I have a Panasonic CQ-DP383U car CD player installed in my Ford Focus. It
plays WMA, mp3 from CD, CD-R and CD-RW. It also tunes to AM, FM and Sirius.
I got it mainly because I wanted to digitize and store an entire library of
some training audio cassettes into mp3 or wma8 to CD-R.

This is a description and photo of the unit:
http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/PANCQDP383U

I got this unit, digitized some 20 cassettes into 96kbps Mono mp3 into a
high quality Mitsui Gold CD-R. (96kbps mono is fine for speech) The CR-R
played fine for about 4 hours cumulative. After that, the sound started to
"drop out". Finally, 3 days later, after 5 hours of playing the CD was
completely unusable... I re-burned it to another brand: TDK, same thing,
after 5 hours cumulative the CD was destroyed. I also tried various other
brands, burned at slow (4x) and fast speeds (10x), tried another burner,
with the same results.

Yesterday, while driving long distance, This Panasonic player destroyed
another CD.... When the CD stopped playing, I took it out and I noticed that
it was so hot like as if I had left it out under the sun... There's the
problem: The CDs get destroyed by heat generated by this player. This player
also destroyed an audio CD-R !

I immediately thought that the internal amplifier generates this heat. So I
made another test: I inserted a CD in the tray, without playing it, then
tuned to FM radio, raised the volume and drove for half hour. Then I took
out the CD. No temperature issues. I drove back, inserted the CD, played
it for 30 minutes, and when I took it out, it was extremely hot. The entire
surface of the CD-R was hot. I doubt the the laser is that destructive...

This heat issue is only when I play mp3 or wma CD-Rs. They play fine for up
to 5 hours till they deteriorate by heat. I don't know if the same problem
also occurs with pressed CDs since I got it mainly because of its mp3 and
wma playback capabilities from CD-R as stated in the manual.

What can the problem be? From where this heat comes from? Is it a problem
that all Panasonic CQ-DP383U radios have?

It shouldn't be a problem with a CD-R. CD-RWs maybe, but not CD-Rs. What
burner are you using?



Paul Vina




"Joseph Brown" wrote in message
.. .
I have a Panasonic CQ-DP383U car CD player installed in my Ford Focus. It
plays WMA, mp3 from CD, CD-R and CD-RW. It also tunes to AM, FM and
Sirius.
I got it mainly because I wanted to digitize and store an entire library
of
some training audio cassettes into mp3 or wma8 to CD-R.

This is a description and photo of the unit:
http://www.sounddomain.com/sku/PANCQDP383U

I got this unit, digitized some 20 cassettes into 96kbps Mono mp3 into a
high quality Mitsui Gold CD-R. (96kbps mono is fine for speech) The CR-R
played fine for about 4 hours cumulative. After that, the sound started to
"drop out". Finally, 3 days later, after 5 hours of playing the CD was
completely unusable... I re-burned it to another brand: TDK, same thing,
after 5 hours cumulative the CD was destroyed. I also tried various other
brands, burned at slow (4x) and fast speeds (10x), tried another burner,
with the same results.

Yesterday, while driving long distance, This Panasonic player destroyed
another CD.... When the CD stopped playing, I took it out and I noticed
that
it was so hot like as if I had left it out under the sun... There's the
problem: The CDs get destroyed by heat generated by this player. This
player
also destroyed an audio CD-R !

I immediately thought that the internal amplifier generates this heat. So
I
made another test: I inserted a CD in the tray, without playing it, then
tuned to FM radio, raised the volume and drove for half hour. Then I took
out the CD. No temperature issues. I drove back, inserted the CD, played
it for 30 minutes, and when I took it out, it was extremely hot. The
entire
surface of the CD-R was hot. I doubt the the laser is that destructive...

This heat issue is only when I play mp3 or wma CD-Rs. They play fine for
up
to 5 hours till they deteriorate by heat. I don't know if the same problem
also occurs with pressed CDs since I got it mainly because of its mp3 and
wma playback capabilities from CD-R as stated in the manual.

