| General
Questions |
| Q.
Do you have any general maintenance suggestions? |
A.
It should be easy to continually produce quality
CDR copies by following a few simple guidelines.
Environment - Have a decently clean, climate controlled
area for your machine, free of dust, excess humidity,
excessive heat or electromagnetic interference. |
| Clearance
- Have at least 4 inches all the way around the
machine, the more the better for ventilation. |
| Power
- Have a consistent power source with a good power
strip or preferably an uninterruptible power supply
(UPS) for your system. |
| Clean
- Wipe the equipment off every now and then, keep
your area clutter free, this not only keeps the
machine running better but helps with your good
production practices. |
| Note:
It is a good idea to periodically check for firmware
updates for the hardware components and the software
that runs your equipment to make sure you have
the most current versions for your product. This
can be done by sending Tech support a message
from this website or to call Mediatechnics Systems
technical support department. |
| Q.
I have a problem when I try to verify my music
CD? |
| A.
Because of the way Audio and Video CDs are recorded,
CDs containing Audio or Video tracks can not be
verified |
| Q.
I seem to have some pops or other problems with
my audio CD copies I made, is there a fix for
this? |
| A.
The quality of the audio copies is usually affected
by the way in which the master is read in. First
you should make sure you have a good quality Master,
a Disk-at-Once recorded master that has been final
fixated is the best way to go. Next be sure to
read in the audio disc at a slower speed than
data discs are read in, usually 2x or 4x at the
most, to insure a good quality read. If you make
a living duplicating audio discs we recommend
you use a Plextor read only drive for reading
in masters. |
| Q.
Should I make myself a Firmware disc if I don't
already have one? |
| A.
Yes, do this just in case the firmware (F/W) in
the system is lost, you can then replace it with
the version you have made on CD. The F/W disc
can be made from the utilities/firmware utilities
area of the system. Create Firmware Image will
create an image on the HD called "FIRMWARE"
and can be copied to a CD using the copy command
just like any other master image. Make a F/W CD,
label it and store it in a safe place. |
| Drives |
| Q.
Can I 'mix and match' CDR drives in my system? |
| A.
NO, the CD-r or DVD-r drives must have exactly
the same manufacturer, model and firmware revision.
A future Mediatechnics Systems product will be
able to use a variety of drive types on the same
machine. |
| CARE
AND HANDLING OF YOUR CD RECORDERS |
CD
recorders are not as robust as floppy drives or
CD & DVD ROM drives. The writing head can
suffer from misalignment through rough handling.
If you drop a floppy drive, it will probably still
work, but the lenses and photodetectors in a CD
recorder are very fragile and may not survive
a lot of shock or other abuse. Be gentle if you
ever need to handle your CD-r or DVD-r recorders.
If your recorder does become dirty and begins
to malfunction, it can be cleaned. Do not try
to clean it yourself: the lens and prism are very
delicate, and the electronics and cables inside
the drive are very susceptible to damage if you
are not experienced in drive or recorder cleaning. |
| Bumping
the surface on which the Mediatechnics Systems
CDR Duplication equipment rests can cause errors
when recording; therefore, make sure that the
surface is away from office traffic. Vibration
is another cause of recording errors, so be aware
of potential sources of vibration both from external
and internal sources. External sources of vibration
can include passing cars, trucks, or trains, low
flying aircraft, and construction work. Internal
sources of vibration can include air conditioners,
heaters, swamp coolers, and any number of other
mechanical devices that are found in a modern
office. The safest placement for a CDR duplicator
is on a sturdy surface by itself. |
| Dust
is an enemy of both CD-ROM readers and CD recorders.
As long as your recorder is in a relatively dust-free
environment, it should work well with standard
cooling configurations. |
| Humidity
can cause condensation to form on the optical
pickup of the recorders, causing recording or
reading problems. Check the humidity levels in
your duplication room and get a fix if your equipment
is in an area where humidity can be a concern. |
| Heat |
| CD-Recordable
drives, run hotter than CD-ROM readers, not only
when writing and reading, but also when idle.
