The Outer Limit: CD-Rs with 80, 90 and 99 Minutes — THG.RU

1.5 Hours Of Music On A Regular CD!

The tests we’ve run in the past few days are a small wonder, even if the discovery isn’t entirely new: up to 99 minutes of music can be burned onto blank CDs and can be played back on almost any CD player. With one limitation, however — not all players can handle oversized music CDs with more than 93 minutes play time. We were surprised to find that the not-so-new CD changers for cars had no problem handling our test CDs of just under 92 minutes in length. Modern car stereos with CD text function, for example, play the «big» CDs without any difficulties. But curiously enough, a cassette recorder just under 12 years old, with a CD drive that runs up to 4 hours a day, happily played all oversized audio CDs. In a nutshell, this amazing test shows us that basically, almost all normal CD players can play oversized music CDs. This makes it definitely worthwhile to purchase a modern CD burner, as long as you don’t already have a model that can handle oversized media. We’ll show you in this test the features that are important to have. For pragmatists who want to start right away there are step-by-step instructions for the appropriate burner software.

Playing a home-burned 90-minute CD in a conventional CD player: the blank holds just under 92 minutes of music.

Here is the display again, this time enlarged. The homemade music CD holds three albums with a total playing time of just under 92 minutes.

Overburn Elite: LG GCE-8160B And Mitsumi CR-4805 TE

The overburn master: the new LG GCE-8160B has a maximum burn speed of 16x. The absolute highlight — 90-minute CDs can be created with an 8x burn speed.

Complete LG burner package.

To sum up our position on these CD-burning devices: our comprehensive tests show that the CD burner from LG (GCE-8160B) and the Mitsumi CR-4805 TE are best suited for burning oversized CDs. We also included the other CD writers from the last tests — the AOpen CRW 1232A, the TDK CDRW 241040X and both Yamaha models, the CRW 2100E and the CRW 2200E. The overburn category is particularly useful for showing which manufacturers offer good quality and which ones merely bank on speed. TDK puts all of its money on maximum burn speed with specially made blank CDs that can be burned at 24x. Anyone interested in details of the most recent test with the latest burners up to 24x speeds can read about them by clicking on Serious Burn: Copying CDs In Just 3 Minutes.

In our tests on overburning a CD, only the Mitsumi CR-4805 TE and the LG Electronics GCE-8160B could write to blank CDs beyond the 90-minute limit. Both Yamaha models — the CRW 2100E and the CRW 2200E — and the AOpen CRW 1232A managed to burn the CD media with a maximum of 89:59 minutes — although the appropriate blank CDs used (see the tables for details) had a guaranteed capacity of at least 90 minutes. The media known as CD-R99, which still cost $1 each, were all a waste of money, except when we ran them on the LG and Mitsumi models that we discovered. In a test of the largest blank CDs (CD-R99) the Mitsumi and the LG managed exactly 99 minutes and 4 seconds.

Generally we were able to establish that most CD burners are capable of recording a maximum of 89 minutes and 59 seconds on suitable blank CDs, so it makes sense to buy CD-R80 and CD-R90 types.

Overburn: Speed Is Of The Essence

In creating oversized audio or data CDs, our tests have shown that the right burn speed is crucial. Especially on the outer edges of a blank CD, the precise control of the laser beam — which ultimately depends on the drive mechanism — is what matters most. In general, a CD-R80 medium cannot be overburned at a high burn speeds (e.g. 12x). At the latest, the burn process will be aborted beyond the 80-minute limit. The only thing that will help in this situation is a burn speed that is as low as possible. Single or double speed will always work successfully. One exception is the new LG GCE-8160B: it burns oversized audio CDs even at 8x speed. In the test we were able to write to our audio CD of just less than 92 minutes at 8x speed without any errors. On the other hand, all audio CDs could only be compiled at a maximum speed of 2x on the Mitsumi burner. Otherwise (at 4x and 8x speeds) the burn process aborted with an error message — and the blank CD was destroyed.

Low CPU load during CD burning.

Blank CDs: 83 Minutes Or 93 Minutes?

50 spindle pack with CD-R80 blanks: these are appropriate for a maximum 12x burn speed. Overburning stops at 83 minutes and 30 seconds.

Various blank CDs are available on the market for the most diverse uses. Those who only care about high burn speeds should use specially marked brand-name media. The reason for this, according to our experience, is that most products from discounters are not good enough for maximal burn speed, even if the packaging makes claims to that effect. It is a different matter when oversized blank CDs need to be burned. There are various media types on the market for this: the CD-R74 blank CDs that hold at least 74 audio minutes are the most widespread standard. As to how many additional minutes can be recorded now, this depends on the individual manufacturer. In our test, the best result was 78 minutes and 30 seconds. On the next level are the so-called CD-R80 blank CDs that store at least 80 minutes of music. Whether or not the respective CD burner can record more than 80 minutes is another matter entirely. We were able to write more than 83 minutes to the blank platinum CDs that we used. Anyone searching for inexpensive blank CDs with a capacity of 99 minutes should have a look at the http://www.disc4you.com/news/99min.html [Disk4you Page].

