Volvo SC-900

[Dacvolvo]

Hi, Fellow Volvo owners.

Ok, my car has the SC-900 with Pro-Logic and I've just discovered that it doesn't play CDRs (Cds I've made on the computer).

Is there a way around this as I don't want to loose the Pro-Logic effect?

Cheers

[Azza]

Hi there,

I have the same problem with my SC-901. If you can find yourself some 650mb CDR's preferably Fuji branded, then these seem to work, for some reason or another. Although this lends itself to the other problem that a lot of cd's burnt on a pc are longer than the 74mins nowadays, and finding 650mb cdrs is a nightmare!

My solution was to buy an FM transmitter and use my mp3 player.

Azza

[Dacvolvo]

Hey, Azza

Hmm - but regards less of the 74 minutes limitation, the Fuji 650mb CDRs definetely work on the Volvo SC-900?

[Dacvolvo]

Success!!!!

I've discovered that if you slow the speed of the CD burn on the computer to x1 (slower disc writing speed, but higher quality), then the disc works perfectly on the standard Volvo CD player!

Woo Hoo!!!!

:)

[Justin]

Thats handy to know Dac, well discovered, many thanks :)

[Azza]

I still don't think this will work for every type of CDR.

What brand did you use ?

But more importantly, what program did you use to burn at 1x ?

Oh, and of course, what year is your car ?

Azza

[Dacvolvo]

I still don't think this will work for every type of CDR.

What brand did you use ?

But more importantly, what program did you use to burn at 1x ?

Oh, and of course, what year is your car ?

Azza

Hi, Azza

I used Maxell discs from Tesco - cheap ones at £4.99 for 25 discs. I used Windows Media player and my cars a 1998 R reg C70 fitted with the SC-900 Pro-Logic head unit ;)

Takes about 12 minutes to burn 80 minutes onto one of these discs

[LeeT5]

Ive had this problem b4 on a kenwood hifi at home. It would appear its more relative to the type of software you use to burn the disc rather than the discs themselves. I found that windows media doesnt burn discs very well and i threw alot, away. However, since using Nero burning Rom - NO problems whatsoever, no matter what speed i burn them at. I have an old SC-801 premium sound system (10 disc auto changer) in my 850 and it plays ALL makes of discs inc CD-R and CD-RW. IMO wmplayer is crap.
I burn discs at 40X with no corrupt data, 18 tracks on a disc. Datawrite discs 80 minute. Takes about 2 minutes!!

[Azza]

I'm sure it's a combination of factors, age of the head unit (type of laser used), brand of media (the dye being different from brand to brand).

If you burnt 80 mins in 12 minutes, that's definitely not burning at 1x speed. It would take over an hour at that speed.

I've burnt a lot of cd's in my time, i've used about 5 different burning programs, and the only discs that work on mine that i've found so far are Fuji's no matter how fast/slow i burn.

These SC-901 seem notoriously bad at playing burnt cdr's, which is annoying as the overall sound system is superb.

At the end of the day, i found i had far too many cdr's in the car so i've swapped to the mp3 way of doing things.

Azza

[Dacvolvo]

If you burnt 80 mins in 12 minutes, that's definitely not burning at 1x speed. It would take over an hour at that speed.
Obviously not real time, but the speed selected on the "settings" menu is def X1 and it is taking slightly longer (by about 6 minutes) to burn discs.

I have Nero on my computer, but never use it. Perhaps I'll use it from now on ;)

[Azza]

I think you'll find that with newer pc's, with newer burners, it's actually impossible to burn at 1x speed as they have minimum speeds of around 4x. Literally, burning an 80 min cd at 1x would take about 150mins..

Azza

[Dacvolvo]

I think you'll find that with newer pc's, with newer burners, it's actually impossible to burn at 1x speed as they have minimum speeds of around 4x. Literally, burning an 80 min cd at 1x would take about 150mins..

Azza

Yeah - my computer's all singing, all dancing - bought it about 5 months ago and even with the X1 burn selected, it only took 12 minutes to burn a 80 minute CD.

[The Flying Banana]

I've got NERO, never a prob at any speed , use cheap TESCO discs or the local PC shop specials at £5 a hundred ( pure white not even a label LOL) and have no probs in my car ( volvo HU 901 maybe 3 disc cartridge one ) but if i use SONIC burning program they dont play that hot ....

[Azza]

So all this does lead to suggest it has probably not got a lot to do with the speed of the burn, it's more to do with the media itself. If you had 1x selected, and it burnt in 12 mins, it's more likely burning at around 4x-8x as standard, something that you can't change as the new burners don't support the lower speeds.

The results with burning using different programs is probably something to do with the way they will burn different "lead-in"/"lead-out" tracks and how they are interpreted by the unit itself.

Azza

[Dacvolvo]

Hmm...

Well I've just ran out and bought some Sony CDR 700MB discs today. I'll burn a few discs tonight and tell you how I get on in the morning ;)