Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

[Greg_R]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Has anyone used a loader with a DVD drive and performed batch DVD rips (using other SW)?

[sonyman]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Dear Brendan,
i have purchased :

1x - Kodak Kiosk KDK-1000-03
1x - Kodak Kiosk KDK-1000-04

for trying with the Batchripper.
Whitch settings are required?

Thanks
Bastian

[sonyman]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Brandan,
thanks for your Information!

Bastian

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Dear Brandan,
thanks for the detailed description.
This is a nice Sunday afternoon project ! (rainy day)

Works the Robotic precisely, exactly or hangs a Disc from time to time?
Reliable than a Amtren robotic ?

Other than a damaged unit or previously damaged discs, the only loading problem I've run into is that sometimes the spindle lock screw comes loose, which allows for two problems to surface: 1) the gap between the spindle lock surface and the spindle notch surface widens, allow for double feeding and/or other jams or 2) the loose spindle lock might turn to a non- or less-secure position before the stack of 50 is done.

The fix for both issues (really the same issue) is to loctite (blue) the screw into place. This fixes the spindle. Note that the spindles come pre-loctited, so if the screw is loose, it was either disassembled (which introduces the problem) or the loctite flaked away due to age or overuse.

It's hard to say if it is more or less reliable than the amtren - I haven't had any problems with the two non-damaged amtren units I've tested.

-brendan

[sonyman]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Dear Brandan,
thanks for the detailed description.
This is a nice Sunday afternoon project ! (rainy day)

Works the Robotic precisely, exactly or hangs a Disc from time to time?
Reliable than a Amtren robotic ?

Thanks

Bastian

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Works the Kodak Kiosk KDK-1000-04 with any CD/DVD Drive?
Or is it a special Drive, compare the Aleratec Robo Racer ?

Is a Recording/ Burning Software available ?

Bastian

Bastian:

The Aleratec RoboRacer only works with their supplied drives, due to a completely custom tray, with built in levering capabilities.

As the The Kodak Kiosk KDK-1000-04 is based on the MicroOrbit platform, it can work with some DVD+-RW drives provided you are willing to make substantial modifications. Also, the the drive tray geometries must be within certain parameters for this to work.

For example, I have personally modified two Samsung SH-S202B/BEBN DVD+-RW drives to work with the KDK-1000-04 units. I got lucky with my first pick in that the drive tray geometry was within the parameters required.
However, it was not easy and required the following changes:

- Removal of tray end (slips off).
- Removal of faceplate (slips off).
- Cutting of tray sides for lifter access using dremel or other tools. Requires precision measurement, cutting and deburring of plastic (while avoiding melt issues). Over-cutting or improper shaping will impede tray insert and eject abilities, making the drive useless.
- Cutting of top of aluminum case in a concave shape (think partial moon sliver) to ensure no part of the full disc circle is not occluded by drive case. A notching tool was used with some light dremeling to dull sharp edges. Avoid too much dremeling as it causes significant sparking and generation of metal dust which can be fatal to electronics.

It took me 60-120 minutes per drive, including installation and removal (twice) into each of the kodak units for alignment and rework. I had intended to used the Teac drive as a template, but the width of the trays differed enough that I ended up having to do a lot more work on getting the first drive just right. After the first drive, the second drive took less time (a bit more than half the time) since I could do more rough pre-cutting using the first as a template, but I'm not sure I could make it go much faster than that.

I've used the modified unit with a custom script and ImgBurn to burn multiple CD and DVD images (note: my custom scripts only work with drives that are fully MMC compliant because they rely on detecting tray open conditions). There is no commercial software out there that supports these for burning, however.

-brendan

[sonyman]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Works the Kodak Kiosk KDK-1000-04 with any CD/DVD Drive?
Or is it a special Drive, compare the Aleratec Robo Racer ?

Is a Recording/ Burning Software available ?

Thanks

Bastian

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Is the Kodak KDK-1000-03 supportet?

Thanks!

One person bought one and reported here that it did not work with my driver. So, I can only support the -04 units.

-brendan

[sonyman]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Is the Kodak KDK-1000-03 supportet?

Thanks!

[sredmyer]

Powerfile/Sony XL1B changers

Does anyone know where I can find a service manual for either the Sony device or the Powerfile devices. I have been able to find the owners manuals but I need a service manual.

Also if anyone is interested, I have been working on modifications to the Powerfile (both R200 and C200) which will improve their suitability as batch CD ripping machines.

