Stuttering and Freezing Problems with Playback

[nickelzy]

Ok, I know this topic has been discussed in length before, as I've read everything that I could find regarding the topic because of a recent problem that I just realized. However, because I still have questions, I am posting this thread anyway.

Over the past month, I've copied (backed-up) about 50 movies. However, just recently, I've come to realize that probably about 40% of those have that "stuttering" problem which occurs usually 2/3 of the way into the movie. Based on what I've read, I've changed the way I do things now HOPING to end this problem (at least greatly decrease the amount of bad copies). Here was my current setup while I was having problems:

My computer (which hasn't changed):
*2GHZ processor running Windows XP
*1 GB Memory
*40GB free Harddrive space
*New Digital Research 8x DVD Drive

The old process:
*Memorex 4x DVD+R
*Nero 5.5.10.54 - burning DVDs at 4x
*DVD Shrink 3.1.5

After many suggestions, the new process:

*Staying with Memorex 4x DVDs (at least for now, unless I find that they are the culprit - but I sure hope not because I just bought two 50 pack spindles on-line last week before I was aware of my problems)
*CopytoDvd (instead of Nero) so that I can copy at 1x or 2x if necessary
*DVD Shrink 3.1.7.3

Based on my changes and some other issues, I have a few questions that hopefully someone can help me out with:

1. With DVD Shrink - is the Deep Analysis really necessary? I started using it today for the first time (because of my past problems) but it adds so much time onto the process. If it helps eliminate problems, then fine - I'd rather have that then to keep making coasters. However, if it isn't really necessary, then I'd like to stop (because of the time consuming process). I guess I don't really understand what it's doing and how it's helping.

2. Since I no longer use Nero and can now decrease my write speed, I've started copying my dvds at 1x. However, instead of the 13 minutes that it use to take, it's taking an hour. Is the speed really important when using good media such as Memorex?

3. Anyone have any thoughts on Memorex DVD+R's? I am hoping that they aren't causing the problems and it's something else - any thoughts?

4. Anyone have any experience using CopytoDVD? Since all of the bad reviews with Nero that I read (and the inablility to decrease the speed instead of copying at max) I decided to try another program. I first tried Stomp's Record Now because of all of the recommendations, however, I couldn't get my movies to play on my old Sony stand-alone dvd player (but it would play on my computer). I tried tweaking some things and never could get it to play. I switched to CopytoDVD and the last two movies I burned, worked perfectly on my Sony DVD player. I am hoping that this continues!

5. I understand that older versions DVD Shrink was causing some movies to stutter and freeze (like the problem that I have described), but I don't really think that it's the culprit. The reason I don't think so is that in a few cases in which the movies didn't play correctly, I just burned them again on a new DVD and then everything worked fine (I didn't have to go through the DVD Shrink process again). Therefore, if the stuttering problems were caused by DVD Shrink, wouldn't I have problems no matter how many times I burned a DVD (if I didn't re-shrink them again?) Therefore, I sort of think (and this is not based on any hard evidence but just a guess by someone who doesn't really know much yet as it relates to DVD copying) that either my media doesn't agree with my drive all the time or Nero was giving me problems (or the speed was too fast at times). Anyone else have a hypothesis? Maybe I'm missing something here.

6. How much (if any) does multitasking pose problems while either using DVD Shrink or burning files to a DVD? My drive as well as both software programs are suppose to allow you to multitask on your computer while they are working, but I'm now paranoid so today when I did the entire backing up process (inlcuding burning), I didn't use my computer for anything else. I really hope that this isn't what I have to do because I sort of live on my computer - use if for work and grad school. However, if multitasking truly adds risk to making a bad disc, then I'll continue the way I did today (no multitasking while using DVD Shrink and CopytoDVD).

So far, I'm 2 for 2 using my new process so it's WAY TO EARLY in the game to make any conclusions as to whether things are better or fixed (but at least so far, so good). I'm going to try backing up 3 more movies tonight and see what happens - if I have any problems tonight, I'll follow up with another post immediately (otherwise, if there is no immediate follow up, assume that I'm batting 5 for 5).

