DVD-R errors...feedback requested!!

[danfront]

This is a bit of a long post, but I've described my issue in detail for those that care...

I have been backing up movies for myself and friends for a couple of months using Ritek printable DVD-Rs with no real problems, but lately it seems that 90% of movies that are ripped (using up to 3 different computers) do not burn correctly.

We are using DVD shrink 3.1 or 3.5 to rip the DVDs and Nero 6 to burn the VOB files. When the VOB files are played off the computer directly by PowerDVD the movie plays fine with no errors or skips.

The problems seems to occur towards the last quarter of the movie when it is being played on a burned DVD-R. It will start to skip, show artifacts, or completly stop playing. These errors occur on DVD players with Progressive Scan and our computer DVD players/burners as well.

I am using the white-top Ritek's to burn on DVD-R format and have sucessfully done about 400 discs. As of the last month we have sent back spindles of DVD-Rs because we thought we had gotten bad batches, but it seems to occur much too often for us to have gotten five bad 50-DVD-R spindles in 4 weeks time. (We didin't burn 250 DVD-Rs, just 10 tries for each spindle and sent them in for an RMA at newegg.com)

My computer is the main one used for ripping and I am running on Dual Ahtlon MP 2800+'s, 1GB DDR 400 Corsair, Raid 1 for the OS, and a 160GB SATA drive for the DVDs. I know it's not a speed issue since the errors occur on mine as well as the slowest which is an Athlon XP 1700+ computer.

We have tried burning at 1x, 2x, 4x. Changed the size of the DVD from 4464MB all the way down to 4364MB so that it wouldn't write to the very edge of the DVD, etc.

Any feedback is welcome and sorry for the long post.

[dafreak]

hmm, that does seem pretty strange.

have you tried converting your vob files into and iso and burning in iso mode with dvddecrypter?

you can use imgtools to create iso files.

[dafreak]

what kind of burner do you have?
have you updated your burner with the latest firmware?

[danfront]

I have not tried to to burn from an ISO, but I will try that.

I am using 2 Pioneer DVDR-105's and a Lite-on LDW-811s with updated firmwares.

[lordsmurf]

Ritek are starting to suck, and the DVD Shrink ripping engine is subpar.

[louis_sacchetti]

I've had exactly the same problem with a spindle of 100 Riteks. I've solved it by ensuring that no file that I burn is ever bigger than 4.2 gig.
It's annoying, but at least I've stopped producing coasters.

[garryheather]

Ritek are starting to suck.

God, no ! Please, say it isn't so ! The last bastion of civilisation, going down the pan ?

No problems to report this end (not that many of you are interested in my end, I'm sure...) - hopefully there is just a rogue batch out there, knocked out on a rainy Friday afternoon after a pub lunch when the quality control department had gone home early, and there was an R in the month and Hell had frozen over...

[lordsmurf]

I'm temporarily relegating RITEK to just above Princo in quality. My Princo and Ritek coaster rating is about the same.

[Phil Thomas]

I'm temporarily relegating RITEK to just above Princo in quality. My Princo and Ritek coaster rating is about the same.

Are we talking Ritek Grade A here ? ..... or are you including overprints in your rating ?

[vettesea]

I have to say that this is getting ridiculous. Why on earth is it so hard to find some good media?

I have used Riteks with some good success and have recently ordered another batch, only to read this message and find that they are deteriating.

I understand that it is horses for courses and some have success where others fail. However, I am based in the UK and almost every supplier sells Ritek dye disks.

Does anyone know a GOOD manufacturer (regardless of cost) and reseller in the UK that have some sort of quality control? I am amazed that area is as unclear as it is.

[danfront]

I've had exactly the same problem with a spindle of 100 Riteks. I've solved it by ensuring that no file that I burn is ever bigger than 4.2 gig.
It's annoying, but at least I've stopped producing coasters.

Seems like a good idea to cut it down to 4.2Gb, I'll try that. Especially since the errors are only happening at the end of the discs.

