Solved CD plays on Hi-Fi but not computer!

[pincushion]

This is a first for me - it is usually the other way round. Just bought the Joni Mitchell Hits CD and it doesn't play on CD drive and is not recognised at all although plays normally on Hi-Fi. Is this some sort of protection or am I missing something, a driver perhaps? It's a standard multi-drive DVD/CD/etc.

 

[Corazon]

Depends. What are you using to play audio CDs on your system? (I mean PC, not your hifi system)

My first guess, without having more info available, would be your disc contains both audio tracks and a data session (mp3 versions of the tracks, bonus content like photos, etc.) - by default, your computer sees only the data when the disc is opened in Explorer.

A proper disc playback app should still see the audio tracks, of course.

Can you describe in more detail what happens/what you see when you insert this CD?

 

[ignatzatsonic]

Following from CD Universe regarding that CD:

Joni Mitchell - Hits music CD album $11.19 in stock at CD Universe, All tracks have been digitally remastered using HDCD technology,

I dunno what "HDCD"means. Maybe something coo-coo, non-standard playback?

 

[seavixen32]

HDCD stands for High Definition Compatible Digital and it would appear it is owned by Microsoft.

High Definition Compatible Digital - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Windows Media Player 9 and above can play these discs on computers with a 24-bit sound card.

 

[pincushion]

The disc is not recognised at all, not by Explorer or WMP which is what I'm currently using and my settings are to automatically play audio CDs. It appears to be just like any other CD with just music tracks. I have NoDriveTypeAutorun set to 0x8D which allows autoplay for CDs I presume and blocks all others and has worked for every CD so far. This is the first CD ever not to show up in Explorer too. I wondered if it had a virus or other nasty, it was bought via Amazon though. Scans with Norton, Spybot and Sophos showed nothing but Sophos might have problems with x64 as some failures appeared in the event logs. :huh:

 

[ignatzatsonic]

The implication of Seavixen's link is that HDCD will not automagically play on all players.

Since Windows Media Player 9 for Windows XP, PCs are capable of decoding and playing HDCDs on personal computers with a 24-bit sound card installed.[6][7] Media Player 9 indicates the presence of an HDCD by flashing the logo in the control bar at the bottom of the application window. This was changed in versions 10 and 11; if an HDCD is inserted into a drive with WMP 10/11 running, the HDCD logo appears only if the HDCD feature is disabled, thus, signalling that it should be enabled for proper decoding.

 

[seavixen32]

If it is an HDCD disc, you might find this article useful, as it includes a link for the HDCD codec.

Handling HDCD - MeridianWiki

 

[pincushion]

I saw his bit about HDCD immediately I posted my reply. It is one and although I've enabled the settings for 24 bit nothing so far. Surprised it doesn't show in Explorer. I'll chase that codec!

No success, perhaps is the drive.

 

[fireberd]

Could be the drive. You never filled out the "My System Specs" so we are stabbing in the dark in reference to your specific hardware.

 

[Corazon]

I'm curious what ISOBuster would have to say about the disc...

 

[pincushion]

Isobuster shows 'No media present' which I suppose is to be expected since that is what everything else shows, it is just ignored. So much for the comments I have seen elsewhere about CD drives treating these discs as normal CDs if HDCD is not supported. Presumably this format (seem to have blinked at some point in the past and missed this) has died/is dying and is no longer supported. I knew about SACD but not this, but probably just lucky with all the CDs I've bought.

The drive is an HP DVD A DH16AAL SATA CDRom with Lightscribe but not HDCD it seems. My Hi-Fi is quite old so fortunately it plays on that and presumably I'll be able to rip using Audacity (24 bit or probably 16 bit) but I'll be more careful about buying Cds in future. Don't think it's worth seeking a new drive just for one CD!

If anyone knows of a utility to check the capabilities of CD drives then I'd be grateful and I might have missed some setting as the soundcard is certainly capable of playing these discs. Thanks all.

 

[seavixen32]

You're very welcome.

