source of incompatability

[AlecWest]

My DVD player is an Apex AD-1100W and plays anything I put into it. But a friend has a Sony DVD player (model unknown) that will not recognize VCDs I burn on my CD-R disk -- and is the only person I know whose DVD player _won't_ recognize these burns. All my other friends have different players and don't have the same problem. In any case, I read in the FAQs here that sometimes, CD-RW media works where CD-R media fails. And, we read in his Sony's user manual that it's supposed to be able to play VCDs. So, I decided to experiment with CD-RW disks and ran into a problem of my own. And, I'd like to determine (if possible) the source of the incompatability.

My burner, which burns 700 meg CD-Rs just fine, is a Yamaha 8824. My software is Nero 5564 and my packet software (for CD-RW) is the most recent version of InCD (a Nero product). On my first attempt, I flawlessly formatted and burned a good VCD on a 650-meg Verbatim 2x CD-RW. However, I can't even get a decent format on a 700-meg Memorex 4x multi-speed CD-RW. Question. Is the incompatability between InCD and the media, the Yamaha drive and the media, or a combination of all three?

P.S. I haven't tried the VCD I created on my friend's Sony yet but, as expected, it plays flawlessly on my Apex. But, regardless of whether it works or not, I'd like to know if my problem with the Memorex CD-RWs is software-related (so I can change from InCD to something else ... suggestions, please) or if it's hardware-related (incompatability between my Yamaha burner and the Memorex media). If you have any input on this problem, let me know. Thanks.

[Mirror_Image]

Try updating to the latest version of Nero (5.5.8.0) and see if there is any difference.

[AlecWest]

Well, I don't think an upgrade of Nero would solve the problem. The problem is that I can't even get past the formatting stage with InCD (using the Memorex CD-RWs). FWIW, to make certain this was a consistent incompatability, I (A) tried to format 5 different Memorex 700-meg 4x disks, and (B) reformatted/reburned on the Verbatim 650-meg CD-RW disk. The attempted Memorex formats all failed ... the reformats/reburns on the Verbatim disk all succeeded. The only way I could see a Nero upgrade as a possible solution would be if 5.5.8.0 includes its own formatting routine (separate from InCD) for CD-RWs. And, this assumes the problem is a software incompatability between InCD and the Memorex media. If 5.5.8.0 does include its own CD-RW formatting routine, separate from InCD, let me know. Thanks for your reply.

[Mirror_Image]

Nero Burning ROM doesn't format CD-RW media (that's what InCD is for), but it does erase CD-RW media. There should only be a need to format if you intend to use the CD-RW like a big floppy disk. If you are only intending to burn a VCD/SVCD on the disk just erase the data on the CD-RW and forget about formatting. In any case, the latest version of Nero isn't a bad idea anyway.