Having problems copying DVDs burned in a set top recorder

[wdfa89]

I have been burning my Hi8mm tapes to DVD with my Gateway AR-230 set top dvd recorder. No problems. I am using Memorex and Fujifil 4x DVD+R (both are Ricoh) media. They play fine on the Gateway, my Sony NS-325 set top player.

I have tried to copy these DVDs using Nero (v. 5.5.10.12) disc copy function, Easy CD/DVD creator 5 disc copier function, and after researching here DVDdecrypter. I am using a NEC ND 1100A DVD+R/RW burner bought under the Cendyne label. The firmware is 1.AO. This was my only DVD drive so I had to go to the HD first. All three programs were stopping and reporting errors, dirty discs, etc. I was able to get some partial burns (about 90%) which would play.

I swapped out my CD-ROM for a DVD-ROM drive (LG) to allow direct disc to disc burning. My gateway burns play fine in that drive as well using PowerDVD)

Burns however, while at least giving me a finished product, are incomplete. Easy CD creator will turn out a product but stops at the first major error. Nero will show 100% but will have a stopping point where the disc gets hung up towards the end of the disc.

Sop basically I am making what seem to be good DVDs in the Gateway and can not make identical copies on my computer. I guess my question is does anyones vast experience give them an idea what the problem might be--media, drives, firmware, software, process, etc.? I have been reading just about everything I can find on this site for a week and nothing seems to be on point.

I apologize if there is something I missed or if my knowledge (or lack thereof) prevented me from putting the correct keywords in the search. I apologize if this is the wrong forum, it seemed to be the closest topic to my problem.

This a fascinating site and has only whetted my appetite to do more and really get into dvd. Thanks to all who admin, build and contribute.

[redwudz]

Media, drives, firmware, software, process? Yes, those are the main things to check. Try some different media, shorten your file down to about 4.2G, burn at a lower speed, try creating an ISO file and burning with DVDdecrypter, maybe DVD burner firmware upgrade (be careful here-you can damage your drive). Do a search here for your burner to see if someone else is having your problem. If you find the setup that works best, stick with it.

[Schmendrick]

Hallo wdfa89,

settop DVD recorders are producing the vob-files with the recording content first in contrast to a regular DVD where the information and menu-files are first to be recorded and thereafter the vob-files containing the movie. If you therefore copy a DVD-R recorded in a settop recorder to a hard disc and then burn a DVD from it the information contained in the naviagtion and menu-files point to wrong absolute but correct relative disc locations if the files are burnt in the regular order, thats why POWERDVD on the PC is able to play the DVD correctly in contrast to a standalone player. I am even not sure if the DVD-Rs recorded in a settop DVD recorder possibly even have a multisession structure. Nevertheless a direct sectorwise dic to disc copy should work, so that the errors you have reported sould like hardware incompatibilities.

If you would read the DVD-R produced by your DVD-recorder using DVDDecryptor into one large MPG-File containg the whole video- and audio-track or to separate whole video- and audio-files and reauthor the resulting video you should be able to produce a correct standard DVD-structure which you will be able to burn correctly.

CU

Schmendrick

[tnamrog]

The LG drive you have probably doesn't support +R. I had the same problem with a LG 4480. The owners manual even states it supports +/- but when I called tech support and went over the problem they stated that it doesn't in fact support + only -. The drive will play the movie fine but when I went to copy disc to disc I started getting random errors.

[macleod]

In addition to the other comments, there have been many reports of set top dvd recordings having problems (compatibility with other hardware players AND copying).

My recommendation (I own a panny E30 and had the same problem) was to record the info on the panny (I actually use RAM and then pull those onto the computer) and then rip it to the computer, then use TMPGENC DVD Author to reauthor the DVD.

Using that process, ALL of my dvd's have worked and copied perfectly. As an example, I had a client request 150 dvd copies from her home movies. I loaded the original that I made using the above process into dvddecrypter and riped the iso image and then burned it back and do 9 copies of each of the originals.