I Need To Know Which Discs Are Compatible With My Phillips CDRW 400 Series Compact Disc Recordable Rewritable

vbimport
#1

I Need To Know Which Discs Are Compatible With My Phillips CDRW 400 Series Compact Disc Recordable Rewritable.

This is a picture of the exact device: http://cgi.ebay.com/Philips-PCRW-CD-RW-Burner-400-Series_W0QQitemZ140226654643QQihZ004QQcategoryZ116241QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

Click the picture to make it bigger.

If this topic is in the wrong section I wouldn’t know, I am a newbie here, this is my first time viewing the website actually.

As of now I don’t know what discs to use other than it must be a blank CD. I just wonder if I have the wrong kind of blank CDs. I inserted a disc and it did burn – but for only 1 song then it told me I did not have enough space to record; honestly it is a bit odd it is saying there is not enough space because the disc itself on the top says it can record up to 80 minutes of music but…here is the catch…after the first 3 minutes it recorded it told me to insert another disc and that it could not burn to the current disc I had in there due to lack of space (it must be crazy)-- and believe me, the disc is able to be burn music onto it because it has the compact disc logo on it for audio.

So in a nutshell an 80-minute disc was spit out at me after only 3 minutes of burning because the device claims there is not enough space (I know that sounds mad but its true), and if it only took 3 minutes then there should be at least 77 minutes left of recording space on it if you do the basic subtraction.

If you want to know the exact disc I used for this, it is called…

@ Compact Disc Recordable 700MB 80MIN 52X Recordable. It is a CD-R. I have no idea if CD-Rs are comaptible with this device or not. I have no idea if I can use CD-Rs or CD-RWs or whatever…first off I I need to know specifically what I can use.

The disc is silver with a black outlining. It came is a small white paper sleeve with a transparent covering just like in the picture below.

A picture of it is here: http://cgi.ebay.com/10-Blank-CD-R-80min-700MB-10-CD-Sleeves-BRAND-NEW_W0QQitemZ120249193078QQihZ002QQcategoryZ80134QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting

That is the EXACT disc. Click on it to get a bigger picture.

…So is it the wrong type? I wouldn’t know.

So what is wrong? I have no idea what kinds of discs are compatible with this recordable rewritable anyway, I was just guessing what to put in there and hoped it would work out (and it did but not all the way completely).

This is my first time using a rewritable of any kind at all.

Can you give me some specific brand names for blank rewritable recordable discs I can use to put into this specific device that would sucessfully write more than just 1 song and then spit it back out at me? I am wanting to make audio and data CDs (it can do both).

#2

I would recommend using Maxell Pro CD-R’s for they are really hard to match in quality and durablity. They run a bit more in price but they are worth every penny!

#3

That’s more of a museum piece than a useable CD-burner you have there, [B]DeaneRenata[/B]. It dates back to the days that CD-R had a 650MB capacity. It may not work with currently available 700MB discs. First up, make sure you are using the latest available “firmware” for the drive.

Look for the exact model no. (probably on a sticker on the bottom of the unit) and check for firmware updates on the Philips website: http://www.storageupdates.philips.com/en/index.html .

I didn’t see a similar drive listed there however. The next option is to open up the unit and check the model no. of the burner inside (it should also have a sticker on it). You’ll probably find that one listed under “CD ReWriters”.

And if that still doesn’t help, I think you’ll be best to buy a new burner. If you look very hard, you may be able to find some 650MB CD-R’s somewhere, but I wouldn’t bet on it. And besides that, writing CD’s at 4X speed is tedious nowadays.

Welcome to the Forum :).

Edit: Here’s some more external cd-rw drive models on the philips-usa support pages (don’t know where you’re located): linky

#4

[quote=Cressida;2044950]That’s more of a museum piece than a useable CD-burner you have there, [B]DeaneRenata[/B]. It dates back to the days that CD-R had a 650MB capacity. It may not work with currently available 700MB discs. First up, make sure you are using the latest available “firmware” for the drive.

Look for the exact model no. (probably on a sticker on the bottom of the unit) and check for firmware updates on the Philips website: http://www.storageupdates.philips.com/en/index.html .

I didn’t see a similar drive listed there however. The next option is to open up the unit and check the model no. of the burner inside (it should also have a sticker on it). You’ll probably find that one listed under “CD ReWriters”.

And if that still doesn’t help, I think you’ll be best to buy a new burner. If you look very hard, you may be able to find some 650MB CD-R’s somewhere, but I wouldn’t bet on it. And besides that, writing CD’s at 4X speed is tedious nowadays.

Welcome to the Forum :).

Edit: Here’s some more external cd-rw drive models on the philips-usa support pages (don’t know where you’re located): linky[/quote]

I have decided to buy a new one to cure this problem. But before I do that, I would like to know what are the best, most modern brand names for recordable rewritable audio and data blank CD burners? If you all have any suggestions…I’d want a really modern up-to-date device, but I don’t know a thing about recordable rewritables, so I’m taking suggestions.