What can the problem be? From where this heat comes from? Is it a problem
that all Panasonic CQ-DP383U radios have?

I tried burning CD-Rs with a SONY CRX145E CD Burner and other CDR-s with a
SONY DRU510A burner, but CDR disks overheat when played back on my Panasonic
CQ-DP383U car CD player.

This morning I played a pressed CD, it didn't overheat. The problem seems
only to occur when I playback CDRs.

It shouldn't be a problem with a CD-R. CD-RWs maybe, but not CD-Rs. What
burner are you using?

On Thu, 25 Dec 2003 17:20:37 -0500, "Joseph Brown"
wrote:

I tried burning CD-Rs with a SONY CRX145E CD Burner and other CDR-s with a
SONY DRU510A burner, but CDR disks overheat when played back on my Panasonic
CQ-DP383U car CD player.

This morning I played a pressed CD, it didn't overheat. The problem seems
only to occur when I playback CDRs.

It shouldn't be a problem with a CD-R. CD-RWs maybe, but not CD-Rs. What
burner are you using?


I actually have the same problems with my wife's JVC CD
player. I can't remember the model number, but it's the dual-DIN
model with both a tape deck and a CD player. It will play pressed
discs all day long, but after playing CD-Rs (not CD-RWs) for about an
hour, the sound will get "staticky" and start to break up. When this
happens, I can go right back to pressed discs with no problems. I
never get any kind of error code - the sound just goes to hell.

My CD-Rs are burned on a Hewlett-Packard 9100 burner.

Scott Gardner

for about an hour, the sound will get "staticky" and start to break up.
the sound just goes to hell.

In other words, your CD-R is now permanently damaged by [extreme laser]
heat.

I'm under the impression that CD lasers have different intensities which
vary when they read the different dye formulations of the various CDRs.

After the holidays, I'll burn the same songs on several CDR brands.
(Verbatim Blue surface, silver, gold, green and Memorex Black. I'll then
play each CDR for 1 hour and see which one will "keep it's cool" at best. In
other words which one will be read by the laser at low intensity. It would
also be the CD with the best reflective properties.

I'll burn both data mp3/WMA CDRs (from 16kbps to 320kbps) as well as
Audio-CDs. I'll then post the results here with detailed test parameters,
conditions, temperatures and observations.

On Thu, 25 Dec 2003 20:47:38 -0500, "Joseph Brown"
wrote:

for about an hour, the sound will get "staticky" and start to break up.
the sound just goes to hell.



In other words, your CD-R is now permanently damaged by [extreme laser]
heat.

No, in my case, the damage wasn't permanent. The same discs could be
played later with no problems (at least for another hour).

I'm under the impression that CD lasers have different intensities which
vary when they read the different dye formulations of the various CDRs.

Well, the laser intensity doesn't vary depending on what type of CD-R
you're using, but the laser specifications to read CD-R in the first
place are slightly different from those required to read CD-ROMS and
pressed audio CDs.

After the holidays, I'll burn the same songs on several CDR brands.
(Verbatim Blue surface, silver, gold, green and Memorex Black. I'll then
play each CDR for 1 hour and see which one will "keep it's cool" at best. In
other words which one will be read by the laser at low intensity. It would
also be the CD with the best reflective properties.

I'll burn both data mp3/WMA CDRs (from 16kbps to 320kbps) as well as
Audio-CDs. I'll then post the results here with detailed test parameters,
conditions, temperatures and observations.

"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...

I'm under the impression that CD lasers have different intensities which
vary when they read the different dye formulations of the various CDRs.

Well, the laser intensity doesn't vary depending on what type of CD-R
you're using, but the laser specifications to read CD-R in the first
place are slightly different from those required to read CD-ROMS and
pressed audio CDs.

not true. Optical drives do alter the laser power depending on the discs.I
posted this on the cdrlabs forum as I have never heard of a permanently
messed up disc due to being read. I would think that if its turning up the
power high enough to literally reburn the disc that the drive is defective.

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 11:57:33 -0500, "wicked1" wrote:


"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...

