Pixelation and Freeze-up on home-authored DVDs

[ctdvd]

Hi All:

Just for some background, my video source comes from a Panasonic DVD recorder (DMR-EH55), transferred to PC-based video file using TMPGEnc 4.0 Xpress (great software btw), encoded to standard format of DVD NTSC (MPEG) then often set chapter and menus using TMPGEnc DVD Author 3 which generates the files for burning.

I do not burn with Author 3 as my PC-based DVD burner (Philips DVD8801) is not listed as compatible for burning with this software. I have been using Nero 7 for final burns. The problem mostly occurs at the end of a full DVD (closer to the hub) where the images pixelate or play freezes. This is much less common on newer DVD players, using my home-authored DVDs but I have seen it happen on newer players also.

Do you think purchasing a new burner might solve this problem? I have a list of compatible burners from TMPGEen. Does anyone else have this issue with home-authored DVDs? If so, what have you done to resolve it?

Thanks,

Jerry

[filmboss80]

You did not specify the DVD media brand. Use Taiyo Yuden or Verbatim. Nero may also be a problem. Burn using ImgBurn (freeware). Try those steps before plucking down cash for a new burner.

[ctdvd]

For this particular burn I used Memorex +R 16 at lowest recording speed of 4X but usually use Verbatim -R 16 at lowest speed. Hope that helps.

[guns1inger]

DVDs burn (and play) from the inside out, so your problems don't lie near the hub, but the outer edges. This is generally a sign of cheap, low quality media. Follow Filmboss80's advice - get better media and burn with imgburn - and your problems will disappear like magic. If you must use cheap media, compress your videos further so that you don't burn so close to the edge. You will take a quality hit in the encoding, but you might not get break up.

[cal_tony]

By any means, I am not an expert on this but I have burned a number of disks over the years and I am willing to give some advice.
Over the years, I have had similar problems on and off. One big thing that does make a difference is burning with Img Burn. Another thing is to coordinate your burns with the best speed for your burner and the disks your burning . You seem to be burning 16x at 4x with the hope that it would help. I have always had the best results burning 16x at 12x and 8x 6x. But thats just me.

Media is important, but it seems like I'm in the minority when I say it's not as important as most think. Junk media is junk. I have some old disks that over time have changed from silver to red. Now thats junk. However, most media nowadays work fine. As an example, I'll point out that I have experienced the same pauses and blocking on some old re-writables that were written years ago with Nero.
I copied these back to my hard disk and rewrote them back to the same disk that had the pauses using Dvd Shrink to make an ISO and Img Burn to burn them ... and no more pauses.
What ever put the pauses on the disk didn't do it again.

I have also noticed that some authoring programs cause more problems than others.
Players are important. some are finicky others are not.

Don't burn to the end is always good advice. Most programs default to giving you a 50mb buffer so you don't burn to the end. You might want to increase this to 100 or 150 and see if it helps. (See preferences in DVD Shrink)

Finally, there are a number of free programs avail that will check your burns. Try different media at various speeds and see what works best for you.

Tony

[ctdvd]

Thanks guys, I have the media thing down OK and do like Verbatim. I just have some old Memorex I'm trying to use up. I downloaded the latest non-beta of ImgBurn and it's intuituve and easy enough. I was curious about "Discovery" but could not find much written about it's use. The use of Discovery is to verify media or the quality of a burn? In either case how do you interpret the results?

Thanks again for some great info,

J

[SCDVD]

I just have some old Memorex I'm trying to use up.

If you have some old rotten meat in the refrigerator, do you try to "use it up" too? The best place to put garbage is in the garbage not your gut - or your burner.

[tomlee59]

If you're *determined* to "use up" dodgy media, and value your time at zero, then here are some experiments you can try.

First, burning at the slowest speed is not necessarily going to produce the most reliable burns. The situation is much, much more complex than you are assuming. Burning slower than maximum is not a bad idea, but burning at minimum speed might actually be. So, try burning at a notch or so below the maximum, so for your 16x media, try 8x.

Also make sure that you are doubly careful not to touch the active surface. Your burns are failing near the outer edge (as pointed out, CD/DVDs start at the center and work their way outward -- it's the opposite of LPs, hard disks and floppies). If you're careless in handling, you'll leave greasy fingerprints near the edges, producing marginal or bad burns. Some people are lulled into a false sense of security by the tolerance of CDs to function even with scratches, etc., but it's important to understand that reading and writing are quite different operations, and have quite different tolerance to smudges, scratches and dust. Writing is much fussier.

