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  1. Member
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    Well I only read a few pages but great thread.

    I labeled 40 or so DVD-Rs just with a sharpie and had the same problem on 75% of them. I can play them fine in the drive on my PC, just not in my DVD player, so I'll probably have to copy them all onto new disks and not label them directly on the disk.

    I don't know if the exact problem was isolated or not since the sticky thread was so long.
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    Welcome to the forums. You may be blaming the wrong thing here. I've labeled CDs and DVDs for years with Sharpies or the equivalent and NEVER have I had one of my discs fail to play in any player. Your real problem might be your media. Your media may be bad or your DVD player may be fussy. If the Sharpie was really ruining your discs, they wouldn't play anywhere. For best results, I recommend using either Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim media. You might also try burning at a lower speed than the maximum, say 4x. Some people have reported strange problems that got solved by burning at lower speeds.
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  3. There are many possible reasons why your discs will play in your computer, but won't play in a DVD player, but none of those reasons includes being written on by a Sharpie. Using a Sharpie is the preferred method by many of our members here. As jman98 mentioned, it may be a media problem, but it could also be a problem with the DVD creation method you are using. Computers tend to be far more forgiving for out of spec DVD files than stand alone players are. Give us a run down of your process and the tools that you use to create your DVDs and we'll see if we can identify what might be causing the problem.
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  4. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by okyup
    I don't know if the exact problem was isolated or not since the sticky thread was so long.
    Your problem is isolated and not caused by Sharpies.
    Like many....I have used Sharpies exclusively for many many years with absolutely ZERO negative effects on either DVD or CD media.
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  5. Sharpies cause no harm to DVD-R media: the dye layer is sandwiched between two fairly thick plastic discs so the ink cannot penetrate. You are most likely encountering a funky media or poor burning issue as mentioned by the other replies. It would help to know what you are burning them on (computer-OS-burner-burningsoftware), what player is refusing to play them, and what media brand you are using. For example, Nero is notorious for making unplayable DVDs and some players don't handle burned media very well. Many inexpensive discs sold on sale in superstores are barely within spec these days. It could be any of several issues.
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    Interesting!

    I'm writing some Sony DVD-Rs with Nero and DVD Decrypter. If I don't label them there's no problem. If I do label them, I get pausing and freezing up usually near the end of the disk. I'm playing them back in my xbox.

    I've tried playing them multiple times and skipping ahead to the last chapters and it messes up in the exact same places. They play back without fault in my LG drive.

    I don't know what else could be the problem. I've played a DVD-R without writing fine, then wrote on it to have it freeze up. I've copied a DVD-R that I wrote on to a new DVD-R without so I could finish the last half of the movie, and that played fine.
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    Are you pressing on the disks very hard with the pen when you write on them? It is possible that you are compressing the dye layer, and damaging it. Try a soft tipped marker type pen, or use a very light touch when you write with the sharpie.
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  8. Member hech54's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by okyup
    I get pausing and freezing up usually near the end of the disk.
    A tell-tale sign of crap media.
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    The MEDIA ID is SONY16D1, according to digitalFAQ.com they are OK. I burned at 16x using my HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GH22NP2 drive.

    I tested a problematic DVD-R with DVDInfoPro and it said no errors.

    Perhaps it's some problem with playing it in the xbox.
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  10. Sorry, but I have to ask...
    You are writing on the label side of the disc, right?
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  11. Member Number Six's Avatar
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    Sorry, but I have to ask...
    You are writing on the label side of the disc, right?
    "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own" - the Prisoner
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    Originally Posted by gadgetguy
    Sorry, but I have to ask...
    You are writing on the label side of the disc, right?
    Yes.
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  13. Trying to get to the bottom of this thread of yours.
    Sorry but I have to ask.
    1. When you say that "when you label them" they give you problems. Are you putting on labels and then writing on them or are you writing on the DVD itself.
    2. Try burning at a lower speed.
    3. "I'm writing some Sony DVDs". Have you tried a better brand of DVD?
    4. Have you ever not had problems?
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    Originally Posted by Raised Grain
    Trying to get to the bottom of this thread of yours.
    Sorry but I have to ask.
    1. When you say that "when you label them" they give you problems. Are you putting on labels and then writing on them or are you writing on the DVD itself.
    2. Try burning at a lower speed.
    3. "I'm writing some Sony DVDs". Have you tried a better brand of DVD?
    4. Have you ever not had problems?
    OK!
    1. Directly on the DVD.
    2. I will, but I don't think it's the issue as playback is fine in LG drive, and the disks say 16x speed on them.
    3. Not yet, I just found these lying around but I plan to buy some better DVD-R and DVD-R DL ones later today.
    4. Nope, I never burned a DVD-R before 2 weeks ago.
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    I just read another thread of yours:
    https://forum.videohelp.com/topic361965.html#1923991

    Are all your DVD burns originating from downloaded movies? You may very well be having DVD compliance issues. Also, from your other forum thread, you have been trying to play PAL videos with and NTSC player and TV. That may not apply here, but it seems we can pretty much rule out the Sharpie theory.
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    Originally Posted by filmboss80
    I just read another thread of yours:
    https://forum.videohelp.com/topic361965.html#1923991

    Are all your DVD burns originating from downloaded movies? You may very well be having DVD compliance issues.
    ??

