Second halves of my movies got bad quality

[el tiger]

Hi,

I've been using ConvertX to DVD for some 2-3 days and it's a great tool, except for the fact that the films I burn only have good quality throughout the whole movie when they're short (let's say 80 min.)

When it's a longer movie, after the hour and a half (give or take) it begins skipping, showing some coloured little squares, or freezing the image while the audio is still going on.

I've thought that if I get to split the movie in 2 DVDs it will solve the problem.

Am I right?

If so, what software should I use to split the movie once converted by ConvertXtoDVD?

Is there any other solution someone could come up with?

Many thanks in advance.

[guns1inger]

This is usually a sign of poor quality discs being used. DVD movies are burned, and play, from the inside to the outside. (OK, DL discs play to the outside, then come back in again). The manufacturing process used to create blank DVD discs means that the most likely area to show up errors or have burn problems are the outer edges - where the end of the movie is.

So, buy quality media, not the cheap junk, and use a good quality burning program - Imgburn is recommended.

[tomlee59]

To improve your burns, try burning at less than the maximum speed. So, if the discs are rated at 16x, burn them at 12x or 8x. This can help inferior media produce better results. Don't expect miracles -- this won't turn bad media into good, but it can turn bad burns into less bad burns. And also be very sure NEVER to touch the active disc surface. The standard error is for people to handle the discs carelessly, and get fingerprints and other smudges on the disc. Naturally, these tend to occur near the outer edge most often, and that corresponds to the end of the movie. Reading discs with scratches and fingerprints is much easier than burning them. These two operations are very different in their tolerance of mishandling.

And definitely do as guns1inger advises -- use only good media. Cheap discs are a false economy.