My DVD's keep freezing

[crazyxboxman]

Can anyone help me? PLEASE!

I have a Sony DRU 700a writer.
I use Nero 6 to copy.
The media I am using is Datawrite Yellow V2 4x DVD-r.

When I create a backup, be it a film or a computer game, it plays fine but freezes at certain places. I have tried playing the copies on my PC DVD rom which is a Samsung unit and also on my stand alone DVD which is a Panasonic and it happens on them too.

I have tried doing straight copies, disc to disc and also copying to my hard drive first but it still happens.

I have using tried DVD Decrypter but the same thing happens.

Help me please.

[Fandim]

What's the media ID code? Sounds like a case of bad media... Or possibly a firmware issue?

Seth

[crazyxboxman]

Thanks for the quick reply Fandim.

The media ID code is RITEKG05. The discs seem to be rated quite highly by other users.

How do I check what firmware my drive is currently running?

[Fandim]

A lot of people have problems with Ritek G05. What speed are you burning them at? As for firmware version, it should say top line of DVD decrypter...

(like this)

_NEC DVD_RW ND-3500AG 2.18 (ATA)
Current Profile: DVD+R


(the 2.18 being your FW revision).

[crazyxboxman]

I always burn at the lowest speed possible, usually 2x cos thats the lowest the writer/software lets me.

As for the firmware, it is VY06.

The thing is it doesn't happen to every copy. Some work, others don't but i'm getting fed up of wasting discs.

[cyflyer]

Have to back up what Fandim said, and say also that its a media thing. The GO5's USED to be rated highly but if you read though the posts you'll find that they have nosedived. From MY experience I also was getting too many "pixelators" and stopped using them. Went onto the printable TDK TTG01's and haven't had a single coaster, yet.

[winifreid]

Post a kprobe scan and maybe a cdspeed test.

[crazyxboxman]

What does kprobe do?

[winifreid]

It will tell you what kind of errors are on the disk. CDspeed will tell you if a smooth tranfer of data is possible.

[Fandim]

You really shouldnt burn at 2x...sometimes burning slower can cause problems. Try a 4x burn, and see how those work.

[crazyxboxman]

I thought burning slower would reduce the chances of a bad burn.

I would also like to add that when I am burning I disable my screensaver, Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security and my Internet Connection. Does anyone know of any other programs that run in the background that could cause bad burns?

I will also post a kprobe scan when I can find a disc that messed up on me because I usually throw them away.

[winifreid]

There are some disks that burn better ay high speed, but others better at slower ones.

[crazyxboxman]

Here are the results from a kprobe scan of a disc that freezes:

Date : 10/01/2005 18:41:06
Model : 1-0-1-0 SONY DVD RW DRU-700A VY06
Disc : DVD-R , RITEKG04 [RiTEK Corporation]
Speed : Max
ECC blocks sum (PI/PIF) : 8/1
Scanned range : 0 - 2293428
Sampling count : 123224
Errors : 0
PI Max : 738
PI Average : 128.60
PI Total : 2229572
PIF Max : 208
PIF Average : 10.73
PIF Total : 186105

What does it all mean?

[winifreid]

It would have been better if you could post the png image with the graph, but your pi and pif max error are above the point where you would expect smooth plaback.
You might check here for some better firmware to try. The sony is just a rebadged Lite-on 832. You can use these firmware to possibly improve your burns. Also, check out the media forum and lite-on forum at cdfreaks to see if there is a specific solution to this combination.
http://codeguys.rpc1.org/firmwares.html

[Dr. DOS]

I thought KProbe was only for Liteon Drives.... will it now work with any writer?

EDIT... i see Sony is OEMing the Liteon drives

[winifreid]

Also, you said above that you media was ritekg05, but your scan indicates that it is g04. Do you have both. Which one is the problem?

[crazyxboxman]

I thought it was g05 but it is g04, my mistake, sorry. Can anyone tell me which discs work well with this writer.

[bazooka]

Disabling all that stuff is unnecessary these days.

The drives have buffer underrun protection which means if the buffer runs low, then writing ceases until the buffer refills.

You can surf the web and run antivirus and all that stuff.

It would not hurt the disc.

It would just take a little longer to burn.

[winifreid]

You should check out the links I provided. There is better firmware for this burner for this media. I have a similair burner and get good results with g04 media. But as a rule, these drives work better with + media. But you should be able to get better burns than yours with g04.

[crazyxboxman]

I have the VY08 firmware downloaded on my computer but I haven't flashed the drive yet cos I don't want to invalidate the waranty unless I have eliminated all other options.

I will try changing the media to DVD+r and see what results I get.

Thanks to all that have tried to help and I will let you know how I get on.

[winifreid]

Updating the firmware will not invalidate the warranty. Only crossflashing (to another drive spec) will.

[crazyxboxman]

I have just burned a film on a DVD+r at 4x and it didn't play at all in any of my DVD players. I then burned it on the same make of disc at 2x and it works perfectly.

I think I will switch to +r discs now and see how it goes.

Only problem is I have about 70 DVD-r's that are of no use to me cos my writer doesn't like them!

[winifreid]

Yo should try some new firmware. Or just burn when you are not in a hurry.

[Dains11]

One problem Im having is that I burn a dvd-r and it plays fine at first, but I put it in my case, and try to watch it a week later, and then its really glitchy, and skipped a whole scene. Is it the type of dvd's im buying?

[winifreid]

The only disks I have seen play after burning, but fail later either had labels or were scratched.