Is there a tool for testing a burned DVD?

[frogman54]

Is there a tool for testing a burned DVD without having to watch the whole thing?

[steveryan]

DVDINFOPro

[lordsmurf]

Nero CD-DVD Speed
Kprobe
DVDInfoPro
your own two eyes
matching source against burns

Use all the tests, not just one.

[biged670]

Will DVDInfoPro let you know if the burned dvd will 'skip' or jump, or stutter in playback? If so how does it do this?

[winifreid]

That is not what these programs do. They will tell you if the burn was successfull, but problems could result from authoring or encoding that would not show up in scans.

[mats.hogberg]

Also, even if these tools report errors, the video may play fine anyway. They only make sure every bit is readable.

/Mats

[biged670]

Cheers guys, thanks for the info

[Bat-Mantis]

That is not what these programs do. They will tell you if the burn was successfull, but problems could result from authoring or encoding that would not show up in scans.

I've tried dvdinfopro, nero drive speed and kprobe to scan for errors, but as you've said, those programs won't detect skips or freezes, but will only tell if the burn was successful.
Are there programs that will detect skips?
I've tried shrinking the size of the dvd down to about 4gb, I've gotten a new burner (replaced my old Liteon DVDRW SOHW with a new one - same model), tried better media (moved from Office Max brand to Khypermedia DVD+R and some Imation DVD+R's and -R's), I don't run any other programs in the background, including anti-virus programs or screen savers, I've checked connections and wires on the burner a bunch of times yet I still get skips and freezes in my movies in at least two players (my old Hitachi player and a Panasonic player at my workplace).
I'm out of ideas. I don't know if it's some kind of software conflict I can't find on my computer or if it's something else.
Anyway, since I've tried a lot of fixes and I still get problems, I have to watch all of my movies after I burn them to make sure they work. And, as you can guess, with some backups... it's a chore, especially when it comes to 3 hour long movies I've seen 40 times.
Are there any programs that will detect freezes and skips?
I use dvdinfopro and Nero drive speed, and I get clean scans, then try to watch the movie just to have it freeze and skip.
Thanks!

[winifreid]

The media you mention is not near the best. When you scan with kprobe, what are pif maxes? What programs are you using and what are yo burning?

[skebenin]

No program is going to be able to detect skips and freezes, because the program uses the DVD-ROM drive, which is never going to perfectly match the mechanism in your stand alone player.

IMO, a transfer rate test in your DVD-ROM drive is about as close as you can get. If the transfer rate in your DVD-ROM drive is smooth and stays above, say, 3X, it's a good indication the movie will play without issue (not a guarantee, just a good indication). If the transfer rate jumps all over the place, but never drops below 2X or 3X, it might play okay, or it might not. If the transfer rate drops much below 2X, it's a fair bet you'll have problems playing it (but again, not a guarantee it won't play, just a good indication).

If disks with smooth, fast transfer rate tests have problems in your player (especially if you have DVDRs from multiple manufacturers), you may want to consider getting a different player - yours doesn't like DVDR.

[lordsmurf]

Buy better media.
www.nomorecoasters.com

[taboo]

Media is the key!

I would agree with lordsmurf

At same time disks ripped on nice media sometimes skip and freeze as well. Once you re-burn same project on same media it plays good. Why?

Sometimes I am realizing that in most cases skipping and freezing are discs of same particular brand.

Is there any possible way to find out if this or that media WILL fail during burning BEFORE actual burning? Just based on MEDIA condition and NOT on software?

Are there any nice tutorials for DVDInfoPro?

TIA
taboo

[Delerious]

Is there any possible way to find out if this or that media WILL fail during burning BEFORE actual burning? Just based on MEDIA condition and NOT on software?

The Benq 1640 comes with QSuite (works only with Benq). You can use QScan from that program and it tests Tracking Errors and Focus Errors at the speed you choose. It will give you a good idea about whether of not your media will burn at the chosen speed. It won't tell you whether or not you'll get skips or freezes, but there's a really good chance if it tells you the media won't burn at that speed - your burn will fail.

Some of the other drive manufacturers may have similar programs, but I'm not familiar with any others.

