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  1. Edit 15/12: Made a new long-ass post about my new long-ass problems.


    Hi, I'm a complete newbie at this sort of thing but I'll try not to ramble too much. I want to burn a set of DVD's for playback on a fairly old household DVD player (had it about 10 years I think), using this software: http://www.sothinkmedia.com/movie-dvd-maker/ . I had a blank DVD lying around and made a prototype to check the software was good, the disc I made worked fine in both my PC and in the DVD player.

    So I bought 50 Verbatim DVD+R discs and started burning discs using the exact same settings as I had for the prototype. Now I come to test them and I find that, although they work fine in my PC, when I put them in the DVD player it doesn't play and the player displays a 'no disc' error message.

    When I bought the discs I wasn't really aware of the different formats, now I seem to have read that DVD+R's aren't necessarily compatible with household players, whereas DVD-R's should be. I have no idea what format the prototype disc was unfortunately, or even where I got it from, so could anyone please advise me: is it likely that the problem is with the DVD+R format, and does it seem probable that if I buy a set of DVD-R's I will be able to burn working discs?


    Hope this wasn't too amateurish, thanks in advance for any advice you can give.
    Last edited by yultie; 15th Dec 2010 at 14:56.
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  2. I'm a MEGA Super Moderator Baldrick's Avatar
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    Probably the DVD+R. But don't buy 1000 DVD-R discs directly...

    It could also be the software. Did it make a standard DVD-Video with a VIDEO_TS folder on it?

    You could try other better free dvd-video converters like DVD Flick or AVStoDVD.
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    Some older players play only 1 type of DVD including an old Toshiba player I have that's designed to play only DVD-R and won't play DVD+R, but it will play DVD+R recordings bitset to DVD-ROM book type. Most likely your player is designed to play only DVD-R I suspect, but it'll likely play the DVD+R if bitset to DVD-ROM book type. Go to the forum for your DVD burner brand at http://club.myce.com/ to learn how to enable bitsetting for your burner.
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  4. Thanks for the quick reply.

    Is it all that likely to be the software given that it worked fine with the first disc, but not with the ones I bought?

    I just had a look on the discs I burned using the sothink software, there's an AUDIO_TS and a VIDEO_TS folder on them, is that right?

    I'd like to stick with using that software if possible, as I say it did work on the first disc, and it makes it super easy for an abject amateur like myself to make a nice looking menu for multiple videos on one disc. Not trying to make anything professional looking, it's just a bit of fun, providing I can get the bloody thing to work

    So by the sounds of it I should be buying a pack of DVD-R's and crossing my fingers then?
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  5. Originally Posted by bevills1 View Post
    Some older players play only 1 type of DVD including an old Toshiba player I have that's designed to play only DVD-R and won't play DVD+R, but it will play DVD+R recordings bitset to DVD-ROM book type. Most likely your player is designed to play only DVD-R I suspect, but it'll likely play the DVD+R if bitset to DVD-ROM book type. Go to the forum for your DVD burner brand at http://club.myce.com/ to learn how to enable bitsetting for your burner.
    You posted while I was typing, as I feared it's all getting a bit technical very quickly. Not that I'm averse to trying something that means not having to buy new discs but you're going to have to hold my hand a little bit more to be honest. How do I find out what brand my DVD burner is? And where on that link do I look once I know which it is? The front page is a fairly daunting list of forums and word 'bitsetting' doesn't appear on it anywhere.

    It might help if you imagine you're trying to explain all this to a small child or a senile cat or something.
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  6. + and - R are pretty much equivalent these days -- unless you have a really old DVD player.
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  7. Hmm, well I found out I have a NEC RW ND-3550A drive, but when I looked it up on that forum and it started talking about flashing the firmware and suchlike I started to get a headache.

    I do appreciate the help but based on what you guys've told me I'll just give it a try with some DVD-R's. If it still doesn't work I suppose I'll start flashing some things and firmwaring others, let's hope it doesn't come to that as there's a decent chance I'll burn the house down.
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  8. Originally Posted by jagabo View Post
    + and - R are pretty much equivalent these days -- unless you have a really old DVD player.
    It is pretty damn old yes, as I said I think it's at least 10 years, maybe more. Certainly it's the only one we've ever had.
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  9. Member
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    If your DVD player is 10 years old or more, then it existed before the DVD+R came out.
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  10. With a 10+ year old DVD player even -R can be iffy!
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    honestly, i would just go and buy a newer cheap dvd player and be done with it...it sounds like your dvd player is just way old...bitsetting anymore doesnt matter with these newer players. Some can be found for 20 bux
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  12. Yeah, it can be cheaper to buy a new player than waste 50 DVD+R!
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  13. Its probably the DVD player, models made before 2001 don't handle +R and often don't even like -R. This time of year especially, you can find great deals on decent DVD players, and theres even a very nice LG BluRay/DVD player going for under $80.

    Big brand name DVD players, particularly older models, can be extremely picky that a DVD-R or DVD+R be burned in a very specific way. Most of the free or cheap computer DVD software packages tend to make half-assed DVDs that barely pass the DVD standard: portable players and cheap Kmart dvd players have no problem with these but a Sony, Panasonic or Toshiba might. DVD-R is still very slightly more compatible than +R, and you might see if you can download the free IMGburn program and use that to burn the actual VIDEO-TS and AUDIO_TS folders created by your sothink software. IMGburn is the finest DVD burning program you can use, much better than the burner module in most software bundles.

