52 MA XIMUMPC NOVEMBER 2005
how (^2) IMPROVING YOUR PC EXPERIENCE, ONE STEP AT A TIME
Once you select CD Extra as a destination format, your disc-
mastering application will automatically create the folder struc-
ture required by the CD Extra spec. The CDPlus and Pictures
folders are leftovers from a simpler time when visionaries
imagined we’d be carrying around CD players with full-color
screens. They’re mostly useless, but you can use them, or not
use them and create your own folders. No matter what you do,
you’ll be able to access these files through your PC.
Drag your audio files to the audio windowpane at the lower
left. Data files can go into the folders already present (these
folders can’t be removed because they are part of the official
CD Extra spec), or you can create your own folders.
Keep in mind that your audio files will be raw, uncom-
pressed audio, so they’ll take up a lot of space. Our six measly
tracks take up 300MB of space!
2 Load your disc
Nero makes creating audio and data compilations a snap. Remember
that you’ve still got complete control over pauses between audio
tracks, and you can still apply filters and effects (like volume normal-
ization) to any or all of them.
3 Burn the compilation
Before you initiate the burn process, consider who’s going
to use the disc, and on what kind of equipment. If you’re
giving it to a friend for listening in the car, or if you’ll be
playing the disc on an old boom box before looking at
the saved pictures on your PC, we recommend cranking
down the burn speed as low as you can tolerate; no more
than 16x in this instance, and 8x is preferred. Compatibility
problems with older players can generally be solved by
burning your discs at a slower speed.
Click the matchstick icon to begin burning, or go to
the Recorder menu and click Burn Compilation.
The older the
player your disc
might end up in,
the lower you
should set the
burn speed. And
don’t forget to
check the “Fi-
nalize CD” box!
MAKE A SET-TOP
COMPATIBLE DVD
Recordable DVD tweaking tips for
persnickety living room players
With no less than five different recordable DVD
formats squatting on the shelves and no indication
about their compatibility with set-top DVD players,
despair is a natural human response. Well chin up,
folks, because we’ve got a few tips on increas-
ing the odds that the DVD-Video you burn will be
enjoyed—or at least endured—by even your grand-
mother with her old hand-crank DVD player.
1: Choose a format. In our tests, DVD-R has the
highest compatibility with set-top players, but
DVD+R follows very closely behind (and among
newer PC and set-top players, the difference is
negligible). Trailing far behind are the rewriteable
formats (though we’ve found DVD-RW to have a
slight edge).
2: Once you’ve selected a format, there’s a simple,
intuitive way to nudge compatibility upwards—throt-
tle down your burning speed. It’s a drag, but it works
by darkening the burn marks on the surface of the
disc, increasing their reflectivity so older players can
accurately read the data stream.
3: A little-known tweak involves changing the disc’s
so-called “book type” (a reference to the different
types of books published by standards committees
that describes the physical construction of discs).
Also referred to as “bitsetting,” this technique is par-
ticularly effective with many older set-top players.
In order to take advantage of bitsetting, you’ll need
a drive and software that both support the feature
(current versions of both Nero and Easy Media
Creator do), and DVD+R or DVD+RW media (DVD-
R/W formats don’t permit bitsetting). What bitsetting
does is force the disc to announce itself to your
set-top player as a DVD-ROM, which prevents some
players from rejecting a disc that introduces an
unfamiliar disc type. If this is a must-have for you,
search for “bitsetting” at http://www.cdfreaks.com, where
you’ll find reports from forum regulars on which
drives support this fancy sleight of hand.
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