RE: [AV Media Matters] CD-R Duplicators

[Charles Repka <Charles.P.Repka@abc.com>]

Graham,

About your duplication problems,

>It turned out not to be able to properly copy
>an audio CD where the disc contained continuous audio with track IDs to
>locate points within that audio.  It appeared to be trying to do it's own
>interpretation of what it thought the disc *SHOULD* be instead of copying
>what it actually was.  Audio at the track ID's would be blanked for two
>seconds, which interrupted the continuous program material.

This was(is?) a common problem with a lot of duplicators and even
some stand alone software to be used with PC's.  The Red Book
standard actually requires 2 seconds of silence at each track ID.
When Philips wrote the spec, the concept of putting a track ID in
the middle of program did not occur to them.  After all, that's what
the Index ID is for.  But now, no one uses indexes and the official
Red Book rule is violated all the time.  Some manufacturers wrote
their software to blindly follow the Red Book spec. Never mind what
everyone really does.

>Fast forward to...>
>
>It seems this machine won't do everything either!  I first found that it
>would not copy a red book CD from my workstation with over 94 tracks and I
>had the maximum of 99 tracks on the subject disc.  I went to Alea and
>Plextor for answers to the problem, sent them examples of the disc, and
>they could duplicate the problem, but offered no fix, saying the fault
>probably lay with the disc, and not their machine which they said met all
>the test standards offered by the Phillips CD test disc. Plextor said the
>problem was Alea's and here I sit in the middle of the problem without
>an answer.

The problem may be do to the time between track ID's  There is a Red
Book spec for that also. ( I think it is a minimum of 2 or 4
seconds.  I can't remember.  My CD mastering software gives me a
warning if Track ID's are too close.  Does yours?)    If the tracks
are too close together, the copier may not see one of the ID's
because it is still writing the previous one.

>Microboards has a small stand alone copier, but I know nothing about it
>other than what I see on microboards website.

I have 2 different Microboads systems. one stand alone, the other
requires a computer.  Neither of them have ever had a problem
copying discs with Track ID's in the middle of program.  I do that
kind of work all the time. But I've never had a master disc with 99
ID's. If you are willing to send me your "problem discs" I'll see if
I can copy them.  That's the ultimate test. I also have a friend
with 2 Mediaform duplicators.  I can also check if these discs copy
properly on them.

Charles Repka