[macleod]

The problems seems to occur towards the last quarter of the movie

That says it all right there. Where media gets the "thinnest" is towards the outer edge of the disc. If you are using dvdshrink to backup your movies, go into the preferences section and change the burn size to 4200 (or something less than the full disc). That should solve your problem with your current media.

Media quality etc is always opened to debate. This is good here, this is bad there. Personally, I buy the cheapest I can find (non princo, but will in a pinch). I just purchased another 100 pack of dvd media pro from www.supermediastore.com for $54 ($64 after shipping). I dont burn to the edge and have NOT had any problems with the cheap stuff.

[RWANDREWS]

I have had many problems with various "good" quality disks such as Maxell, TDK & Riddata similar to yours. Checks with DVDInfo reveal 30,000 + (!!!?) errors and they freeze on playback on my standalone DVD. Turns out that if I do not de-fragment my HD every week, this will occur. Same file, de-fragged, good burn, NO errors.

Since you are burning many disks, you amy have to defragg every night.

Try it.

[kiki]

Unusual problem indeed. My experience has shown the pioneer 105,s
to be rock solid and dependable burners.
A friend of mine and I, experienced exactly the problem you are having,
and at the very same time. Different firmware and different media
provided no relief. Neither one of us could burn or erase -rw,s.
Have you tried -rw,s???
Anyway, the only common denominator between my friend and myself,
is that we are both smokers. I dissasembled my 105 and cleaned the lens
with alcohol and a cotton swab.
I have burnt about 60 dvd,s since the cleaning and all have been flawless.
I did the same thing to my friends 105, a voracious burner if ever
there was one, and he has burnt 150 dvd,s flawlessly.
If you are a smoker, or in a dusty environment, this MAY help your situation. I also suspect that pet (cat especially) owners may run into
similar situations.
I personally have had NO experience with the commercial lens cleaners.
So I cannot comment on there success or failure
I hope this is of some help to you and your dilemma.
Best of luck

kiki

[oldlag]

I have just installed a new TDK 4X multi Burner. I used DVDShrink to backup a movie onto a -RDVD via Nero 6.0. It threw an error after the Lead in. I then used DVDShrink to create a Nero image file, and then used Decrypter to burn the file on a -R blank. Again it wrote the lead in but threw an error on writing the image file: Cannot Write Medium - Incompatible Format. I then switch to a +R blank and used Decrypter to write the disc. Perfect copy. I spoke to TDK Techs this afternoon and they say that Nero 6.0 has known problems with -RDVDs and that upgrading to version 6.3.2 might help. Since DVDShrink uses the Nero engine to create Nero image files, it would have the same problem. To confirm the Nero problem, I used DVDShrink to write with the HDD Folder option and then used ImgTool to create an image file. I then burnt the image file with Roxio 6.0 to a -RDVD. Perfect result. Don't know if 6.3.2 fixes it though.

[lordsmurf]

I'm temporarily relegating RITEK to just above Princo in quality. My Princo and Ritek coaster rating is about the same.

Are we talking Ritek Grade A here ? ..... or are you including overprints in your rating ?

I'm going to go ahead and include all of them. Ritek is overworked I bet, and cannot keep up BOTH quality and quantity. Sad.

[danfront]

To Reply to many...

- Not a smoker, and computers and in very clean environments

- I do have the latest Nero version and DVDShrink versions

- After defragging the disk drive used for DVDs and setting DVDShrink to 4200MB the problems seem to have stopped.

I have burned 8 good copies since changing the way I burned.. I will keep you posted. I should be copying another 10 or so DVDs in the next couple of days.

[VicodiN]

Hmm... Customarily I burn at about 4.4gig without any problems thusfar with Nero 6, shrinking with dvdshrink 3.13, usually using TDK's or Memorex +/-R's..Its funny because as I search numerous threads dedicated to blank dvd media, Ritek's are always at the tops of the lists for providing quality media - stressing that 'short inking' was least likely to occur on a Ritek.... It was getting to the point where I figured Id give them a go. Now I think i'll hold off to prehaps see if this is (hopefully) an isolated problem.

