Which specifications should I be looking for to play my data discs?

K_Kat · Member Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Location: Canada

Hello,
I am new to this forum but I'm hoping that someone can answer my question

For months, I have been creating DVD-R "data discs" consisting of .avi files (without additional conversion) using CDBurnerXP. I can usually fit 10 or more 30-min TV episodes in .avi format on one disc. I am assuming that what I'm creating is a DVD-RAM, but I could be wrong.

My problem is that these DVDs play on my laptop but I have found only TWO DVD players that support my discs and I'm not sure why. Here are the two that play these discs (unfortunately, they don't belong to me):
Daytek DVK2001s
Philips DVP3982 (Region Free) HDMI 1080p DivX Ultra
[specs for Philips: Video Playback: •Playback Media: CD, CD-R/CD-RW, Video CD/SVCD, DVD, DivX, DVD+R/+RW, DVD-R/-RW, DVD-Video •Compression formats: MPEG1, MPEG2 •Video disc playback system: NTSC, PAL]

I recently purchased the following and it does NOT play them:
Toshiba SD-3990 Progressive Scan DVD Player
[specs for Toshiba: Playback formats: DVD movie, CD audio, DVD-R/RW, VCD, CD-R/RW, MP3, WMA, JPEG, DivX]

What is the key difference between the players that allows playback of my discs? I am trying to buy another player but I'm not sure what specifications I should be looking for. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!
k.

guns1inger · Member Joined: 01 Apr 2004 Location: Miskatonic U

DVD-RAM is a disc type, so you are not creating DVD-RAM discs, but data discs. Just semantics and means nothing toward solving your problem.

I would try Imgburn. I have created (for too) many data discs with avi files on them, and have had no issues having them read by many different players. I always burn with Imgburn.

The other thing to look at is the media you use. Cheap no-name or poor quality banded media may not read well in many players.
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z0mbie · Respawned Joined: 04 May 2009 Location: Wolf's Lair

Hey, what you are creating is a DVD data disc, not a DVD-RAM, DVD-RAM is an actual disk, you can not create a DVD-RAM disk from a DVDR, check the glossary http://www.videohelp.com/glossary?D#DVD-RAM & you can also check the Player list for Toshiba SD3990 http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers/toshiba-sd3990/6716?nextcomments=25. the chipset the player uses is a Zoran Vaddis 882, my initial thought was that your avi files xvid/divx were encoded in GMC & Qpel, but aparnetly it plays back Xvid files with GMC and Qpel with no problem, so then I thought Packed bitstream, but at the end of the day, you say avi files, what actual codec are the avi files in? if we know this, we may be able to help a bit more, grab your self a copy of Gspot, & just open up one of your avi files with it, you can get it from the tools section for free, then just get back to us with the results.

db

[EDIT] sorry guns, you beat me to it by 2 mins
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INFRATOM · Member Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Location: USA

You need a dvd player that plays that extension. My recommendation is Oppo. you put the disc in and it pops a menu and then you can play which ever. The model I have you can do the same by a USB flash memory.

jman98 · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Location: Freedonia

We have a sticky here that describes Xvid/Dvix encoding options that can be problematic for playback on DVD players:
http://forum.videohelp.com/topic352457.html

Look at your files with something like GSpot and see if they have any of the characteristics talked about in the sticky. Then you know that you need a DVD player that supports Divx with those encoding options.

K_Kat · Member Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Location: Canada

Hello

First, thank you for the correction on the DVD-RAM comment...I feel silly now.

I downloaded GSpot and this is the information that was produced on one of my data discs:
Container: File length correct; OpenDML (AVI v2.0); Interleave - 1 vid frame (33ms) preload=480; Audio frames - aligned on interleaves.

UserData: [ISFT] Nandub v1.0rc2 [JUNK] Nandub build 1853/release [USER] XviD0043

Audio: Codec 0x0055 MPEG-1 Layer3; Info 48000Hz 127 kb/s tot, Joint Stereo

Video: Codec XVID; Name XviD 1.2 SMP MPG4

Proposed Codec Solutions and Tests:
GSpot Vid:
**I received numerous error messages. ConnectDirect() failed. Error: 0x80040207: [unknown]**

The following worked:
[Src]-->>--{A}-->[AVI Splitter]>--{B}-->[DivX Decoder Filter]>--[C]-->[Video Renderer] Video Render OK. Use [3] to play.

GSpot Aud:

***Once again, I received many errors. The following worked:
[Src]-->>--{A}-->[AVI Splitter]>--{B}-->[ACM:MPEG Layer-3 Audio Codec for MSACM]>--[C]-->[Default DirectSound Device] Audio Render OK. Use [3] to play.

[Src]-->>--{A}-->[AVI Splitter]>--{B}-->[MPEG Layer-3 Decoder]>--[C]-->[Default DirectSound Device] Audio Render OK. Use [3] to play.

MS A/V:
Render OK. The following combination of filters was used:
[Src]-->>--{A}-->[AVI Splitter]>--{B}-->[DivX Decoder Filter]>--[C]-->[Video Renderer]
[Src]-->>--{A}-->[AVI Splitter]>--{B}-->[MPEG Layer-3 Decoder]>--[C]-->[Default DirectSound Device]

Thank you all for your help!
k.

