DVD burner

[Gunny]

Hi Gang

I have a fairly new Sony 710a DL burner, and I was burning a movie yesterday and it goofed up on me, thinking it was the movie and not the burner, I tried a few things and come to find out it was the burner, not the disc. I have been using some of those off brand printable -R discs, and they have been doing just fine. Now it will not burn to those discs, the only ones it will burn to is a name brand -R discs. My question is, is the burner trying to tell me some thing, that it is not liking these cheaper discs, or what.? Can some one explain to me how it knows the difference between the cheaper discs and the name brand discs. There are not too many name brand printable discs, and they are never on sale.

I like to use the printable discs, so I can put the movie picture and title on them. I have the Epson printer that does the printable DVD discs.

Any and all help will be appreciated..Thanks ....Gunny

[TooLFooL]

man, this is a neverending problem for many people. (including me) you'll find endless threads here about cheap media. i too have a sony burner that used to burn anything, but as time goes on, it gets pickier. it doesn't "know the difference" between media - cheaper media is simply CHEAPER! it's not as reliable. when you get a fussy burner, you can get hit & miss results.

the usual suggestions you'll get are:
check for any firmware upgrades on sony's website
try burning at a lower speed (i have to use 4x)
try a different brand of media

if that doesn't work, come back here! there's VERY helpful & knowledgable people here!

[lordsmurf]

Read: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=271418

[Gunny]

Hi Tool fool and Lordsmurf

Well I guess that leaves me in the same boat as a lot of others. Glad to know I am not alone with this problem. I thank you for the information.

The thing that is confusing me the most is, that is will not play any of the movies I copied yesterday, but it will play some of the movies I copied maybe a month ago. And on the same brand of disk, and the same method. Now that is a stumper. I will buy a beer for any one that can explain that one.

And to add to the confusion in that article where it said even buying a brand name disk, you still don't know who made it. Brother this can cause gray hair.

Thanks and take care............Gunny

[TooLFooL]

well what happened when you tried to burn? did you get an error message? what was the end result?

[Gunny]

Hi Tool Fool

Well lets see I would either get, "A disc is not in the drive" or "A disc with an unsupported format is in the drive"

I could drop down to my other burner a Pioneer and it would play or finish the burn just fine.

I think I have spooks floating around in my computer.

Take care........Gunny

[TooLFooL]

damn, that's a good one! see i sometimes get that with cd-rw's, don't know why. did some system settings recently change or anything? perhaps it's simply time for a cleaning? same batch or dvd's? beyond suggestions in lordsmurf's link, i dunno?

many mixed opinions...
https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=252528&highlight=sony+710a+problems
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters.php?DVDname=710a&cdrs=&cdrws=&dvdrs=&dvdrws=&dvdrs...earch&country=

[Gunny]

No to the best of my recognition, I don't remember changing any settings. I use DVD decrypter and DVD shrink, and I view them using PowerDVD. And I have the same settings I have been using for months. And no changes to the computer either. I am a believer is what isn't broke don't fix.

I keep all the old movies cleaned out, just from habit, because I have a separate big HD for stuff like this. To really add to this confusing matter, yesterday I took one of the copied movies I did that would not play or do anything on the Sony did play on it when I tried it yesterday. Really goofy. It played one time and I tried it again and it came up with the same no play message.

I know it does sound like some thing is changing, but I sure don't know what it could be. The only thing that makes any sense to me out of this is it has to be the discs. I am going to buy some name brands today, even though in that article it says you really don't know who makes them, and see what happens. Is it possible that some of these people like TDK, memorex, etc put a standard on their discs, unlike some of the cheapo's.?

Take care.........Gunny

[budz]

Hi Gang

I have a fairly new Sony 710a DL burner, and I was burning a movie yesterday and it goofed up on me, thinking it was the movie and not the burner, I tried a few things and come to find out it was the burner, not the disc. I have been using some of those off brand printable -R discs, and they have been doing just fine. Now it will not burn to those discs, the only ones it will burn to is a name brand -R discs. My question is, is the burner trying to tell me some thing, that it is not liking these cheaper discs, or what.? Can some one explain to me how it knows the difference between the cheaper discs and the name brand discs. There are not too many name brand printable discs, and they are never on sale.

I like to use the printable discs, so I can put the movie picture and title on them. I have the Epson printer that does the printable DVD discs.

