Do Re-Writable DVD's play on cheap DVD players?

[CrVMo]

Hi.

Just joined the Forum

Q. Can I use a Verbatim 4x DVD+RW 4.7GB disk to burn a movie on with ConvertXtoDVD, then play it on my cheap TV DVD player?

If not, why not.

Thank you.

Regards, CrVMo

[yoda313]

yes unless the player is really old or the disc isn't properly authored.

Way back in the early days of recordable dvds some players only liked + or - r discs. These days its not really a factor any more.

Oh and really cheap discs aren't good usually. Your verbatim should be ok unless its the LIFESERIES discs in which case you may have a higher chance of encountering a bad disc (cheaper media then regular verbatim).

But author it properly and use imgburn to burn the disc and you should be just fine.

[johns0]

Just burn it and try.

[usually_quiet]

All I can tell you is that I can play properly authored and burned Verbatim 4x DVD+RW 4.7GB discs using my cheap 2007 model Toshiba CRT TV's DVD player.

[jman98]

The cheap Life series may only be a North America thing. I'm not sure. And I haven't heard of RW discs in this series. So the discs the OP bought SHOULD work. However, if the player is defective or old enough to not like +RW media then there may be problems.

[DB83]

Players tend to be more sensitive to burned media than pressed(commercial) media.

Of course you must check your players manual to see what type of media it supports.

Not used ConvertXToDvd so do not know if it has any control over burning speed. An 'insurance' might be to burn at 2x (if the disk supports it) rather than 'maxing out'. If the s/w allows you to write to an iso or disk folders you can always use that option and then use imgburn to actually write to the disk.

[Nelson37]

The correct answer is somewhere between "maybe" and "probably", As suggested, burn it and find out.

The answer to "why" would get nit-picky technical and for an object you could replace at a yard sale for $5 it ain't worth even wondering about.

[OllieTSB]

I use a grocery-store $20 COBY DVD player as an ultimate test - cheap as they come, yet one of the great cost-savings they performed was a refusal to include a lot of ROM crap that checked any variety of patents and copy-protect schemes. No region-encoding checks, no checks about PAL vs NTSC video-standards - just a straight, unvarnished player. It's terrific. When we shop for flat-screens, I take this around with some Region-Zero PAL disks - which I know the COBY plays just fine - but we often find the Flat Screens refuse to accept the PAL video-encoding. Hook the unit up to another flat-screen, and it might work. It really confuses the salesmen but they eventually understand. Cheap is probably crap-parts, but it definitely won't include license-fees to Sony, MPAA, etc.

[hech54]

I gave up on RW discs a long time ago.

[CrVMo]

Great comments and very helpful to me.
Many thanks

CrVMo

[lordsmurf]

That compatibility of RW media is about 50-75%
It has nothing to do with the age of the player. Some just do not work, period.

In many cases, it's the disc itself. RW media has poor reflectivity.

+RW media degrade much faster than -RW too.

You should never burn anything to RW media that you don't plan to reuse again soon anyway. It's not archival media. Anything that you want for longer than 2-3 weeks should be put on DVD-R or DVD+R anyway.

[johns0]

Ya,i just use dvd+rw for testing,never use it for anything else except watching a video you are going to archive later.

[Noahtuck]

Ya,i just use dvd+rw for testing,never use it for anything else except watching a video you are going to archive later.

Yep, I used to use RW to watch things I was going to delete and now I only use it for testing authored DVD's & Blu Ray disc's.
I use a small external HDD now for watching stuff I will watch once and end up deleting.

And it's not just the media, there are players that will not play RW media no matter what.

[davexnet]

I bought a Sony DVD player in the late 90's - DVP-S550d that played RW's, but not R's.
This player flat out refused to read regular write-once media. As has been said, you just have to try it.

[hech54]

I bought a Sony DVD player in the late 90's - DVP-S550d that played RW's, but not R's.
This player flat out refused to read regular write-once media. As has been said, you just have to try it.

An ex-girlfriend had a similar old Sony problem....played NOTHING home-burned....not even CD-R.

[lordsmurf]

An ex-girlfriend

I thought you were married.

[hech54]

An ex-girlfriend

I thought you were married.

I wasn't born married.

[Noahtuck]

An ex-girlfriend

I thought you were married.

I wasn't born married.

LOL!!!!

Yeah LS!!!!!

People can have girlfriends, which become EX girlfriends, then get married, then get divorced, then have NEW ex girlfriends!!!!!!!!
LOL!!!!

[Krispy Kritter]

I bought a Sony DVD player in the late 90's - DVP-S550d that played RW's, but not R's.
This player flat out refused to read regular write-once media. As has been said, you just have to try it.

An ex-girlfriend had a similar old Sony problem....played NOTHING home-burned....not even CD-R.

Common for Sony hardware.