What cd's to use

There's a solution to the problem : the problem is one word..; '''Sony''. Throw the unit away as to my knowledge there is no company who makes discs that will allow a TOC (table of contents) to be written to the disc. All those Sony units were only designed to be accept Maxell CD-R Music Pro blank discs. They are unfortunately unavailable /no longer being produced. Step one: .Buy a Tascam recorder they accept consumer grade cds.. Step two: Boycott Sony as most of us who owned one of their standalone units didn't get two years of use out of it..including myself and most i've ever talked to about it.

you probably have regular cd-r disks that cannot be recorded on in this unit. You can only use disks marked "DIGITAL AUDIO" for recording

What does the instruction manual say about what to use?
Personally I buy Taiyo Yuden and have never had a problem. In Radio we used a lot of CDRW900 units and they used them many times a day using standard data discs. Name brand discs like Maxell and the rest are there for profit- they don't make discs so they do not regulate the quality. Go to supemediastore.com and read up on media quality and you will end up with what I use.

Have you've tried cleaning the laser with a cleaning disc?

Failing this it may be worth removing the cover and cleaning the lens directly with a QTip and some lens cleaning fluid. Only use a drop and then wipe off with a clean dry QTip.

The other option is that you are using an incompatible format of blank DVDs. I've heard of people having problems using DVD-R & DVD-RW and although it is lised as being suitable for all types of recordable DVDs I belive you're best using DVD+R & DVD+RW.

The Manual states

Recordable disc

• We strongly recommend for good recording quality:

SONY DVD+RW 4x, MAXELL DVD+R 4x/8x/16x, SONY DVD+R 4x/8x/16x, TDK DVD+R 4x/8x/16x,

MAXELL DVD-RW 4x, MAXELL DVD-R 8x/16x

• Discs that have been tested and are proven to be compatible with this recorder:

VERBATIM DVD+RW 4x VERBATIM DVD+R 8x
VERBATIM DVD-RW x VERBATIM DVD-R 8x JVC DVD-RW 4x MAXELL DVD-R 16x

Philips CDR 870 is designed to RECORD with ONLY Audio or Music CD-R or CD-RW discs !!
The word(s) Audio Or Music MUST be written somewhere on the Cd disc or Cd Covers.
Computer CD-R and CD-RW discs will NOT Record on this recorder !!
My experience of GOOD Audio/Music discs : Philips,Sony,Traxdata,Verbatum
My experience of BAD Audio/Music discs : ALL unbranded discs, Maxell,TDK

Some cd players will not play cd-r! Unless it has played them before, there's nothing you can do about it.

I have found that the DVD recorder in this unit will not recognize a DVR+R disc greater than 8X speed. Therfore 16X discs are not an option. Like you already know, it likes DVD+RW 45X speed discs but it is selective. I have been using Maxell DVD+RW 4x and have found that Verbatim DVD+RW 4X and Sony DVD+RW 4X work just as well.

It sounds like you might have problems with your CDs. If you are burning CDs on your computer to play in the CDJ, you need to remember that it will only play audio (wav), or MP3 files. Also, blank data CDs are cheaper that buying audio / music CDs. When you burn your CDs to play back on the CDJ, you have to be sure to burn them as wav or mp3. AAC, MP4, OGG and the other formats will not work in the player. When you burn the CD, ALWAYS burn at a slower speed than what the computer will automatically burn at. You will have to manually set the speed yourself.

Personally- when i burn my tracks CDs for my CD book, I use trusted name brand blank data CDs such as Memorex, Sony, TDK, Fuji, Imation. I burn them as AUDIO ONLY. To avoid any reading mistakes that could happen with any given CD player, i NEVER burn track CDs as mp3. When i burn the CD, i set the writing speed to 24x, 30x, or 32x. I recommend that you DO NOT burn your CDs at any speed faster than 32x. From my experience, that is the fastest and safest burning speed. If you do these things, and you still have problems with the E-83 02 code, then it will only have to be the kind of CDs your using to burn, or your CD burner in your computer. Notice how i didn't mention Maxell CDs up top. 3 months ago, i bought 2 spindles of Maxell data blanks on sale for $9.99 each. I was happy i got them that cheap, but the CDs themselves were no good. Recording everything the way i do, they had popping noises and scratching sounds through-out the disc. I gave the spindles to my neighbor. He was happy to get blank CDs free. I WILL NOT say that Maxell makes a bad product: I still record on cassettes and Maxells are one of my top 3 choices for blank chrome tapes. But the discs i bought were just a bad batch. Maxell is still a trusted name for blank tapes with us older DJs that started out with recording on tapes before the CD format became way cheaper and affordable.

Try burning your discs as audio only, and burn them at 24x, 30x, or 32x ONLY. Buy better brand name data CDs, and you should have no problems. If you use my method as an example, and you still have problems, then you need to get a new CD burner for your computer. They are always cheaper at Staples or Office Depot. Hope **** works out for you : D

It sounds like you might have problems with your CDs. If you are burning CDs on your computer to play in the CDJ, you need to remember that it will only play audio (wav), or MP3 files. Also, blank data CDs are cheaper that buying audio / music CDs. When you burn your CDs to play back on the CDJ, you have to be sure to burn them as wav or mp3. AAC, MP4, OGG and the other formats will not work in the player. When you burn the CD, ALWAYS burn at a slower speed than what the computer will automatically burn at. You will have to manually set the speed yourself.

Personally- when i burn my tracks CDs for my CD book, I use trusted name brand blank data CDs such as Memorex, Sony, TDK, Fuji, Imation. I burn them as AUDIO ONLY. To avoid any reading mistakes that could happen with any given CD player, i NEVER burn track CDs as mp3. When i burn the CD, i set the writing speed to 24x, 30x, or 32x. I recommend that you DO NOT burn your CDs at any speed faster than 32x. From my experience, that is the fastest and safest burning speed. If you do these things, and you still have problems with the E-83 02 code, then it will only have to be the kind of CDs your using to burn, or your CD burner in your computer. Notice how i didn't mention Maxell CDs up top. 3 months ago, i bought 2 spindles of Maxell data blanks on sale for $9.99 each. I was happy i got them that cheap, but the CDs themselves were no good. Recording everything the way i do, they had popping noises and scratching sounds through-out the disc. I gave the spindles to my neighbor. He was happy to get blank CDs free. I WILL NOT say that Maxell makes a bad product: I still record on cassettes and Maxells are one of my top 3 choices for blank chrome tapes. But the discs i bought were just a bad batch. Maxell is still a trusted name for blank tapes with us older DJs that started out with recording on tapes before the CD format became way cheaper and affordable.

Try burning your discs as audio only, and burn them at 24x, 30x, or 32x ONLY. Buy better brand name data CDs, and you should have no problems. If you use my method as an example, and you still have problems, then you need to get a new CD burner for your computer. They are always cheaper at Staples or Office Depot. Hope **** works out for you : D

Have you taken a look at the edge of the tape? tracks 1 and 2 on a cassette are usually next to the edge and you may have a bad batch of tapes that have the edge damaged. Another possible but not a likley problem might be the tape is out of spec. for the width, and your heads MAY have a little wear from use, and are trying to act like tape guides. If the tape is slightly wider than the grove worn in the head, the tape would be lifted at the edge and not make contact to the head. It is not electronic as you have diagnosed this with other tapes. Give it a try and see!