Don’t just assume I’d know all about burners. In my last message I said this was my first time using one (or even seeing one for that matter!). I have much to learn about them. Did you know that even before I purchased this “museum piece” I didn’t even know what they looked like?!

I need some help picking out a good device to buy is what I mean. So what are some of your own choices?

List a specific brand name. Maybe even the one you own.

#5

Please don’t get me wrong, I love old computer stuff (probably why your question caught my attention in the first place ;)), and I would make sure I tried everything I could to get it to work, before giving up on it.

I might be able to find a link to the latest Philips firmware for you (which could allow you to burn newer CD-R types), if you can download and run Nero InfoTool (linky) and post a screenshot of the burner details as in the example below. It would surely be an achievement if you could successfully burn that first CD with the Philips :).

As for a new device, CD-burners have practically disappeared from the market now and are replaced by CD/DVD-burners. As you may know a DVD R/RW holds approximately 4.7GB of data, which is almost 7 times as much as a CD R/RW. Other than data storage, you can also use them to back up your movie DVD’s and price per MB is lower than that of CD now. So I think you’ll want to buy a CD/DVD-burner, not a CD-only burner.

Before making any specific recommendations (I think practically any modern drive will meet your expectations by the way), can you give us your computer specs please (CPU/processor type+speed, RAM/memory amount, Operating System used,… you can find this information under the [I]Hardware[/I] and [I]System[/I] tabs in InfoTool as well). If it’s a laptop that you have, you’ll probably want another external (USB) drive like the Philips, right? For a desktop you can choose between an internal or external unit. Note that for successful DVD burning, your computer shouldn’t be too old either (6-7 years max.) and include USB 2.0 ports (not the older and slower USB 1.1 type).

#6

[quote=Cressida;2045373]Please don’t get me wrong, I love old computer stuff (probably why your question caught my attention in the first place ;)), and I would make sure I tried everything I could to get it to work, before giving up on it.

I might be able to find a link to the latest Philips firmware for you (which could allow you to burn newer CD-R types), if you can download and run Nero InfoTool (linky) and post a screenshot of the burner details as in the example below. It would surely be an achievement if you could successfully burn that first CD with the Philips :).

As for a new device, CD-burners have practically disappeared from the market now and are replaced by CD/DVD-burners. As you may know a DVD R/RW holds approximately 4.7GB of data, which is almost 7 times as much as a CD R/RW. Other than data storage, you can also use them to back up your movie DVD’s and price per MB is lower than that of CD now. So I think you’ll want to buy a CD/DVD-burner, not a CD-only burner.

Before making any specific recommendations (I think practically any modern drive will meet your expectations by the way), can you give us your computer specs please (CPU/processor type+speed, RAM/memory amount, Operating System used,… you can find this information under the [I]Hardware[/I] and [I]System[/I] tabs in InfoTool as well). If it’s a laptop that you have, you’ll probably want another external (USB) drive like the Philips, right? For a desktop you can choose between an internal or external unit. Note that for successful DVD burning, your computer shouldn’t be too old either (6-7 years max.) and include USB 2.0 ports (not the older and slower USB 1.1 type).[/quote]

Looks at the picture you provided

Our system doesn’t look anything like yours, sorry. We don’t have as many tabs as you do, and ours is in English, not the language you are using (what is that language?). And I see you have some tabs that we don’t.

Our computer does indeed have a Hardware tab, but this information was not in that specific tab like you suggested. Instead, this information was found in the General tab. We don’t have a System tab that I can see.

[B]Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition Service Pack 2

Manufactured and supported by: Hewlett-Packard Pavillion

Intel Celeron Processor 1.10 GHz

384 MB of RAM[/B]

I have no idea what this means but I’m sure you do. Yes, we do have 2.0 USB ports. This is a desktop PC, not a laptop.

I have a laptop and I would prefer to interchangeably use the drive between the Desktop PC we have and my own laptop if that is even possible.

Despite the Desktop PC, I’d strongly prefer an external unit to an internal one.

#7

Hi, - The InfoTool language is not important (it’s Dutch on my system), what counts is the exact name/model of the Philips drive and its current firmware version. Your InfoTool version will show that information as well, so it’s fine to use what you have available.

Thanks for the Hardware info, your PC is a little bit older, from the time when USB 2.0 was introduced actually, so double-check this please. DVD-burning is not possible using the slower (but physically identical/compatible) USB 1.1 connection. If you look in Device Manager, you shoud see the word “[B]Enhanced[/B]” when expanding “USB Controllers”.

Provided you have USB 2.0 connectivity on both your desktop and laptop, it sounds like a good idea to go for a new external burner. Recommendations? There’s so many and it really depends on price and availability where you live. LiteOn, Samsung, Philips, LG,… they all make good external drives. Philips could have a LiteOn or a Samsung burner inside the enclosure as a matter of fact. Maybe you can have a look around yourself and tell us what options you can choose from. We’ll give you the pro’s and cons for each.

I was thinking still that maybe it was just a software problem that prevented you form burning those music CD’s with the old Philips. Which version of Nero are you using now? It might help for you to uninstall Nero and run the Nero CleanTool before reinstalling and applying the latest available update version for your license.