It might be worthwhile contacting HP to see if they can offer any help.

 

[Corazon]

I'm honestly surprised!

ISOBuster should at the very least see there's a disc with a finalized session containing multiple tracks in the drive. We can assume with some certainty that your drive itself is indeed incapable of dealing with HDCDs and just won't acknowledge them (or maybe believes the disc is empty).

ImgBurn btw is able to query most drive's advanced capabilities and even change a few settings, but usually they're along the lines of DVD book types or whether the drive operates in silent mode or maximum performance mode.

 

[pincushion]

I'm honestly surprised!

ISOBuster should at the very least see there's a disc with a finalized session containing multiple tracks in the drive. We can assume with some certainty that your drive itself is indeed incapable of dealing with HDCDs and just won't acknowledge them (or maybe believes the disc is empty).

ImgBurn btw is able to query most drive's advanced capabilities and even change a few settings, but usually they're along the lines of DVD book types or whether the drive operates in silent mode or maximum performance mode.

It is a bit puzzling as according to all reports the CD should be treated as a normal audio CD and play but without the HDCD enhancements. I tried Imgburn, Isobuster and dBpoweramp, and all show no media present like Explorer and WMP. Perhaps it is a driver issue (HD audio?) but other audio CDs play normally and data discs are shown normally in Explorer. The only thing I can think of is the recent install of the Creative SB X-Fi Titanium HD card and Creative software along with PowerDVD 9. This was a bit flakey, playing one DVD OK but crashing on another until I changed to allow hardware acceleration. I uninstalled the Realtek audio drivers before disabling the onboard sound in the BIOS before installing the sound card and as far as I can tell it works fine. The diagnostic HP software shows the CD drive as perfectly normal.

So a bit of a puzzle! Perhaps the CD is defective in some way - unlikely since it plays OK in Hi-Fi - but I have a replacement coming so this should sort that out unless there is a faulty batch.

:huh:

 

[pincushion]

Still puzzling - replacement CD is the same (as expected, and probably not faulty) and disconnecting/booting and reconnecting drive did nothing. A problem somewhere but I can't figure it. I'm sure the drive is OK and if I'm tempted to upgrade to a Blu Ray drive there still might be a problem somewhere. Can't seem to find anything about drivers for this drive so perhaps I'll have to ask the nice people at HP for some help.

 

[Corazon]

I still think that your particular drive just can't see HDCDs or sees them as blank discs, possibly due to a rare firmware bug.
This might well go away if you switch to a completely different drive, blu-ray or not...

 

[MilesAhead]

Still puzzling - replacement CD is the same (as expected, and probably not faulty) and disconnecting/booting and reconnecting drive did nothing. A problem somewhere but I can't figure it. I'm sure the drive is OK and if I'm tempted to upgrade to a Blu Ray drive there still might be a problem somewhere. Can't seem to find anything about drivers for this drive so perhaps I'll have to ask the nice people at HP for some help.

Just for chuckles you may want to try here:
HP Business Support Center

Even though it says "business support center" it's not paid support. It's HP users volunteering help. It's just when they made the forum they were owners of "business class" machines. The line is blurred now. You may be able to pick up a useful tidbit.

When I signed up they accepted a hotmail address as good enough if you don't want to give your main ISP email. Also it's a good resource since you can download original drivers and software that came with your machine, updates, PDF manuals etc..

 

[pincushion]

I might try the forums, thanks. As the prices of combo drives are so low I could perhaps get another. What drives are reliable these days as the last one I bought was a Pioneer which was fine. If I upgraded to a Blu-Ray player or writer any info on these? I do actually have an image prior to installing the sound card that I could restore to but since I have made quite a few changes I am not excited at this prospect and that may not be the issue at all anyway.

 

[pincushion]

Well, well, well!! I find I have some other HDCDs - King Crimson, Wake of Poseidon and Larks' Tongues and both play OK!

 

[Corazon]

Bizarre...I think this is a one-in-a-million bug triggered by your very particular "problematic" HDCD on that very particular drive!