Can't Copy TMpeg-DA authored disc?

[othello]

I've been pretty happy with my discs authored by TMPEG DVD Author. They played well on every player I've encountered. Now I want to make some backups of my own freshly burned discs.

Surprise! They won't copy! Every single one of them kicks out a CRC error when a DVD copy program such as Nero or DVD Shrink tries to read the disc image. I have successfully tested the disc with DVDInfoPro; every sector on the disc is OK.

What am I missing here? Do DVD's have to be finalized like CDs? Does TM-DA not finish discs properly, making readers read "off the end" of the stream? How do I fix my authored discs?

[jimmalenko]

I'm curious as to why you are using Nero or DVDShrink when there is no encryption on the disc ?

Just use Windows Explorer or My Computer to copy the files to your Hard Drive. Then use Nero to burn using the DVD-Video template. I have never had a problem with any of my creations that I have made using TMPGEnc DVD Author when copying them this way.

CRC errors usually mean that the disc is unreadable due to a scratch or fingerprint.

[northcat_8]

pretty much what jimmalenko said.

I use:

DVD Decrypter mode > ISO > READ
DVD Decrypter mode > ISO > WRITE

I go this way for 2 reasons.
#1 I only burn with Decrypter so I need an image file anyway.
#2 anytime I have to make a copy of originally authored DVDs, I need several copies, so I just burn the same ISO over and over.

[jimmalenko]

I use:

DVD Decrypter mode > ISO > READ
DVD Decrypter mode > ISO > WRITE

I go this way for 2 reasons.
#1 I only burn with Decrypter so I need an image file anyway.
#2 anytime I have to make a copy of originally authored DVDs, I need several copies, so I just burn the same ISO over and over.

That is probably the easiest and most cost-effective (read "free" !) way.

[othello]

Many thanks for your suggestions. I did have DVD Decryptor among the myriad of tools I have collected.

After 10778 read errors on one of the sample burned discs and running all night, I have asked it to stop reading. It had read 76% of the disc. The drive was a generic DVD-Rom, but I have the same kind of CRC errors reading from the burner drive, a Sony DRU-500A. I recently upgraded the firmware from 1.0c to 2.3h (the latest available) but I doubt I will have any better results.

Something else I might be overlooking?

[mats.hogberg]

Probably a bad and/or scratched and/or dirty disc. The player can live thru minor read errors and skip to the next frame, but apps like DVDDecrypter which work on the file level can't do that.
I suggest you scan your source DVD for errors.

/Mats

[othello]

As I said in my original post, the disc tests fine with DVDInfoPro sector for sector. I have two different drives (one burner and one reader) and almost twenty authored discs. All of them were authored with TMPGEnc DVD Author.
The discs are pristine, no scratches or fingerprints. All of them play completely in a regular DVD player (Apex, Panasonic, Pioneer). I have another disc authored by someone else that I received as a single huge ISO file. That disc copied easily with Nero. Same media, too (TDK).

DVDInfoPro reports the copyable disc as 'mkisofs' implementation ID. My uncopyable discs are all 'Prassi' implementation ID.

So! This is very puzzling! Other authored discs copy OK, TMPGEnc DA doesn't. Same hardware, undamaged media.

I will try one last time to create ISO files. Since DVDInfoPro could read all sectors on the disc in the media test, I will use it to make the ISO file. If it works and I can back up my library, I'll use something else to burn my volumes besides the writing tool in TMPEnc DA.

[othello]

And the drama continues. DVDInfoPro successfully read the contents of the disc in ISO mode and created an image file. Nero burned the image. The disc does not load in either Panasonic or Pioneer player.

I'll read the contents of the disc in IFO file mode and burn as new compilation.

Sigh! _Something's_ gotta work!

[jimmalenko]

Firstly, let us disregard anything DVDInfoPro has told us so far...

CRC errors are almost always caused by an error reading the disc by your DVD-ROM. The easiest way around this is to clean the disc. If normal copy methods do not work, try a different DVD Drive.