Any and all help will be appreciated..Thanks ....Gunny

Use DVDINFO PRO or DVD IDENTIFIER to find out the media codes of the dvd discs. Difference in brands is simple if you take a look at the MEDIA SECTION it gives you info on what MEDIA CODES and the manufacturer of those discs. You want printable discs use TAIYO YUDEN which can be bought from www.rima.com. MAXELL has printable discs as well that you can find in Walmart. The MAXELL 25 PACK printables are MADE IN JAPAN. Walmart stocks both the DVD-R & DVD+R. Buying good quality media can be purchased at reasonable prices if you look or ask other members. Your SONY DVD BURNER is a REBADGED LITEON drive which tends to like DVD+R media better than DVD-R. Check out the LITEON forum at Cdfreaks.com

[lordsmurf]

LITEON drive which tends to like DVD+R media better than DVD-R. Check out the LITEON forum at Cdfreaks.com

I've never fully bought into this theory. I think that is mostly from bad comparisons (TY DVD+R vs some PRINCO DVD-R, for example). I know my BTC hates TY DVD-R but works great on TY DVD+R. However, it is flawless on many many other DVD-R media too. Just an observation.

[Gunny]

What I am gather from the information you are giving is you buy your ticket and you take your chances, in a sense. I have always used -R disc's for some reason, so I will try the +R and see what happens. The need to use a program to really find out who makes the disc's, is really crazy, I think. And it seems you cannot go by the price then either. It use to be more bucks more quality. At the price they sell for I guess they figure people don't mind throwing one away now and then.

My question was though, even though there might be some other Co making them for say TDK, don't they suggest certain standards for their disc's.? So you can have a good, better, best, thing going. I mean don't that have a reputation to live up to.? Or does that not matter any more, when you are selling these disc's by the trillion. And what about the certain color on the recording side of the disc, it seems I remember having that problem with the old CD players, does this apply to the DVD disc's too.? Certain color lasers work with or not on certain color disc's.?

Take care.............Gunny

[budz]

What I am gather from the information you are giving is you buy your ticket and you take your chances, in a sense. I have always used -R disc's for some reason, so I will try the +R and see what happens. The need to use a program to really find out who makes the disc's, is really crazy, I think. And it seems you cannot go by the price then either. It use to be more bucks more quality. At the price they sell for I guess they figure people don't mind throwing one away now and then.

My question was though, even though there might be some other Co making them for say TDK, don't they suggest certain standards for their disc's.? So you can have a good, better, best, thing going. I mean don't that have a reputation to live up to.? Or does that not matter any more, when you are selling these disc's by the trillion. And what about the certain color on the recording side of the disc, it seems I remember having that problem with the old CD players, does this apply to the DVD disc's too.? Certain color lasers work with or not on certain color disc's.?

Take care.............Gunny

You don't have to take any chances as far as dvd media if you know what to look for on the spindles such as MADE IN JAPAN. As I mentioned if you want good quality dvd media then purchase them from www.rima.com. The price of good quality dvd media is so inexpensive these days why buy cheap brands to save a few cents!!!!! I don't buy cheapo discs because it's such a waste of money in the long run. If you're going to try out DVD+R media you can booktype to DVD-ROM that way the discs can be played back on dvd players that technically can not play DVD+R media.

It is a well known fact that LITEON drives tend to like DVD+R media than DVD-R. As suggested take a look at the LITEON forum at CDFREAKS.COM. I have a LITEON 411@811 drive that burns coasters with good quality TY DVD-R & MAXELL DVD-R media but when I've used TY DVD+R or MAXELL DVD+R media they've burned flawlessly. DVD burning is full of variables what may work for you doesn't necessarily mean it will work for others.

[Gunny]

You said some thing here, I don't believe I exactly know what you are talking about. <If you're going to try out DVD+R media you can booktype to DVD-ROM that way the disc's can be played back on dvd players that technically can not play DVD+R media. >

"Booktype" I don't think I have ever heard this term. I agree with you on the buying cheap disc's. I guess I will have to order some, because around here, Fry's is the big electronic store, and their amount of printable good disc's is very sparse. And the rest of them Staples, Office Depot, CompUSA, etc don't carry them at all. I will take your advice on this.

Take care...........Gunny

[Gunny]

Hi Gang

Well the problem I am having is temp related. This Sony after burning say 2 1/2 movies it will not work again until it cools down, like overnight. All my case fans are working ok and the temp indicator is saying it is about 88% inside the case. The Pioneer is working just fine. I use the Pioneer to run DVDFab, and Shrink and the Sony to burn it.

I remember seeing a couple of years ago some thing about a very small fan assembly on the back of of a HD, does any one know if they make one for a burner too.?

Thanks.............Gunny