dvd-r playback problems

[stretchweider]

in last few months i sold 2 authored dvd's (pal format tdk 8* dvd-r's) to customers from the US.
they both contacted me as dvd's wouldnt play in dvd player and in 1 case also on pc,
they send em back and they work fine in several players(thailand-pal format) and my powerbook,
so maybe the players dont like the brand?or the pal format?but how come the pc dont like it either?
sold 100's of dvd's previously and never had this problem,
1 of dvd's is promo that i authored 2 years ago so it cant be software related unless burning in toast 7 is the problem,
any ideas?

fcp 5.0.4
dvd sp 4
toast 7.0.1

[terryj]

Could be they were burned at 8x, and their players only like 1x speed?
Without knowing their player models, we can't begin to help
solve the problem. Whenever I make dvds for
someone, I always burn at 1X speed to insure maximum
compatability, as many older model dvd players can't handle
discs burnt at 4x, 6x or even 8x.

[lordsmurf]

It has nothing to do with burn speed, that's a myth for the most part. The most likely issue is not all players play PAL. It's that easy. Another likely issue is their players cannot play DVD-R, or simply cannot play back the TDK dyes.

If you sold 100's and only 2 do not work, you've been lucky.

[terryj]

so again, without knowing the players they have,
we have NO IDEA, how to approach a specific answer
for your problem.
:P

and for what it's worth, I've gotten some GoVideo and early
model Phillips players that "didn't play DVD-R" to actually
play them using 1x burned TDK. My own Samsung DVW-7000,
doesn't like TDK's burned at 16x or 12x, but burn onto the same
media from the same spindle, at 1x burn, and it plays flawlessly.

Bigfoot may be a myth, but depends upon what part of the
country your in if its reality....
:P
I guess

[stretchweider]

terryj,until this year i always burned at 1x so could be the problem,never crossed my mind before,
lordsmurf,have had 8 others didnt work(skipping) but think that was down to me putting stickers on the discs,stopped since i found this can cause playback problems,
so i'll take on board all advice and burn on diff media and format at 1x(Ritek dvd+)
and let you know if this works out,
thanks

[lordsmurf]

but think that was down to me putting stickers on the discs,stopped since i found this can cause playback problems,

That's it. Do not use stickers. Quit it. If you need pictures on discs (a waste in my mind, given how few seconds anybody reads it or cares) then get inkjet media and an inkjet disc printer.

Did you know that burning 1x (too slow!) on most modern media (4x, 8x, 16x) actually gives you just as many problems as writing too fast? We're already seeing this issue in many DVD recorders (all which write 1x!) that reject 8x or faster media.

RITEK is a horrible choice in disc for customers. It has a low reflectivity and many players will reject it. The single most compatible disc is a MITSUBISHI (MCC) DVD-R, usually sold under the VERBATIM brand name. If a player cannot read one of those discs, then it usually cannot read burned discs at all (assuming your DVD-Video data is written 100% compliant).

There are a few drives out there which seemingly give merit to the "burn it slower" myth (a myth that exists for 8x and under media, but has some minor merit with 16x media). The drive does not properly do the lead-out on the higher burn speed. The drive is the problem, not the disc or burn speed. Update your firmware, or consider getting a new drive. Maybe just switch discs, those are not as compatible with your drive.

[terryj]

There are a few drives out there which seemingly give merit to the "burn it slower" myth (a myth that exists for 8x and under media, but has some minor merit with 16x media). The drive does not properly do the lead-out on the higher burn speed. The drive is the problem, not the disc or burn speed. Update your firmware, or consider getting a new drive. Maybe just switch discs, those are not as compatible with your drive.

Here you go again smurfy.....You can't seriously advocate that the OP put a disclaimer
on the discs he sells that says " Hey, if this doesn't play in your DVD Player, you
should go get a new DVD Player." He runs a commercial endeavor for chrissakes,
and he can't control what his CONSUMERS players are, anymore than you or I could.

The best instance you can do Stretch is the tract your following.
My advice: I have made a few discs for friends, and when they
bring them back to me to play, I know I can't tell them to
go get a new machine, becasue they'll tell me "well,
the disccs from blockbuster work fine it", and look at ME
stupid.