Try a different burning method. Instead of using TMPGEnc DVD Author's burning engine, Create an ISO and burn with DVD Decrypter. Or get a hold of a Nero Demo.

[othello]

Short-term memory deficiencies aside, you have pointed me in the right direction. I copied the raw files stright from the disc to the hard drive, then used Nero to burn the folder to new discs. I will experiment further by copying the "remastered" disc. If I can copy it, then something else is going on.

It could just be that TMPGEnc DVD Author v1.5.20.62 produces improperly unfinished discs, and that the reader encounters CRC errors because it is literally reading off the end of the video stream into unformatted space. If I choose to dig into this further, I may find that the burner utility component is encoding the maximum disc size in the disc directory rather than the actual video stream size. For example, the image I just copied used data sectors 30000h - 1F89D8h (about 3.92 Gb) according to DVDInfoPro. The unformatted capacity is about 4.5Gb, and typical filled discs come out to around 4.2Gb. That leaves a gap of several hundred megs between the last content data sector and the physical end of media.

So speculate about scratches and dirt all you like, I think it's a bug in TDA. You don't burn dozens of discs with identical CRC error conditions on multiple reader drives and chalk it up to a speck of lint. This kind of error, while "generally" caused by physical defects, does not imply "always". The drive is sent to a sector to read data and can't, because there was never any data there before or the sector simply doesn't exist.

[BobK]

> So speculate about scratches and dirt all you like, I think it's a bug in TDA

Maybe. But I've burned over 300 disks with TDA and have made copies of almost all of them. I've never had a problem making copies unless the disk was bad.

If it's a bug in TDA than it's being helped by your specific system.

[lordsmurf]

Probably cheap media.
www.nomorecoasters.com and check discs as shown there

ISO mode DVD Decrypter can overlook SOME errors, but not all
... I'm pretty sure it's not TDA.. blaming the wrong thing

[thor300]

I tend to agree with the smurf, even if the disk was checked successfully with DVDInfoPro there are most likely bad sectors anyway. I dont take any chances with DVDs, they should last for a long time (i hope) so i never skip the Verify step in DVDDecrypter. TDA doesnt have a verify option as far as i know, so it cant be a good burner app. If i some day have time (and still remember it), i will try to verify a disk that i know got bad sectors with DvdInfoPro and see if it cathes the errors.

[othello]

I thank you all for your comments. It's a very interesting problem. Something works that shouldn't work, and things that should work don't work.

I have four different DVD-Rom readers, one burner, and three players. Everything plays all discs completely. I have used many of the tools found here on this website to read my authored discs, all without success. That's when I came to the forum for suggestions. The lowest tech solution turns out to be the workable one. I can recover the TS-Video folder easily with an ordinary file copy. I can now remaster them to new discs. This time out, I won't take any chances with the media. I'll follow the www.nomorecoasters.com recommendations for media, use a different burner tool, and take advantage of its post-burn verify step. Although I am not convinced that the media is the sole cause (the CRC errors ALWAYS occurred ONLY in that gap between the last VOB file and the last reported physical data sector), I will switch brands to eliminate that variable. The discs I am copying are Optodisc DVD-R, which the site calls "decent but not perfect".

I just recently purchased CompUSA's in-store FMI brand but it is not mentioned in the website. (Just how often are those opinions tabulated, anyway?) I'll be getting some ProDisc 4x media later in the week.

[jimmalenko]

So speculate about scratches and dirt all you like, I think it's a bug in TDA. You don't burn dozens of discs with identical CRC error conditions on multiple reader drives and chalk it up to a speck of lint. This kind of error, while "generally" caused by physical defects, does not imply "always". The drive is sent to a sector to read data and can't, because there was never any data there before or the sector simply doesn't exist.

I never implied always. I said "almost always". That leaves room for freak cases such as yours.

I too have never had a problem copying TMPGEnc DVD Author-created discs, so it is either something you are doing or something that you are using that is the problem.