Problems only at the end of every DVD-R burned

[viper321]

I am having major problems with burning DVDs with DVD Shrink and NERO using a Plextor 708A and various disks from name brand to generic.
Everything appears to be going well and the disk completes. When I go to play it, it starts out great, then somewhere in the second half of the movie it starts to pause, pixelate, make a funny noise and eventually get worse and worse to the end. Normally then it wont play all the way through.
Every once in a while Ill get a disk that works. But then it stops again.
I am burning as low as 1x and have updated the burners firmware as well as tried numerous disks. When I first got the burner this happened a little but now its about 90% of the time.
Someone PLEASE help. This is driving me crazy. Is my burner shot??

[cowgoo]

This sounds like you just happen to keep getting poor media. Is the edge of the disks rough? One way of fixing yhis is get better media (ty) or make your dvd about 300mb shorter than the disk, that way the file won't get to the "damaged" outside section.

[HARRYSPADGE]

Your problem is usually caused by poorly manufactured discs.
When your DVD is written too, the laser starts at the centre of the disc and works it's way to the outer edge.
If you take a look at the dye side of the discs you may be able to see imperfections on the outer edge of the dye surface.
I have experienced this with cheap recordable DVD's.

When you play the disc your player also reads the disc from the centre outwards, so when it reaches the outer limit of the disc this is when your problems will occur.

You can try to get around this problem by setting the target size in DVDshrink to a lower figure so that when the discs are burnt the outer edges are not used.

[viper321]

I have even tried Maxell, Memorex, Sony disks all with the same problem.

[HARRYSPADGE]

Try burning with DVDdecrypter or IMGburn instead of nero.

Just create an ISO image with DVDshrink and burn with DVDdecrypter then see if you are still having the problems.

[classfour]

Check www.plextor.be for firmware. Yes, I know it's the Belgium site, but I've had more luck there than the US site. I went through 6 months of mixed results with a Plextor 712A, emails to support (nice people, actually), uninstalling programs, etc. until firmware 1.07 cured it for me.

Use the latest firmware - I'm betting the 708 might need it to work with the newer (8X & up) discs.

[viper321]

Thanks
I did update to the newest firmware and I am burning at 1X to try and get rid of the problem and still happens.
Strange how it always says its completed the disc fine but then when I go to play it the last 1/3 is usually messed up intermittently but un watchable.

[classfour]

If you can get them: Try some Fuji, Taiyo Yuden, Verbatim or TDK discs.

Make certain the TYs are legit - many fakes out there.

My 712A pukes Sonys. Ive had bad memorex. The only ones you listed that I haven't had bad discs with was Maxell - and I haven't used any LOL.

You may want to do the troubleshooting / diagnostics procedures listed in Plextor's support section - it will help you determine if you have a bad drive.

You may also want to download & install the latest version of Plextools if your drive uses it - you can do a PI/PO scan on the disc and really see if the disc is bad ( high PI/PO at the end of the burn - typically beyond the 4GB mark, indicate a suspect disc ).

However: If even the beginning of the disc is readable in your player. AND
The Plextor reached the end of the burn without crapping out - the disc is suspect.

Just for laughs: use DVD Shrink (or your favorite program) to reduce the DVD to UNDER 4 GB. If you use DVD Shrink, try saving it to an ISO file and burn it with DVD Decryptor at 4X or less.

If it plays to near the end or all the way through - BAD MEDIA.

Check www.ahead.de for updates to Nero 6.6 - it may have issues.

Have you installed ANY software since the last, 100%, GOOD burn that you had. Use Google, Videohelp and Nero support to see if there are incompatibilities with any software installed recently...

Good Luck,

I really like my Plextor, but it can be such a trial when it's not right.