In those cases, I keep on hand a small spindle of 1-4x rated media.
I use Taiyo Uden 1x-4x media, I burn them at 1x and give them back to them.
Usually I get no complaints then.
In my own machines at the house, yeah I could go replace my Sanyo DWV-7200,
but I still use the VCR function on it, so I either go use one of the other five DVD players
in the house, or re-burn it at 1x speed.

But for your COMMERCIAL endeavor, you should definitely go with good discs,
slowest ( widest compatible) burn speeds, and yes like smurfy said, NO Stickers.
invest in an disc printer if you need it, but a decent medium point sharpie works
just as good. Remember its the content they pay for first, the presentation second.
Why do you think bootleggers exist?

[lordsmurf]

My comments that you just quoted were about the burner, not the player.

[terryj]

Ok, but the OP's original post states about :

customers from the US.
they both contacted me as dvd's wouldnt play in dvd player and in 1 case also on pc

so even if he upgraded HIS burner, his CUSTOMERS would still
be having the problem, smurf.

The only one burning ANYTHING is the OP, who doesn't have
playback probs. The CUSTOMERS are having the playback probs,
hence my post to your post.

Did you get your OJ today?

[lordsmurf]

No, that's not true either. And I never said replace the burner (though that option exists), but rather be sure the discs work well with the firmware on that drive. As I mentioned, in terms of burn speed and the myth, some burners will not correctly do the lead-out at some speeds on certain discs. It's the drive, not the speed, not the disc, not the player.

This is merely one of many possibilities.

There is no single answer to solve the problem.

But I still say PAL is the most likely problem. Next likely is a reflectivity issue. As good as TDK is, it's still not the best in that department.

And I had milk this morning, not juice.

[larrye]

hi proper newbie here

i have just dowloaded mac the ripper and toast, to back-up my DVD's. the film i wanted to back up is 7gb. i followed the instructions for the ripper which all went ok. then these instructions for toast. however when i put in my 4.7gb blank disk in and press burn this comes up:

THERE'S NOT ENOUGH FREE SPACE ON THIS DISC: 2928656 SECTORS (5.59 GB) ARE NEEDED, 2298496 SECTORS (4.38 GB) ARE AVAILABLE

i thought toast was meant to compress it, it's really frustrating me and i desperate to sort it out, can anyone help?

thanks

Larry

p.s. i tried it on another dvd that was 4gb it worked fine

[terryj]

And I had milk this morning, not juice.

that in and of itself, explains ALOT.

later, smurfy.

[terryj]

hi proper newbie here

i have just dowloaded mac the ripper and toast, to back-up my DVD's. the film i wanted to back up is 7gb. i followed the instructions for the ripper which all went ok. then these instructions for toast. however when i put in my 4.7gb blank disk in and press burn this comes up:

THERE'S NOT ENOUGH FREE SPACE ON THIS DISC: 2928656 SECTORS (5.59 GB) ARE NEEDED, 2298496 SECTORS (4.38 GB) ARE AVAILABLE

i thought toast was meant to compress it, it's really frustrating me and i desperate to sort it out, can anyone help?

thanks

Larry

p.s. i tried it on another dvd that was 4gb it worked fine

Please do not hijack threads, instead please create a new one to discuss your topics.

That being said, you now need to read further on the Mac The Ripper instructions,
either on this website in the STICKIES part, or in its manual, that say you
need to COMPRESS the output (rip) from MTR, using either Popcorn,
DVD2ONEX ( aka DTOX) or the Video from DVD VIDEO_TS feature in
TOAST 7.

The warning lets you know that it recognizes the output from MTR, (5.59GB)
but that it is still to big to fit to a blank DVD (4.38GB), so you need to compress it.

[larrye]

sorry about the highjack thing, new to all this forum worldy thingy.

thanks for your advice

one last question....how do you compress it?

[stretchweider]

ok,im trying to keep up here,
i stopped using stickers at the end of 2004 after reading about playback problems,
up till that point i'd sold maybe 200 discs and had 8 with problems,
i was burning at 1x on ALL discs using princo,which have a bad rep,but are cheap and available where i was working(thailand),i've never had problems with them,i still have discs from 3 years ago that work ok,
i got back out there Nov 2005 and burnt all discs(TDK 8x) at best speed using toast(does best mean it uses fastest burn speed?),not applying stickers to discs,
so now i was going to send replacements burnt to Ritek which i thought were good quality,apparently not,i'll send em anyways and i can always replace again if further problems,
i dont know if it can be a PAL issue as one guy said the disc wont play on his PC either.