As a side note, I personally choose not to use any burner of any kind not made by LiteOn... That company has treated me greatly over the years, and I will stay loyal until they too hit the preverbial fan.

[Hawseman]

I'm having the same problem. This is definitely a media issue, at least with these Ridata-Ritek G04 printables. I've burned at 4x, 2x, 1x with my Pioneer A06 using Nero, and RecordNow...no go on any standalones. Slower burns help a little, but outer ring pixelates and freezes badly. I burned the same files using TDK and Memorex (both non-printable) with success at 4x...that squashes the defrag problem.

I'm a little pissed right now...all the praise on the Riteks had swayed my decision to purchase these. Most of my video is Video8 caps that have been filtered/compressed to fit a 4.7gb disk....not 3.8.

My stubborn, man-like tendency to troubleshoot has made me clean out about half of my 50 pack (same movie). I thought it was something I was doing wrong....my final conclusion - crap media.

I have a brand new R300 that is teasing me in the corner. (I had to print on one, just to see....very kewl).

I'll give TY or Maxell a try. Expensive, but considering the time and waste I've been dealing with, it'll be a bargain.

[Thunder In Paradise]

Well, it would make sense to cut the total movie size down to 4.2GB since a DVD-R can only hold 4.3GB of movie data. Also, ditch Nero, it sucks, and that's what 1/2 the posts on here are about, "I'm having problems with Nero, Nero, Nero, etc. blah blah blah". Get a good burning program like DVD Decrypter or CloneDVD, these never fail. Ritek G04's have always been the bomb, and always will be! I've burned over 200 discs, DVD's and PS2's, and not a single coaster in any of them. However, maybe something is funky with the amount in spindle, because those other guys always get like 100 or 200x spindles, while I only get 50x spindles at a time. I never write any farther then 4300MB period, not a playing problem to speak of.

[jawgee]

...My stubborn, man-like tendency to troubleshoot has made me clean out about half of my 50 pack (same movie). I thought it was something I was doing wrong....my final conclusion - crap media.

I have a brand new R300 that is teasing me in the corner. (I had to print on one, just to see....very kewl)...

Ha ha! You sound like me, Hawseman. I've just about burned through an entire 25pk of G04 printables (bought at Supermediastore) trying to copy just 1 playable version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate factory. Nada - not a single playable copy all the the way to the end of the movie. Tried burning the movie on two different burners. Tried different firmware, different speeds, different ripping/transcoding apps, ISO/UDF vs. DVD-Video. All the G04s BURN successfully, BUT NONE of them play all the way through the end of the movie. Around chapter 34 (out of 40) is where the funkiness starts to occur. The movie will either freeze, skip, jump to a previous chapter, or just stop playing. I've tried to play these backups in 3 different console DVD players, 1 LiteOn DVDROM, & two different DVD burners. No dice. Now, here's the punchline...these same burners with the SAME source files will burn & play fine using Ritek G03 DVD-R & Optodisc 4X DVD+R discs!

I have not tried reducing the size of the movie as I feel I shouldn't have to, but maybe I'll try it for the last G04 that I'm eyeing in that nearly empty spindle on my desk. I noticed that the G04s purple color looked uneven after they were burned; have you noticed this, too? Well, off to Oompa Loompa Land one more time...

Thanks,
jawgee

[Hawseman]

Let me stand-down a bit....(I'm a bit more sober this morning):

Ridata may have a quality issue with their printable media. It may be that this is a balancing issue as apposed to a dye issue. Close visual inspection of disks didn't show any anomolies. My burns and verifications (DVDInfo/Nero) were mostly good. My playback seemed okay on my burner....it's just my 3 standalone players that didn't like it.

Thunder,
I could have written in "true" gigabyte lingo, but that's not my point.
The Memorex -R, and Verbatim -R were burned and played AFTER using Nero and RecordNow, respectively....what more can I say?

Thanks for the help, though.

I've been a peep here for years, gathering knowledge. I joined the forum only recently because of this issue needing to be addressed. It's very frustrating.