Plextor drive problems

[mlepine]

I'm starting a new tread because I'm starting to wonder if I should change my Yamaha burner to a Plextor burner.

Lately I've been reading on the problems people have at trying to burn, computer freezes when burning, broken letters...

The only problem I would have with my Yamaha burner is I sometime get broken letters, of course the DMA has to be disable or it just wont work at all.

Is they're anyone having broken letters with Plextor?
Can you burn on any major Media brand?
Does it read VCD?

Your input is important, I wish to have a PERFECT back up disks

Thanks

[Flipeoke]

If your CD burner is working fine, I would not change it, however if you are experiencing broken letters and such, and it does not meet your standards, then I would replace it with a CDG certified drive from MTU. All drives are not created equal, and the only way you can be sure it will be fully compatible with CDG is to buy through MTU. Just my opinion.

[mlepine]

flipeoke,

thanks for your suggestion of buying from MTU but I can't buy hardware from them, I'm in Canada and they won't sell (Custom problem I guess).

So if I decide to purchase a Plextor I will have to buy from a retail store with out been certified.

With our poor dollar it wouldn't be a deal to buy from MTU anyway, I can get a Plextor for $149.00 Cnd. and from MTU it would cost me at least $280.00 Cdn.

Does it happen that you sometime have broken letters or sticky letters with your Plextor?

Thanks

[Flipeoke]

Oh, sorry about that, didn't realize you were one of our neighbors to the north. I currently have two plex drives neither one has given me any problems with good quality media. One of them does experience the sticking letters from time to time when using cheap media. Neither of them have ever NOT played on my JVC triple trays. I used to have a Yamaha, and it almost always had sticking letters.

[jimbo]

A few years ago I was using Yamahas and then started to experience the broken letters. I ended up replacing the Yamaha with another yamaha which solved the problem for a while. I think burners start to wear out or something. I now have switched to Plextors (Not bought through MTU), and those have given us fewer problems. They either do it without broken letters, or the burners have failed completely. I have had some go out, but we use them for backing up everything (like all my recording session files), not just CDG's. A few months ago I had some dropped letters, but it was because I switched from Mitsui to something cheaper. Can you guess what I use now? Mitsui are the best CDR's. This is what my experience has been.

[mlepine]

jimbo,

I found the Canadian distributor for Mitsui so I will first try to test this brand and maybe it's all I need.

I'm not sure where it will make a difference because when I extract to my hard drive I sometime get broken letters and when I burn from hard drive to cdr it seems to be identical?

I'll see...

Thanks

[jimbo]

Mlepine,
Have you tried slowing down the read speed? Also, if there is dust or scratches on the CDG that can make those specs appear.

Jimbo

[mlepine]

Thanks jimbo,

I was in fact wondering if the scratch had any effect on the graphic, it did happen once that a cdg was in very bad shape and the graphic was so bad but I had no difference in the sound.

I did try different speed and notice that when I extract the faster the better but, when I record I prefer at slow speed because of the sound quality.
I know it sounds strange when I say that but, the reality is, if you listen to a master recording on a reference sound system for example, 2X will sound better than the 10X!

The slower speed will give a deeper and better burn so therefore will be easier to read on any cd player which explains the better sound!

Thanks

[jimbo]

The graphics are written in the "R-W subcode" portion of CDG tracks. Scratches seem to really effect this portion of user data.
Audio seems to be a little more forgiving to scratches than the subcode.
My opinion is it may not be your burner or media, but your original CDG. Sometimes originals will play better on CDG players than they will on a CD reader. If you are getting the letter dropouts and seeing them on your computer before you burn, you will see them (most likely) on the disc you burn.

Jimbo

[admin]

Over the years we have sold all the CDG capable drives. Yamaha was the premier years ago, but the quality of their drive has suffered since the 4824 model. A typical Yamaha WILL drop some of the RW codes, either reading or writing, and sometimes both. It is NOT the preferred drive of choice for CDG work. That is why we do not recommend or sell it any more.

Jimbo is right, the RW subcode (actually it is P Q R S T U V W as an 8-bit code) is NOT stored in error checking or redundant, so any scratch will damage it. We have had many users over the years report that using Microstudio and our CDG Certified drives, the copy was CLEANER than the original, even when the original is scratched. The right drive can make a world of difference in reading a scratched disc.

As to the recording speed, the industry experts we talk with say that writing at the faster speeds is superior as the laser does not heat up the dye layer as much. There apparently is an "annealing" process that can happen when too much heat is applied. The "pit" is not a physical pit, but an optical changing of the dye layer. Writing at a slower speed has never been proven to be superior with the MTU Silver media, to our knowledge.

As to the audio quality sounding better at slower speeds, we have heard this argument for the past 11 years since we have sold CDR drives for studio quality audio workstations. I do not remember a single instance where someone who claimed "better audio at slower speeds" after going to MTU Silver media made the same claim. Using inferior media WILL change the audio quality, AT ANY SPEED! Using the ultimate media does not matter what writing speed.

As to why MTU won't ship out of the USA, it has been to prevent the Credit Card fraud we were experiencing. When we ship a drive and the payment turns out to be bogus, we are out the full amount, including the freight. Today, we have changed our internal procedures and we will now accept International orders. We now will call and/or email to verify the order was placed by the real Credit Card owner, and that other information can be provided to us. When we can verify this, we will accept the order and ship out of the USA. mlepine, we would be honored to accept your order if you wish to place it.

[mlepine]

Admin,

It's with pleasure I just ordered a Plextor burner (order 9568) it did say that MTU do not ship outside US but I guess you'll make certain I receive it?

Didn't know what to choose for delivery option! I couldn't find my option, I'm not requesting a 48 hour shipping... I will still continu to use my Yamaha.

PS. I'll miss my broken graphic!!!

Regards

[mlepine]

I'm not trying to respond to my own thread but wanted to give my opinion on my new Plextor Drive.

I did received my drive from MTU and was able to enable my DMA back with out any problems.

First, I'm impressed with it's quality, excellent graphic (No broken letters) and, excellent sound.

I took the time to run a test, made 2 back up, one burned at 48X and another at 2X, to my biggest surprised, I got a better sound at 48X!!

I used TDK DATA CD-R compatible up to 48X Certified +

Thanks to MTU, you guy's know what you're talking about!
I must ad that the Senior Members also help me to decide changing from my Yamaha to this Plextor.

VERY SATISFIED

[rosiehm]

I am starting to have trouble with my Plextor drive, would like to "clean" it, but the cd cleaner I have won't run on it. Any suggestions?

[George]

I had the same problem a few months ago and called Plextor.

They got very upset regarding using a CD type cleaner. They said one should never use anything that comes in physical contact with the laser lens, and suggested I buy a can of compressed air.

That's what I've used ever since. If you do the same, don't linger with long blasts of air. A few short blasts are not as apt to have a super cooling effect.

Just passing on what their tech support had to say.

Hope this helps.

George

[rosiehm]

Thanks George, will give the air a try...

Rosie