is toshiba just picky??? - burning frustration

[muskgrave]

Hello All,
I have been a bit disgusted the past few days. I have transferred my wedding video to dvd along with a slideshow. I have made a custom menu I'm quite happy with. The authoring I believe has been done sucessfully, but I believe the problem lies in the burning..here is my story:

First I burned using Nero 5.5.10.0. I used to DVD-Video Wizard and my dvd plays beautifully in my pioneer and PS2. I bring it to moms house and their toshiba just spins and spins. The Apex I frankenstein'd does the same thing (I believe I put a toshiba dvd-rom in there as well).

SO! I began looking around the forums and everyone had a different suggestion..one person said that you get better results when you burn straight from TDA (the authoring program I am using)...SO I tried that out..guess what? NO PLAYER would play it. So I actually went backwards there.

THEN I took the suggestion of others to not use nero's wizard but instead use the UDF/ISO method, uncheck joliet in the iso tab, and manually create the video/audio folders. I tried that and once again..won't play on even my 2 players...(YES I made sure it was writing @ UDF 1.02)

Lastly someone said that nero 6.3.0.3 fixed the bugs for dvd writing so I once again used their DVD-Video Wizard...This time my dvd player was curteous enough to tell me "DISC ERROR"....

So I've gone from bad to worse....Isn't there something I can do to get better compatibility? Should I always check the "force compatibility mode"? Should I use a seperate standalone DVD burning program? Or is toshiba just a screwy player and I should go back to the original way of burning?

I was about to do a major computer upgrade so I could more efficiently produce DVD's but if I cannot get a consistent product then I will be wasting my time/money...

HELP!

dlv

[joecav]

were you using the same media in each scenario? I know my player is finicky about the brand of media I use, not the process by which it is burned (Nero 5.5, UDF 1.02)

[goldmember1]

What model is the Toshiba player?
Are you using plus or minus what burner are you using.

[disturbed1]

2) the quality of the dvd-r's I'm using..they are samsung

Very well could be. Though good quality media, no sector errors, they have a lower compatiblity compared to some other media.

You should either fill out your profile, or list the specs of the equipment your using. This will help all of us help you.

Try different media. Buy a sample pack from an online retailer.

About Toshiba players, I have 4 friends with Toshiba players. They age from very old, kinda old, to this years model. The two older ones are rather picky with media. No light dye media (Samsung, Accu, DupEz, Princo, DVDPro) would have good playback results.


I can't imagine why the TDA burning program failed. This is the only burning program I use.

[muskgrave]

sorry everyone i just updated my profile..yes I was using the same media..I usually always test my burns with the samsung DVD-RW disc so I don't make coasters but once I had what I thought was the perfect authored dvd I went ahead and made the copy on DVD-R. This of course played in my 2 test dvd players (Pioneer and PS2). But would not play in the toshiba's..I don't know exactly what the model is..it's a dvd/vcr combo and it plays wma's and still .jpg images as well. Anyways..just spins and spins. So with nero 5.5.10.0 My samsung dvd-r only played on my 2 players and my sisters symphonic tv/dvd combo.

When Burning with TDA on the same dvd-r disc I got NOTHING. No errors it just never came up..the dvd player didn't even recognize it as a dvd.

Another question..I know some people that have a standalone dvd burner box and they buy the cheap bulk mis-matched dvd's and they seem to be cranking out consistently good dvd's...

???
dlv

[joecav]

I agree with Mr. Disturbed...get a sampler pack from rima.com and test out different brands to see what has the highest "play rate" on your set tops. Then you can buy with quasi-confidence in bulk.

I know that with my old toshiba, it wouldn't play anything I burned..nada...zilch. But the same discs would play just fine in my Sony, Apex and Playstation. It's weird, but if you get a super finicky player, you're hosed.

At this point, I would focus on media choice, not your process.
FYI...I have had very good playback results with Ritek G04's and BeAll 4x -R's...but that's just me.

[muskgrave]

so it is agreed that I will have better compatibility with higher quality media. Is there a chance that perhaps my dvd burner doesn't write dvd's as precisely as say a standalone unit? Or is it kind of a trade-off? A good dvd-burner can make good discs even on cheaper media but a mediocre burner needs better media?

thanks for your help so far!
dlv

[Jukka]

I use Ritek G04 discs (ARITA seem the best for me, dont use the Orange overprints I had a big problems with them, could have been a bad batch I guess) and they play fine on my Toshiba SD100e, burn't with Tmpenc DVD Author.

Jukka

[muskgrave]

once again, thanks to all in your efforts to solve my dilemma .
I did get ahold of some of the "cheap" cd's that the people using the standalone burner are using. I say "cheap" because they pay about $0.69 a peice for them, less than half what I paid for mine! Anyways..the "cheap" dvd-r's I noticed made my dvd-r's look light blue in comparison to their deep purple dye. So this helped to ease my fears and begin to believe that the media will make a difference. I burned my movie using the better dvd-r and will try it out at my parents house in the next couple of days. Hopefully this will solve all my issues. I have already tried it in my pioneer and ps2 with no problems...

dlv

[McGrupp2000]

My "older" Toshiba, a 2200, is very picky about burned media. It even says in the manual that it won't play burned media, but it will. For dvd's it will only play "-" media. Absolutely no "+". To fool it, I have a Lite-On 411s that uses the booktype utility to make a + into a -. This works great on the Toshiba. I've uses TDK media (Ricoh) with not a hitch. The Toshiba won't play svcd at all, no matter what. It will play vcd if burned on rw media which is UDF.

For burning I use Nero 6.3 without the wizard. I never use a wizard for burning. Never had a coaster that wasn't my fault.

[muskgrave]

well thanks guys for all your help..you had good advice! I did burn another dvd using nero's dvd video settings and of course it played in my player..but then i took my original dvd burned on my lesser media and tried it in my mother in laws dvd player..guess what! disc error! I took the better dvd-r with the darker dye and BAM! came right up..I am fairly confident that this same darker dvd-r will play in the other offending players as well.

thanks!
dlv

[MCD]

I have the Toshiba sd 1600 which is very old. I was burning with Nero and had nothing but problems. I tried several different settings and still no luck. I then switched to Record Now Max, and been perfect ever since. ( haven’t changed anything else in my setup) I don’t know, maybe Tosh don’t like Nero. I know mine doesn’t.