CD recorders have two controller boards as opposed
to one in a CD-ROM drive. In addition, a CD-Recordable
drive has chips on both sides of each controller
board. More chips mean more heat generated, and
so even when idle, the CD recorder produces more
heat than the standard CD-ROM drive. When reading,
heat generation is increased, since the laser
is active. When writing, heat generation is even
greater since the laser is running at a higher
power. This makes proper case cooling an important
consideration when choosing and installing a CD
recorder. This is why the environment where you
place your Mediatechnics Systems CDR duplication
equipment is important. You want to have a room
that isn't too hot to help the equipment run optimally
and to be comfortable for the users. |
| SCSI
Termination |
| If
you are replacing or adding a CDR writer to your
Mediatechnics Systems Equipment it is very important
that your SCSI addresses and termination jumpers
are set correctly. Normally installation of drives
is done at the Mediatechnics Systems factory,
but if you should need to do a drive installation
these general guidelines can help with the termination
questions. Your SCSI bus must be terminated on
both ends and nowhere else. In the simplest case,
your CD recorder is the only device on the bus,
and the recorder is terminated. Termination is
accomplished by using terminating resistors on
the CD recorder, or on an extra connector at the
end of the SCSI cable. If you are going to add
your recorder to an existing SCSI bus, you must
terminate the recorder if it is to go on the end
of the bus and disable termination if it is to
be attached anywhere else. The other CDR writer
installation concerns are drive manufacturer,
model, firmware revision, parity, and SCSI address
settings. This is why the drive installation is
usually done at the Mediatechnics Systems facility
or if you are properly walked through the procedure
by technical support personnel. |
| Media
Questions |
| Q.
Why shouldn't I use cheap CDR's? |
| A.
Because that is exactly what you'll get cheap
CDRs. With the 6 and 8X CDR-Recorders becoming
more common the quality of the blank media is
more important than ever. The low end media lacks
the quality and uniformity of the better brands.
Kodak, TDK, Verbatim, Mitsui and other name brand
media manufacturers have the reputation, consistency
and quality to help you select the brand best
for you. Price is not the only indicator, some
lower priced CDRs like the PRINCO brand we sell
have an excellent track record and are used by
some of the largest duplicators in the industry. |
| Q.
Can I 'mix and match' CDR media on a duplication
run? |
| A.
It is highly recommended that you do NOT "mix
and match" CDR brands for your duplication
jobs. You can use different brands for different
runs but do not try more than one brand of CDR
per run as the laser calibration differences may
cause the drives to go out of sync.. (For example
do not try to run 2 Verbatim & 1 Sony discs
on a three drive system - instead do a run of
2, then a run of 1) |
| Making
Professional looking CDs |
| From
the fast 'n easy, utilitarian approach of felt-tip
marker on disc surface to the refined, carefully-planned,
and more costly solution of several-color custom
silk-screened discs, there is a labeling method
for nearly every purpose |
| Labeling
CD-R Discs |
| One
of the easiest ways to "label" a duplicated
CDR is to use a paper type label. The labels can
be printed on a laser-printer or a color printer
quickly and easily. Most label makers ship labels
with an applicator and even software. This can
be a great option for low volume runs or where
customization and flexibility is important. One
down fall is the labels can get expensive for
large quantities, and they can be difficult to
put on even with the variety of applicators available.
But with some practice with the applicator and
with the ease of covering hand written CDs the
use of labels may be choice for you. Mediatechnics
Systems sells the Great Gizmos CD labeling system
and label refill packs. |
| Printable
Media |
| There
are situations that call for a more polished CD
label. Whether you're going into CD-R production
in a big way, or would just like to make a few
or a few dozen copies of a special disc, you may
want to consider using a labeling method that
is applied before the data is recorded. Any of
these methods can be used after the disc is recorded,
too. The decision comes down to the worth of the
disc relative to the worth of the data. When you
print on a disc, there's always a chance that
the printing may adversely affect the media. If
it's blank media, you have lost the disc; if it's
prerecorded, you have lost the data, too. Conversely,
when you record a preprinted disc, there's a chance
that the recording may not be successful. In this
case, you can try again with another preprinted
disc. You can also use partially preprinted discs,
filling in the last details with a felt-tip marker
or CD-R printer. |
| There
are several choices in preprinted media; you can
order custom silk-screened media from Mediatechnics
Systems or use one of several CD-R printers to
print a professional quality label on your discs.
