Burned DVDs Wearing Out?

[alan93]

I have burned about 20 DVDs on my HP 420i (latest firmware updates)using their HP 8x +R 4.7 gig media.

These would play fine once in my Panasonic Home Theater once but when I tried to play them a second time or more, they would start locking up usually in the later chapters

Then I would play them in a Zenith DVD/VHS combo and they would play fine in that , but now they start locking up in that too. Usually in the later chapters.

Any idea what would cause this? Not sure if its the Players, Burner, Media, or software (DVDClone and DVD Decryptor).

thanks

[Bodyslide]

What media code is the HP?
Sounds like bad media if the movie skips on the last chapter.

[alan93]

Thanks for the response, but...

no no no, it doesn't "skip" on last chapter. It begins "locking up" and "freeze framing" on 2nd half of disk.

One more interesting thing I noticed. If I turn the DVD players off. And then turn it back on, it will play a little farther past the place it initially started locking up. Like the media is making the laser over heat????

I am really grasping at straws here!

[alan93]

Saw a similar question here:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=261748

People are suggesting labels are the problem?

I wonder because I use them and have them carefully centered (by hand) but wondering if as the laser moves out to outer edge of disk, and the labesl are a tiny bit off center if this would mess up the read???

I guess I could try removing them and seeing what it does?

[Bodyslide]

Still sounds like bad media. Use Nero CD-DVD Speed to see if the DVD has any bad blocks. Another thing could be a dirty laser? Have you tried to clean it? Yes, labels can cause problems.

[cyflyer]

sounds like a bad media problem. Yes, "locking up", "freeze frameing",all typical. RU able to see media code ? The switching off and playing passed a certain point thing, thats what the bad medias do. Its not an exact point at which they start causing problems. One time it might play a little further, other times it might start a little earlier, sometimes it might seem to play ok to the end.

[alan93]

ok, lets go with that idea here for a sec.

Say it has bad blocks

Is it possible that a DVD player (panasonic) has damaged the DVD by playing it?

I guess I should run that test on ones that haven't been burnt and then play them until they don't to see if the test changes over time?

Do you mean dirty laser on the burner or player? I sprayed an air can in the panasonic a few times to try to knock dust out if there was any.

[alan93]

This is the media I used:

https://www.videohelp.com/mediaimages/standardmedia12481.jpg

[snafu099]

I wonder because I use them and have them carefully centered (by hand) but wondering if as the laser moves out to outer edge of disk, and the labesl are a tiny bit off center if this would mess up the read???

I guess I could try removing them and seeing what it does?

That would be my guess as it is what I experienced. Since the posts about using labels was both pro and con, I tried it for myself. Seemed to work until I went to replay some time later.

I would try to remove the label on one that has playback problem to see if that corrected the issue.

I label my cd's still but not dvd

[cyflyer]

sorry, didn't notice the bit about 'labels'. A definate no-no. Maybe you've hit a double whammy, bad media topped by labels.

[alan93]

Thanks, I'll try removing labels and post back here when i test it.
Will also run nero test on blank DVDs.

One more piece of info.

They will still play fine on HP 420i DVD burner that they were burned on, but tried to copy one and it said it had errors. Sorry, i should have included this earlier.

Still checking others.

[smearbrick1]

Some members have experienced disc problems after just a few months of storage. Usually this problem is associated with poor media. Of course, I guess it is entirely pheasible that your player is overheating the disc and warping the surface. I'm not sure if this even happens as I have never experienced this. I have, however, experienced disc quality degradation. Once again, this was due to crap media (Princo 1x). Quality was so poor on some movies that they needed to be backed up again on better discs. The ones that hadn't displayed any playback problems are now being copied over to a more reliable media.

[winifreid]

It is the labels. Carefully remove them and they should be fine. If you search for label removal, you will find some suggestions about their removal.

[yellowsugga]

Its definatley the labels and possibly because of poor media.

[lordsmurf]

Bad media (CMC) and labels. Two problems.
Better media, no labels.

[cyflyer]

A couple of the above comments lead me onto another question. Bad media, problems on playback on standalones et al. Plays back ok though on the computer/burner. If plays back ok on computer, and re-backed up on to good media, will it produce a "good" copy or will the playback errors be transferred to the "good" media also ?

