxell Gold burned using the 2002 BenQ drive booted on my specific Duo. I believe this to be a combination of the Duo preferring 650MB media and that media only being burned properly (perhaps with a write strategy) by a contemporary CD burner.
• Check what the minimum and maximum speed that the media (disc) reports, and burn at the minimum the media (NOT DRIVE) supports.
• Cross-check Disc Quality scans with multiple drives to make sure the drive isn't the issue. The OptiArc drive appears to be bad.
• Check every disc for delamination. Discs can have delamination issues that appear as faint wavy lines or bubbles, almost like the burned/unburned line but all over the place.
• CD burners being sold "As Is" are likely broken. The BenQ drive needed a fuse and diode replaced in order to boot up as well as the drive belt boiled as discs were sliding.