How robust and reliable are XCD discs?

[JimmyBarnes]

Everytime I see an XCD post I see warnings re no error checking and how a single scratch may ruin the disc irretrievably etc.

Question is aimed at those who have been using the format since its beginning, and who have accumulated a lot of XCD discs.

Are XCD discs so "fragile" they suddenly die without any apparent reason, or are they reliable if stored and handled with normal but not extreme care???

JB

[DeXT]

Perhaps I'm a bit biased, as I'm one of the format authors, but you should take in note that the CD format has three layers of protection, and we are just removing one of them (ECC), which in either case is not present on both VideoCDs and AudioCDs. And a single scratch won't ruin these either, right?

Anyways first-hand experiences on this subject are welcomed, of course.

[iago]

Well, it's been quite a long while since I burnt my last XCD and actually I do not have many of them (10 or something). All of them are still perfectly playable though I have not kept them with any extreme or special care, just with as much care as I keep my other CDs. That's just my case of course, I don't know if others are experiencing any problems with them.

regards,
iago

[stargazer]

XCD is "fragile" more than ordinary CD (of course :) ), but it also depends on media quality.
On low quality media, you can expect macroblocks and other playback problems appearing very soon, even on extreme-cared ;) CDs without any scratches. Higher the media quality, you can except less problems with your XCD.
On well-cared high quality CDs (even with light scratches), your XCD will work just fine for a long time.

[JimmyBarnes]

Originally posted by DeXT
Perhaps I'm a bit biased, as I'm one of the format authors, but you should take in note that the CD format has three layers of protection, and we are just removing one of them (ECC), which in either case is not present on both VideoCDs and AudioCDs. And a single scratch won't ruin these either, right?

This is useful to know. Damn those posters who say "_no_ error correction". What's your recommendation for the best XCD primer?

Anyways first-hand experiences on this subject are welcomed, of course.

As always, valid, repeatable experiences are the bottom line.

thanks
JB

[TheXung]

When you burn music CDs, how often do you hear skips in the track? even on low quality CDs. I use pretty cheap media but haven't had a problem yet, although I do usually step down the burning speed just so that I might get a more thorough burn.

[Neo Neko]

I feel that it is important to not that AFAIK and from what I understand an XCD's durability is determined more by the AV container used for it. If you used MP4, MPEG, OGG, or even god forsaken ASF then things should be quite durrable. But if you do something foolish like use AVI a single scratch can make that AVI unplayable from the CD. Not to say you are completely SOL as the AVI can be recovered from the CD. Just never played from it again.