DVD-R's on my Sony DVD (DAVS550)

[cooksj76]

I asked one of my friends to back up my Disney DVD collection when he got a DVD Writer to save the originals. When I put the copied DVD into my Sony DAVS550 DVD player its says "Can't Play" on the display.

We have tried leaving the Region as 2 and changing the region from Region 2 to Multi-Region but none work.

According to DVDHelp my DVD player can play DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW & DVD+RW.

I have played DVD-R’s on my machine before and they have worked fine.

We have tried various different media to no avail.

He is using DVDShrink to compress the DVD and then is using ImageFile to write the image on the hard-disk to the media. His writer is a NEC Dual format.

Are there any known problems with DVDShrink and has anyone managed to back up a DVD that works on their Sony Cinema System, if how?? I believe it may have something to do with the way the file is compressed.

Please help!!

If there are better programs out there please advise.

[MackemX]

Disney DVD's are sometimes tricky due to their structure and Sony players are sometimes fussy as my old DAVS400 was a right old bitch when it wanted to be, so it ain't the perfect combination

is he doing a full 1:1 backup and have you tried the DVD's that don't work in the Sony in other players?

DVDShrink is normally OK regarding backups but there are demos of other programs you can try and most are listed
https://www.videohelp.com/tools?&orderby=Name#DVD to DVD

copy the link as it doesn't work that well

I'm sure in time others will give more detail as to which programs to use and why but most have demo's so you should be able to try some for yourself

[nepnerd]

is there a empty audio_ts file on the dvd-r? Because if there is none, it can be the problem. I don't know exactly because I don't own a DAV-S550 but a have a DVP-NS400D and I need a video_ts and a empty audio_ts file on the dvd-r.
Try using DVD2One, I made several backups of Disney DVD's and don't have any trouble.

[letitbleed]

I have a Sony DAVS-880.I am using Shrink,Nero 6 , +R/+RW media & have no problems
I am burning on Ricoh MP5125A

[cooksj76]

Letitbleed,

Please could you post the settings you are using in shrink and a step by step instruction to create the DVD. I would very much appreciate it. We have since tried none Disney DVD's and nothing seems to work.

Thanks.

[MackemX]

Letitbleed,

Please could you post the settings you are using in shrink and a step by step instruction to create the DVD. I would very much appreciate it. We have since tried none Disney DVD's and nothing seems to work.

Thanks.

the settings in DVDShrink will be of no real use if you have used other DVD's. I think it lies elsewhere so get him to try this with any DVD to see if will work

1. rip the complete DVD using DVDDecrypter using file and select all files
2. use DVDShrink in automatic mode on the complete DVD
3. burn the DVD with Record Now Max (get the trial from the tools page link on the left) making sure the AUDIO_TS is included as nepnerd mentioned and leave Nero out of the equation

then try it in your Sony. If this still does not work chances are its the media that your Sony does not like to play. Is the dye on the discs you have, a light or dark purple?

[letitbleed]

Like Mackemx says I think it is probably a media issue as I have not had any problems using the steps listed by Mackemx except I use Nero.
The only time I had problems similar to yours was when using Nero 5.5.9.x,no probs since 5.5.10.x through to 6
I tend to use discs with the Ritek dye.
I have been using Arita +R 2.4x media for my last 80+ backups with no probs

[cooksj76]

Firstly can I thank everyone for their help. I have tried the discs on other peoples machines and my one is the only one they don't work on (mine is also the only Sony!!). I am going to buy a writer myself (for the family videos from the camcorder) but don't want to make the jump until I can get something working.

As I stated in my initial note I have had DVD-R's working before. these were white tops and Datawrite Yellow Types, the Disney DVD's were backed up on Datawrite Yellow tops hence I do not believe it was the media.

If it wasn't only my player which didn't play them then I would have suspected the method that was being used but to be honest I am at a lost. Has anyone backed up DVD's that play on their DAVS system if so how do they do it??

Anymore help would be greatly appreciated!!!

[MackemX]

told you Sony's were fussy

is the dye light or dark purple?

[Michelle]

Have you read the comments on this player? It seems to have good compatibility.
https://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDnameid=1538&Search=Search&#comments

The combination of media and burning software with a particular burner can mean the difference between success and failure.

[Michelle]

told you Sony's were fussy

You scare me every time you say this.

I bought a Sony DVP-NS715P several months ago. At the time it was (and still is) the highest rated player that was compatible with MP3s. Based on the reviews and my experience it seems to work with a lot of different media. Perhaps this player is an exception for Sony.

I did have a frustrating experience because it wouldn't read Ritek G04s even though other people with this player can play them.

[MackemX]

told you Sony's were fussy

You scare me every time you say this.

I got a free DAVS400 when I got my Sony TV and it was a SOB for playback with certain DVD-R. It would sometimes come across a DVD it just didn't like yet after loading them 3 or 4 times it may decide to play them. Sometimes it was because I had butchered the DVD and made a boo-boo but that was in the early days as now I know exactly what to watch out for. Others though even using Prassi as the burning software still didn't fix things. It was definitely the player that had the issues as I took 3 DVD-R's to two of my local electrical stores that didn't work on mine and stuck them in both the display DAVS400's and they played perfect. I could have took my DVDPlayer back to the store but it played original's just fine and even then I would have got a replacement seeing as it was free in the first place

In the end I just got rid of it because I got sick of it and seeing as it was a freebie I didn't really care anyway as it was money back in my hand. It also only had a composite output which ain't the best and it couldn't be made region free for free!, although the rest of the features were great, it wouldn't have been the one I would have bought if I had the money to spend initially so I just saw it as £220 cashback towards my TV and it was priced at £250 at the time anyway so I got a good price

