Newbie needs help playing authored DVD's

[SteelersFan]

Okay, so I recently purchased a NEC 1100-A DVD burner. It's in my computer and working fine. I recorded a few shows in DVD format with my Haupaugge PVR 250. I then authored them to Fuji Film DVD +RW using TMPGenc. I also tried Ulead DVD Workshop and a couple of others too.

Question 1, I can't seem to play the finished DVD on my standalone Pioneer 525 DVD player or my Mintek 1600. Both are listed as compatible for DVD+RW, but for some reason on the Pioneer I get "cannot read disk" and on the Mintek "no disk." The finished DVD works fine in Zoom Player on my computer however.

Question 2, Let's assume that both those stand alone DVD players cannot play my DVD+RW. Is it possible to author a SVCD or VCD? The reason I ask this is because both those players can play those formats. I've already tested them. Say for example, can I burn a SVCD formatted show on to a DVD?

Question 3, does anyone have any suggestions on how to resolve these issues? I bought the DVD burner primarily so that I could burn some children's show that my daughter likes onto DVD, after authoring them for her. If neither of my standalones work, is there a new cheap alternative DVD player that might be able to work better. I thought the Mintek 1600 could pretty much handle anything you threw at it.

Questiob 4, I hear a lot of people saying they burn with Nero. Should I assume that these DVD's they burn are not authored. I didn't think Nero did that. Is it just a good way to slap the video onto a DVD?


Thanks for your assistance.

[bugster]

1. Could be several reasons. Media compatibility (try a different brand), authoring errors or even the burning program you are using.

2. DVD media must contain DVD-video to play in a standalone DVD player. A few (very few) players will play raw VOB files or .mpg files. You can put VCD or SVCD onto DVD, but they msut be authored to DVD-video format. There are guides in the authoring section on this.

3. See 1 above. Basically, try different media brands, different authoring and burning programs. PC software players are generally much more flexible than standalones and will often play stuff that is way off DVD spec, so the fact that it plays on the PC is of little help here.

4. When people burn DVD with nero, they do just that, burn a set of DVD compliant files (VIDEO_TS folder with .vob, .bup and .if files). If you want to try different burning programs, tell your authoring programs to 'author to disk' or 'create titleset' (the terminology varies), such that you end up with all the DVD files on your HD. Then use Nero, or someother app to burn the DVD.

Hope this helps.

[flaninacupboard]

The only point i'd add:

Has the session been closed/finalised on the DVD+RW?