Korean Job Discussion Forums

discostar23 · Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Location: getting the hell out of dodge

My girlfriend and I do a lot of burning onto CD-Rs. We usually have to buy a new stack every week and a half or so. Recently we picked up some CDs called "Infinite". They are made in korea. DON'T BUY THEM!!!! They are junk. I burned some albums onto them and about half way through the sound gets distorted like I taped it off the radio. Also I burned Catwoman last night and the same thing happened. We have tried many different kinds and these are the first ones we have had problems with. Should of known when they only cost 11,000won for 50

Gord · Joined: 25 Feb 2003

How is it you have concluded that the sound becoming distorted in a movie file is related to a poor quality CDR?

Down from Above · Joined: 27 Apr 2003 Location: Naju

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

And the $1,000,000 question that the previous 2 posts have hinted at:

With the files in question, when you play them from the hard drive does the problem still exist?

What about when they're burned onto a 'non-crappy' CD-R?

11,000W for 50? Sounds like a great deal. I always get 1 or 2 of 'coasters' on a deck of 50, but haven't narrowed it down to software, hardware or media...

discostar23 · Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Location: getting the hell out of dodge

I test them before burning and both files were fine. I tested them by burning them on new discs..the files were fine.

Obvious conclusion...the discs are crappy.

I'm not going to go off about something if I haven't researched it already.
I'm not stupid

discostar23 · Joined: 22 Feb 2004 Location: getting the hell out of dodge

Down from Above · Joined: 27 Apr 2003 Location: Naju

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

When you play the music files on these bad CDs on your computer do you see the bitrate drop during periods of poor quality sound?

These are questions that are trying to help understand/pinpoint your problem rather than determine whether or not you are stupid.

Gord · Joined: 25 Feb 2003

UnJef · Joined: 03 Jun 2003 Location: Seoul

Good lord, what is wrong with you people? The man bought some bad CD-Rs, he started this thread to warn people about it, and instead of thanking him (or saying "ok") you all decide to tear him down by implying that he is wrong and ignorant.

The first batch of CD-Rs I bought in this country were bad (I can't remember the brand, unfortunately), and they did the same thing that this guy describes. The next batch I bought were a brand I had used before, and they worked fine.

I understand the desire you all have to prove how smart you are, but perhaps you should put some limits on how you go about doing it.

Demophobe · Joined: 17 May 2004

Well...you sure told them! Wink

Anyways, most bad CD-Rs won't even let you burn...generally if they burn, they give you what you copied exactly.

Very difficult for me to wrap my haed around a CD burn reducing quality of audio. They either work or they don't. This was my belief anyways. If it really is that way, then wow.

I have had CD-Rs that don't burn at the advertised speeds...this seems par for the course here with bulk CDs. I've never bought CD-Rs that didn't work, or caused any audio infidelity. I've had a few bad DVD-Rs that my Sony wouldn't burn at all without a PMA update failure.

Anyways, the reason everyone jumped on the OP is that it really does seem like a rant without a clue. I am not passing judgement in any way, just saying that the OP's problem is indeed....unusual.

mishlert · Joined: 13 Mar 2003 Location: On the 3rd rock from the sun

Squid · Joined: 25 Jul 2003 Location: Sunny Anyang

Just my 2 cents worth...

I recently returned a 10-pack of CDR's to E-Mart. The pack contained 10 unencodable CD's I had collected from 4 or 5 packs I bought previously, all different brands, from different retailers.

I produced a receipt for the most recent 10 pack I had bought from E-Mart and got cash back immediately.

I was pretty happy with that.

Derrek · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

And some poor sucker will likely buy those at a discount.

Another reason why bargain-shopping in Korea is often a waste of cash.

edgellskiuk · Joined: 21 Jun 2004 Location: Seoul

I may be wrong (in fact I most probably am). If I remember correctly a cdr has a polymeric dye layer that goes clear in the pits during the burning process. This then allows the reflection of the signal to the laser reader.

If the dye was unstable in some way so did not go totally clear in localised areas, it would refract the laser slightly differently . This may not be to such an extent that a cd roms error correction saw it as a failure but could cause enough difference to show a small amount of distortion through a cd audio player digital analogue converter. This is partly why many mid to high end cd audio players now employ oversampling so that a slight misread is averaged out.

Wether the level of distortion would be high enough to hearable I dont know. All I know is when I moved from a standard cd player to one employing oversampling the clarity of the music increased, even though as you say its only 1s and zeros .