Thanks in advance for any help that is offered - I want to get this problem corrected very, very badly!!!

[dafreak]

1. With DVD Shrink - is the Deep Analysis really necessary? I started using it today for the first time (because of my past problems) but it adds so much time onto the process. If it helps eliminate problems, then fine - I'd rather have that then to keep making coasters. However, if it isn't really necessary, then I'd like to stop (because of the time consuming process). I guess I don't really understand what it's doing and how it's helping.

Deep Analysis is not really necessary but it does improve the quality of your backups. Say you're only compressing the movie at 90% then DA is not necessary, and you probably couldn't really tell the difference in quality, but I would recommend it for backups that you are compressing at less than 90%. Deep analysis analyzes each and every frame which results in better allocation of where it should transcode.


I doubt this is causing coasters for you though.

2. Since I no longer use Nero and can now decrease my write speed, I've started copying my dvds at 1x. However, instead of the 13 minutes that it use to take, it's taking an hour. Is the speed really important when using good media such as Memorex?

Well first of all, you should be able to adjust the speed of your burns in nero.

After you click on burn compilation, this window should appear. This is where you can adjust the speed of the burns.


if you are allowing dvdshrink to burn using the nero engine, the option to change the burn speed should be on the burn settings tab, after you click on backup. Make sure you have blank dvd inserted in your dvd burner. If you do not see the drop down menu, you may have to upgrade your dvdshrink.

Second of all, I've had some really bad experiences with memorex disks. Want to hear my experience? well of course you do. I bought two stacks of 25 memorex disks. They were marked as 4x disks. When i burned the disk at 4x, my movies would always be choppy, pixelated and jerk. When I burned at 1x or 2x, the movies would turn out fine. I don't mind burning at 1x or 2x speeds but i spent money to buy 4x and would like to burn at 4x speeds. about 10-15 disks wouldn't even burn at 1x however and have never bought memorex disks ever again.

I buy ritek disks from newegg. just bought 2 stacks of 50 riteks that haven't produced a coaster yet.

3. Anyone have any thoughts on Memorex DVD+R's? I am hoping that they aren't causing the problems and it's something else - any thoughts?

see above. Some people have mentioned that the new 3.16+ versions have fixed some issues of choppy play, but I'm pretty sure this is an issue with memorex media that you are using. Most people will swear up and down that memorex are the shizzle, but they just don't work well for me. It could be possible that they don't work well with your setup as well.

4. Anyone have any experience using CopytoDVD? Since all of the bad reviews with Nero that I read (and the inablility to decrease the speed instead of copying at max) I decided to try another program. I first tried Stomp's Record Now because of all of the recommendations, however, I couldn't get my movies to play on my old Sony stand-alone dvd player (but it would play on my computer). I tried tweaking some things and never could get it to play. I switched to CopytoDVD and the last two movies I burned, worked perfectly on my Sony DVD player. I am hoping that this continues!

I've never used copytodvd because I mainly use nero. I've never experienced a problem with nero for backing up my cd's and dvd's. a lot of people use imgtools to create the iso files and burn with dvd decrypter. you might want to give that a try.

5. I understand that older versions DVD Shrink was causing some movies to stutter and freeze (like the problem that I have described), but I don't really think that it's the culprit. The reason I don't think so is that in a few cases in which the movies didn't play correctly, I just burned them again on a new DVD and then everything worked fine (I didn't have to go through the DVD Shrink process again). Therefore, if the stuttering problems were caused by DVD Shrink, wouldn't I have problems no matter how many times I burned a DVD (if I didn't re-shrink them again?) Therefore, I sort of think (and this is not based on any hard evidence but just a guess by someone who doesn't really know much yet as it relates to DVD copying) that either my media doesn't agree with my drive all the time or Nero was giving me problems (or the speed was too fast at times). Anyone else have a hypothesis? Maybe I'm missing something here.

