Compatibility questions - Serious topic - experts need to re

[arcorob]

Hello,

I have broached this issue before but the answers I received were more on the circumvention methods or prefernce methods rather than technical specification.

Here is the issue.

Based on suspect data (you will see why later), we say that DVD-R is 92% compatible with Standalone Players. The same suspect data tells us DVD+R is 87% compatible.

Now why do I say suspect ? Quite simply, the tests were not made uniformly. That is while the media may have been DVD-R or DVD+R, there were differences in:

Media brand
Burn software
Burner used

These differences make quite a difference as I have come to find out. Take for example, my recent query: I have DVD-R burned with Ulead DVD movie factory and it cannot be read in a particular APEX machine that reads DVD-R. The same DVD-R works perfectly in numerous other DVD-R capable machines.

I was told:
Media could be the issue.
Burn method - They recommend switch to ISO image and burn with DVD Decryptor, etc.


Now, the same type of media and the same burn method was used on other disks and they DID play on this particular APEX. But things like the above are rampant. I have also been told don't use nero yet, I have a very stable release of nero (5.something) and have had excellent success in compatibility.

So on to the topic and questions.

what is a standard ? Should we as a leading authority on the internet(many commercial sites actually point here) set a standard to test compatibility ?

What would be standard media brand(s)? Shouldn't it be all media ? Or a class of media (that is some list of brands to comprise a valid standard group) ?

What is the standard burn tool ? What if a machine works with ISO image but not non-iso image ? How do we score it ? I would say low since most tools do NOT use that method, but some do.

I bring these questions up because
1) The statistics and methods are misleading. A player may be said to work with DVD-R for example, but the tester only used MAxell brand and Roxio DVD xyz. Maybe every other DVD-R fails yet, it got a positive nod to being DVD-R capable.

2) No one has adequetly described if ISO image is better than standard AUDIO_TS, FOlder, etc type burn. What does a DVD player require for each. How are store bought movies formated. I know they are pressed, not burned, but the pressed image must conform to some close standard. Okay, what is the tool that creates the closest compatible.

3) I think the forum could use a good topic as we are steeped in alot of "how to" questions, many answered by preference or anecdotal type solutions rather than the RARE - Here is the tech spec and why you shoudl do the following 6 steps.

What do you think?

I have suggestions into Building a standard for these things and even creating a DVDRHELP STANDARD TEST DISK which can be used to BEFORE someone posts compatiblity.

Well, theres my question, dilema and thoughts. Would love to get this rolling ....

What is the standard burner group ? same theory

[tompika]

How are store bought movies formated? I know they are pressed, not burned, but the pressed image must conform to some close standard. Okay, what is the tool that creates the closest compatible.

These two original DVDs are not formatted as UDF 1.02.
They are supposed to play in any player.
Weird isn't it?

[Gazorgan]

I think a lot of problems stem from NERO's interpretation of 'Standard' UDF format. They changed what the 'default' was on some 5.9.xxx revision. This lead to problems on the more finicky players. Creating an ISO image with IMG Tools eliminates Nero/RecordnowMAX/DVDDecrypter idiosyncrosies.

If you want true standards, then you would have to use a DVD5 ISO image. Pick some movie people would have, and is a full DVD 5 disk. You would burn it from an ISO image, using ...oh....pick a burning app.

Now the Media....that's easy. Only real RITEKs. I know there are other good brands, but we always come back to good old Riteks after making a bunch of coasters.

Burn it as -R, -RW, +R and +RW. That's 4 disks for a compatability test. This eliminates the Authoring software, then encoding software, actually it elimintes everything but DVDR compatability.

Now that I think about it, I should do this myself. The only problem is that most stores selling players don't ahve them hooked up to anything. Hmmmmmm, a conundrum!

[arcorob]

Now this is good stuff...But let me ask

You said burn it as an ISO image

DVD5 ISO

Is that what DVD Decryptor uses ? Is that what DVD players prefer ?

So if I use a RITEK ( I like RITEK) and I burn a DVD 5 ISO image and I hit a DVD player that doesn't like it, but reads DVD-R...Then whats the problem ? WHo is out of spec ? The player ?

On to some good stuff here...keep it going folks

[rallynavvie]

DVD Decrypter can rip and write to/from an ISO image, just change the mode. It's actually a pretty compatable burn (I'm using Accu media which has worked fine for me) compared to other methods. I'm using Encore to make ISO images and burning with DVD Decrypter for most clients. Almost all my authoring takes place in Encore (despite its bugs) so that's standard across all my burns now. For new clients I have a package of 5 DVDs authored in a variety of ways. Encore allows output to an ISO or DVD folders (or a direct write I believe via an image) so I create both. I burn the ISO with Nero 5.5.10.35 (latest 5.5 release IIRC), DVD Decrypter, and Encore. I also burn the folders with Nero in DVD Video mode which was said to be best for burning folders. I let the client test these in their players (also recording which models work with which burn methods) to see what will work best for them. One advantage of using Nero is the ability to write to all 4 of my burners at once using the same image. This significantly speeds up production when a client wants more than one disc. I'd prefer to use this method as much as possible but the ISO burn in Nero seems only to work on recent progressive scan players. I've been toying with getting Nero 6 to see if that's more compatable.

Another thing I've noticed is the DVD burner sometimes makes a difference. I've only ever used Pioneers and my one Sony and have never had a problem with them. A friend got a Panasonic burner that, even when using the same apps I used, didn't make a similarly compatable burn. Same goes for the HP my parents bought.

If anyone is interested I can post a graph of my findings. Just give me some time to put it together and test more players.