Rip quality of pregap tracks

2008-04-07 11:08:41

I use an IBM laptop which has a CDR/DVDROM drive shown as "HL-DT-ST- RW/DVD GCC-4242N" in Windows XP Device Manager.

I'm gradually re-ripping my music to lossless (FLAC) and am having a couple of problems with some CDs which have hidden tracks in the pregap before tack one (index 0?).  I use EAC v0.99 prebeta 3 (July 2007) - I don't know how I can easily save/print my settings, but will let you know any settings that might help diagnose the problem.

The problem is that while I can actually rip these tracks (and get audio), the audio quality is pretty poor.  I get occasional random drop-outs during playback.  It's only for a very brief moment during playback - but even for a fraction of a second is very frustrating  I only get this problem on hidden pregap tracks - all other rips are fine which makes me wonder if the hardware is not really up to the task.

EAC reports no sync errors (or any errors, for that matter).  Although I have used EAC for ages, I've never used toe detailed report - if someone can tell me how to generate the report, I can post it here if it will help?

I've tried the optical drives in the 2 other PCs in the house (both Sony branded - can provide info if needed) but these are not capable of ripping the hidden tracks: I get several minutes of silence, and tiny FLAC files  One of these drives is only a CDRW, and cannot read DVD - I guess I could do with upgrading to DVD RW, if better hardware might resolve this problem?

Thanks for any help!

Cheers,
Dan.

Rip quality of pregap tracks

Reply #1 – 2008-04-07 13:01:42

It's very likely your drive that is the problem. I too have a lenovo that by the look, is able to rip pregap tracks, and has noticed a similar problem.

Solution: Get a proper drive :-) I tried my gf's laptop, and it has a drive that works (Toshiba I think). I think I noticed a list somewhere describing some drives that has this ability. Unfortunately I forgot what this feature is called.

Rip quality of pregap tracks

Reply #2 – 2008-04-07 13:49:08

I think the thread that you are talking about is "Ripping hidden tracks before index 01, Hardware-based? What to look for?".

I can only assume that your problem is the drive.  I bought a Plextor specifically to rip HTOA tracks, as neither of my drives at the time could.

Rip quality of pregap tracks

Reply #3 – 2008-04-07 14:16:36

Cool - thanks for the replies.  I'll search the forums (including the link provided - thanks again  ) for a suitable upgrade to my desktop PC.

It's weird - when I use my desktop PC (or my wife's desktop PC) the extraction time is far slower than when I use my work laptop.  Extraction on my desktop PC (old Sony CDRW) is something like 4x, while on my wife's PC (with a relatively recent Sony CD/DVD combo) is only around 2.5x (!!)  Typically on my work laptop I'm seeing 13x and above.  Is it simply that I made poor choices when originally building those PCs?

But anyway - thanks again, and I'll search for a suitable upgrade.

Cheers!
Dan.

Rip quality of pregap tracks

Reply #4 – 2008-04-07 17:02:29

I have an ibm/lenova T60P, it has a MATSHITA DVD-RAM UJ-842, according to anydvd status and I've ripped one HTOA track from queens of the stone age - songs for the deaf.

I don't know for sure what the track is suppoesd to sound like, but it seemed to rip ok (but slow). It was a low frequency and volume bass rythm intro.

I need to get some other HTOA discs and verify it works on them too.