I'm under the impression that CD lasers have different intensities which
vary when they read the different dye formulations of the various CDRs.

Well, the laser intensity doesn't vary depending on what type of CD-R
you're using, but the laser specifications to read CD-R in the first
place are slightly different from those required to read CD-ROMS and
pressed audio CDs.

not true. Optical drives do alter the laser power depending on the discs.I
posted this on the cdrlabs forum as I have never heard of a permanently
messed up disc due to being read. I would think that if its turning up the
power high enough to literally reburn the disc that the drive is defective.


I wasn't talking about the writing of the disc, but rather the reading
of it. Do the laser pickups in car CD players really alter their
output depending on what brand/colour CD-Rs you're using? That's the
first I've heard of it, but that's not saying much.

Scott Gardner

The laser output remains fixed, however the OEIC that recieves the reflected
beam changes gain. The gain is controlled by the EFM decoder ic, when it
senses lowered output from the pickup, as when a cdr is played back. The EFM
decoder tells the OEIC in the pickup head to increase the gain.

--
Jammy Harbin
J & J Electronics, Inc
227 S. 4Th St.
Selmer, TN 38375
731-645-3311
"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 11:57:33 -0500, "wicked1" wrote:


"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...

I'm under the impression that CD lasers have different intensities
which
vary when they read the different dye formulations of the various
CDRs.

Well, the laser intensity doesn't vary depending on what type of CD-R
you're using, but the laser specifications to read CD-R in the first
place are slightly different from those required to read CD-ROMS and
pressed audio CDs.

not true. Optical drives do alter the laser power depending on the
discs.I
posted this on the cdrlabs forum as I have never heard of a permanently
messed up disc due to being read. I would think that if its turning up
the
power high enough to literally reburn the disc that the drive is
defective.


I wasn't talking about the writing of the disc, but rather the reading
of it. Do the laser pickups in car CD players really alter their
output depending on what brand/colour CD-Rs you're using? That's the
first I've heard of it, but that's not saying much.

Scott Gardner

So if the overheating is coming from the heat of the laser itself,
changing brands of CD-R isn't going to help him out, since the laser
output is fixed, right?

Scott Gardner

On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 12:25:38 -0600, "ampdoc"
wrote:

The laser output remains fixed, however the OEIC that recieves the reflected
beam changes gain. The gain is controlled by the EFM decoder ic, when it
senses lowered output from the pickup, as when a cdr is played back. The EFM
decoder tells the OEIC in the pickup head to increase the gain.

--
Jammy Harbin
J & J Electronics, Inc
227 S. 4Th St.
Selmer, TN 38375
731-645-3311
"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 26 Dec 2003 11:57:33 -0500, "wicked1" wrote:


"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...

I'm under the impression that CD lasers have different intensities
which
vary when they read the different dye formulations of the various
CDRs.

Well, the laser intensity doesn't vary depending on what type of CD-R
you're using, but the laser specifications to read CD-R in the first
place are slightly different from those required to read CD-ROMS and
pressed audio CDs.

not true. Optical drives do alter the laser power depending on the
discs.I
posted this on the cdrlabs forum as I have never heard of a permanently
messed up disc due to being read. I would think that if its turning up
the
power high enough to literally reburn the disc that the drive is
defective.


I wasn't talking about the writing of the disc, but rather the reading
of it. Do the laser pickups in car CD players really alter their
output depending on what brand/colour CD-Rs you're using? That's the
first I've heard of it, but that's not saying much.

Scott Gardner


,k

I can almost guarantee the laser isn't causing the problem. The laser output
power is fixed at 1.0 milliwatt. Not much of a source of heat there. The
audio output IC produces WAY more heat than the laser.

--
Jammy Harbin
J & J Electronics, Inc
227 S. 4Th St.
Selmer, TN 38375
731-645-3311

"Scott Gardner" wrote in message
...

So if the overheating is coming from the heat of the laser itself,
changing brands of CD-R isn't going to help him out, since the laser
output is fixed, right?

Scott Gardner