Use no labels; don't do anything that might produce a wobble. The mechanical imbalance will cause poor burns (and guess what -- the biggest effect is at the outer edge).

Finally, go out and buy some good media.

[ctdvd]

OK maybe I wasn't clear in my use of sub-standard media. I have a "few" Memorex left and I am not trying to salvage them for any purpose except testing and eventual scrap. I have loads of Verbatim and only use Verbatim. I have been using Verbatim for close to two years as a result of my previous inquiries on this forum. I understand the pitfalls of using crap and I promise I won't do it anymore; if I do I fully understand that I may be sent to Authoring prison!

But, all kidding aside I do appreciate the information, it has been very helpful and I thank you.

[lordsmurf]

If you're *determined* to "use up" dodgy media, and value your time at zero, then here are some experiments you can try.

First, burning at the slowest speed is not necessarily going to produce the most reliable burns. The situation is much, much more complex than you are assuming. Burning slower than maximum is not a bad idea, but burning at minimum speed might actually be. So, try burning at a notch or so below the maximum, so for your 16x media, try 8x.

Also make sure that you are doubly careful not to touch the active surface. Your burns are failing near the outer edge (as pointed out, CD/DVDs start at the center and work their way outward -- it's the opposite of LPs, hard disks and floppies). If you're careless in handling, you'll leave greasy fingerprints near the edges, producing marginal or bad burns. Some people are lulled into a false sense of security by the tolerance of CDs to function even with scratches, etc., but it's important to understand that reading and writing are quite different operations, and have quite different tolerance to smudges, scratches and dust. Writing is much fussier.

Use no labels; don't do anything that might produce a wobble. The mechanical imbalance will cause poor burns (and guess what -- the biggest effect is at the outer edge).

Finally, go out and buy some good media.

Excellent info, you're spot-on with all of this. Good job.

[tomlee59]

Thank you, lordsmurf. I do appreciate the kind words.

--Cheers!

[ctdvd]

How about using labels after the burn is completed?

[tomlee59]

Well, certainly afterward is better than beforehand. It's not that labels are guaranteed to cause problems, it's that their presence increases the likelihood of a problem (if not today, then sometime down the road, when the adhesive has started to degrade, and the edges of the label curl up, etc.).

I avoid labels (mainly because I'm a lazy SOB, but also because of the reliability question), but others certainly use them, generally with satisfaction. It's always a risk-benefit tradeoff. Some favor the low-risk, low-hassle end of the tradeoff, others prefer the nice esthetics of a label, and are willing to tolerate increased risk in exchange. "You pays your money, and you takes your choice."

[johns0]

Never use labels!!!Even if some discs will play its not worth the hassel when in time the labels start aging and you have to peel them off to get the cd/dvd to play properly again.

[ctdvd]

Never use labels!!!Even if some discs will play its not worth the hassel when in time the labels start aging and you have to peel them off to get the cd/dvd to play properly again.

Any value in a CD/DVD printer, printing directly to the media? LightScribe seems to be too much trouble.

[lordsmurf]

Personally, disc labeling of any kind is a waste of time and resources. People look at a disc for mere seconds. If you want artwork, create nice DVD cases. Those gets several minutes of attention. Same for DVD menus, well worth the effort, as those are guaranteed to get viewing time. Disc tops are looked at for maybe the 5 seconds it takes to remove the disc from the storage, and put it into a player.

[johns0]

I use lightscribe once in a bluemoon,easy to to make a custom label and let burn for 19 min.Not worth it for doing lots of dvd's in a short time.

[Snakebyte1]

If you want something more than just writing with a Sharpie then printing is preferable over sticky labels by far. Printers capable of CD/DVD printing that are cheap these days. I won't get into the cost of ink topic. I have an Epson R220 that I use only for printing DVDs. It got it for $50 the other year and have been happy with it and have not had any problems thus far with DVDs that I have printed. I don't print many but when I do I'm happy with the results. Its a novelty but nice to have.

Of course you still have to get decent printable media to start off with and I too ensure I don't record right to the edge.