General problems burning DVDs - Media? Equipment? Software?

[Bernie2004]

Good morning all.

I recently upgraded my equipment. I am using a Acard 1 to 1 copier containing an Asus DVD-E616P2 DVD Reader and Pioneer 108 Reader. There is also a new Pioneer 108 Reader in my PC. All firmware has been upgraded to the latest versions.

Copying DVDs in general is proving a little unreliable as a number of people I am sending the discs too are having problems reading them. They either freeze/stutter during playing or do not play at all.

I am narrowing the problem down to the media - I may be wrong of course. I usually use 4X RITEK Ridisc G04/TTG02 Printable DVD-R. If I am copy from hard drive to DVD I use either Nero Reloaded 6.6 or sometimes Tmp Author 1.6. I use Decryptor to get it to the hard drive.

Should I switch media?

If I do so is copying/burning at 4X more reliable than faster speeds?

Is the media the problem? Can anyone recommend a good brand and speed of media to use?

Just what is the best software to use?

If anyone could offer any advice or help it would be appreciated.

Cheers

[thecoalman]

Not all DVD formats work in all DVD players. I had a +R and a -R with identical content and only one would play in a Sony DVD player and both would play in my JVC. Usually it's the player...... Look to the right under DVD players for disc compatibilty.

[blinky88]

You haven't supplied nearly enough info about the media you are using and your PC spec's, however I will explain how to achieve good quality backups.

I have a Pioneer 108D with the Piodata 1.18 F/W. It will burn DVD+R blank media resulting in a DVD-ROM backup.

DVD-ROM discs will play in all players regardless of age.

The most important step is to handle the blank media carefully, as the slightest mark, scratch etc. on the surface can lead to the disc not playing as it should and often will not play at all. Commercial DVD's are pressed and the digital information is imbedded during the embedding process and they tend to take a lot of abuse. DVD blank media on the other hand is extremely sensitive to handling errors.

As far as software is concerned I use DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink. Both applications are extremely user friendly and produce great results, more importantly, they are FREE.

Use DVD Shrink to shrink and encode to a single ISO file and then use DVD Decrypter to burn the image. To create a single ISO file, your HDD needs to be formatted NTFS, if it is formatted Fat 32, then you create ISO files of one gig.

When burning your backup do not multitask as this will cause problems.

As far as media goes, when you find discs that burn without faults, stick with it.

Hope this info is of some help.

[lordsmurf]

It will burn DVD+R blank media resulting in a DVD-ROM backup. .. DVD-ROM discs will play in all players regardless of age.

If you're saying that using DVD+R with DVD-ROM booktype results in a 100% compatible discs, then your statement is totally false. DVD+R is only about 85-90% compatible, and that number is ONLY because of booktype. Prior to ROM booktypes, DVD+R was closer to the 75-80% range.

[blinky88]

Information regarding DVD-ROM from other members of this site plainly says "DVD-ROM will play in all DVD players". If you have info to add to that statement I'm sure everyone would like to know which players will not play DVD-ROM.

[Nilfennasion]

Freezing and stuttering during play could have a number of causes, which each must be individually tackled. They include, but are not limited to, power problems at the player end.

The topic of media-type compatibility is also one worth looking through. The number of times it has been assumed this or that disc will be compatible, only to find this is not the case, is a large one.

By the way, just setting the booktype of a disc does not automatically make it compatible. It could literally be that the laser pickup in the player does not read organic dyes well. This was, in fact, a common problem with 1999-gen DVD players, and a lot of complaints stirred from these "new fangled" players being unable to read CD-R discs. The same is happening all over again with DVD±R, and it is ridiculous to think the problem can be sidestepped just by changing the pits in one microscopic area of the disc.

[blinky88]

G'day Nilfennasion,

He says he has a Pioneer 108 Reader, however I assumed he meant DVD writer. Flashing that drive with the Piodata 1.18 F/W will allow him to burn +R and the outcome is a DVD-ROM disc which I am lead to believe will play in all players. As far as the media he is using -R TTG02, it is really good quality media according to many on this site. Addressing the speed issue he raised and refering to the backups I have burned, I use 4x and rarely have problems with lesser quality media than he is using. I simply cannot afford to buy TTG02's.

