I've been reading up on the differences between Mode 1 and Mode 2/XA encoded discs, trying to find out which one can provide more stable results when played in multiple drives ranging from CD-Roms to DVD Players & MP3 Car decks. From what it looks like, Mode 1 has more error correction, which seems like a good thing...?

I'm trying to figure out why my Panasonic RV-41 DVD player will sometimes stop playing or get stuck on an MP3 CD that I've burned using Mode 2. I can pop out the disc and find no dirt or fingerprints on it. What's even more mysterious is that when I pop the disc back in, it plays fine. I also find this problem if I leave the player on pause for a while...

I'm tempted to try a few Mode 1 - encoded discs to see if this helps, but I was wondering if anyone knew if Mode 1 had any significant advantage over Mode 2 in cases like this.

Thanks,

Visor

I hope this will answer your question http://www.roxio.com/en/support/cdr/multisession.html .

Hi Van,

Thanks for the response, but unfortunately that article wasn't what I was looking for. I'm interested in whether or not Mode 1 has better error correction than Mode 2 and if this improved EC can be taken advantage of in drives like DVD players, Car MP3 players, etc.

I burned an MP3 CD-Rom last night using Mode 1, and so far my picky Panasonic RV41 hasn't complained. This could be the solution that I was looking for... I'll keep you posted as I burn some more CDs over the next few days.

Regards,
Visor

Yup, mode 1 is more suitable for car players and older models.

Well, unfortunately this didn't solve the problem with my DVD player... the disc started cutting out near the end. I'm thinking it's either the player itself (possibly overheating after a few hours of play), or the CDRs themselves (they're cheap Gigastorage 80 minute CDs that I bought in a 100-pack). I've tried burning slower (4x as opposed to 16x) but prospects aren't perfect there either. Sometimes the player will play the first few seconds of a song, then stop and start the song over again. Weird...

Could it be...............your burner???

Doubtful, it's a Plextor 16x10x40.

Maybe the media. Have you tried different brands?

That's my next test. ;)

Visor, it could definitely be your burner! My new Lite-On is much better on the same marginal disks than my old Plextor 1210A was.

Last night I erased a CD-RW that I found cleaning up my office (it was under a pile of papers on a cahir), with plenty of scratches, it was a reject I could not use with my old Plexy even when they were no scratches on it, and I had no problems erasing it with my Lite-ON!

I used to be a Plextor fan but after the 8432 model (which was a real workhorse and never caused me problems excpet when overclocking, which may actually have been a motherboard issue) I feel the quality and reliability has really come down.

Hey 83bj60, thanks for your input.

I find my Plextor to be good at doing "Raw" burns, but you may have a point when it comes to READING discs. Although my Plextor has no problem writing to these cheap discs at 16x, when it comes to reading them at 40x it sometimes has problems. (Especially with DivX movies where it has to read the whole disc before it starts to play the movie) I rarely use the drive to read the Gigabyte-brand discs anymore unless I have Plextor Manager installed and set the read speed to half (20x). I did post about this problem previously, but all I got back were responses like "My Plextor reads discs at 40x fine." Once again, this could be a defect with the discs or a problem with Plextor's laser.

Currently, it's been a few days since my Panasonic RV-41 DVD player has hiccuped on a disc. Also, when a disc does hiccup and I scan backward to the part where it happened, it does not repeat the problem. This sort-of suggests that there could be a problem with the DVD player's laser, although I've never had a problem with it playing standard DVDs. It's possible that the player is just not 100% MP3 friendly (even the manual hints at the fact that MP3 playback was a last-minute addition) so maybe I should be fortunate that it plays MP3 discs at all.

Well, I'm almost through with my 100-pack of Gigabytes (I have about 20 left) and I doubt I'll ever buy another set of these again. I had some good luck with Cursors (another cheap set of 50-disc spindles) that I may go back to. But what really good CDRs are out there that are available in spindles? (I have 60+ empty jewel cases at home so I only want spindles) How are brands like Maxell? TDK? Imation? I see lots of Memorex spindles, but I've always considered Memorex to be a blatant rip-off of Maxell. Any input would be great.

Thanks,
Visor

Try Datasafe Media spindles. I've gone through 100's with no prob's

You can get them for £20 per 100

Hi Ian,

I've never heard of that brand, but the fact that you mention pound currency suggests they may only be available in the UK. (I'm in Canada)