Re: [ARSCLIST] CD-R error rates

["Richard L. Hess" <arclists@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

We learned a bit today...a rule of thumb would be that about 50 C1 
errors per second would be acceptable (i.e. in spec) if we use the 
ratio of the Plextor error count vs. the unit Parker was talking 
about. The limit in the spec being 220 and the Plexwriter Premium 
reading from 2-4x lower.

I took another 80-minute MAM-A Archive gold CD-R and burned 40 
minutes of music on it and obtained the following results:

PASS ONE on the Plexwriter Premium
C1:  6.5 avg/sec, 37.0 Max/sec
C2:  0 avg/sec, 11.0 Max/sec, total 56 out of 40 minutes
CU:  0
PASS TWO on the Plexwriter Premium - disc rotated slightly in tray 
between tests
C1:  6.5 avg/sec, 36.0 Max/sec
C2:  0 avg/sec, 11.0 Max/sec, total 57 out of 40 minutes
CU:  0
In both instances there was an error spike about 34 minutes in.
PASS THREE after quick cleaning (there was a smudge on the disc)
C1:  6.5 avg/sec, 36.0 Max/sec
C2:  0  avg/sec, 7.0 Max/sec, total 44 out of 40 minutes.
CU:  0

So perhaps the smudge was put there when I put it in the audio CD 
writer, but it's interesting to summarize:

                        Real Time       16x             32x
C1 avg/sec           6.5                 0.7            4.7
C1 Max/sec          36.0                 18             28

I will write off the C2 error to dirt on the disc while writing.

This is in keeping with what I heard from my client about real-time 
recording on modern data discs, so yes, to the person who asked me, I 
concur that if you're burning in real time to CD-R that using the 
"audio" discs is an important choice if indeed they truly are 
optimized to 1-4x burning.

The drives I have do not offer anything between 16x and 32x, sorry, 
no 24x. This is the same in Samplitude and Nero with the Burning ROM 
advanced software and on multiple Plexwriter PX-708A and PX-716A 
(IIRC, I have two of each scattered about). The Plextor Premium does 
offer 24x, but I only have one of those as I burn a mix of DVDs and 
CDs in the studio. The Premium is in the office for this type of 
evaluation work, along with a 708A.

I really wish all my clients had managed servers I could upload to. 
As I've said, more and more of my clients are able to work this way. 
Cutting out the mailed optical media is just fine with me.

Cheers,

Richard

At 01:37 AM 2008-01-07, Richard L. Hess wrote:
> I ran two tests tonight, both using a Plexwriter PX-716A CD/DVD 
> writer as the writer and a Plexwriter Premium CD writer as the 
> reader using the PlexTools evaluation software.
>
> They offer three error rates which they call
> C1 which is, I believe, the sum of the E11+E12+E13 errors (it's 
> definitely these errors
>       I am just not 100% clear as to the arithmetic process they 
> use to combine them.
> C2 which corresponds to E22
> CU which corresponds to E32
>
> One CD was a MAM-A gold archive CD written at 32X (now that 
> Samplitude supports BurnProof, I thought I'd give this a try).
>
> C1:  4.7 avg/sec, 28.0 Max/sec
> C2:  0
> CU:  0
>
> Another CD was a MAM-A silver CD written in the same drive a week or 
> two ago at 16X.
>
> C1:  0.7 avg/sec, 18.0 Max/sec
> C2:  0
> CU:  0

Richard L. Hess                   email: richard@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Aurora, Ontario, Canada       (905) 713 6733     1-877-TAPE-FIX
Detailed contact information: http://www.richardhess.com/tape/contact.htm
Quality tape transfers -- even from hard-to-play tapes.