YUDEN000: T02 v. T01

cliveb 2005-08-06 01:36:01 UTC #1

Just bought a 100 spindle of YUDENT02 (8x DVD+R), and am perplexed by its apparent lack of quality. This is T02 Rev 00, full-face printable, bought from SVP in the UK. Serial numbers are 5C532A104489PG (embossed in center ring) and TG001159 (printed in centre of dye).

Attached are images showing PI-PO scans of various burns at both 4x and 8x. As you can see, this 8x rated media is significantly worse than the 4x rated T01 Rev 01 at both speeds. I'm using a Plextor PX712A, f/w 1.05, master on IDE2, running in Ultra DMA mode. Burning with PLextools Pro v2.20. Any thoughts?

chas0039 2005-08-06 05:45:15 UTC #2

I have no experience with Plextor drives and TY, but I have some T02 and have burned and scanned it on 6 different drives with nothing close to the errors you see. I would return it and ask for a replacement.

rdgrimes 2005-08-06 07:42:12 UTC #3

T02 and T01-01 are very similar media, and so with proper firmware support they should burn very much the same. So you are either looking at poor firmware support or poor media. Suggest you search the Plextor forum for similar problems.

Two_Degrees 2005-08-06 08:08:14 UTC #4

I've had some burns of T02 on my PX-712A that gave a similar PIE error graph pattern, but the values were nowhere near as high as that 8x burn (more similar to the 4x burn but with a lower maximum, usually around 40). Other batches of T02@8x on the same burner have yielded results like the T01@4x burn. I'd simply say try a different batch of T02 discs before making a decision to RMA the drive. I think that was my mistake with going thru five PX-712As; I wasn't fully aware of the variability of media.

rdgrimes 2005-08-06 08:23:53 UTC #5

It might be noted here that there are burners that don't suffer such problems with T02 "variability". While there is always small diffferences in batches, nothing like what is seen here. OPC should easily compensate for variations in media, that's what it's designed for.

That's not to say that this particular batch of TY might not be poor. But this is not the first example of poor Plextor performance that's been reported.

Jesterrace 2005-08-06 11:25:35 UTC #6

No I remember that early in the game, people were having problems with the 712. It was supposed to be fixed by a firmware update though. I seem to remember another thread in here of someone with the 712 complaining about high error rates with TY media.

tehGrue 2005-08-06 11:53:46 UTC #7

My 712 and T02 Batch #TG001159 did not get along too well either, but were still pretty acceptable at 8x speed. Why are you still running 1.05, though? Give your drive an update to 1.07 and then see what happens.

Two_Degrees 2005-08-06 12:02:08 UTC #8

Just wanted to provide the examples.
This is one of my burns: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=812047&postcount=146
This is one of zevia's:http://club.cdfreaks.com/showpost.php?p=757021&postcount=28

cliveb 2005-08-06 14:37:03 UTC #9

Thanks to everyone who has responded with their comments. I am well aware that my 712 is very picky about media, but the ironic thing is that T01 was always rock-solid reliable, and I'd settled on it. Now it seems to be unavailable and I presumed that T02 would be of a similar quality.

I'll take tehGrue's advice and update the f/w to 1.07 and see what happens. Up until now I've had no reason to change the f/w, and I'm one of those people who feels that if things are working OK you shouldn't change anything.

cliveb 2005-08-07 03:31:32 UTC #10

A follow-up...

After upgrading the firmware to 1.07, things have improved significantly. A 4x burn is nearly as good as T01 Rev01, and the 8x burn is now about as good as the previous 4x burn, although still not what I'd expect from TY media. I decided to try a 12x burn as well (expecting it to be a joke), and knock me down with a feather it's better than the 8x burn! (See attached scans).

Thanks once again to everyone for their help.