Like i said earlier, version 3.16 was supposed to have fixed the stuttering problems. try to upgrade your dvdshrink and see if it improves. I'm going to wager that it's your media, but I could very well be wrong.

6. How much (if any) does multitasking pose problems while either using DVD Shrink or burning files to a DVD? My drive as well as both software programs are suppose to allow you to multitask on your computer while they are working, but I'm now paranoid so today when I did the entire backing up process (inlcuding burning), I didn't use my computer for anything else. I really hope that this isn't what I have to do because I sort of live on my computer - use if for work and grad school. However, if multitasking truly adds risk to making a bad disc, then I'll continue the way I did today (no multitasking while using DVD Shrink and CopytoDVD).

I've never really experienced any problems multitasking while burning dvd's, but I don't do anything crazy or cpu intensive such as playing video games while it burns. I usually surf the web and post on forums while waiting for dvd's to burn.

[nickelzy]

dafreak - thanks for all of the info, I really appreciate your suggestions and comments. A couple of things...

1. Ritek discs are DVD-R media, correct? Based on what I've read about compatibility, I'd like to stay with DVD+R. I've been thinking about switching my media to Verbatim DVD+R. Any thoughts on this?

2. I'm not using DVD Shrink to automatically burn with Nero. I go into Nero AFTER I use DVD Shrink and I see the menu that you displayed in your earlier post. However, when I click on the speed, ONLY 4x is shown. There is no other speed that I can select. Nonetheless, this is really a non issue as I'm going to just keep using CopytoDVD as long as it keeps working. I like the program so far and it offers more options than Nero.

3. Based on some posts that I read earlier on this forum about sometimes labels causing problems, I took 6 discs that were giving me problems (stuttering, skipping and freezing) and I peeled off the labels that I had put on them. Surprising, 4 of the 6 now work!! So, the labels apparently haven't caused all of my problems, as some still don't work, but many now do work. I guess my problem is caused by multiple factors. One thing I do know is that I'm done with labels - maybe at least for now I can go from a 50% success rate to an 80% success rate. I still am looking to fix whatever is causing the other problem discs and would like to have a 95%+ rate. So my search for a fix to my problem will continue!

WELL, AN UPDATE...

I tried burning my 3rd disc since making the changes that I mentioned in my first post (except that I burned at 2x this time) and this disc flat out didn't work at all. I got the "Copyright Message about not making illegal copies, and then the disc hangs - I wasn't even able to get to the menu. So, I'm going to try and burn the disc again, but instead of burning at 2x again, I'm actually going to try and burn at 4x just to see if it's an erratic issue that has nothing to do with burning speed. If this works, then I would think it's got to be my media. If this doesn't work, then I'll try what I did earlier and burn at 1x. I'll give another update in a few minutes...

OK, HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED...

Well, it worked burning the same files at 4x. What the heck?? Two questions come to mind - does this prove that I'm having a media problem and should try different discs? And, is there any problem burning discs at 2x or should I have selected 2.4x. Just curious as I was thinking that I could select any speed I want up to 4x - is this correct? I'm a little confused here, as you can probably tell, as to what is going on!

[dafreak]

1. Ritek discs are DVD-R media, correct? Based on what I've read about compatibility, I'd like to stay with DVD+R. I've been thinking about switching my media to Verbatim DVD+R. Any thoughts on this?

I can't comment on the verbatims because I've only really used three different type of media. khypermedia which is god awful, memorex which I believe are pretty crappy too, and riteks which are like night and day compared to khypermedia. so far i haven't burned one coaster using riteks and if it ain't broke I ain't going to fix it...know what i mean?

check the dvd media link on your left or go to the media forum to check out what people are saying about different brands of media.

riteks do come in dvd+r. check out the url below.

http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-132-308&catalog=71&manufa...=BROWSE&depa=0

2. I'm not using DVD Shrink to automatically burn with Nero. I go into Nero AFTER I use DVD Shrink and I see the menu that you displayed in your earlier post. However, when I click on the speed, ONLY 4x is shown. There is no other speed that I can select. Nonetheless, this is really a non issue as I'm going to just keep using CopytoDVD as long as it keeps working. I like the program so far and it offers more options than Nero.

whatever works for you should be fine. You should always use the software that you're most comfortable with.

