Do dvd-rw's go bad?

[ghall5]

I started out with some verbatim dvd-rw's, 2X. Manufacturer ID: MCC 01RW11n9

At first, the movies I would burn would work on my Toshiba TV with dvd player. Then as I burned other movies to the same disk (starting over, not adding to disc), the player would not play them anymore.

It would play everything i burned fine in the beginning, not now. So I bought some Fuji media, dvd-rw 2X, Manufacturer ID: RITEKW01, same thing happens. It's like the media goes bad.

Sometimes my rca 220 will play these disks, but it will also refuse to do the older rw's. weird.

[cim]

I think they do. I've seen the same problesm, using DVD-RW and CD-W for data. They seem to "go bad" after some number of uses.

[laspis59]

DVD-RW's are not very compatible with DVD Players and when you burn to them they contain a high amount of errors which your Player has to get around when reading.Obviously the more you write on them the more worn out they become,thus unreadable in the DVD Player.

[ghall5]

DVD-RW's are not very compatible with DVD Players and when you burn to them they contain a high amount of errors which your Player has to get around when reading.Obviously the more you write on them the more worn out they become,thus unreadable in the DVD Player.

Aw that sucks.

My player doesn't do +RW's. I guess I will start looking around for a stand alone player that can do all formats.

The combo unit doesn;t have a problem with +R's or -R's though. (It's a Toshiba MW20FM3)

[laspis59]

All RW's are poor for compatibility and the data becomes unreadable far quicker (Even if only writing on them once) therefore making them useless and ready for trashing.On the other hand +R's and -R's are far more compatible and the data on them can stay readable for a long time,especially with Verbatim (MCC 003) DVD media

[MoovyGuy]

Although I typically use +R and +RW, I have some +RW's HP Brand that I purchased when i first got my first burner, an HP200i 2.4x only +r/+rw drive.

I have burned to each of the 5 +RW's that I purchased hundreds of times, and in fact still use them and have not had any of the consumer DVD players in my house reject them as they have aged over the last 3 years.

My consumer players are a pioneer 343, an IO data linkplayer2 and a piece of crap malata freebie home theater in a box kit that came free with my Sony widescreen.

[cal_tony]

I,ve had quite a few RW's that were written once a couple of years ago go bad? Or did they? Most of my players would not even begin to recognise them .However my computer would. On most of these disks, I just re-copied the files back to my computer and re-wrote to the same RW. Now they worked. As mentioned above, RW's are not as compatible and it doesn't take much to make them unplayable. In looking at the disks themselves, they seem to have become hazy. Re-writing seems to clear this up for me . Why or how? I don't know.

[handyguy]

I threw out some dvdram this year, even though its rated 100,000 writes & I only used it for 30 months.

[trossin]

Try doing a full erase instead of a quick erase. I bet that will work. I ran into the same problem with my Panasonic RV-31 for quite a few disks. After doing a full erase on the "bad" disks they all work perfectly!

[laspis59]

Although I typically use +R and +RW, I have some +RW's HP Brand that I purchased when i first got my first burner, an HP200i 2.4x only +r/+rw drive.

I have burned to each of the 5 +RW's that I purchased hundreds of times, and in fact still use them and have not had any of the consumer DVD players in my house reject them as they have aged over the last 3 years.

My consumer players are a pioneer 343, an IO data linkplayer2 and a piece of crap malata freebie home theater in a box kit that came free with my Sony widescreen.

They must be top notch RW's then.Where can I buy them?

[TBoneit]

The other problem as I see it with RWs of all types is that
a. The data is not as durable due to dye layer used..
b. Even with the best handling sooner or later the record/read side will get scratched or dirty and cleaning them will add microscratches in most cases. Since they are lower reflectivity to start with these can affect playback too.

Do I have some? Yes for temporary use only. IOW I'll use them to go back and forth between different machines... DVD Recorders to computer or computer to computer in different physical locations where I don't want to carry bulky and more fragile Hard Disks.

But I never regard them as permanent storage. And on a periodic by usage or time basis do a full format and verify.

Hope this helps
Roger T

[greymalkin]

my pioneer 563A has played anything i threw at it...as a bonus it also plays DVD-Audio and SACD.

[lenti_75]

it's a player problem.

I still use 2+yrs old Maxell and 2+ yrs Verbatim +rw media, no one died on me, and burned them hundreds of time so far.

[TBoneit]

lenti_75: Yes & no... I work in computer repair and you wouldn't believe the condition of the disks (CDs) that some people bring in to reload Applications in their computer after a HDD dies. Scratched on the bottom doesn't begin to describe it, Scratched very bad, Stick food residue etc. Some of the Disks I leave them lay until after I've washed em off. Someone like that most likely would be lucky to get more than one or two good burns from a DVD RW. IMHO of course. And then there are the people that put labels with name & Address on everything including disks.

I just put some Maxell -RW Ver. 1.1 Probably 1X since they aren't marked into my new Pioneer DVD Recorder and of course they work, But then they look pristine like new even though I bought them back when My Sony DRU-500a was a new model around christmas of that year. That would have been Nov. 2002.

Cheers

[Immortal25]

Well recently had this problem with my player as well. I've burnt movies onto the dvd and played them on the player for a year now and suddenly it's not working very well anymore.

But not to say the dvd-rw's fault cos it plays on other dvd players. So I suspect it's the player that's spoilt and not the media discs.

[ricky1756]

one of my dvd-rw's developed a crack habit and held up a liquor store,so they can go bad.

[ungamunga]

I have found that -RW disks will tend to become unreadable by my set-top DVD player after several burns if I only use the Quick Format option between burns.

Doing a full (and ever so slow) format seems to fix the problem. It is almost like the full formating "refurbishes" the media. The underside even looks like a fresh -RW disk afterwards (whereas it has a different reflectiveness in the burned area even after a quick format).

[junkmalle]

I have burned to each of the 5 +RW's that I purchased hundreds of times, and in fact still use them and have not had any of the consumer DVD players in my house reject them as they have aged over the last 3 years.

My experience is similar. Hundreds of write cycles to DVD+RW without problems. The discs tend to go bad from scratches before the media "wears out".