Does burning at 2x speed and 4x speed make any difference?

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I have burned VCD at 2x speed and 4x using the same CD-R drive, and on my PC (as expected) and two VCD players I can't find any difference at all as to the picture quality, smoothness of playback etc. However, I seem to have read somewhere that burning at 2x is better. Since my VCD might reach a wider audience later, and since they may have all sorts of VCD players, I would like to know whether on SOME players, the speed at which the CD is burned affect the picture quality, smoothness of playback. Thanks in advance.

-- Vision T (visiont@hotmail.com), January 12, 2000

Answers

I think burning speed does affect readability. For VCD players with sensitive head, this may not be a problem. But for one that is ageing, a VCD burned at higher speed can cause 'sticky' play. I have had this problem before with a VCD that was burned at 4X. But when burned at 2X, playing is smooth throughout. I now burn only at 2X just to be safe.

-- Daniel S Lee (siangneng@sp.edu.sg), January 12, 2000.

Hi, I also heard the theory about quality vs. burning speed. It sounds theoretically reasonable: since VCD has a poorish error correction sheme by nature, it's logical therefore to expect that a slow-written CDR is plausible of less errors and thus lead to better quality.

Having said this, my practical experience says the opposite: when I burn at 1x the VCD has *FAR* more blockiness and random pauses than when I burn at 2x, which leads to a clean, neat VCD. Why this? Dunno, maybe somebody out there can explain.

-- Matias (petrellm@telefonica.com.ar), January 12, 2000.


here is my two cents about this matter. My friend has a plextor burner He to told me the speed vs quality issue. Well when he burned stuff at 4x the vcd had crazy mad glitches that were not inherent when burned at a lower speed. i have burned at 2x and to play it super safe, i burn at 1x, and i have yet(knock on wood) had any problems this way. As far as the complaint Matias had about more blockiness at 1 x that is pretty crazy, what kind of burner do you have?? it may just be the burner doing that. I have NEVER had that problem.

-- Doug (mazinz@aol.com), January 12, 2000.

I think the problem is not the speed. The problem is the speed versus your burner and media combination. My Yamaha 4416S burn perfectly TDK media at any speed, but in past I was able to burn Traxdata Silver only at 1x ! . My old HP burner instead worked well on Traxdata and bad on TDK (then one day he burned himself instead of the CDR). My combination of CD-R and burner works at 4x and the output is readable on all Philips and Pioneer DVD readers I've tested. Brambus

-- Brambus (kdwbr@tin.it), January 13, 2000.

Doug, my burner is a Sony CDU-928E (2x-8x). Yes, in fact the combination of media and burner makes a whole system. But I have never had the chance to say "this brand of CD-R doesn't work with my burner" and I've tested a lot of'em. Data CDs are not a problem at all, but VCDs burned at 1x are a problem with a fan of different media. Still, the problem is with other readers because in the CD recorder itself they look good, so it's probably the burner whats miscuing the tracks or somethin'. So the question is, why the hell does it burn right at 2x?? Well I don't care much since I can burn correctly at 2x, but wanted to pinpoint that this proofs that not always a lower speed leads to a higher quality.

-- Matias (petrellm@telefonica.com.ar), January 13, 2000.


I think I burned to quickly because I have a dvd player that can read vcd's and I burned mine at 8x. the dvd player reads unknown disc and doesn't show anything. Should I burn at 1x?

-- Henry (henry_ozog@hotmail.com), November 07, 2002.

I write at 32-40x on my LG cd writer unit and I have no pronlem with my Panasonic Rv31 dvd player, i don't think speed its a problem

-- Romel Guerra (romel2k81@hotmail.com), December 17, 2002.

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