Sony RDR HX 510 and DVP NS 305

[SearchQuality]

At home I have a Sony DVD Recorder/Player RDR HX 510 and a Sony CD/DVD Player DVP NS 305. I burn my home made DVD projects on normal DVD-RWs and DVD-Rs using Samsung Writemaster SH-S128D. As video software I use Nero 7 Premium. When I play the DVD on NS 305 there is no problem. But when I play the same DVD on RDR HX 510 while jumping from one animated thumbnail to another the DVD player hangs up and I have to detach the player from the mains plug to stop it and to eject the DVD. With this problem description the RDR HX 510 went twice to Sony repair services and in both cases the answer is there is no problem with the device, but possibly the DVD has a compatibility problem. Now I am researching this possible compatibility issue. Can anyone help me please? Thanks in advance.

[Krispy Kritter]

The quickest and easiest thing to do is to try a different brand/type of media. The most reliable brands are Verbatim and TY.

You may also want to ensure your burner firmware is up to date (this will satisfy oldandintheway) to help ensure the best burn strategy is being used when burning your discs. You can also use a program such as DVDinfoPro to verify the data integrity of the discs.

But this is likely just a media issue.

[SearchQuality]

Indeed I have also suspected that it might be a media issue and I have tried various brands, but the result did not change. As you suggested I have also analyzed the DVD and the drive using Nero and Sony software, but could not find anything abnormal. I still think that it may be an issue to do with the visible and hidden parameters used by the production or burning software that affect the compatibility of the produced DVD in relation to the DVD players used. I am expecting possible hints from the members who may have had the same or similar problems. Thanks to all in advance.

[Krispy Kritter]

If the data on the disc is error free and plays correctly in one or more players, then it should work in ALL players. The only exception is media support.

Some players have specific brands and/or types of media that they support. Some players are more forgiving than others. The things to watch for are type (+R, -R, -RW) and brand. Generally, in newer players, -R media is the most widely supported. If you are using +R media, try bitsetting if your burner supports it.

It could also be that your player is dirty and/or it is having laser issues (faulty or weakening with age).

[SearchQuality]

In the last few weeks I tried DVDs from different suppliers to see whether this would have an impact on the problem. The answer was negative. The problem continued. As a last resort I asked the Sony expert technicians to check the DVD player again and I gave them the DVDs to test the device. The result did not give any clue to solve the problem. They could not find anything wrong with the device and they continued blaming the media. Then I started running tests on the player with all the DVDs that I produced in the last 5 years. Now an interesting picture is emerging. Some of the DVDs do not cause any problems. These are the DVDs produced by Pinnacle Studio whereas the others are produced by other programs such as Nero, MyDVD, Ulead etc. I wonder whether there is any obvious difference in formats, parameters, data structures, etc between Pinnacle and others. I would very much appreciate if anyone can come up with any ideas as to how I should proceed with this problem. Thanks in advance.

[Krispy Kritter]

Depends on what exactly you are doing with the software. For example, taking avi files and converting to DVD format and burning onto DVD.

We need more information.

[SearchQuality]

Procedure I used in producing the last ten DVDs: I capture as AVI using DVIO. Then using VirtualDub I go through the whole file extracting unwanted frames and dividing the file into chapters. Once the chapter files are there I convert them one by one to high quality MPEG2 using TMPGenc. At the same time, if I have digital photos taken by a digital still camera I assemble them and create slideshows using ProShowGold. These slideshows are also produced as high quality MPEG2 clips. Once all these sources are there I use NeroVision to for DVD authoring and the DVD is created. In earlier DVDs I used Pinnacle or Ulead from beginning to end of the creation process. I hope this info helps. Thanks.

[OneSickPup]

When you say.....

But when I play the same DVD on RDR HX 510 while jumping from one animated thumbnail to another the DVD player hangs up........

What exactly are you referring to? When you say animated thumbnail - is this a motion clip in a menu?

[SearchQuality]

In this case a thumbnail represents a chapter. In the thumbnail the beginning of the corrosponding video clip plays.

[Krispy Kritter]

Any particular reason why you switched from Pinnacle or Ulead to Nero? Nero has many pitfalls and often doesn't create material that meets spec.

Since you are apparently spending the time to create and encode all of your material into dvd spec mpeg2 files, your best bet would be to use a dedicated authoring tool.

[SearchQuality]

Pinnacle crashes frequently and this becomes very annoying. Ulead always puts a single thumbnail as top level menu and this is a major handicap of the product. These are the reasons for switching to Nero. Now I understand that, as you quite rightly pointed out, Nero says it is doing something but does not do exactly what it says. I agree with you that I should adopt a standard product for authoring. The question is which one. Lately I have been testing various products and I would like to hear your and other members' advices on this matter. Thanks in advance.