[smearbrick1]

My problems stemmed from how the player was interpreting the data it read from the disc. Because the discs somewhat rotted, it showed up as macro blocking on the screen. When scanned through DVDinfoPro, they read fine. I guess the computer was little less sensitive to the discs issues. Anyway, I copied the movies to better discs and never had another problem. If it is only a backup of something you own, it wouldn't be too much of an issue to create another backup on better media. I will agree, also, that labels could be your big problem. Because of the info on this site, I have never attempt, nor will I ever attempt to put a sticky label on a DVD. Like LordSmurf said, I would be weary of CMC discs. Many people on this board would disagree (a vast majority would totally agree with me though) as they have found that newer CMC media burns with fewer errors than some quality media. This, of course, does not mean the media won't crap out on you down the road. Better safe than re-copying backed up discs all over again.

[MOVIEGEEK]

I've been lucky with CMC(EO1),they scan almost as low as TY or MCC.
As with all media it depends on your writer and firmware.

[dfluke]

Alan93

I had a similar problem about a year ago. It turns out it was the standalone player. As the player became warm it began to have difficultly reading DVD-Rs properly and would freeze. If I let the player cool down, it would read properly, even the places that it would freeze up on.
The problem was only with DVD-Rs.
I bought a different standalone player and have never had the problem since, even on the DVD-R that gave me problems before.
Make sure the standalone player says that it plays DVD-R or +Rs

See if this makes a difference.

[Nelson37]

If you haven't picked up on this yet -

Do NOT repeat NOT use labels of any sort on your DVDs.

Whether it is the glue eating thru the reflective layer or off-center labels causing spin wobble, the cause does not matter. Dozens if not hundreds of users have reported problems with labels, while same brand disk, same methods, same files but no label played perfectly.

[alan93]

ok, I would like to share my final results of the this fiasco.

After scraping labels off of a few disks I noticed they would play on my panasonic dog-of-a-dvd-player. They would also play on another Hitachi that wasn't playing them. So I ebayed my panasonic and got a new Sony.
I noticed the Sony would play some of the label ones that locked up perfedctly and also some badly recorded VCDs that used to lock up at the end.

So the final verdict seems to be that the labels and poor dvd players are a herendous combination but there are some good players with great optics out there that will read problematic labeled DVDs also.

Thanks for the input , it was helpful.

[xxiangg]

I have a very similar problem on two of my four DVD players.
I always used quality brand disks (richojpnR01). Later on,
I found it is due to +R. I do not need to turn-off the playser.
(Although turn-off my player will do the same thing like reset
the chips on the player, making it to player +R for a while).
I just insert a -R disk and play it for a few second. Then,
I insert +R disk, it was played just like I turn-off/turn-on
the player. But after a while, the problem will show-up
again. Later on, I copied all my +R to -R and the problem is
gone. I believe there are some DVD players can play +R only
to some degree. But the way, I tried +R with bitsetting and
it did not solve the problem.

[crackur]

Bad media (CMC) and labels. Two problems.
Better media, no labels.

labels yes.......bad media no

Its called take care of your dvds and dont play them a bizillion times in a row

buy a dvd case and u'll be fine

[winifreid]

Are you saying that labels are okay if you have good media? I think it is all relative. Bad media burned with a bad burner (or firmware or wrong speed...) with labels played on a crappy player will probably never work (even with a case). Good media with a good burn and a good player will likely be fine. You get the idea. There are a lot of factors that determine when a disk will play. The safest bet is to find some good media and burn procedure, and leave the labels off.

[alan93]

Not just good media but a good DVD "player".
All laser optics are not created equal I believe.

Yes I agree, Good+good+good = Good.

Lot of factors - YES definately - thats the confusing part.

[dvdchanic]

I've had the same problem with memorex dvd+rws. It would play for over half the movie then freeze up. I examined the data side of the disk and upon close examination I noticed an ink smear near the outer edge of the disk. I then did a scan in nero and soon as it got to the outer part of the disk it showed red, (unreadable). If you look very closely at the data side of the disk you may notice ink blotches. This sometimes happens when it has been burned at a high speed or the recorder makes the disk hot. This has only happened with Memorex dvd+rw media so far.

[dvdchanic]

Some brands of media use cheap dye in the disks that can run or smear. This will make the disk unusable. Some refer to the dye as ink as I mentioned in my earlier post. I just thought I'd clarify that. I'm also surprised that Memorex would fail like this. I bought a 5 pack of dvd+rws and two of them had the dye run problem.

[Blazey]

As an aside, if you've gotten the discs to play after removing the labels do yourself a favor and copy them to new media. The residue on the discs will undobutedly flake off in your player and at the very least it is throwing the discs off balance and will hamper their playing ability in the future as the laser heats up whatever glue is left and moves it around.

[alan93]

Wow, more interesting info.

What I did was, removed the labels with a razor then got the remainder off with goop off, or whatever the stuff is that removes sticky stuff.

I need to try that nero disk check thing for sure.