    Originally Posted by filmboss80
    Also, from your other forum thread, you have been trying to play PAL videos with and NTSC player and TV. That may not apply here, but it seems we can pretty much rule out the Sharpie theory.
    I don't think that applies here... I just wanted to find out why my standalone DVD player couldn't play the videos so I could test of they have the similar pausing there too.
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  17. Some random thoughts:

    While surprisingly good as multimedia players, game machines do sometimes flake and exhibit playback issues not seen on dedicated DVD hardware. There could be some bizarre issue with the Sharpie labeling causing internal reflections in the xBox that interfere with proper reading. LG drives are very forgiving and in concert with your PC software may simply be able to conceal errors that stump your xBox. "Error-testing" with home-based hardware is a black art that is often not remotely accurate in terms of real-world disc quality or playability. You need to try these problem discs in an actual DVD player before you can write them off as totally bad: a game system and a PC drive are not "typical DVD spec". Like most brand names nowadays, the Sony media ID code is meaningless: it just references the branding. The actual media composition of any given spindle could be anything. Sony veers wildly from very good-excellent (last years Taiwan Sony) to fair-middling (this years Sony Taiwan) to outright junk (Sony Malaysia or any other Sony [Daxon] factory). Instead of using Nero, download ImgBurn or some other known-good burning application and see if the burns improve.

    Finally, it is a seldom-addressed fact that this "16x" speedracer bullsh*t is the single biggest cause of crap media and bad burns. Price-performance topped out at 8x but this wasn't good enough for PC users hyped up on crank. The result was unstable underpriced 16x media which really only works well in newish PC-hosted drives. It burns and plays for sh*t in standalone dedicated non-computer DVD hardware. Try to get your hands on some high-quality internet-sourced 8x rated media like Taiyo Yuden or pro-grade Verbatim DataLife, and run the same burns again. The 16x media in retail stores is piss-poor and worthless for hardware/software troubleshooting.
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  18. I have used a Sharpie for years on CD's and DVD's and the discs worked on all players.I agree with Orsetto and slow your burn to 8x,the extra 2 minutes of waiting is worth it.Also use ImgBurn and make sure the files are under 4400MB.
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    Originally Posted by orsetto
    Finally, it is a seldom-addressed fact that this "16x" speedracer bullsh*t is the single biggest cause of crap media and bad burns. Price-performance topped out at 8x but this wasn't good enough for PC users hyped up on crank. The result was unstable underpriced 16x media which really only works well in newish PC-hosted drives. It burns and plays for sh*t in standalone dedicated non-computer DVD hardware. Try to get your hands on some high-quality internet-sourced 8x rated media like Taiyo Yuden or pro-grade Verbatim DataLife, and run the same burns again. The 16x media in retail stores is piss-poor and worthless for hardware/software troubleshooting.
    I bet that writing at 16x makes errors that become visible when you write on the disk with a sharpie. I'm gonna burn at 1x from now on to be super safe!!!!1!
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  20. Member Number Six's Avatar
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    1x will not work either!!

    On 16x media, you should be burning at 8x min - 12x max.
    "I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed, or numbered! My life is my own" - the Prisoner
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  21. Mod Neophyte Super Moderator redwudz's Avatar
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    I doubt your burner will work at that low of speed.(1X) At least my burners don't have that speed available. I burn 16X at 12X and I've never had any problems. Never had any problems with 16X burn speeds either, but a bit of 'insurance' by dropping down the speed one notch never hurts. But I do burn 8X at 8X. And I do use TY 8X and 16X media. Never any burner related coasters and I have several brands of DVD burners I use. I use a Sharpie to label all of the discs.

    I have noticed some brands of media are semi-transparent. If you hold yours up to the light and you can see the Sharpie writing through the disc, that could be a source of problems. I can definitely see the Sharpie writing through some of my older CDs, probably PRODISC brands. Never caused any problems, but your results may vary. White topped printable discs would probably fix that.
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    Originally Posted by okyup
    Interesting!

    I'm writing some Sony DVD-Rs with Nero and DVD Decrypter. If I don't label them there's no problem. If I do label them, I get pausing and freezing up usually near the end of the disk. I'm playing them back in my xbox.

    I've tried playing them multiple times and skipping ahead to the last chapters and it messes up in the exact same places. They play back without fault in my LG drive.

    I don't know what else could be the problem. I've played a DVD-R without writing fine, then wrote on it to have it freeze up. I've copied a DVD-R that I wrote on to a new DVD-R without so I could finish the last half of the movie, and that played fine.
    Just to be sure, you are careful to only handle the media by the edges before burning, yes? If you are smudging the media (say, while writing with a sharpie), then you will cause burn errors. Fingerprints, etc. are somewhat tolerable during reads, but they are absolute no-nos for writing. Since such smudges tend to occur near the edges, that can cause freezes, etc., toward the end of movies. If you are labeling before writing, it's all too easy to be a little careless and mess up the business side of the disc with your fingerprints.
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