Help! DVD's Freeze Up Last 5 Minutes?

[jc10960]

I'm really baffled by this and I'm sure the answer could be multiple things but if someone could suggest something I'd appreciate it.

I've burned dvd's for a while and have had good luck with, believe it or not, CompUSA brand dvd-rs. Anyway, to make a long story short I bought a bunch of Memorex that were horrible-made lots of coasters. So I switched back and got a spindle of the CompUSA brand. Here's my dilema:

I burn my dvd and it plays fine up until the last 5 mintues and it freezes. The counter on my dvd player still turns and eventually so does the picture but its really annoying and I feel I can't keep it.

1) It does play back fine on my computer?
2) It doesn't happen all the time, I've used the same blank dvd-r's and burned with no problems, it seems to be sporadic

What's causing this? Is it just that maybe within this spindle some discs are good and some are bad? How can I tell if the disc is going to be ok or not? Or could it be my player itself? I've never used any of those "cleaning" discs, is my player dirty? Or is there a brand of DVD-Rs that are pretty safe to use with no problems?

thanks in advance!

[Gurm]

CompUSA brand are ALSO terrible.

Memorex are usually ok, but some of the Memorex spindles lately have been using CMC dye.

Or it could just be that your burner doesn't like Memorex.

But the CompUSA are BAD MEDIA.

- Gurm

[vettesea]

Hello

It will almost certainly be related to poor media. However, all may not be lost. I have had similar problems in the past and I have been able save the DVD-R's that I had bought by slowing down the burn speed to at least 2x if not 1x.

This did help me produce watchable DVD's with no jumping out of a pack that jumped when burnt at higher speeds. If, like me, time is not really an issue then try reducing burn speed.

[mats.hogberg]

As i never trust my media, I keep the data well below max, say round 4.1-4.2 GB.That way, the most troublesome outer edge of the DVD is left unused, and can be as bad as it wants to.

/Mats

[vega1970]

I had the same problem with the first disks I burnt: my old panasonic
standalone player couldn't read the end of the disks. No problem reading
the disks on the PC and on the PS2 though.

I solved the issue by burning at a lower speed. Now, I burn all my
disks at 2x. It seems that my standalone player can't read the end of
disks burnt at 4x (or faster).

Note that it could also be a media problem. You should also try better
(branded) media. I recommend using Maxell or Verbatim Datalifeplus
disks.

[jc10960]

Thanks for the tips! Especially keeping the burn to 4.1gb or so....

The CompUSA brand, like I said, I've used in the past with no problems, and the same now, its just that once in a while it happens. Oh, I am burning at 2x speed as that is what the DVD-Rs are.

I think I may try and copy these latest files on the dvd that isn't working right and burn another one and see if its the media, or will try compressing it a tad more.

So are the bad sectors of DVDs at around 4.1+?

I thought I read somewhere on a post too about some type of program you can run against your dvd to check it?

Oh, and what about cleaning my player? Is that suggested or its not necessary? Thanks again!!!

[Faustus]

There is a fairly high chance that your DVD media from Compusa is indeed..... Princo.

A quick search on the dreaded P word should reveal the problem here.


Next time get the good stuff and then you will not have these problems.

[jc10960]

Will do! Thanks for the suggestions.

Side note:
....is it worthwhile to clean your dvd player with one of those "cleaning" discs?

[evilwarmaster]

....is it worthwhile to clean your dvd player with one of those "cleaning" discs?

Probably not. Under normal conditions, you should not have to clean the lens in a DVD player (at least, that is what my DVD player's manual said). If your wondering if it could help unfreeze your DVDs, it probably won't and is most certainly a problem with the disc.

[Gurm]

If you have CLEAN ORIGINALS that are stuttering or experiencing problems, or taking FOREVER to cue up, then cleaning the lens might help.

But if clean originals play fine, leave your lens well enough alone.

- Gurm

[oncall]

jc10960,

The DVD media could be part of the problem, but it could also be your burner software. What is the burner software are you using? I had the same issue with my DVDs where it freezes. It was related to the Nero software I used to burn my DVDs. Once I changed burner software like Roxio then the DVD works fine.

[verchad]

Also just check the dvd and make sure it is clean, no smudges / fingerprints. Iv'e had a few that just needed cleaning, thanks to my 4 year old daughter.