PS1 Burning Issues

[richieboy7]

Hi Everyone,

I've recently purchased a chipped PS1 to have a bit of fun on....
I've tried to burn my games the same as I used to a lonnnnng time ago, but have been unsuccessful.
The machine came with copied games so i do know that the chip is working.
I'm currently using some unlabelled, unmarked 80min 700mb CD-R.
I know that people have issues with using different media and was just trying to find out the best discs to use.

I am trying to burn European and USA games on a European PS1, using imgburn at 16x (slowest my burner will run)
I've read that it's better to use CD-R's with a darker colour as it helps the PS1 to read them?
Not sure if there's any truth to that??

My results from burning with this media >> It reads the disc, the PS1 logo appears, then just a black screen.
I'm assuming that my burning process is correct and that the problem lies with the media?

Any help greatly appreciated

Rich

[Moana]

Hi, I hope it's not too late to answer this.
I have the same problem since games I burn are read and work on computer (with emulators of course) but not on modded PS1.
As long as I know, the problem lies in the burning process, 16x is too fast and the highest degree of certainty comes with 4x. PS1 can't properly read high speed burned disks. Probably the disk label has some influence on the issue, but I think the burning speed is the main problem.
Anyway, I hope you have solved your problem (or you will).

[richieboy7]

Still no joy unfortunately, cant find a 4x burner (slowest mine will burn is 16x)...

[Moana]

I see. Sorry to know that, but I have some news.
I solved the problem: my burner was 16 x too, but I found out a software for burning that gave me the possibility to burn the disk at 1x and it came out fine. The game now works on my modded PS1.
Hope it is not something I'm not allowed to do, but the software is Clone CD. You can also find the installer file on eMule. Sadly, the trial is only for 21 days.

[masternoxx]

that is strange because most 16x burners can burn at 4x, 8x, 12x, 16x
you may also want to check your dvd media
in alcohol 120 it will say under media "supported burn speeds", and it will also tell you the brand.

make sure to flash your dvd burner to newest firmware.
do not use laptop burners! They suck! Desktop burners only!

Even when I burn at 16x my games still work I just think it maybe a tiny bit harder to read so I always go with 4x and works great every time.

[Moana]

that is strange because most 16x burners can burn at 4x, 8x, 12x, 16x
you may also want to check your dvd media
in alcohol 120 it will say under media "supported burn speeds", and it will also tell you the brand.

make sure to flash your dvd burner to newest firmware.
do not use laptop burners! They suck! Desktop burners only!

Even when I burn at 16x my games still work I just think it maybe a tiny bit harder to read so I always go with 4x and works great every time.

Sorry for replying so late.
Anyways, I think much depends on the use of the Ps1 lens. I mean, my console should be 18 years old and during all this time it went through a lot of work. Maybe a stressed out lens has some difficulties in readying fast burned disks. On the contrary, a more efficient one does not have such trouble. My guess.
However, I totally solved the problem burning disk at 1x with Clone CD.

[Ecks00]

You could always go on ebay and look for older external CD burners because for PS1 games it is actually 2x not 4x as 4x would be a little fast for the system because back in the days when i would copy my games the tutorial i was using always suggested to burn them at 1x/2x the speed.

[masternoxx]

Sorry for replying so late.
Anyways, I think much depends on the use of the Ps1 lens. I mean, my console should be 18 years old and during all this time it went through a lot of work. Maybe a stressed out lens has some difficulties in readying fast burned disks. On the contrary, a more efficient one does not have such trouble. My guess.
However, I totally solved the problem burning disk at 1x with Clone CD.

Well to some extent you could determine if it is the ps1 lens by doing "verify" on the disc after burning.
The burner can only burn at supported speeds, it is a hardware issue, so if it is a newer one, it probably is not burning at 1x. Like Ecks00 said, only older burners might support the low speed burning. The problem with that though, is you can't buy 1x writeable CD's anymore, to my knowledge. The CD's must also support that burn speed as I said earlier can be viewed in alcohol 120. I might be wrong about this but that is true for DVD's so I think it is true for CD's also.
You can actually take a look in most programs and see how fast the disc is actually being burned, it starts out slow, and gradually increases, it is not a constant speed. So actually when you are burning at 4x it starts out at like .5x and will slowly rise until around 4.5x or so by the end of the disc. I know that alcohol and I think nero and imburn will all show you the speed it is currently being burned at. Computer cd-rom also reads the disc in exactly the same fashion

[TheAbysmalDark]

The burning speed, if that is the issue here, is actually a combination of what the disc drive, burning software and the media itself supports.

For instance my TSSTcorp SH-224DB (Toshiba Samsung Storage Technology Corporation) disc drives:-

CD-R (700MB): MBI 97m17s06f supports write speeds 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x.

CD-R Verbatim (800MB): MBI 97m17s06f supports only 16x and 24x.

CD-R Philips (800MB): Ritek 96m43s37f supports 16x, 24x, 32x, 40x, 48x

CD-RW: MCC 97m34s23f only supports 10x.

DVD+RW: MKM-A02-00 only supports 4x.

DVD-RW: CMCW03 supports just 2x and 4x.

DVD-RW: RITEKW06 supports just 4x and 6x.

DVD-R: UME02 supports from 4x to 16x.

DVD+R: MBIPG101-R05-01 supports from 4x to 16x.

As you can see not just media type but manufacturer can determine the burn speed support. I even have an old Philips CD-R (800MB) exactly the same details and manufacturer ID as for the one listed above but which reports only 16x and 24x support.

