Need help from the audiophile gallery (yeah, O/T)
 

I know...this belongs in the technical forum, but the larger the audience the better.

About a year ago I bought a top 'o the Circuit City line JVC digital/analog recorder/player. After three days of fiddling with "right cables in right jacks" & getting my ancient analog Pioneer tuner to make it all happen, I gave up on furthering my education, & used it merely as a CD player. Until now...
One of my daughter's Christmas begs was a number of CDs, none of the artists being familiar to me, but as we're 33 years apart in age, why should they be? I found only one of her esoteric requests & stuffed it in the stocking next to the lumps of coal.
The name of the CD is Blacklisted by Neko Case. I decided to listen to it. I GOTTA HAVE A COPY OF THIS!!! Kinda "New age pop country art rock". It's sooo easy to categorize music these days!
I grudgingly open the JVC instruction manual (wish I had an automatic, ha-ha). Buried half way through the manual, I find the steps to making a copy of a CD FROM a CD. I do what the manual says to do. By the way, at first I tried to use a recordable disc that was "only for computer copies". Three days later & loss of more hair, I was sold the proper CD-R MUSIC discs. Point being my nerves are already frayed. Anyway, I successfully make a copy. I play the copy through the JVC machine. Yup... sounds just like the original. I'm pleased. I now want to play my copy in the genuine Panasonic SVX CD professional audio system. I insert disc... it de-inserts. I insert again - same result again. Other CDs work fine. I now insert copy into Sony boom-box. zzzzzgggghhhhh noise, it's spinning, but nada.
I insert in my computer CD player, More nada.
Oh... the question. Am I now dealing with yet another Bill Gates contrived caveat or formatting thing that says, "You idiot, don't you know that to record AND PLAY BACK through machines that weren't involved in the recording, you go back to Circuit City, open your wallet and......."
There's got to be an explanation in plain English somewhere.
Thanks for listening to this drivel.

Ron (fondling vinyl).

When you say genuine Panasonic SVX CD system, do you mean stock SVX CD player? If so, I had mine switched after loosing my temper trying to play burned CDs on it. It would spend a few seconds trying to read the disk, then give an error message, then eject it.

Another interesting side note: Panasonic CD players can be funny with burned CDs. My Panasonic DVD player won't play them at all.

PS. I find it odd that there's a difference between computer and component system CDRs. I would suggest using a computer to save yourself the hassle.

Ron, I don't suppose you have a CD burner in your computer? It's much easier and cheaper than having to buy the pretaxed "audio" CDRs.

KuoH

Yes, it's the stock SVX player, but I've played other burned CDs in it before. Also, it won't play in the other devices mentioned.

Back to square one. Ron.

Are you sure you burned it to a CDR and not a CDRW? CDRWs will not play in a regular cd player. Although will play in a computer. I just wanted to make sure.
Have you tried reburning it?
BTW, those blank cds should not be expensive. How much do you pay for them? I can pick up a pack of 50 computer CDRs for about $15. If I screw one up, I throw it in the trash and start over without thinking twice.

It might be something as simple as the burner didn't "finalize" it. A lot of times its just that. try burning it again maybe, or get a different program to burn it. I have a mac, so I don't know if I'd be able to help you with programs. just a suggestion

(yeah, look for ads for them also, I got 50 Sony CD-Rs for $2 from Best Buy)

No - my computer is 5 years old & I refuse to touch it.
I bought the JVC unit to burn CDs from vinyl, cassette & other CDs.
The burnable CDs (Maxell) I have, say CD-R music 80 minutes. Yes they're cheap enough - 30 for 15 bucks. I'd just love it if every time I try to drag myself into the 21st century, there weren't some new format dragging me over the coals.

Ron (dreaming about 8 tracks & Betas)

According to the manual, the recorder is defaulted to finalize unless I intervene & cancel finalization. The display also said "finalized". Plus - If the disk WEREN'T finalized, would it still play in the JVC player, which it did?

Thanks for trying. I find all things digital VERY trying.

Ron.

yes it would still play
have you tried reburning it?
Most component cd recorders (excluding computer cd recorders) such as what you're using have a copyright protection mechanism on them when going from one cd to another. This is what you could be experiencing. All the more reason to use a computer.

Try re-burning the cd at a slower speed if possible.

/M

Ron,

I can bring my 60 lb. Reel to Reel recorder down to Maryland and coonect it to your Pioneer tuner and make a tape of the CD.
Then we go out to your SVX and fold the rear seat down. We attach the recorder to the back of the rear seat.
We plug the recorder into the 12V/110V converter adapter and plug the other end into the cars cigar lighter.

Then press the power button and play on the recorder.

There you have it a genuine stereo Box-O-Music.


HAPPY NEW YEAR.

PS: I have an 8-track if you need it.

Its probably the media you're using. Yes, technically it shouldn't matter, but it does. Spend about 10 bucks on a pack of nice SONY blank CDRs, burn it on that, and I betcha it'll work. Cheap media is just that: Cheap.

Ron, there are lots of technical reasons behind this, and if you'd like to read pages and pages of them, go to http://www.cdrfaq.org

CD-Rs are harder to read than commercial pressed CDs. 80-minute CD-Rs are harder to read than 74-minute CD-Rs. Audio CDs are harder to read than data CDs. Older players are more finicky and have less efficient error-correction abilities. Car players get more vibration, heat, cold, dirt, etc., and consequently drift off calibration and get dirty lenses.

I burn a lot of music CDs using two burners on two different computers, and have occasional problems like this. I burn a new CD and that usually takes care of it.

I suggest:

1. Try cleaning your SVX CD player. Cleaning disks are available wherever CDs are sold.

2. Try a different brand of CD-R. I've had the best luck with CD-Rs that have relatively opaque top surfaces and silvery recording surfaces. Some CD-Rs have translucent tops and greenish or bluish recording surfaces, and I suspect there's enough difference in reflectivity to cause problems in some players. With my equipment, I have a high failure rate with Maxell CD-Rs, and a very low failure rate with Memorex. Go figure.

3. Try 74-minute instead of 80-minute, if you can find them.

4. If possible, record at a slower speed.

A reality of home CD-burning is that some ain't gonna work. :( :rolleyes:

Congratulations on getting the system up and operating, and keep trying!!

I'm going to look for that CD . . . thanks for the tip. :)

Oh, yeah . . . one more thing -

The finalizing has been known to percolate for a few days before completing. A disk that wouldn't work on Monday would suddenly work on Thursday.

Let 'em sit, then try 'em agin.

< ca$h - I misspelled "again" on purpose >

Some technical stuff from cdrfaq.org:

"CD-R was designed to be read by an infrared 780nm laser. DVD uses a visible red 635nm or 650nm laser, which aren't reflected sufficiently by the organic dye polymers used in CD-R media. As a result, many DVD players can't read CD-R media. Some DVD players come with two lasers so that they can read CD-R. For a technical discussion, see http://www2.osta.org/osta/html/cddvd/intro.html and http://www.emedialive.com/EM1998/bennett3.html.

CD-RW discs have a different formulation, and may work even on DVD players that can't handle CD-R media. If CD-R media doesn't work, try copying the disc to CD-RW instead (assuming your recorder supports CD-RW). "


;)