3. Based on some posts that I read earlier on this forum about sometimes labels causing problems, I took 6 discs that were giving me problems (stuttering, skipping and freezing) and I peeled off the labels that I had put on them. Surprising, 4 of the 6 now work!! So, the labels apparently haven't caused all of my problems, as some still don't work, but many now do work. I guess my problem is caused by multiple factors. One thing I do know is that I'm done with labels - maybe at least for now I can go from a 50% success rate to an 80% success rate. I still am looking to fix whatever is causing the other problem discs and would like to have a 95%+ rate. So my search for a fix to my problem will continue!

glad to hear you got some of your disks to work without labels. I guess i'm either too lazy or too broke to get labels so i just use sharpies.

I tried burning my 3rd disc since making the changes that I mentioned in my first post (except that I burned at 2x this time) and this disc flat out didn't work at all. I got the "Copyright Message about not making illegal copies, and then the disc hangs - I wasn't even able to get to the menu. So, I'm going to try and burn the disc again, but instead of burning at 2x again, I'm actually going to try and burn at 4x just to see if it's an erratic issue that has nothing to do with burning speed. If this works, then I would think it's got to be my media. If this doesn't work, then I'll try what I did earlier and burn at 1x. I'll give another update in a few minutes...

it's a bit odd that you're getting copyright error messages. you shouldn't have gotten that kind of a message if you ripped the dvd to your hd using either dvd decrypter or dvdshrink. I don't know what that's all about.

Here's what I normally do when backing up my dvd's.
I open up dvd decrypter and check to see if the dvd is single or dual layer.
Check the file size as well.
if the dvd is single layer, I will just rip the dvd to hd, and burn the files using nero.
if the dvd is dual layer, I'll close dvd decrypter and open the dvd using dvdshrink, make the necessary changes to fit one dvd-r and then backup/burn.

Well, it worked burning the same files at 4x. What the heck?? Two questions come to mind - does this prove that I'm having a media problem and should try different discs? And, is there any problem burning discs at 2x or should I have selected 2.4x. Just curious as I was thinking that I could select any speed I want up to 4x - is this correct? I'm a little confused here, as you can probably tell, as to what is going on!

well that's the problem with "cheap" media. You never know what you're going to get. you could get a batch that burns fine at 4x, or some that work at 2x but crap out at 4x. You're always having to check the end product. At least that's what I had to do with the memorex that I used. After the crappy burns at 4x, I was nervous about burning at 4x and decided to always burn at 2x. some of those failed and had to burn at 1x. And even then after burning at 1x, I had to make sure the burns don't crap out through the middle or end of the movie.

After using reliable media, it puts your mind at ease, knowing that your burns are not going to crap out on you.

[nickelzy]

dafreak - what I meant by the copyright message is the normal blue or green screen that often comes up before the movie starts (and before you see the main menu of the DVD) that tells you that you're not allowed to make copies of the DVD and that this is prohibited. All of this is normal stuff (I guess I wasn't clear on that).

As for the Ritek discs - I've heard too many good things about them to not give them a try. I just bought 2 50 packs of memorex that I can always sell on eBay (and take a little hit). But I'd rather lose a little money, get discs that are reliable, and not have these constant problems! Question for ya - do you use the Ritek G04 DVD-R discs?

I'm trying to educate myself on media, as I've read a lot lately about DVD+R vs. DVD-R. I guess I was mistaken in my belief that DVD+R is more compatible with stand alone dvd players. The guy at Best Buy informed me of this and I thought I read some posts where people were saying the same thing (perhaps I got that wrong) because everything that I've read lately on this forum is saying how DVD-R is probably more compatible (even if only be a hair). So, in your success with Ritek discs, would you recommend the Ritek G04 discs? I've read a lot of good things about them. I found some Ritek G04 discs on ebay for a very good price - do these look like what you would recommend?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2790956598&category=41795

[dafreak]

those do look like the same riteks that I use. the media code they listed in the add do look correct as well. make sure you double-check the media code when you get them. you can use dvdinfopro or dvdidentifier to check for the media code.

should look something like this.