J

[ricoman]

tried better media (moved from Office Max brand to Khypermedia DVD+R and some Imation DVD+R's and -R's),

Frogman: First I thought the question was a joke, If you did the slightest research on this or other forums, there are dozens and dozens of huge threads dedicated to this subject.
Bat-Mantis: Then I see your "better media"... all garbage. I got 50 free khypermedia when I bought my first Liteon 811S. The worst thing I did was to use 20-30 of them. 50% or more were complete coasters right from the beginning, the others became coasters with time. What a waste of time and money. That is why you have your skips, terrible media. Go to Rima.com and get some Taiyo Yuden, recognized as the best out there. If you buy a 100 pk, they're less than 40 cents apiece. Never had a coaster out of hundreds. There is no substitute for good media, you can have the best burner and software, if your media stinks, nothing can help. Get Kprobe (specifically for liteon drives) or Nero CD/DVDspeed. Do the discan to see if your burned disc is readable, disc quality scan to see how good the overall burn is and benchmark/transfer test to see how the drive functioned with that disc.
And do some homework before you ask super-noob questions!
Don't mean to be so harsh, but this info is out there a hundred times over already and silly questions wastes everyone's time. Good forums to read:
This one
CDfreaks.com
Afterdawn.com
and many others when you have a little more experience.

[taboo]

I am sorry for ignorance... So the coasters are discs that skipping and freezing?

Is Taiyo Yuden really as good as you are saying?

[SEALs1230]

I say before you burn it watch the files or ISO with either PowerDVD or DAEMON tools, respectively, if it works fine then burn. And the only way to truely test if the entire disk will work the way you want it to after burning is to stick it in a DVD player and push play, look at the TV for about two hours untill the movie is over and decide if it worked the way you wanted it to or not.

[taboo]

I say before you burn it watch the files or ISO with either PowerDVD or DAEMON tools, respectively, if it works fine then burn. And the only way to truely test if the entire disk will work the way you want it to after burning is to stick it in a DVD player and push play, look at the TV for about two hours untill the movie is over and decide if it worked the way you wanted it to or not.

thanks,
nothing new you said here

PS. Btw, thanks a lot, ricoman and lordsmuf!
Based on info you supplied I already ordered Taiyo Yuden DVD+R 4.7GB, 8X, 100-Pack (Made in Japan)

[ricoman]

I am sorry for ignorance... So the coasters are discs that skipping and freezing?

Is Taiyo Yuden really as good as you are saying?

Coasters are bad dvds, so bad that you might as well use them to put your drink on (coasters). And yes, TY's are generally considered the best blank dvds. The month long poll at Cdfreaks had them beating #2 by double and all others by a mile. Verbatim and Ricoh, are also very good. Maxell, Sony, Fuji are generally reliable but they don't make their own dvds and could be any of the above or possibly inferior brands.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=146146

[taboo]

I am sorry for ignorance... So the coasters are discs that skipping and freezing?

Is Taiyo Yuden really as good as you are saying?

Coasters are bad dvds, so bad that you might as well use them to put your drink on (coasters). And yes, TY's are generally considered the best blank dvds. The month long poll at Cdfreaks had them beating #2 by double and all others by a mile. Verbatim and Ricoh, are also very good. Maxell, Sony, Fuji are generally reliable but they don't make their own dvds and could be any of the above or possibly inferior brands.
http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=146146

thanks a bunch for teaching me,

I just burned same movie 3 times in the row:

1st disc (Sony) at 4x - not playable at all (Bad Disc)
2nd disc (Sony) at 4x - skipping at the very start
3rd disc (Sony) at 4x after restart - skipping at the very start
4th disc (Memorex) - skipping at the end

I just simply dont know what to do because this is happening to me for the first time

I hope I will get better results with TY's

Thanks again,
taboo

PS. Do you think the fact that discs are made up in Japan will really help?

[taboo]

Also for Sony I got

Complete Media Code
00000000 08 02 00 00 A1 0F 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3F .............&.?
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 03 59 55 44 45 4E 30 30 30 54 .......YUDEN000T
00000020 30 32 00 38 23 54 37 10 02 4E 72 02 8C 63 16 16 02.8#T7..Nr..c..
00000030 0B 0B 0A 0A 01 19 1B 0C 0C 0C 0D 01 00 00 00 00 ................

Does it ring any bell for you?

