Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

[mkruse]

I am using the 21-day evaluation version of the toolset to see if this will work for me. So far, no luck.

I have everything installed on a Windows 2000 machine. My Primera Composer duplicator works fine for other applications.

When I go in to do a batch rip, here is what happens:
1. Very slow startup, but I guess that is normal
2. The Composer arm moves to the right a little, then back to center, then right a little further, then back to center.
3. The CD tray opens
4. A few seconds later, I get a dialog message saying that the cd tray could not be correctly opened, and to click ok when it was done manually.

When I click OK, the alert pops back up. It never goes away, and the rip process never continues. Even if I kill the batch ripper, the dialog keeps popping up.

Is there anything else I can try to make this work?

I'm willing to buy the program, but I want to know for sure that it works before I will pay for it!

Thanks!

[bhoar]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

What kind of drive is in the composer (manufacturer, model and firmware)? How is connected (usb, firewire or SCSI)?

-brendan

[mkruse]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

What kind of drive is in the composer (manufacturer, model and firmware)? How is connected (usb, firewire or SCSI)?

Plextor PlexWriter PX-W124TS - SCSI

Not sure about firmware version or how to retrieve it.

I don't know much about this, but it doesn't seem like the drive itself is the problem. The tray opens and it looks like it's ready to receive a cd to rip, but the arm never moves over to the disc stack to pick one up.

I can update drivers, etc if needed. I just wanted to make sure that this _should_ work before investing too much time into it

Thanks!

Matt

[bhoar]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

Plextor PlexWriter PX-W124TS - SCSI

Not sure about firmware version or how to retrieve it.

I don't know much about this, but it doesn't seem like the drive itself is the problem. The tray opens and it looks like it's ready to receive a cd to rip, but the arm never moves over to the disc stack to pick one up.

I can update drivers, etc if needed. I just wanted to make sure that this _should_ work before investing too much time into it

Matt,

The scripts for the loaders only work with MMC-3 (perhaps 2 or 1 as well) command set compatible drives. As they currently stand, the drivers verify that the tray is open or closed using the Mechanism Status CDB (0xBD aka BDh). Older SCSI drives do not support this command. At the moment, my only recommendation is to replace the drives with more contemporary duplicator-compatible (tray opens far enough) drives and put in a firewire or USB bridge instead of SCSI.

That's what I've done with some of my older originally-SCSI-based Composers.

In the future, I might allow for a "timing based" option where the tray location is assumed based on waiting a certain # of seconds after a tray close or tray open command, but for now, I go with the safer code which is to ask the drive to verify the tray is where it is supposed to be. Timing based would work with properly adjusted loaders, drives and discs in good condition, but I've seen problem with off-center disc placement causing a tray to fail to close all the way, then reopen on its own, causing problems where a tray inadvertently impacts the loader arm causing expensive damage (particularly on units where drives are stacked on top of each other).

However disappointing that is, keep in mind that Spoon is coding the core cdgrabber code to contemporary drives. e.g. older plextor cache-clearing methods (seen on plextor's scsi drives) are not supported.

It's worth moving to contemporary drives (plextor or otherwise). Just make sure you put drives in place that open the tray circle far enough to clear the faceplate (or drive case if you have to remove the faceplate).

-brendan

[mkruse]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

The scripts for the loaders only work with MMC-3 (perhaps 2 or 1 as well) command set compatible drives. As they currently stand, the drivers verify that the tray is open or closed using the Mechanism Status CDB (0xBD aka BDh). Older SCSI drives do not support this command. At the moment, my only recommendation is to replace the drives with more contemporary duplicator-compatible (tray opens far enough) drives and put in a firewire or USB bridge instead of SCSI.

Ah, that is a bummer. Thank you very much for the detailed response, it will save me some messing-around time!

Unfortunately I can't replace the drive, since this machine is at work. I was just hoping to rip a bunch of peoples' cd collections to mp3 for them. I guess I'll go back to doing it by hand! :(

Matt

[bhoar]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

Matt,

Well, one last thing that might work. Try adding --olddrives to all of the command lines.

-brendan

[mkruse]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

Well, one last thing that might work. Try adding --olddrives to all of the command lines.

Wow, that seemed to do the trick! It picked up the first CD and it's ripping right now, so let's hope it keeps working. If so, I'm sold

Thanks!!

[mkruse]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

By the way, I would love to be able to rip my entire DVD collection as well. Any plans for batch DVD-ripping software?

[bhoar]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

Wow, that seemed to do the trick! It picked up the first CD and it's ripping right now, so let's hope it keeps working. If so, I'm sold

Let me know if that seems reliable.

By the way, I would love to be able to rip my entire DVD collection as well. Any plans for batch DVD-ripping software?

I can't speak for Spoon or Illustrate, but he's never publicly expressed interest in doing so.

As for me: I'm located in the USA where it is currently illegal to back up personally owned DVDs. So I won't be writing any software to do this.

What I may do, sometime early next year, is release a universal batching client for windows that allows a single drive in a robot to be "watched" and will automatically unload/load every time the tray extends. This could work well with software (such as iTunes) that can be configured for a semi-batch mode using a "act on insert/eject when done" setting. I don't think there's any similar software for DVDs out there yet and I wouldn't be able to assist people using such software due to my location.

In other words, the batcher would not interact at all with the disc-handling software...it would just keep an eye on the tray and act on the tray being opened by the non-interacting software.

Of course, your drive is only a SCSI CD drive with an tray that cannot be monitored...so how would that help you anyway?

-brendan

[LtData]

Re: Primera Composer - Doesn't load discs

As far as America goes, the DMCA means no breaking copy-protection, so no DVD ripping. Also, I don't know of any plans to include any video encoding/decoding features into any Illustrate product.