Master rejected from plant due to CD-TEXT Language Code...

[gunofason]

Hi Everyone - Hope you're all having a fun and prosperous summer so far! I just got an email from a client forwarding a rejection notice from their replication plant due to the CD-TEXT on the master. Here's the note from the manufacturer:

Your master has CD-Text data that contains a block with a Language Code value of 0. The language code tells the CD player the language in which CD-Text will be displayed. This problem is caused by the utility that created the original CD-Text data. If you have not changed your authoring program, this error has likely always existed. The severity of this error is minor, because most players will default to English. However, there have been reports of playability problems.

They've told my client & the label they need to remake the master there and include the correct language code for $XXX.XX. I used Waveburner to make the master and there's no option to change this on our end. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen this option in any premastering software we've ever used. This is the first time our master has been rejected for CD-Text and we must've made thousands of masters with CD-TEXT to date (each one tested here at our studio). Any thoughts or suggestions? At first glance, it kinda sounds similar to a region code on a DVD disc. I didn't realize the same was true for Audio CD's as well......

Thanks!

[Jerry Tubb]

Sounds like the plant churning your client for cash, imho.

The new version of Eclipse has a CD-Text editor, they could just fix the language code at the plant and proceed with the job.

Rather than make a big deal of it.

JT

[24-96 Mastering]

Originally Posted by gunofason

Hi Everyone - Hope you're all having a fun and prosperous summer so far! I just got an email from a client forwarding a rejection notice from their replication plant due to the CD-TEXT on the master. Here's the note from the manufacturer:

Your master has CD-Text data that contains a block with a Language Code value of 0. The language code tells the CD player the language in which CD-Text will be displayed. This problem is caused by the utility that created the original CD-Text data. If you have not changed your authoring program, this error has likely always existed. The severity of this error is minor, because most players will default to English. However, there have been reports of playability problems.

They've told my client & the label they need to remake the master there and include the correct language code for $XXX.XX. I used Waveburner to make the master and there's no option to change this on our end. In fact, I don't think I've ever seen this option in any premastering software we've ever used. This is the first time our master has been rejected for CD-Text and we must've made thousands of masters with CD-TEXT to date (each one tested here at our studio). Any thoughts or suggestions? At first glance, it kinda sounds similar to a region code on a DVD disc. I didn't realize the same was true for Audio CD's as well......

Thanks!

That issue happened to me to and it was, in the end, "fixed" at the plant.

Your plant should be able to do that with the Eclipse CD-text editor. Acc. to Eclipse and an engineer at the plant that happened with here, this takes 5 minutes max, so depending on what the plant wants to charge for their "service", your client may want to decline paying the extra cost.

Also, one might argue (and I would) that they should not fix the master, but their Eclipse error preferences (see quote box below for info). Since the vast majority of CDs with CD-text in circulation will NOT have said language bit set, one might speculate that having the flag set currently likely poses a far greater risk of incompatibility with players than not having it set.

And if I were your client, I'd ask the plant to back up their claim (that "there have been reports of playability problems"). I (and just about every other ME) certainly would be interested in which players all of our masters supposedly don't play in.


Here's some more info from an earlier thread on the issue:

Originally Posted by 24-96 Mastering

It's confirmed that since v5.1, Eclipse is giving an error when language code for CD-text is left undefined. Since no authoring program lets you set CD-text language, most applications leave it undefined. So it seems it has nothing to do with particular digits used but universally applies to language code being set.

The only solution (assuming that Eclipse aren't going to address this) is that the authoring software sets language code to some language (english, for example).

Cube-tech / Wavelab DDP users can get an upgrade to sort the incompatibility out (it is in beta stadium at the moment). Someone mentioned that there's an update from Sonic too. Sonoris DDP creator sets the language to english as default, i.e. is safe with regards to the bug. No idea about other DAWs.

I have heard that there is a utility by Sony that displays CD-text, including the language set. That way, one can at least check beforehand whether the DDP will pass Eclipse 5.2 (at least with regards to language code).

In my very recent experience (Europe only), the error is currently generated at Universal's pressing plant but not at Sony or Optimal Media. Don't know about the others.


Funny that Eclipse seemed to know nothing about this and were not able (or willing) to provide a solution or pointers. I can't imagine that change in cd-text conformity rules / preferences (in 2009!) to have been introduced on purpose; sounds like a bug to me...