I have redesigned the drive mounting hardware to accept Plextor PX-708A drives. These drives were chosen because they offer decent read speeds (40X) and, I have been told, are pretty good at DAE.

Further I am redesigning the electronics inside to separate the robotics controller from the drives. My redesigned devices connect to the host PC via USB not Firewire. This change was made for two reasons; First, my batch ripping software of choice (dbPoweramp BatchRipper:smile2 does not do very good job utilizing some of the drives features (C2 error reporting, FUA cache flushing) over a Firewire to IDE bridge. Second I wanted the robotics control to be simple RS232 and completely independent of the drives. This seemed easiest to implement via simple USB to serial. Further I felt that if the interface to the robotics was simple RS232 serial it would eliminate some of the instability issues these devices have under Windows.

Thanks,

[sonyman]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Dear Brendan,
i have send a question about your offer to write Tray watcher Script.

Can you write it? <i pay for it>


Thanks
Bastian

[bhoar]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Are there any automated CD rippers that can be rented in Europe and that can "plug and play" with dbpoweramp?

If not what loader is recommended to rip around 200 to 500 a day?

Is there support between any hardware vendor and dbpoweramp?

(probably not a loader issue), but which languages are supported? - is this part of the meta data DB? I.e. If French titles are on a CD, will they be added with the correct characters around the "e" for example?

Many thanks CHIMAR

If you see anyone renting 25-disc robots, these will work with spoon's free driver. Datatronics makes them, called minicubis, but most often you see them listed as Baxter, DupliQ, Ripstation 7601 (not 7601xc), etc. I've seen that some of Illustrate's competitors rent these units in Europe. The rental price doesn't seem that great to me. But you can buy the units for $600 or so, last I checked.

The Amtren or Discmakers 60 and 75-disc robots would also be a good solid low-end choice, but I don't see any evidence of these being rented. You might be able to find them for sale, used, for a $300 or so. That's risky, but I like 'em when they're in good repair. And spoon hosts my free driver for these units.

I sell new-in-box kodak kiosk G4 50-disc CD-RW units with my batch ripper driver (and a few other software goodies I wrote for $300 + shipping each, with drivers, but international shipping is expensive (e.g. ~$125 per unit to austria from here). However, the teac drive in them is one of the best non-plextors I've used. The hardware combination does not work well with Vista, unfortunately so it's XP-only.

I've also written a driver for the 100-disc Aleratec Roboracer (aka Dexpreso, recordex, boozer, etc.), which is a pretty good ripper and the fastest disc swapper out there. They're available for $700 or so, to buy new. I got my refurbed units for development from aleratec's ebay store for <$300 However, the driver I wrote for this one isn't free, it's $100 via paypal.

Yes, I know the previous two paragraphs are self-serving. But here's a bonus: with any of the robots using my drivers, including the kodak and the aleratec, you can use multiple robots at once. Even mix and match.

Some of the newer lower-end units out there (datatronics new 75-disc units, such as the ripstation 7601xc, for example) don't have drivers for the batch ripper. I don't write drivers for non-serial-port based loaders, so either spoon will have to look into that or perhaps some third party will step up.

Regarding larger robots, I believe you'll find it difficult to come upon any of the larger 2 or more drive robotic units available to rent, unless you're paying a lot up front and willing to take the risk holding the bag for the replacement value. Their lifetime is seriously threatened any time they are shipped. I've had a couple destroyed in shipping in the past.

Oh, and lastly: on a properly configured and outfitted PC, I figure each good drive in an average robot can go through 15 or so CDs per hour, conservatively. Assumption: these would be good-condition CDs (clean, no scratches), in either burst mode or with accuraterip turned on in secure mode with matches found. You can figure out your robot sizing or how many robots you'll need based on that.

-brendan

[Spoon]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

It depends on how much you are willing to spend (non-rental).

Metadata tends to be a mixed bag, with the entried being very USA centric.

[CHIMAR]

Re: Discussion of Automated CD Loaders

Hello,

I am new...

Are there any automated CD rippers that can be rented in Europe and that can "plug and play" with dbpoweramp?

If not what loader is recommended to rip around 200 to 500 a day?

Is there support between any hardware vendor and dbpoweramp?

(probably not a loader issue), but which languages are supported? - is this part of the meta data DB? I.e. If French titles are on a CD, will they be added with the correct characters around the "e" for example?

Many thanks CHIMAR

[Juliane Weseman]

Recommendation

I would like to ripp about 2000 CDs. Could you please give me advise which hardware I should buy. Many Thanks. Jule