DVR A03 - Is it really as incompatible as I am finding?

[ranma500]

We are authoring DVDs commercially.

We use Spruce Conductor, Pinnacle DC-2000, a DLT drive, and a Pioneer DVR-A03 for check-disks.

When I first wrote a DVD (TDK blank), I wanted to see how many players would play it. I also needed to buy a new DVD player. So I visited a few different video retailers, and asked them to supply me with a player that would play my disk.

In all, I must have tried about thirty different players. Not a single one would play the disk!

I have only found two players that support it. These are the Cyberhome and the Mustek, which have do difficulties whatsoever.

I read on this and other sites that DVD-R format should be compatible with 80% of players, but I have found that to be nowhere near the case. Whilst obviously the disks play in computer-based drives, I have had very little success with desktop players.

We are now getting a lot of requests for conference or exhibition work, where the client wants a single copy on DVD so that he can play it in good quality and sometimes endlessly looping.

Unfortunately, if he supplies his own player, we cannot offer this service, because I can never be confident that his player will work. This is a damn nuisance.

My question is: is this just the current state of things, or is there anything I can do to improve the compatibility issue i.e.

1. Get a different DVD writer.
2. Upgrade the firmware on my writer.
3. Use different blanks. I understand that there are silver layer, green layer, and blue layer disks, and that these affect compatibility issues also. Are TDK blanks particularly non-compatible? Another problem is that the manufacturers don't seem to tell you which colour-layer their disks are anywhere on the packaging.
4. Create the disk in a different way. I currently create a volume in Conductor, then use MyDVD to burn it to DVD. (Conductor only supports SCSI writers, not IDE).

It seems strange to me that the Cyberhome, which is possibly the cheapest player on the market is the most compatible, when I have tested machines costing five times as much with no joy.

Thanks,

Paul

[BJ_M]

i deal with this problem on a daily basis and can tell you right now - nothing is 100% compatable, but i can get pretty close.

but..

the A03 and A04 are the most compatable burners except for the pioneer 201 mastering dvd burner..

to make your project more compatable:

1. use apple dvd-r disks or maxell only
2. if you want greater compatability use 3.9 gig disks (i dont do this but this disk size will play on more decks than 4.7 will)
3. lower your bit rate ! use no higher than 6meg/s -- andyou can still get excellent quality ..
4. use ac3 audio or pcm and avoid mpeg audio ..
ac3 is best choice.
5. use prassi to burn a image . not mydvd .. or use nero to burn your volume.
6. use standard dvd gop structures and make sure all settings are correct for dvd .. and not just for mpeg2 ..


for any industrial loop type playback - use only the pioneer 7400 player .. not only will play almost anything (including very high bit rate dvd's) it will last the longest.. if a client asks for a recomendation for a cheap player i tell them use a pioneer 343 (other good ones posted here also)

[bartman]

DVD-R General ( which is what the a03 and a04 use ) will never be 100% compatable in older players for one reason, DVD-R general has a small section on it that is un-burnable. In this section is data that tells the player what type of DVD it is, how big it is etc. DVD-R has a different media type code than DVD-Video and a lot of older players don't recognise it and will reject the disk.

You will probably find that the cheaper brand dvd players play more types than the "big brand" players, only because most of them use the same ESS decoder board ( e.g. my AU$500 Philips player rejects disks that my AU$200 XMS player will read perfectly )

[disturbed1]

I find this to be true also.

Most (haven't tried every model) Apex players will play DVD-R's. I've had problems with Toshiba's, Sharps's and Emerson players. Harmon Kardon will play DVD-R's. Pioneer seems to be hit or miss, depends on media, and model number.

The disc quality, along with authoring program are also big factors.

Discs I've authored with DVDit seem to be less compatible than the jobs I do with Maestro. Conductor should use the same engines as Maestro.

The Playstation2 (which I've heard to be picky) plays back cheap DVD-R (Princo, DVDPro) authored with Maestro and Spruce Up, but it wouldn't play the same titles authored with DVD it PE on the same brand media.

What BJ_M said is true also. Mpeg audio is not a NTSC standard (PAL has the mpeg audio standard) AC3 audio will give the best results. I've found a few players that couldn't cope with a 6mbit/s video and LPCM audio.

I use 7500 vbr (usually gives me 5000-5500 average with 8000 peaks) with my encoder card and 192 2/0 ac3.

Watch out for Pioneer brand DVD-R's. They have changed their manufactoring plant and are no longer the same quality as before. Any disc made by Mitsui is of good quality.