Blank CD with a capacity of 800 MB or 90 minutes of music.

Blank CDs: 83 Minutes Or 93 Minutes?, Continued

Test results with individual blank CDs.

Storage capacity of the individual types of blank CDs.

The CD-R90 and CD-R99 media occupy a special position. They are not found in just any PC store and must usually be ordered from specialist suppliers. Excepting the burners from Mitsumi and LG most CD writers cannot burn more than 89 minutes and 59 seconds on a blank CD.

This is what one of our test CDs looks like: a blank CD-R90 has just under 92 minutes of music recorded on it.

Test CDs on the basis of a blank CD-R80: a total of 83 minutes and 35 seconds fit on this medium — assuming you have the right burner and the appropriate burn speed.

Burner Software: NERO 5.5 And Golden Hawk 4.0A

The software we used for overburning consists of two packages: the NERO Burning ROM 5.5 in its latest version (release 35) and also the CDR Win 4.0A software from Golden Hawk. Both programs are optimally suited to the creation of oversized audio CDs, but NERO is more widely available on the market. For this reason alone we have dedicated the following step-by-step instructions to the NERO 5.5 software.

Creating A 90-minute CD, Step-By-Step

This Mitsumi burner supports all important features except for the «burn proof» function. The decisive feature: «Overburn». The NERO 5.5 burner software is shown in the picture.

NERO Burning ROM 5.5: In the «Settings» submenu, the following changes must be made.

Creating A 90-minute CD, Step-By-Step, Continued

For the successful creation of oversized audio CDs it is important that the CD burner support the overburn function to begin with. The corresponding menu can be displayed in NERO 5.5. In addition, you need a suitable blank CD that can store at least 80 minutes.

The «Expert Functions » menu contains the overburn function, which is deactivated by default. The NERO 5.5 burner software can record blank CDs with a maximum of 99 minutes and 59 seconds.

There is no point in reading an empty CD. Only the CD register data, allotted 79 minutes and 57 seconds by the manufacturer, are read. Nevertheless, the blank CD can handle much more audio or PC data.

Creating A 90-minute CD, Step-By-Step, Continued

Many burn programs claim to offer a function that calculates the maximum storage capacity. In practice, this feature turns out to be a complete waste, as only the manufacturer’s register entries are read. Therefore, it is not at all surprising that the maximum capacity of a blank CD-R80 is given as 79 minutes 59 seconds. But in the burn test, the CD could be written with 83 minutes!

Absolutely crucial: to burn a music CD with more than 80 minutes, one should choose a burn speed that is as low as possible.

An audio CD with just under 92 minutes is shown in the time bar.

Creating audio CDs gets critical with more than 90 minutes of content. Very few burners can handle this, as our test has shown.

Don’t be afraid to overburn: this warning is provided only for safety reasons. But the CDs can still be inscribed without errors.

Initiated burning sequence with NERO Burning ROM 5.5: This music CD still holds almost 92 minutes.

Testing CD Playback In Car, PC And Home Stereos

CD changer cartridge with 6 CDs for in-car operation.

Slot for the changer cartridge in a modern car.

After the oversized audio CDs have been compiled, replay in various CD devices can be tested. In any case, we were amazed at how many CD players, even older ones, could play oversized CDs. In general, no problems occur with 80- or 90-minute CDs. On the other hand, things look critical with 99-minute CDs: frequently, these can only be replayed in CD-ROM drives in a PC or in the burner itself. Conventional CD players in hi-fi systems may show errors either in reading or in replay of the outer edges.

Cartridge installed in CD changer.

Summary: 90-Minute CDs For All CD Players

Anyone who owns a reasonably modern CD burner should not miss the opportunity of trying to create 90-minute audio CDs. Because as a rule, CD-R90 media can be replayed without errors on any CD player. This discovery runs counter to the widespread belief that many older CD players show problems even with 80-minute recordings.

Furthermore our test showed that the burners from LG Electronics and Mitsumi were the best suited for overburning and were the only appliances capable of writing 99 minutes to blank CDs. The other burners from past tests, on the other hand, were only able to write a maximum of 89 minutes and 59 seconds. The hit for fans of overburning is LG Electronics GCE-8160B. This device creates oversized audio CDs with more than 90 minutes play time with a maximum burn speed of 8x! All other CD writers that we tested can only create oversized CDs at a maximum speed of 2x. A good example is the Mitsumi CR-4805 TE: we were only able to create an error-free, 83-minute music CD at 1x burning speed. As soon as the speed went up to 2x or 4x, the burn process was aborted with an error message after the 80-minute limit.

The fact that we could increase the total playing time (in a car CD changer) by up to 30 percent by using a 90-minute CD was the most convincing result of the test.

A CD-R80 recording with more than 82 minutes of music — consisting of 14 individual tracks. Unfortunately, the CD player still does not support a CD text function — otherwise it would be possible to display the titles and the names. However, they are physically still included on the CD.