Clarifications

[johnjjschmidt]

Hello everyone. I'm a little confused about Spoon's ripping Setup Guide. I've read through many posts using the search option but I have not seen any concrete meanings of a particular sections of the guide. This is the way I interpret the following quote:

"Place this CD in your CD drive and click Detect c2 Support, if your drive supports C2 pointers it will detect by the end of the disc - noting if a c2 pointer error is signalled right at the start then the cd drive might not be compatible (the above black marker test would signal a c2 error about 1/4 of the way through the test)."

"...if your drive supports C2 pointers it will detect by the end of the disc." When detecting for pointers, the end of the disc would be the end of the status bar. Meaning, one would be aware at any time before the end of the test but not before a 1/4 of the way through.

"Noting if a c2 pointer error is signalled right at the start then the cd drive might not be compatible." The notification would appear as soon as the test is started without giving it time to work.

"The above black marker test would signal a c2 error about 1/4 of the way through the test." If one is notified that c2 works properly at around 1/4 of the way or less than in the progress bar, then the error detection does NOT in fact work as it should.

Any thoughts?

One more thing, should the marker test be done on a CD with no scratches or does it not matter?

[dbfan]

Re: Clarifications

The marker should be used on an unscratched cd, so an error right at the start cannot be confused with c2 pointers not working

[johnjjschmidt]

Re: Clarifications

Am I to understand that when the test is finished it is because an error has been discovered? Based on the guide, that is what I would assume.

It would also be very much appreciated if someone could tell me if I am right or wrong in my assumptions next to every quote. In the case of ripping CDs, I want everything to be perfect - which I'm sure most feel the same way - but in order for me to feel confident about it I want to be able to understand the directions 100% with only objective statements by fellow forum members. :D

[johnjjschmidt]

Re: Clarifications

Since it appears I am not able to edit my last message, I want to make sure I understood you correctly. You are saying that if I follow what you mentioned, if there is an error at the beginning then c2 pointers are working because the CD is fine other than the purposeful mark? So by detecting an error "by the end of disc" it is not necessarily the end of the progress bar?

[Milo Tweenie]

Re: Clarifications

To be honest, I've never understood how this is supposed to work either.

I decided the safest option was to not enable C2 pointers and having now ripped about 500 CDs, without C2 pointers, I've never had a problem. That said, most of these CDs were near mint.

Bottom line as I understand it, if you get a match with AcurateRip, you're done. Doesn't matter how you got there.

[johnjjschmidt]

Re: Clarifications

Thanks. Those were my thoughts exactly. I figured that if I couldn't get a real answer, then doing what you suggested would be the most logical method. I guess most people pretend they understand how it works.

[Spoon]

Re: Clarifications

When the c2 test completes, it states either c2 pointers were detected and can be used, or they were not detected.

[johnjjschmidt]

Re: Clarifications

Alright, but then you also state in your guide (please correct me if I am wrong) that if detected too soon then the drive doesn't really support it.

At any rate, I had already ripped my entire CD collection after my last message, relying on AccurateRip. Hopefully this information will help out someone else in the near future.

[Vertigo]

Re: Clarifications

Hi I have a similar misunderstanding regarding the Setup Guide.

noting if a c2 pointer error is signalled right at the start then the cd drive might not be compatible (the above black marker test would signal a c2 error about 1/4 of the way through the test).

The guide at this point seems a little vague regarding the early detection of a c2 pointer error. I tried the black marker test with simulated damage on an old disc. The drive detected a c2 pointer error right at the start of the process.

What am I to assume about my drive and what settings should I choose?

Does it matter if the disc may already have had some scratches?

[Spoon]

Re: Clarifications

Some drives wrongly report c2 pointer errors all the time (on these drives c2 cannot be used), try a disc with no marker and no scratches, it should not signal a c2 error on that disc.

[Vertigo]

Re: Clarifications

Hi Spoon, I found a visibly "good" CD and re-ran the test. But I feel all the results I have produced thus far are inconclusive </puzzled>.

Initially I used the marker trick on an old and probably scratched CD. The progress bar had moved merely a fraction before I got the following message.

"C2 error pointers were detected and will be used."

noting if a c2 pointer error is signalled right at the start then the cd drive might not be compatible (the above black marker test would signal a c2 error about 1/4 of the way through the test).

Re-ran the test with a seemingly "good" CD. Results:

"C2 error pointers were not detected, either the CD has no scratches, or the drive does not support c2 error pointers.


The way I read it, neither of these results lead to a firm conclusion and I am left puzzled.

[Spoon]

Re: Clarifications

The good CD passed the test, you need to redo the marker test on a CD without scratches.

[Vertigo]

Re: Clarifications

Ahh crap that means sacrificing a good disc... goes away to think about where to get hold of one. Christmas carol CD's come to mind </evil>

I managed to find a disc I could probably live without (actually feel pretty bad about destroying it). I followed the marker test and got the following error message a little over a quarter of the way through the test.

"C2 error pointers were detected and will be used"

So there we go, it would have been allot easier if I had gone with an unscratched disc in the first place. But I hate destroying things that still work. Thanks Spoon for your help!

[rbsound]

Re: Clarifications

I just want to confirm that the statement Milo Tweenie made is correct:

"Bottom line as I understand it, if you get a match with AcurateRip, you're done. Doesn't matter how you got there."

While I'm fine tuning the various settings and working with one of the less accurate drives, it would be good to know that any rips that get a match with AccurateRip could not be improved on.

Separately, if using multi-encoder, does the extraction log note AccurateRip's for both the FLAC and the MP3 rips? Thanks.

[Spoon]

Re: Clarifications

That is correct, AccurateRip is a positive verification system, so a single match and you are done.

The format (mp3 or FLAC) does not matter to AccurateRip (which happens before encoding).