What sort of CD-R media will my DVD player play?

[mattscholey]

Hi,

I have a DVD player (JVC XV-S42) and I use it to play XVCD's which I have burnt on my computer. Ive been making a few VCD's fine for months now on a Maxell CDRW, but now I want to want to burn a VCD to a CD-R, and so far Ive only found one brand of CD-R my DVD player will play properly. I borrowed this one CD-R off a friend to put a movie on for him, so I cant get any more, and now I want to buy more CD-R's, but I want to be as certian as possible that my DVD player will play them.

The CD-R that worked was a Ridata 24x 700MB. I've also tried Iomega 48x 700MB which didnt play at all, Packard Bell 48x 700MB which played with continuous audio but frames freezing now and again, and Sony CD-Rs which didnt play at all. The Maxell CD-RW which worked was 4x 700MB.

What should I look for in a CD-R to be reasonably sure it will play? To me it looks like the problem is the burn speed the CD-R's support, so I was going to buy some 4x ones, but felt I should let you guys see if this will make a difference, and if there is something else which may be causing this problem.

Matt

[Tbear]

I use Fuji's or anything thats made in Japan. Which is by Taio Yuden!

[mattscholey]

Ok, maybe my last post wasnt clear enough.

I dont need to know what experiences other people have had with differrent brands of CD-R. I need to know generally what factors affect the disks compatibility with DVD players.

Any further help will be greatly appreciated!
Matt

[uxbridge]

very generally CD-Rs are made out of 2 possible dyes. Cyanine or Phtalocyanine.
Cyanine is recognizeable for the color who is blueish, Phtalo is yellowish.
Cheap CD-Rs are always phtalocyanine, good ones can be cyanine in many varieties who have brand names, e.g. SuperAzo.

This does not mean yellowish are no good, some are very good, however the standard was devised for Cyanine, so very generally CD-Rs made of this dye are easier to read for the players.

I would suggest you try a cyanine disk. If you ask the shop they'll probably think you come from the moon, so just be advised that top-line TDK or Verbatim are Cyanine as well as everything featuring AZO or SUPERAZO branding. Other brands I do not know.

Also try to burn at 8x maximum for VCD and SVCD applications.

Ciao

[garryheather]

The recording speed you use shouldn't make any difference so long as you burn at a speed compatible with the media.

The problem with going by colour is it's not scientific enough. As I have posted here many times, CD's are designed to reflect a laser in the infra-red spectrum.

Let's make this clear - YOU CAN NOT SEE INFRA-RED !!

But your player can. Sort of. Don't forget DVD players use a laser that is in the spectrum that you and I can see. CD players do not.

Some DVD players have twin pickups to help resolve this problem, but a lot use a combination of tricks with the optics in order to make CD's play.

If your CD-R media does not reflect enough light at the right wavelength then your DVD player will effectively be blind.

Because we see a broader spectrum than a CD player does, YOU CAN NOT JUDGE COMPATIBILTY BY DYE COLOUR.

My player is a pig with practically all recordable media, but it works very well with Princo's with their type 8 dye, some Datasafe media (that the ATIP reports as being Princo, funny, that...) and most RW's.

The point I keep trying to make is your player does not "see" like you do. It does not care two figs what colour the disc is so long as it reflects the beam correctly. The quality of the burn can make a difference but please do not go by the colour of the disc alone.

Try some of the online retailers and ask them for samples - some even do sample packs for not much money in order for you to try them. Record the same content on each one at the same speed in the same recorder and then try them in your player to see which one works.

See https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=157508&highlight= for more info - although ignore the last post since I was obviously talking to myself that day...

[uxbridge]

Mattscholey
Just to make sure you see where the difference between opinions come from, have a look at this:

http://www.kopyrite.com/cd/theory/cdr_dye.html

That's a little more scientific than my previous post.
Ciao

[garryheather]

Don't forget, however, that article predominantly refers to the write strategy (the method the recorder uses to burn the disc).

I very much doubt writing to the disc is a problem - I mean, you can read it back on the writer at least, yes ?

If the problem is your player can not READ the disc, that article although correct I doubt it will help you understand the problem as to why it won't play on your DVD player.

[mattscholey]

The VCD plays on my computer fine, so burning is not the problem.

I looked at the colour of all the CD-R's I had burned, and noticed that the one which my DVD player could play had a very blue dye, and the rest had a faint yellow/green colour. From this it seems to me that my DVD player can only read cyanide dye, and therefore I should buy some more cyanide CD-R's.

Is this right? If it is where can I buy CD-Rs online in the UK which I can be sure are made by cyanide dye.

Matt

[uxbridge]

It seems your DVD player is very delicate on CD-Rs, so stick on cyanide.
Do not know where to buy online in UK.

If it is blue, it can only be cyanide, so as a rule of dumb, buy blue.
TDK is only cyanide, they make a point of this, and is very good quality. You can stay with them, even if the cost is not the cheapest, but buy just one for a test before you buy quantities, you never know.

Other brands will be a guess, VERBATIM sometimes is cyanide, sometimes not. Last batch I bought from VERBATIM (Mitsubishi) has SUPER AZO brand and is cyanide.

Ciao