DVD Burning - Commercial Quality

[lpenrod]

We do some in-house production and frequently burn DVD's. The DVD's play in the vast majority of the players out there, but occasionally we have clients that can not play the DVD's. To avoid this problem we have a local company burn "commercial quality" DVD's and they play in anything. I would like to move that in-house and was wondering what kind of DVD drive/media I need? What is it that makes their DVD's play on anything? Is it the drive that burns them? Is it the media? I would appreciate any help.

We currently use this for in-house stuff: http://www.primera.com/bravo/bravo.asp

[BJ_M]

they would be using a Pioneer DVR-S201 DVD-R Drive most likely if they are burning them ...

it is a authoring 1x speed scsi burner ...

[lpenrod]

What is different/special about an authoring drive?

[BJ_M]

the price for one ($3900 US)..

the width of the laser for another (its smaller)..

no error correction for another ..

media is also more expensive (from not a lot to a lot depending what you buy)

[Capmaster]

What is different/special about an authoring drive?

Taken from DVD FAQs:
DVD-R (which is pronounced "dash R" not "minus R") uses organic dye technology, like CD-R, and is compatible with most DVD drives and players. First-generation capacity was 3.95 billion bytes, later extended to 4.7 billion bytes. Matching the 4.7G capacity of DVD-ROM was crucial for desktop DVD production. In early 2000 the format was split into an "authoring" version and a "general" version. The general version, intended for home use, writes with a cheaper 650-nm laser, the same as DVD-RAM. DVD-R(A) is intended for professional development and uses a 635-nm laser. DVD-R(A) discs are not writable in DVD-R(G) recorders, and vice-versa, but both kinds of discs are readable in most DVD players and drives. The main differences, in addition to recording wavelength, are that DVD-R(G) uses decrementing pre-pit addresses, a pre-stamped (version 1.0) or pre-recorded (version 1.1) control area, CPRM (see 1.11), and allows double-sided discs. A third version for "special authoring," allowing protected movie content to be recorded on DVD-R media, was considered but will probably not happen.

[lpenrod]

Thanks for the info.