ImgBurn, which I use almost exclusively for game burning purposes, mainly Xbox and DC, despite having 1x to 56x options, will burn only at the lowest supported speed for that media type even if you set it to use a lower speed. You can see it doing that as it reports the write speed whilst burning. You will also see that, at higher burning speeds particularly, the write speed often only reaches the chosen speed supported late on in the burn.

This all confirms what masternoxx also posted above.

My theory is that is why higher supported speeds produce more variable results ie. the burn is not as consistent. I've no definitive proof this makes any difference, in fact my own tests suggest burn speed is irrelevant with a console disc drive in good condition. But it is why I always use the lowest supported speed for all my Xbox and DC stuff.

[masternoxx]

Just realized that I think its beacause I've had these CD's in storage for 12 years, that they can burn at 4x. Glad I hung on to them! I guess. Although I don't have problems generally with my ps1 reading burned discs.

Nero Discspeed is a good utility for information, I have made a "portable" version, not sure if it will work, but I will attach it at the bottom,
maybe you can test it for me, if not it can be downloaded
(installer version yuck)
https://www.videohelp.com/software/Nero-CD-DVD-Speed

Also attached is a picture of the CD's from storage LOL
Untitled.jpg

Pretty sure that they do burn at 4x because it takes FOREVER haha

[Moana]

You could always go on ebay and look for older external CD burners because for PS1 games it is actually 2x not 4x as 4x would be a little fast for the system because back in the days when i would copy my games the tutorial i was using always suggested to burn them at 1x/2x the speed.

Oh, never thought about that. Thanks!

Well to some extent you could determine if it is the ps1 lens by doing "verify" on the disc after burning.
The burner can only burn at supported speeds, it is a hardware issue, so if it is a newer one, it probably is not burning at 1x. Like Ecks00 said, only older burners might support the low speed burning. The problem with that though, is you can't buy 1x writeable CD's anymore, to my knowledge. The CD's must also support that burn speed as I said earlier can be viewed in alcohol 120. I might be wrong about this but that is true for DVD's so I think it is true for CD's also.
You can actually take a look in most programs and see how fast the disc is actually being burned, it starts out slow, and gradually increases, it is not a constant speed. So actually when you are burning at 4x it starts out at like .5x and will slowly rise until around 4.5x or so by the end of the disc. I know that alcohol and I think nero and imburn will all show you the speed it is currently being burned at. Computer cd-rom also reads the disc in exactly the same fashion

I see. Thanks for your explanation. However, I can tell that when burning at supposed 1x, the noise coming from the burner is not as loud as it is when burning at 4x (and louder at any higher speed of course). This makes me think that there is an even slight difference in performance. But despite not knowing how accurate is the setting of the program I'm using, i guess we all agree that the slower the burning, the best the results.

[masternoxx]

Oh, never thought about that. Thanks!

I see. Thanks for your explanation. However, I can tell that when burning at supposed 1x, the noise coming from the burner is not as loud as it is when burning at 4x (and louder at any higher speed of course). This makes me think that there is an even slight difference in performance. But despite not knowing how accurate is the setting of the program I'm using, i guess we all agree that the slower the burning, the best the results.

Indeed.
It's all a bunch of 1's and 0's. Binary Data.
Point is the 1's and 0's are more well defined on a disc that was burned slowly.

What I was saying is it maybe is not burning at 1x but probably 4x or higher, unless it is an old drive, I don't think it can burn at 1x. But 4x should be fine like I said it starts out slow anyways.

But maybe the software can make it burn at 1x? Seems doubtful but maybe.

When you go into imgBurn whats the slowest speed you can select?

[Ecks00]

I have been there since modding first started on the PS1 which back then most people like myself had to actually go to a store to get our systems modded until later on i bought a PS1 with that serial port in the back and then got the gold finger which is an external mod (so much better) which at first i was playing my games on burnt disc's at 4x the speed till i later found out that mainly heats up the chip which in time would lead to a short on the chip and on the CD laser it was later on BCG (when they existed) that i came to a guide saying that you have to burn it on the slowest speeds possible which is 1x and sure the burning process would take like 30 - 45 min the system would be able to read the disc at a normal pace which nothing would then die out.

[Moana]

Indeed.
It's all a bunch of 1's and 0's. Binary Data.
Point is the 1's and 0's are more well defined on a disc that was burned slowly.

What I was saying is it maybe is not burning at 1x but probably 4x or higher, unless it is an old drive, I don't think it can burn at 1x. But 4x should be fine like I said it starts out slow anyways.

But maybe the software can make it burn at 1x? Seems doubtful but maybe.

When you go into imgBurn whats the slowest speed you can select?

I think I got it. That's interesting to know. Thank you.
Actually I can't remember, but I guess Nero 10 would only have 16x as lower speed for discs. However, game images burned with that program won't work on my PSOne. Clone CD has much more choice, you can choose the desired speed and I totally solved all problems with that. Games now work perfectly fine.

[Ecks00]

I think I got it. That's interesting to know. Thank you.
Actually I can't remember, but I guess Nero 10 would only have 16x as lower speed for discs. However, game images burned with that program won't work on my PSOne. Clone CD has much more choice, you can choose the desired speed and I totally solved all problems with that. Games now work perfectly fine.

Well if your CD/DVD drive burns at a minimum of 4x you can try to force it to burn slower but that would also dmg the burner in the long run which is why for anything retro it is best to find an external burner that can do 1x natively.