Making a case for a more robust CD recorder

Emedia Professional, May, 1998 by Hugh Bennett

There's no denying the widespread consumer acceptance of CD-R. But in their haste to bring recorders to the mass market, manufacturers have ignored professional users' legitimate need for industrial-grade recorders.

Features that have proved adequate for general consumer use are insufficient for production applications, and while the pursuit of low-cost products is commendable, the methods used are fundamentally at odds with the needs of professional markets in which price is not the overriding concern.

It comes as no surprise, then, that no single knowledgeable vendor I've spoken with in either the production or duplication market is completely satisfied with the recorders available for integration into these systems. Simply stated, none of the current generation of recorders was ever designed for the heavy-duty applications--including enterprise publishing, jukebox-based data storage, and "lights-out" duplication--for which they are now being developed.

Professional markets currently lack, but demand, the right tool for the job. Specifically, they need a tray-loading, high-speed industrial recorder that will run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, while maintaining exceptional written disc quality and supporting every conceivable disc format.

Throughout CD-R's long and colorful I*story, only Kodak has produced a truly industrial recorder. Back in 1993--when most recorder manufacturers were just learning to stand erect--Kodak was running the four-minute mile. Originally designed for generating Photo CDs, Kodak's PCD Writer 600 is still unequaled, not only in its 6X write capabilities, but in its solid construction for commercial applications. A large form factor and high price tag kept the PCD Writer 600 from large-scale acceptance, but the need it anticipated has become obvious.

GOING THE DISTANCE: THEREIN LIES THE PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

Because production recorders are expected to operate for days at a time, basic durability and reliability are fundamental. Despite their impressive MTBF rates, consumer recorders offer only minimal duty cycles, and their moderate success in high-volume applications has shown them to require high attention, maintenance, and intervention.

Quad-speed recording--with its favorable price/performance advantage--has become standard in the production world. And though it is often good enough for prototyping, and can be slaved in large chains for volume duplication of the same disc, there are certain applications that legitimately require 6X or 8X recorders.

Among the frustrating facts of life for authors and producers is the reality that most recorders don't support all disc formats in all their nuances. Industrial-grade recorders need to offer high-quality digital audio extraction, unconditionally handle all eight subcodes, and support every audio feature. Of course, solid Disc-At-Once capability is also critical, especially since some recorders don't even offer it, and those that do--despite claims to the contrary--have trouble supporting it.

Ensuring the discs' readability requires recorders to verify them after writing. Ironically, most recorders fall short in this area of production work--not because they aren't good enough, but because they are too good. Many recorders, in fact, have enhanced read capability and are able to recover data from marginal discs that can't be retrieved by typical CD-ROM drives. While this robustness may benefit consumers, it works against the fundamental goal of production verification: to ensure that data is recoverable on any CD-ROM drive. A true production recorder benefits from a de-tuned read channel whose capabilities more closely mirror the needs of the real world.

OBJECTION OVERRULED: YOUR OPC IS RUNNING

Essential to the data integrity of any good recorder is Running OPC, a powerful feature that allows the recorder to adjust writing power on-the-fly to compensate for variations in hardware, media, and the writing process. Unfortunately, even with overwhelming evidence confirming the value of Running OPC, there are still manufacturers who don't implement it, and those that do, offer it with severe limitations. While a consumer recorder might handle just a few dozen discs a year, a production recorder may process more than ten thousand discs, and encounter greater media variability and higher operating temperatures. In tasks like duplication, where discs are distributed widely, high written disc quality is essential. High-bandwidth Running OPC provides the robustness that ensures a better result.

Like Running OPC, multiple selectable target betas and write strategies are critical for ensuring high written disc quality, especially for high-speed recording. Only just beginning to make an appearance in some recorders, multiple betas and write strategies ensure that recorders are broadly compatible with available media types and create the conditions necessary for optimal recording.

CASE IN POINT: CD-R--AND ITS STAMINA--ISN'T GOING ANYWHERE

Today's production and duplication markets are crying out for an industrial CD recorder capable of satisfying their needs. Unfilled opportunities are hard to come by these days, and savvy recorder manufacturers must be looking for new markets. While upscale units may not sell in high volume, they can demand a significant purchase and support premium and have the assurance of a stable market in the long term. Given CD-Recordable's unique position as the lowest common denominator writable optical format, its commercial applications will be with us, most assuredly, for many years to come.