K_Kat · Member Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Location: Canada

Hello again...
I also ran the MPEG4 Modifier and got the following information:
Packed bitstream: No
QPel: No
GMC: No
Interlaced: No
Aspect ratio: Square pixels
Quant type: H.263
FourCC: XVID
User data: XviD0043

I-VOPs: 405 (0.75%)
P-VOPs: 18392 (34.21%)
B-VOPs: 34969 (65.04%)
S-VOPs: 0 (0.00%)
N-VOPs: 0 (0.00%)

Max consecutive B-VOPs: 2
1 consec: 7.80%
2 consec: 92.20%

K_Kat · Member Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Location: Canada

Sorry to post again but given the information I just posted (re: GSpot), I don't understand why the disc does not play on the Toshiba SD3990. Once again, it has the following specs:
DVD

* Media Type CD-RW , DVD-R , CD , DVD-RW , CD-R , DVD , Video CD
* Video D/A Converter 14bit / 108MHz
* Audio D/A Converter 24bit / 192kHz
* Supported Digital Video Standards MPEG-4 , AVI , DivX
* Supported Digital Audio Standards ASF , MP3 , WMA

Thank you!

Lawbringer · Member Joined: 03 Jan 2007 Location: United States

It might be something as silly as the file extension - try changing one of them to .divx instead of .avi and try it out on a DVD-RW.

That's most likely not the problem, but it's something to try if you have a few minutes to spare.

lizzoqops · Member Joined: 07 Apr 2001 Location: florida

You haven't said what the resolution of the files are...they look like they should play on that Toshiba. Maybe the resolution is too big? I believe they have to be smaller than 720 width to play on most divx/avi players.

jman98 · Member Joined: 08 Oct 2004 Location: Freedonia

Lawbringer and lizzoqops made reasonable suggestions for your problem. Look into those. Also, except for telling us that you have MP3 audio, your Gspot info was worthless. I have no idea why it is not behaving better than that on your computer.

Also, some DVD players read the FourCC information and will barf on certain settings. It could be that your player does not like Xvid in this field. This free program can change the FourCC information:
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/AVI_FourCC_Code_Changer

vatkat234 · Member Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Location: United States

Most Panasonic and Toshiba DVD players support DVD-RAM. I do not think OPPO supports DVD-RAM.

DVD-RAM is like a hard drive on a disc. When used with a computer you can download files right tot he disc.

I have a Panasonic E80H DVD recorder and I can burn two shows on DVD-RAM, I can also just delete one show and keep the other one on the DVD-RAM, just like if it was a hard drive.

K_Kat · Member Joined: 03 Jun 2009 Location: Canada

Hello,
Thank you for your responses. However, I am unclear why the information that I posted from GSpot was "worthless." Here is the information from the text file that was generated:

--- File Information ---
File Name: E02.The.Anonymous.Donor.DVDRip.XviD-FoV.avi
File Name (with full path): C:\Documents and Settings\Kathy Smolewska\My Documents\My Videos\E02.The.Anonymous.Donor.DVDRip.XviD-FoV.avi
File Size (in bytes): 244,791,296

--- Container Information ---
Base Type (e.g "AVI"): AVI(.AVI)
Subtype (e.g "OpenDML"): OpenDML (AVI v2.0),
Interleave (in ms): 33
Preload (in ms): 480
Audio alignment("split across interleaves"): Aligned
Total System Bitrate (kbps): 0
Bytes Missing (if any): 0
Number of Audio Streams: 1

--- Video Information ---
Video Codec Type(e.g. "DIV3"): XVID
Video Codec Name(e.g. "DivX 3, Low-Motion"): XviD 1.2 SMP
Video Codec Status(e.g. "Codec Is Installed"): Codec(s) are Installed
Duration (hh:mm:ss): 29:58.014
Frame Count: 53886
Frame Width (pixels): 576
Frame Height (pixels): 432
Storage Aspect Ratio("SAR")" 1.333
Pixel Aspect Ratio ("PAR"): 1.000
Display Aspect Ratio ("DAR"): 1.333
Fields Per Second:
Frames Per Second: 29.970
Pics Per Second: 29.970
Video Bitrate (kbps): 947
MPEG-4 ("MPEG-4" or ""): MPEG-4
B-VOP ("B-VOP" or ""): B-VOP
QPel ("QPel" or ""):
GMC ("GMC" or ""):
NVOP ("NVOP" or ""):
H264 ("H264" or ""):
Quality Factor (bits/pixel)/frame: 0.127"

MPEG-2 ("MPEG-2" or ""):
Interlaced ("I/L" or ""):
Progressive ("Prog" or ""):
Top Frame First ("TFF" or ""):
Bottom Frame First ("BFF" or ""):
3:2 Pulldown ("3:2" or ""):
Picture-per-field ("PPF" or ""):

--- Aspect Ratio Related ---

Broadcast standard: "PAL" (else blank)
Broadcast standard: "NTSC" (else blank)
src:"VCD", "SVCD", "CVD", or "DVD (else blank):
Instructions to convert to VCD, first part:
Instructions to convert to VCD, second part:
Instructions to convert to SVCD, first part:
Instructions to convert to SVCD, second part:
Instructions to convert to CVD, first part:
Instructions to convert to CVD, second part:
Instructions to convert to DVD, first part:
Instructions to convert to DVD, second part:
Instructions to convert to AVI, first part:
Instructions to convert to AVI, second part:

--- Audio Information ---
MPEG Stream ID (e.g. "0xbd"):
MPEG VOB file Substream(e.g. "0x80"):
Audio Codec (e.g. "AC3"): 0x0055 MPEG-1 Layer 3
Audio Codec Status (e.g. "Codec Is Installed"): Codec(s) are Installed
Audio Sample Rate (Hz): 48000
Audio Bitrate(kbps): 128
Audio Bitrate Type ("CBR" or "VBR"): VBR
Audio Channel Count (e.g. "2" for stereo): 2