0000 : 01 40 c1 fd 9e d8 52 00 02 76 0e 14 88 9a 80 00 .@....R..v......
0010 : 03 52 49 54 45 4b 47 00 04 30 34 00 00 00 00 00 .RITEKG..04.....
0020 : 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 06 08 12 11 86 67 80 00 .............g..

[qwerty111]

nickelzy,

I encountered the same problem as you (freezing on 2/3 of the movie) with dvd shrink 3.1.6 + nero 6.3.0.2. All the copies I made with the above combination had the same freezing problems. Then I started using DVD X Copy Platinum and everything goes great now. No more damaged disks! You should try DVD X Copy and see if it works for you too!

[nickelzy]

qwerty - I appreciate the suggestion (and I might give it a try), but I have a hard time believing that DVD Shrink is causing my problems (as a TON of people use it successfully AND I'm using the latest version - 3.1.7.3 beta). The main reason I don't think it's DVD Shrink is because when I get a bad copy that stutters, I don't re-shrink it, I just burn it again, and everything is good. If it was a DVD Shrink problem - wouldn't the problem persist no matter how many times I re-burned the DVD?

Therefore, this leads me to believe that in my case, its probably either my media (Memorex 4x DVD+R) that isn't getting along with my Digital Research 8x drive at times or it was Nero that was causing some of my problems (as I'm now using CopytoDVD and in the last 12 movies that I've copied - I've only had one bad copy and that was when I switched the speed from 4x to 2.0x). Since copying at 4x, no problems so far using the latest version (that I mentioned above) of DVD Shrink and CopytoDVD. Plus, I'm not labeling my DVDs (which I found was causing some, but not all, of my problems)

[qwerty111]

yes, you have a point...
But I have checked out another dvdr forum (digital-digest) and I have found out that even the author of DVD Shrink seems to be concerned about a bug that causes some backups to freeze on about 2/3s of the movie. You could visit that forum as well in case it helps
http://forum.digital-digest.com

[nickelzy]

Thanks much - I'll check it out!!

[dxj40c]

I have had every problem imaginable copying and playing DVDR copies. Through much trial and error, this is what I have learned:

1. Not every DVD standalone recognizes DVD+/-R/RW, especially if the standalone is over two years old. The new ones almost always recognize the DVD-R. Unless the standalone states specifically that it recognizes DVD+ format, it's a hit or miss deal.
2. Hold your media at an angle and view the outside edge, some of the cheap ones look pretty bad (uneven coating, dull spots, etc.) My players would act as you describe when they got into this area, sometimes they just ejected the disk. Get good media, I've been using TDK now a year and have had absolutely not one problem.
3.Software. I have been ripping with Smart Ripper, then reassembling that with DVD2one (to eliminate the extra audio, subtitles, menus) to make it fit on a single disk. Just stick it in the player and the movie starts.
4.Nero 6 to burn as DVD Video, just stick the contents of the reassembled video in the Video_TS folder and burn.
Since I have found this method I have not had one failure.

[nickelzy]

I've been using memorex DVD+R media (I wouldn't think this would be considered cheap media). However, maybe I ought to try DVD-R media, such as Ritek G04 that I've heard so many good things about.

[MediaMonkey]

ive made several backups with memorex dvd-r 4x with my nec2500a drive. i only bought a 5-pack though. i went online and found a pretty good deal on 50, for $34.50. the brand is matrix. so far, they seem to be pretty good. however, one of my backups does skip around chapter 5. i can fast forward and it will correct itself. also skips at chapter 6. i might try and reburn it with another matrix brand disk or get another 5-pack of memorex and re-burn. also, the stuttering disk is having problems on both of my relatively new standalone dvd players. i played it in my pc's dvdrom and locked the entire system.