CD-R printers, available from several sources,
use a modified bubble jet print engine or thermal
transfer technology. |
| To
print with a bubble jet, a disc's surface must
be "printable." Media manufacturers
add one or more layers of a coating specially
designed to absorb ink without smearing or allowing
the ink (or anything else) to leach into the "working"
layers. When buying media you may notice a price
difference between "normal" media and
"printable" media. Don't pay extra for
the printable media unless you are indeed going
to print the labels onto your CD-R discs using
the ink-jet type printing process. |
| Thermal
Transfer CD-R Printers |
| The
Rimage "Perfect Image" Thermal Transfer
Printer, by Rimage Corporation, uses a heat-transfer
printing method formerly used for printing floppy
disks. This system has been modified to carefully
control the heat and pressure applied to the CD-R
disc, to avoid the possibility of damaging the
media. This printer can be used with Mediatechnics
Systems Impact line of autoloaders for automated
labeling. |
| Custom
Silk-screened Media |
| The
ultimate in disc labeling is custom silk-screening
of the disc surface. Mediatechnics Systems offers
this service, and you can order custom screened
discs directly from us with your artwork silk-screened
on blank CD-R media in up to eight colors. For
those who contemplate using CD-Recordable discs
in quantity, this option is ideal. Discs can be
custom silk-screened with a company's logo and
the name of the project-for example, a new or
ongoing transfer of archival or backup data from
an existing medium to CD-R. Volume and version
identification can be added to the preprinted
media with the trusty old felt-tip marker or with
one of the bubble jet or thermal printers mentioned
earlier. Many large software companies use these
services when they release beta software that
goes out to several hundred customers only, and
it is, therefore, not economical or timely to
have the discs mass replicated. In some cases,
it is worthwhile to have as few as ten discs custom
silk-screened with an attractive label. Silk-screened
CD-R discs look as good or better than replicated
discs, especially with a sharp label design and
color selection designed to contrast with the
base reflective coating of CD-R discs. |
| AS4000
Questions |
| Q.
My AS4000 gives me a warning message when I go
to make a CDR copy? |
| A.
This is most likely the message you get because
you are in SIMULATE mode, press yes to continue
and make copies with the lasers disabled in your
drives, or go into the SETUP menu and choose duplication
options and turn burn CD to YES. |
| Q.
How does the batch mode work? |
| A.
You alternate the master discs with the number
of blanks per master you want copied. The system
will automatically know when the next disc it
comes across is a master (something on the CD)
or a blank (empty new CDR) and proceed from there.
Mastering, copying, mastering, copying, and so
forth. In the input hopper the masters go on top
the blanks, in the output hopper the copies will
be on top of the masters. |
| Q.
My AS4000 says the input hopper is empty yet there
are still CDs on it? |
| A.
It sounds like the loader is not picking up the
last discs, this is probably just the air and
communication cables binding up on the column
on the way down. You should watch it go down and
pull the cables away from the column to see if
it makes it all the way down this time. If so,
you can adjust the cables by bending, tying, or
swiveling at the end of the pick arm to see if
the problem can be alleviated. You can also try
to get a little extra cable by pulling up on them
a little from the shaft that comes though the
bottom of the unit and putting on a new cable
tie. |
| Q.
My AS4000 says the input hopper is empty yet there
are still CDs on it after it tries to pick up
the discs three times? |
| A.
It sounds like the vacuum may have come out of
adjustment. (See Vacuum Adjustment tech sheet) |
