Most compatible scenario for brand name DVD players?

[misterchuckles]

Hey everyone -

I just finished producing a documentary would like to distribute it among people without worrying too much about compatibility issues on brand name dvd players. While I have a HP200i (recognized as a HP200j) with the default firmware, I think its time for me to buy an upgrade since I burned a couple with DVDMaestro and the discs won't play on my Sony DVP-S500D anymore.

I've been briefly reading about bitsetting, making sure that DVD+R's can be bitset as DVD-ROM's for better compatibility with most DVD players, etc. I was wondering what your guys' opinions are on:

1. the most compatible/reliable writer on the market (so far I've heard Sony DRX510UL)
2. the most compatible DVD media (right now I'm using Ritek +R 2.4X).
3. Any tricks like bitsetting that may help raise the compatibilty rate?

Many thanks!

-Charlie

[Vanderlow]

If you don't mind a hacked firmware I think you might go with the NEC 2500A which will give it bitsetting, but if the Sony can do it fine. The BenQ DW822A also has bitsetting as is and claims to be dual layer upgradeable in the future. It also has a good burn record (or its predecessor the DW800A, the 822A is real new).

[indolikaa]

If you're concerned about compatibility, I suggest DVD-R.


The reason being, there are older players out there that existed before DVD+R was developed. And some of those players won't play +R discs. There's enough of those older machines out there that it may still be an issue.

I have been known to profit from moving people's VHS recordings to DVD. If they want DVD+R I make them sign a disclaimer. It's kept an unplayable disc out of at least two customers' hands.

This is just an opinion. Others may not agree. As this thread grows, you may come to a different conclusion.

[tag]

If you're concerned about compatibility, I suggest DVD-R.

The reason being, there are older players out there that existed before DVD+R was developed. And some of those players won't play +R discs. There's enough of those older machines out there that it may still be an issue.

Well, I have a grand total of four "older" players and not one of them would recognize the two +R disks I recorded. 3 out of those 4, however, played all the -R disks I recorded (my old Philips, for which I paid something like $250, was the machine that wouldn't play either format, FWIW).

OTOH, the 1 month old $39.99 player I bought for my father played all of them.

[misterchuckles]

This is all good stuff. Thanks. I upgraded the firmware on my HP200i (200j) to the latest HP offers (1.72 I think) and now my DVDs will play on my Sony DVP-S500D up to my animated menu, then it stops and is unplayable at that point. I can only eject the disc and try it again, but it fails at the same spot. Its at the point where I've told DVDMaestro upon endpoint of film_intro, play menu1 (for those who know those connection commands in DVDMaestro).

It really seems like its the burner though because I've done these kind of command in Maestro on DVD+Rs and they've played on the Sony. I'd like to think the Sony player is the stubborn old mule that will play a disc only if it behaves like a pressed DVD-ROM.

[Vanderlow]

Does your HP 200i have bitesetting capability now/ On the database it says it does. Not sure whether its referring to the fact that the HP 200i is really a Ricoh 5125 and it has bitsetting and you can trick/flash the Ricoh's firmware to HP and make it into a Ricoh 5125 with bitsetting capability (use DVDinfoPro).

here's the thread:

https://www.videohelp.com/forum/archive/t174580.html

[misterchuckles]

Thanks, Vanderlow. I tried flashing it using the instructions on the link you listed but unfortunately it didn't take, partly because the article talks about using RIC files...but HP uses BIN files...renaming them didn't work either.

Its frustrating because I've never been able to flash my hp200i drive with firmware other than the official HP releases. Thing is, this drive says its a HP200i on the outside - but HP listed its as a hp200ix on their site, a release that came out shortly after the 200i to fix some writing issues, according to hp. But then the OS recognizes it as a HP200j. It seems they also made it more difficult to flash the drive with modified firmware. A real pain but oh well. HP is really on my $h!t list.

[Vanderlow]

Not sure maybe these two threads may help:

http://forum.rpc1.org/viewtopic.php?p=90664#90664


http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?category=4&manufactor=37

[ofbarea]

In regards to your questions

1. the most compatible/reliable writer on the market: Plextor.

2. For the media all the brands that I have used worked properly. Some media take more time before it is recognized, but successful with all of them. I think media made by Ricoh, regardless of the brand, is recognized faster.

3. For bit settings try flashing the firmware of your burner to Ricoh 5125A version 1.68 RPC1. The BitSetting should be set up with DVDInfoPro.

Question: Have you tested burning a DVD with just a simple 2 options text menu? Your problem could also be caused by an authoring problem in the menu. Anyway I think you should test your DVDs using a DVD+RW first.

My own experience…

I have an External HP DVD200i. This unit was originally an internal unit that I converted to external with the help of a USB2/firewire case.

My unit used to be recognized as HP DVD200j. With the original HP firmware I had compatibility problems with my own DVD player. After I flashed my burner to the latest hacked RPC1 Ricoh 5125 firmware, and changing the bit setting to DVD-ROM, my player understands all the movies I have burned since.

By I never had good result with the bundled HP software and I really disliked the way HP tool handled bit setting.

The flashing process is a bit tricky when not using HP tools; fortunately Tompika put together a great user guide to accomplish this task: https://www.videohelp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=174580

Just remember that the firmware to use is Ricoh 5125A version 1.68. You should find the hacked RPC1 firmware in here: http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?download_id=319

Please note that HP released a few days ago firmware 1.72 for the DVD200i. Since I hate HP software and there is not a hacked RPC1 version of it, I will continue using Ricoh 5126 version 1.68 (with the RPC1 hack).

After flashing don't forget to set the drive default book type to DVD-ROM using DVDInfoPro.

Finally, if you own an external DVD200e, you will have to flash the buerner throug an USB connection.