I definitely think individual players of the same brand/model can be different regarding playback as I have a cheapy Dansia 1010 here for now and I also bought my mother one at the same time. Mine play originals no problem but refuses to play most of my DVD-R and again needs a kick up the ass to get some to play. Yet my mother's plays them all instantly with no issues at all. My friends 1010 also plays them all with no issues so it's obvious my player has an issue. All 3 have the same firmware, it's only the DVD-R mine has issues with so it's going back when I can be bothered to take it that is as it's been 8 months, so not long left on warranty

I guess you just have to find a brand that your player will play and stick with them if you thik you have a fussy/faulty player

so I hope this eases your worries when I say Sony's can be fussy but it's mostly because of the DVD structure checking that I say this and not just media issues

[Michelle]

so I hope this eases your worries when I say Sony's can be fussy but it's mostly because of the DVD structure checking that I say this and not just media issues

I'm puzzled about your mention of the DVD structure checking. Isn't there just one DVD video standard? Why would the DVD structure vary?

[MackemX]

I'm talking about the sectors/pointer etc on a DVD can be messed up and it's normally when you start removing stuff and in my very early days I would make the odd mistake

what happened with the Sony was if something was referred in the IFO's but isn't there to playback in the VOB's it just crashed the player, or if the IFO had an empty PGC it also failed as the DVD player had no info to work with. That's why I came up with my Ifoedit guides because at the time I could never find some easy to understand guides on DVD stripping and learnt the hard way and wanted to help others, which I think I did as most people have used them as a starting block judging by the hits my guides have had and feedback I've recieved

if you upset the structure some standalones just return and continue playing but some Sony's don't. This is why IC7 title removal works for some people and for some it doesn't. So it all depends on how your standalone deals with an invalid reference

some issues can be fixed as Nero sometimes complains before burning if it finds an invalid reference. There were times I knew the DVD structure was not right yet Nero did not pick up on this so I guess this may be why some people also have issues. Other burning softwares probably see the problems and just fix them during the burning process, I just don't know but if Nero complained about a DVD and I tried another such as Prassi, it didn't complain

In the early days IC7 would be very strict regarding a stripped DVD but now it's very leniant. I can hack an IFO by manually changing a few figures in the Cell Playback of the PGC_ITI_x entry to 'hide' video but not all the entries are modified to keep the DVD structure valid as the Timemaps and Cell Address Tables are not updated when doing it manually. The VOB's aren't even touched but IC only seems to check the PGC_ITI_x data so it only sees the stuff you let it and actually does the stripping of the DVD during processing as it only processes what I've pointed to in the PGC entries. The resulting files playback OK with PowerDVD yet WinDVD refuse to play them. Playback on the standalone will all depend on the player itself and how fussy it is. I know the DVD structure is invalid but a leniant player will still play them regardless as I've tried a few tests with a CYBERHOME DVD and it played back just fine. Yet if I feed the same hacked IFO to DVDShrink or any other backup tool it refuses to analyze the full DVD and says there is an error. I did trick DVDShrink by manually modding the IFO but it takes just too long to do and I'm still waiting to talk to DVDShrink about certain stuff and the possibility of somehow having the start/crop feature to be included in full backups and not just reauthoring

I'm still trying to persuade Pinnacle to use a blank VOB instead of removing the complete PGC as it simply will not play back on a fussy player no matter what and I'm sure in time they will probably do it or they may pick up on my IFO hacking methods and improve them. I'm lucky to be a betatester for IC so I can give feedback and suggestions direct to Pinnacle and they do actually listen as most have been implemented or fixed. I think IC8 is going to be a very good product and will continue to improve over the coming months

I guess I call a standalone 'fussy' when playback is refused because of the invalid structure even for the smallest of reasons and I reckon it's some sort of copying protection as Sony know if anything is wrong with the DVD then it's probably not an original. Homemade movies etc will probably be OK also as most of the authoring programs create valid DVD structures and they will mostly go wrong when people have been ripping a DVD and backing it up

it's so easy to upset a DVD structure I guess and this is one of the reasons that some people blame other applications etc even though they ain't to blame at all

so that's why I think Sony's are fussy as I've heard plenty of people say their backups don't work in the Sony yet work in other brands and when they say they have removed stuff I instantly have an idea why it's failed

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz................. lol

a bit of a long post I know but I got carried away and I do hope you know what I mean now

[Michelle]

MackemX,

Thank you for the great explanation! I actually experienced this for the first time today. I backed up a DVD with IC7 and some material was stripped out. When I chose that menu option my Sony gave me a 'Dirty Disc' and then stopped.

I'll check out MenuEdit. I normally reauthor in DVDShrink and don't mind losing the menu. In this case I wanted the menu but IFOEdit seems too daunting.

Thanks again.

[MackemX]

MackemX,

Thank you for the great explanation! I actually experienced this for the first time today. I backed up a DVD with IC7 and some material was stripped out. When I chose that menu option my Sony gave me a 'Dirty Disc' and then stopped.

Thanks again.

that's exactly it, the player gives the dirty disc error , I remember now and makes you think the DVD has dust on it or something

Ifoedit is a bit scary at first but 2Cools guides over at Doom9 are the best around and show how easy it can be done. My guides are out of date now due to changing methods over the last few months and need changing due to finding newer, quicker safer methods of stripping

[vettesea]

This may be a little late now, however I have a DAVS880 and find that it will play my recorded DVD's very well. I did find that the Mirror brand of disk just would not work on the 880, yet it did work on my more basic Sony upstairs.

I found that some films jumped towards the end but I am now convinced that is due to media and I have managed to resolve this by burning at slower speeds with the media I have until I purchase another batch.

So, to sum up it should work but you really need to vary your media and burning methods. The player will be fine though.

As I say this is late so let me know if you have had any developments.