[winifreid]

Use dvd identifier to get the code for the disks. This will tell you exactly what they are. It does appear that your sony disks are ty. Go to cdfreaks and look at the sony/liteon forum. I think your sony is a rebadged liteon. There are firmware upgrades and hacks for this drive. Make sure all your drives have dma inabled and check that your aspi layer is properly installed.

[taboo]

Use dvd identifier to get the code for the disks. This will tell you exactly what they are. It does appear that your sony disks are ty. Go to cdfreaks and look at the sony/liteon forum. I think your sony is a rebadged liteon. There are firmware upgrades and hacks for this drive. Make sure all your drives have dma inabled and check that your aspi layer is properly installed.

thanks winifreid,

about DMA, its only for IDE controllers?
if so in my Device Manager:

1. Primary IDE Channel (device 0 and 1) - both DMA if Available
2. Secondary IDE Channel (ONLY device 1 DMA if Available) - I enabled also device 0 (it was PIO only)

Could be this a problem?
Does it mean that I have to ReRip or just ReBurn?

Also how can I check if my aspi layer is properly installed?

Thank you in advance,
taboo

[taboo]

i thought I enabled DMA, but what I see (after rebooting) for Secondary IDE is:

Device 0

Device Type: Auto Detection
Transfer Mode: DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode: PIO Mode

Device 1

Device Type: Auto Detection
Transfer Mode: DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 4

Should I change Current Transfer Mode: PIO Mode for Device 0?
How can I do that so it will take effect?

TIA
taboo

[cal_tony]

I have mentioned this as a response to a previous question on this subject and over time I have found this to be the best indication for me as to whether or not a burned disk will play in my stand alones. What I do is use WIN DVD (a Dvd player included free with the purchase of many drives and computers). I start up the dvd on my computer than use the slide bar to fast forward and reverse the disk from end to end in the space of 1 or 2 seconds. If the disk hangs chances are it will hang or stutter on your stand alone. If it doesn't hang chances are it will play OK.

[winifreid]

You will need to remove the secondary device in controol panel and then reboot and let windows redetect the device and reinstall the driver. You will then nee to go back into device manager and set it to dma. This is a problem with windows when poor media is used. You can do a search for dma pio fallback and see that it is a common problem. If your mother board has its own ide drivers, you consider using them in the future.

[taboo]

You will need to remove the secondary device in controol panel and then reboot and let windows redetect the device and reinstall the driver. You will then nee to go back into device manager and set it to dma. This is a problem with windows when poor media is used. You can do a search for dma pio fallback and see that it is a common problem. If your mother board has its own ide drivers, you consider using them in the future.

thanks winifreid,

i did like you said and now it is showing for Secondary IDE:

Device 0

Device Type: Auto Detection
Transfer Mode: DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 4

Device 1

Device Type: Auto Detection
Transfer Mode: DMA if available
Current Transfer Mode: Ultra DMA Mode 4


Now when I have enabled DMA does it mean that I have to re-Decrypt movies or just re-Burn them?

Also how can I check if my aspi layer is properly installed?

Thank you in advance,
taboo

[winifreid]

It depends. I guess it is possible that the rips were bad, but I suspect they were just slow. If you have nero, you can use nero info tool to check your sapi. But I suspect it was just your dma.

[taboo]

It depends. I guess it is possible that the rips were bad, but I suspect they were just slow. If you have nero, you can use nero info tool to check your sapi. But I suspect it was just your dma.

i just re-burned 8x Sony with 4x speed and it looked good, but when i ran Nero CD Speed i ve got this:


is there any other way to test it?
I have nero but how can i check aspi with it?

thank you in advance,
taboo

[winifreid]

Use the nero info tool. It should be listed under your nero programs.. Or download it. Also, check your dma status again, if you have bad media it can change right back.

[taboo]

Use the nero info tool. It should be listed under your nero programs.. Or download it. Also, check your dma status again, if you have bad media it can change right back.

According to Nero Info:

Second IDE channel > Master: IDE DVD-ROM 16X > DMA is off
Nero ASPI is installed and working properly
System ASPI is not installed

How can I prevent DMA>PIO fallback from happening again?
Is it necessary for me to install system ASPI in addition to Nero ASPI?

What other tests can I run with Nero Info?

TIA
taboo