Afternoon all,

I am currently shopping around for equipment for making VCDs. And now I have come across another question. Is it better to go with the scsi cdrs with the night data transfer rates, or go with the less expensive ide cdrs. From discussions with some of my coworkers, during the cds at a slower speed, like 2x, achives better all around results, I'll probably go with the slower burn speed. So, does it matter what interface the cdr has at the lower speeds, or will I just get better results with one type of interface or the other?

Thanks! Tim Rooney

-- Tim Rooney (TRooney@Narex.com), September 16, 1999

Answers

Whatever anyone may say to the contrary, if you want the least possible pain in any of your CD-R nitty-gritty, NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER buy IDE CD-R drives!!! ALWAYS get SCSI CD-R drives!! CD-R is a rather fragile, involving technology that has a few limitations, among which is the need for a constant stream of data once recording a track has started. IDE is NOT conducive to this, and some, like HP, (who is responsible for such crimes like parallel-port CD-R drives) divvy the capabilities up by putting more on-board buffer memory. This doesn't take away the resource-hungry, system-dependent nature of IDE. IDE is naturally cheaper to implement and indeed one of the things that turn away people from SCSI is having to contend purchasing/installing a SCSI adapter card. But you can't have everything. As for me, I'd rather pay a few more bucks for a far more stable SCSI CD-R system (good models from Teac, Yamaha, Plextor) anyday than any of those trashy $150 IDE CD-R specials. :) :)

-- EMartinez (epmartinez@hotmail.com), September 18, 1999.

Check out the Teac CD-R drives, SCSI, high quality, and include a SCSI card so you dont have to have one. I have a 6x24 and it works perfectly.

-- FunOne (FunOne@tyler.net), November 05, 1999.

Well the ideal is scuzzy, there is no doubt about that. But! How then has my old (2+ years) edi Ricoh 6200A done 165 cd-r burns and about 100 CD-RW burns with a total of 5 coasters and none in the last 180 burns that I have logged since using a faster system drive? I log the details of and the results of every burn!

Sounds a bit like saying edi hdd's are of no use for video capture unless av rated.

-- Ross mcL (rmclennan@esc.net.au), November 07, 1999.

You should buy an CD-R SCSI ULTRA160 for a CD-R!!!!!!!!!!!!! SCSI is always better, but an IDE can be very good! Buy Plextor!

-- Fooly (nunuche@nunuche.com), February 11, 2000.