[Nilfennasion]

Flashing that drive with the Piodata 1.18 F/W will allow him to burn +R and the outcome is a DVD-ROM disc which I am lead to believe will play in all players

Whomever told you that is basically full of crap. While setting the booktype to DVD-ROM will increase compatibility on some players, the fact remains that there is a shrinking minority of players that see anything recordable, and just do not know what to do. I have two such players sitting in a basement as I speak, in fact. I don't even think Toshibas can play back +R, bitset or no, as yet.

[blinky88]

From information I have gathered regarding bitsetting (booktype), commercial DVD's are embedded with a format of DVD ROM and all DVD players 'DO IN FACT' play commercial DVD's.

Bitsetting is a process that changes the identity of a DVD+R disk seen by DVD players as DVD ROM. If the burner you are using is able to set the bookmark, it is possible to make the DVD+R disks identify themselves as DVD ROM in the player. It stands to reason a DVD ROM disc created using the booktype will play in all DVD players ..eg.. as do commercial DVD's.

Many older DVD players, including DVD players in some laptop computers, will not read DVD-R or DVD+R because those formats did not exist when the player's firmware was written. By using +R media and changing the bitsetting on a DVD+R to DVD-ROM, those players should be able to load and play the DVD+R disc.



DVD-R discs on the other hand have the -R format written in the lead in and in most cases cannot be altered, however most modern players can read -R. That said, there are still many 'not so old' players that cannot play +R.

[Nilfennasion]

You are making a dangerous assumption here. Burning and pressing are two very different things, and the results read different in all players. A pressed DVD-ROM and a DVD+R bitset to DVD-ROM are in fact not the same thing. Were this the case, all our commercial DVDs would have purple surfaces, and recordables would have hit the market years sooner.

In order to see the "identity" bit of a DVD, the player has to be able to read it in the first place. Some players, such as the early Toshibas from the SD-2109 and back, cannot read recordables, period. Not because the discs are not bitset to DVD-ROMs, but because the laser cannot focus through the organic dye surface and read the pit information. It was the same with CD-Rs in DVD-Video players before 2000. Bitsetting will not make the slightest difference with these players.

Again, just to reiterate - pressed/stamped DVD-ROM and DVD±R bitset to DVD-ROM = not the same thing. That's like saying video and film are the same thing.

[blinky88]

DVD-R media the -R booktype is written in the lead in. DVD+ media there is no information written in the lead in and bitsetting writes the DVD ROM information in that area, that does not seem to be too difficult to understand.

The booktype encoding being in the lead in tells the player it is a DVD ROM disc. Although this seems to be over your head I'm sure most people reading this thread can understand what I am trying to get accross.

[Nilfennasion]

Oh right... I am not getting it because you're not understanding the fact that some players do not read recordables at all due to not having the necessary laser pickup or programming. How silly of me. :P

How long have you been using DVD-Video players for? Since this morning?

[lordsmurf]

No, blinky88, I think you're the one in "over your head" on this one. The simple fact is recordable media never has and probably never will have 100% success rate. Booktype has nothing to do with this, it's a reflectivity (hardware) issue.

Think about it this way: You can write "APPLE" on a pear, and many people will think it's an apple. But some are always going to know it's a pear. This cannot be changed.

[Nilfennasion]

Thanks, lordsmurf, I was struggling to find the right words to get the point across. Isn't funny how people who clearly have no idea what they are doing think they can tell someone who has been playing with the format itself since 1999 and recordables for over a year something new?

[blinky88]

Bernie,

To answer your original post, I believe the following should solve your problem.

Keep using the TTG02 -R blanks, reportedly very good media.
Use DVD Shrink to encode, re-author and shrink into a single ISO file, then burn with DVD Decrypter at 4x.

To use this method, the drive your burning 'to' has to be formatted NTFS. If it is Fat32 select ISO images in 1 gig blocks, as Fat32 cannot handle a file larger than 4 gig.

Hope this helps, please report whether or not this solves the problems you are experiencing.

[dvdguy4]

Who wants all the extra crap anyway? I only do when im interested in the extas. 9 out of 10 times I do movie only. Pretty much a waste of time for me to do it. "GO PATS"

[Nilfennasion]

If I do a movie-only backup that adds up to less than four gig, I will often add some extras to fill up that unused space. But I just encode them as separate titles, since all the equipment I have used to date just plays them automatically when the other titles end.