Burned CD playback choppy

Question

Hi. Recently my burned CDs playback with choppy bits at regular intervals. By choppy I mean it's got these milisecond static sound bits every second or so in my music. But the choppiness is different sounding on someone else's computer and on my home theater system the CDs seem to play just fine. This is not a buffer cache over-run problem as I close all my programs before I burn and rebooted my machine after a complete defrag just now and my burn was still unsuccessful. In previous weeks I've burned several blank CDs (from the same stack of 80min blanks that I bought at Microcenter) and they turned out just fine. The burn speed is at x48 but I can change it and my burns will still come back choppy, in addition, the previous burns at 48X are just fine.

I've tried several different burning programs, Burrrn, CDBurnerXP Pro, and Windows Media Player. I've tried different file types, .wav, .flac, .mp3 and .ape. I've tried different music to burn and different programs to playback the newly burned cds. The original rips sound just fine played on many different players.

Can anyone suggest something that I can try to fix the problem? Could it be that the CD-RW just broke after weeks of burning and ripping many CDs for someone in Iraq so that he wouldn't have to bring the originals? If so, how come the burns sound just fine on my home theater system?

I'm running Windows XP SP1 and I'm fully upgraded on all anti-spyware and anti-viral software. My computer is root-kit and malware free as of yesterday so I don't think this is a virus problem. Please help!

PawsMashingKeys · Answer

New development:

It is definitely a playback problem, not a burning one. Turns out the other computer I tested the CDs on usually has a milisecond stutter for ANY CDs it plays, original or burnt. I also tested the burnt CDs on another friend's computer and it sounds just fine, just like the theater sound system it plays okay on. So for some reason, my CD burner is burning CDs that can't play well on my computer but is burning them just fine.

osprey4 · Answer

I'm not sure this is a burning or playback problem. Have you tried other computer drives or audio playback devices, like a portable? Have you played back the MP3s on a portable.

Have you checked the transfer mode, to ensure the drive is running in DMA, not PIO, mode. This will be found under the properties of your IDE channel in device manager.

PawsMashingKeys · Answer

@osprey4 wrote:

I'm not sure this is a burning or playback problem. Have you tried other computer drives or audio playback devices, like a portable? Have you played back the MP3s on a portable.

Have you checked the transfer mode, to ensure the drive is running in DMA, not PIO, mode. This will be found under the properties of your IDE channel in device manager.

I have, in fact, checked that it was running in DMA. All the generic faqs out there when I googled this problem suggested that as well as making sure that my it wasn't a buffer problem (I also have burn-proof on so that shouldn't be happening). Also, trying portable devices would skew the results of my test because 80 min burn disks with burnt media on them play differently on most portable CD players for some reason, they are cheaper, so I buy them bulk. Next time I should sacrifice the price and get the 74 min ones that are usually more reliable for me. I however, did test it on a home theater 5-CD disc player and it has turned out okay. I feel it is certainly a burning or play back problem because ORIGINAL CDs and other portable media such as mp3s or any lossless formats of music I have on my hard drive have played fine on my computer. Just BURNT CDs come out bad. The burnt CDs, as I mentioned, also play fine on Ben's computer and his cousin Andrew's.

If it weren't a playback/burning problem, what do you suggest it might be? I'll accept ANY outlandish suggestions as I'm completely out of ideas.

osprey4 · Answer

I'm wondering if it's an audio issue, since the discs play elsewhere without the same trouble. I use 80-min blanks all the time and have never had this problem. Generally Taiyo Yuden or Maxell.

Rundvelt · Answer

My department has just purchased several Optiplex GX620's, and I'm sorry to say that we are also experiencing the same issue of audio.   To troubleshoot the issue, I've done the following:   - replaced the DVD rom with another. - updated windows media player - tried other audio cd's (which have the same choppy/reverb qualities) - played internet radio (which plays fine) - toggled the 'play as digital audio' button for the dvd player in device manager.   The only other alternative is that the drivers for the DVD rom may be out of date, however, because of how recently these computers were purchased, I'm fairly certain it has the lastest patches (released in April, purchased in Sept.)   I'll keep you posted if I find a resolution to this issue. Message Edited by Rundvelt on 12-30-2005 11:23 AM

PawsMashingKeys · Answer

That sounds similar, but I have a CD-Rom. I wonder if a disk or something has damaged the laser? I still haven't been able to fix the problem.

Storage, Drives & Media

Burned CD playback choppy

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