    Forget the flashing and bitsetting and other arcane forum gibberish that some of us indulge in, its not relevant to a casual user unless your gear (computer, burner, and players) is all ridiculously old. Even then, its much easier to just buy a new $30 Samsung burner and/or a new player than fuss with the PC configuration.
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  14. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by yultie View Post
    So I bought 50 Verbatim DVD+R discs
    Which ones? Not all Verbatim are good anymore.
    See http://www.digitalFAQ.com/forum/showthread.php/which-mcc-brand-2268.html
    Aside from that, DVD+R is usually fine.
    The bigger issue is always high quality vs low quality blanks -- not format.
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    The firmware to enable bitsetting for NEC ND-3550A is at http://club.myce.com/f86/liggy-dee-nec-nd-3550a-modified-firmware-v-1-y6-results-suppo...thread-157109/ as well as link to Binflash needed to flash the drive in second question under "LD Firmware Mini FAQ." Note you need to select the Liggy's bitsetting firmware whose number matches the firmware of your drive, i.e. choose "Liggy's ND3550 Bitsetting Firmware 1.07 if the drive has "Original ND3550A firmware 1.07." DVDIdentifier is a free download that will tell you what firmware version the drive has and is also useful for getting DVD disc info as well. FYI I used Liggy's firmware and binflash to enable bitsetting on a ND-3520A that I have.

    Another option you might consider is to swap the +R you have for -R with a friend if you don't want to mess with flashing to enable bitsetting.
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  16. Member [_chef_]'s Avatar
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    Getting a actual dvd standalone player is the easiest solution.
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  17. Thanks for all the replies, you're a helpful bunch Unfortunately I have a new problem.

    I just spent the last 12 days burning DVD-R's, after finding that the first couple I made seemed to work fine.

    Of course I should have checked more thoroughly because although they are working in as much as the player actually recognises them unlike the DVD+Rs, they're pretty much unwatchable as they seem to be skipping and glitching quite a lot at the same point on every disc. 90% of the playback they're fine but they all seem to start having problems around the 115 minute mark, about halfway through the third episode of the programme I'm trying to burn. It's possible they're having problems at other points too, I don't have the time to watch enough discs to be sure, but there seems to be a definite issue around the 1 hour 55 mark and thereafter.

    I notice now that the packaging of the discs I'm using (amazon link) says '120 minutes' on it, since the problems are cropping up around this point I guess that's not a coincidence. The Sothink burning software I was using seemed to have a feature whereby you could put more or less any length of video on, and it would automatically reduce the video quality to make it fit, so I was trying to fit about 200 minutes on each disc.

    If it is all just a problem with the player then there's nothing I can do about it. The discs are meant to be a present for someone, it's their player and they won't replace it until it explodes or burns the house down.


    So, assuming it's either a problem with the software or how I was using it, my questions are these:

    Is that right then, that you can only fit 120 minutes of video footage on the recommended commercially available blank discs, regardless of what burning software you use and the quality of the videos? If so, how do people cope when they want to burn a three hour movie or something?

    Is it worth my while starting from scratch with a different bit of software? If so, what is the recommended user-friendly standard for people who just want to plug in a few video files, make a simple menu and burn?


    I can well believe that the software I'm using is crappy, but it is very newbie friendly. If the problem IS with the 120 minute limit then I may as well stick with it and just burn two 45 minute episodes on each disc. I'll happily learn to use a different bit of software if it's going to make a more stable disc, but not some professional standard uber-burner with more buttons and features than god that you need a PhD and a three week instructional course to operate.

    I guess these questions aren't really about the media I'm using any more, apologies if this is breaking any rules, just figured I'd post in the ongoing thread rather than start a new one.


    Thanks again for your time.
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  18. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    Is that right then, that you can only fit 120 minutes of video footage on the recommended commercially available blank discs, regardless of what burning software you use and the quality of the videos?
    No.

    The disc holds 4.38GB of data. File size for video data = length x bitrate.
    The entire "120min" thing is stupid.
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  19. The 120 minute thing is just marketing speak.

    If the software you are using will let you output a VIDEO_TS folder or ISO image instead of actually burning a DVD, I would try doing that. Verify that the VIDEO_TS folder or ISO image is working properly by playing the contents with VLC. Once your happy that everything is fine, use ImageBurn to burn a DVD. I usually elect to run a "verify" pass after burning. At least then you know the drive that just wrote the data is able to read it back without any errors. Finally, if you have Nero's CDSpeed program (DVDInfo Pro might have this feature too), run a transfer rate test. That reads the disc from beginning to end and draws a graph of the transfer rate. Look for a smooth graph without jagged peaks or troughs which indicate difficulties reading the disc.

    When inferior DVDs are used, or they're not burned well, the outer edge of the disc is the most likely place to have problems. That is usually near the end of the recording.
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  20. Member [_chef_]'s Avatar
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    yultie,

    check out the info about DVD here https://www.videohelp.com/dvd
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    If the problem is near the end of the DVD, the problem might be averted by shrinking the video to smaller size such as 4.28 GB instead of the 4.38 GB max size. I don't know if the program you're using facilitates that or not, but I believe DVDShrink does.
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