Bad Media or Player Issue ?

[Tekniques]

I have backed up a few DVD's to DVD-R on ProData disc's which I later found to be a lighter purple colour indicating lower quality (I was newbie when I bought them!). The movies playback on a Panasonic Portable DVD Player LV-50 fine except for when they reach the last 4 or 5 chapters. This is where the problem begins with pixelation, sound dropouts and general skipping to the most drastic where the player just stops ! I then bought Ritek DVD-R and backed up the same movies to these darker purple discs and although they played better, some movies still did the same thing towards the end. It's never in the same spot either, if you replay the chapter it will generally playback fine on the second go, it happens intermittently and in different spots. They ALL playback fine on the PC's DVD-ROM drive however. I burn at 4x on my Pioneer A06, is this too high and should I burn at 2x ??

[LanEvo7]

Light Purple dye does not indicate lower quality. Actually dye color has nothing to do with quality. Its the manufacturing company that has control over quality. Download DVDinfo and check the manufacturer of your discs. If its CMC or Princo, then its probably your media.

[Tekniques]

Will do. I was told by someone that the darker the discs the better quality they are. They seller's at the computer markets here in OZ even use that line to pitch the sale to you which is why I bought the Ritek's as the sale's guy said they were the best of the lot and to look at the colour in comparison to others he had....

[LanEvo7]

They probably got that lighter dye idea because many "lower" quality discs have a light dye but it does not mean Darker Dye = Better Quality. There are light dye discs, such as BeAll, that are high in quality also.

[ztank]

Heh, I have heard that same line at the swap meets in Oz, and have seen sellers trying to convince people that dark purple is good media.

Most of the crap discs at the swap meet (Maxdata, Infosmart) use light purple dye, and the good discs (Verbatim, Ritek) use dark purple. Don't know about Princo because I refuse to touch them. However that does not meet dark is better

Test the burned discs with KProbe or DVDInfoPro. Test the speed at which your DVDROM reads the discs. If it has to slow down at any part of the disc it usually indicates crappy media.

[garryheather]

The optics on a DVD player are tuned to a specific wavelength - it does not "see" the disc like you do.

The player does not see nor care what the colour of the disc is, it's only concerned with whether or not it can focus its laser on the surface and read the data off of it. Colour is simply NOT an issue when chosing media. Light and dark coloured dyes mean sod all to the hardware, dye types and media quality is another matter, but just as you can't judge a book by its cover, you can't judge a disc by its colour.

[lordsmurf]

Fake Maxells were dark, and those were junk.

[garryheather]

I give up.

[Phil Thomas]

Me too

Going back to the original question though, it would seem that DVD-ROM drives on portable players and some Laptops are more fussy than PC's and Standalones.

If you have tried Riteks and these dont work, IMO it's unlikely that anything will. You may have to accept that your portable player, doesn't like dvd-r's.

The only thing you could try, to prove the point, is get hold of some higher quality, branded disks, such as Verbatims, Pioneer etc., although they will cost you more money, you may just hit on one that your portable player likes.

[Tekniques]

My portable player states thats it plays DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-RAM & the usual MP3, SVCD, VCD. I think the burning speed has something to do with it also. I began burning at 2x and they are all playing fine with the Ritek discs. I used DVDInfo on the 2 different types I have and the Riteks were the RITEKG04's. The others were manufactured by LEADDATA...........

Which takes me back to the question nobody answered. Is it better to burn at 2x instead of 4x for video ?

[Phil Thomas]

I have a 106 and I use Ritek Go4's all the time at 4 X for movies.

These play back fine in 3 standalones (Cyberhome, Sony & Proview) also on PS2, so generally speaking 4 X burning is ok for movies.

I have heard before that some portables and Laptop drives have problems and are fussy about what they play. This applies to media and the speed they were burnt. I wonder if the laser gets less power, when running on batteries and is not as strong, when picking up lightly burnt disks ?

[ztank]

Tekniques,

Generally yes, a lower burn speed produces a better quality burn. This is generally an issue with cheaper media - high quality media should be the same regardless of what speed you burn it (up to its certified speed).

I have had heaps of trouble with my Sony DRU-510A with the 4x Maxdata (in Oz) when burned at 4x, but they work great at 2x. Most Riteks are fine at 4x, as well as pretty much all Verbatims at 4x.

[Tekniques]

Phil I run the portable off the mains power at home as it serves as my main player in the study. I don't use it at all running off batteries.

Thanks for the info guys, much appreciated !

[northcat_8]

I burn to Ritek's and I burn at 4x and I've never had any problems...(knock on wood).

I think you are dealing with a player problem.