cd-rw

[Graham T]

Can vcd be burned to cd-rw without problem and then reused. I want to do a lot of small test writes trying to get best settings.

What is quickest way to wipe the disc clean.

This may be a dumb question but I have only used cd-rw for windows drag and drop backups.

[gll99]

Most standalone DVD players should have no problems.
Its commonly done before burning the final product.

[tomreedtoon]

VCD can be burned to CD-RW. The only question is, where are you playing it? If you're playing it back on your CD-RW drive on your computer, no problem. But I don't think all DVD players will play a CD-RW. I understand it's a matter of what color the laser beam is; many CD players and early CD-ROM drives use a color that just won't see a written CD-RW disk.

In my experience, there is no "fast way" to erase a CD-RW disk. Pop the thing in, and do a complete erase through your writing program. And the real killer is that CD-RW disks only erase up to 4X speed, meaning you've got to drink coffee for 18 minutes per disk.

Frankly, if your technique for authoring VCD's works, why not just try it out with a cheap CD-R disk? You'd write it faster, and you can throw the disk away if it doesn't work.

[Bruce Simpson]

If you want to do fast CDRW erases then just use VCDEasy (freeware).

It will earase a CDRW in about a minute.

Choose Tools from the left hand menu and CDRAO Tools from the menu along the top.

The blanking option will appear, along with a "QUick Blank" option.

I highly recommend VCDEasy, I use it to burn all my (S)VCDs, it's very easy to drive, has a simple but flexible chaptering system and allows you to work from individual MPEG files BIN files or CUE/TOC files.

[gll99]

As far as your computer is concerned, if you have the burner then obviously you can play the disk back so its not an issue. Other older cd players have problems with cdrw but thats usually the really old read only types. Anything sold in the last 5 years should not have an issue unless it was in a clearance bin.

I have burned and reburned many dozens of CDRW 2 and 4x disks and have only found 2 that had serious trouble with the quick erase. If it balks when you try it just redo it 99% plus of refusals on first try will quick erase the second time in 60 seconds.

Standalone DVD often work better with cdrw than cdr. Some older players which don't accept all types of CDR seem to have less problems with cdrw. If you have problems with CDRW you will know pretty quickly and its just as easy to reburn the mpeg to cdr (and no coaster). I have run many hundreds of tests that way and could not have tried all that with cdr only.

Remember, no matter what we suggest its really up to you to do what you feel is best.

[rsuave5]

i burn vcd to cd rw all the time for tests etc. i erase in xp in under a minute!

[fantomlord]

both Nero and Clone CD will do a quick erase in 1 minute or less
it's a great way to check to make sure your avisynth script is written right, especially when you first start frameserving

[mats.hogberg]

Actually, CD-RW's are from what I've read more likely to play in a stand-alone than CD-R's, as they use a laser wavelength nearer that for factory made CD's.

/Mats