What is an "older" DVD player?

[lordsmurf]

I'm seeing this topic slowly get bent into myth. An "older player" is not something that is more than a year or two old!

Remember these facts:

When somebody refers to an "older player", it generally assumes a 1990s build, 2000-2001 at latest. Most players developed after the DVD-R (General) spec came around were made with DVD-R in mind. In fact, my Q1 2002 Toshiba was marketed as "made to play DVD-R and DVD-RW". Remember that DVD-R/DVD-RW is an official DVD spec, and therefore compatibility was required ~2000.

DVD+R and DVD+RW came about a year later, so anything made after 2002 generally plays DVD+R, especially if it's booktyped. However, it's not an official format, so it's compatibility was, and still is, below that of DVD-R.

Let's not generate more video/DVD myths. We have too many already.

[hech54]

What if it's a 90's build Sony that plays NOTHING RECORDABLE....including CD-R?

My ex-girlfriend has just that machine and still uses it. Her husband HATES it because he constantly forgets it wont play recordables...but it has some audio function she needed so badly so she still uses it.

[Seeker47]

I'm seeing this topic slowly get bent into myth. An "older player" is not something that is more than a year or two old!

Remember these facts:

When somebody refers to an "older player", it generally assumes a 1990s build, 2000-2001 at latest. Most players developed after the DVD-R (General) spec came around were made with DVD-R in mind. In fact, my Q1 2002 Toshiba was marketed as "made to play DVD-R and DVD-RW". Remember that DVD-R/DVD-RW is an official DVD spec, and therefore compatibility was required ~2000.

DVD+R and DVD+RW came about a year later, so anything made after 2002 generally plays DVD+R, especially if it's booktyped. However, it's not an official format, so it's compatibility was, and still is, below that of DVD-R.

Let's not generate more video/DVD myths. We have too many already.

My Malata 700 is about 5 years old (from purchase when new -- I'm not sure exactly when it was manufactured, and don't feel like pulling it out of the cabinet just to find out. It has many good features, and has proven to be a real workhorse, but if you put any -RW or +RW disc in, ti will spin it up for awhile, then come to a halt saying "No Disc." It has also been fairly picky regarding discs made in the computer, even though I have long been using the better quality media. (And you get a lot of the credit for that, LS.)

In the past, you attributed some of these results to "low reflectivity", but I think that explanation does not wash: I have taken suspect discs that I did not make, and have no idea how they were made -- some were professional "bargain bin" discs, others clearly home-made by someone -- then ripped them and reburned them onto top quality blanks, and they still exhibited much the same problems. Therefore, it must be one of two other possibilities. There must be some other variables in how the discs were originally made, or it does come down to quirks or limitations in some players of a certain vintage. And we can debate exactly what that vintage is. I do know that most of the problematic discs I've tried do seem to have different or better results in other, much more recent players. But I do have access to a three year old JVC player that does not seem to like -RW discs, either.

[lordsmurf]

RW media only work in maybe 60-70% of players out there. It's not great. There are still players made that don't work well with recordables, but in general, that was solved years ago.

[ozymango]

I don't know what qualifies as officially "older," but I've had playback issues with some DVD players of new vintage that just goes to show, this technology is still pretty young, all things considered.

I bought myself a brand-new Samsung DVD player a year or so ago, and I loved all the features on it (and the price!) when I was playing with it at the store, so I took it home and happily started going through some of my discs.

And that player would not read any DVDs I had that I'd purchased from Acorn media.

Acorn media is a major company, we're talking commercially pressed discs, and they do pretty much all British movie and TV DVDs, shows like "Foyle's War" and "The Good Life," which is one of the reasons I bought a DVD player in the first place. Bummer!

I tried my homemade DVDs -- no problem. I tried every other DVD -- no problem. But nothing from Acorn.

So I took my test DVD ("The Good Life") to the store with me, along with my DVD player, and tried the disc in other DVD players. And it wouldn't play in the JVC deck (don't remember the model, it was the only one they stocked and it wasn't too expensive), but it played in the Sony and the Toshiba. So I traded the Samsung for the Toshiba.

And the player has played every disc I've thrown at it since.

So the moral of the story is ... I dunno, don't buy Samsung? :P Or Acorn does funky disc pressing? Or all of the above?

EDIT: Oh, and these are Region 1 NTSC discs, not PAL, so we're not talking multi-region players, just basic stuff.

[ntscuser]

Acord Media is Canadian and I've had a disproportionate number of Canadian discs which refused to play on quite well regarded machines. The very same discs did quite often play on the latest own brand store machines but that was little consolation to the people who purchased them. I remember one multi-angle Pet Shop Boys title in particular which I was forced to replace with a Japanese import.

I've had other Canadian pressings which were 60Hz interlaced when the US version was 24fps progressive or pan and scan when the US version was anamorphic.

[Noahtuck]

What i think is funny is when i see people on here say "Older" machines won't play or have problems playing recordable media
The time or year it was made has nothing to do with it, it's the quality the company wanted to put into it.

I have a 97' pioneer dvd/ld combo player that plays +, -, DL & cdr perfectly.
I have an older dvd only pioneer that plays everything just as well.... have a newer GE player that plays everything but DL. it has been shelved for some time as it was flaking out on even pressed media.

My ex had a 10 disc cd changer in the trunk of her car, weirdest damn thing...
If you put a store bought cd in it, it would not recognize the disc, but if i copied that same disc to a cd-r and put it in, it would play perfectly
Figured good!!! then i don't have to worry about all our original's getting wrecked in her car because even she never took as good care of disc's as i always have.

does anyone have a link to someplace that has the exact years and date's that pressed dvd's & home player's were released to the general public, then dvd-r, dvd+r, Double layer -R, then double layer +R's ?

I've always had a rough idea from memory but it's been a looong time and my memory get's used up on more important things :P

[Rich86]

I echo the comments suggesting whether a player can handle multiple types of media or not isn't a function of when the player was designed or built. My late 90's vintage Pioneer DVL-909 (1998, I think) will play most any media - dvd, dvd-r, dvd-rw, dvd+r, dvd+rw, cd, cd-r, cd-rw, laser disc, etc.). I expect it is a function of the quality of the design, parts and build.
My relatively new Sony 5-disc upconverting dvd player has also proven to be very flexible regarding the types of media it will play (ie. most anything I've thrown at it so far).
However, my Yamaha 5-disc dvd player (6660 model, I think) was as fussy as can be - so it got retired and replaced by the Sony.

[EddyH]

I wonder what the excuse is these people have for players not liking stuff ...

My ancient cheap SM2500 eats up more or less any recordable media you throw at it - well, so long as it isn't DVD-R/RW and I'm sure it's only a matter of time til I find a compatible brand of those too!