Intresting Dilemma with burning and playing DVD-Rs in my DVD Player

[John Shumate]

Hello everyone.

I have a Panasonic DVD Player. Don't know the model number off hand but I bought it in early 2002. I've been backing up and also doing my own DVD projects on DVD-R and I've used Sony brand DVD-Rs. I've never had an issue playing on the player. Just the occasional bad disc or scratch on a disc that would make the picture break up and look blocky. Just do another one, and it works fine.

Now, lately, I've been having this issue: I've been burning DVDs with the same method through Nero like I always do, but for some reason, in certain parts of the DVD, the picture statts to break up and get blocky like your losing a satellite signal during a heavy rainstorm.

Here's the intresting part. I go to play it in any of my PC DVD Drives, and it works without any issues at all. Usually, if it didn't work in the player, and I would go to try in the PC, it wouldn't work in there as well. This is not the case.

All of the other discs that I've used from the past worked on the machine with no issues, but when I burn new discs the same method I do with the other 500 or so discs I've done so far that work in the player just fine, they start to break up for some reason in the machine, but not in any of DVD Drives.

Is this a sign to go and buy a new DVD Player? I was planning to anyways and get a VCR/DVD combo. I was just curious if thats the case.

Oh, before anybody asks, I upgraded the firmware, I'm using Sony DVD-R Media, burning with Nero at 2x.

Any comments/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[redwudz]

Well, it 'could' be an old player issue. Or it 'could' be that your Sony media you are now using is not the same media as you used before. Many companies 'outsource' their DVD media. You can try reading the actual manufacturer by using this guide: https://www.videohelp.com/dvdmediaform.php?dvdinfo=1#dvdinfo

And for good DVD media info, go to lordsmurf's site: http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

Next, a software PC player can usually play videos that a set top player would choke on. VLC is a one example as it can play corrupted video or partially downloaded videos from the net. Not a good test for playability.

The next issue is that you say they are 'breaking up' at certain places. Now that sounds like a different problem than media. Usually cheap media has problems towards the end of the disc. Is the break up in exactly the same spot each time? If not, then maybe not the media, more the player.

JMO, but I would try ImgBurn instead of Nero. It may not help, but it's freeware and a very good burning program.

I would try different media first, as that is the easiest to change. If only your old player has problems with the disc, then consider a replacement player.

And remotely, it could be a burner problem, but doesn't really sound like it unless the media has changed and the burner doesn't like it.

[John Shumate]

Ok.

I installed ImgBurn and tried burning again, with the same results. In certain parts the Discs start having pixelation when played in the DVD Player. I went to go and try it on the PS2 and when it gets to the point where it starts to pixelate, the video freezes and I get a "unable to read disc" message. So I assume its the media.

I go to play it in InterVideo WinDVD, and it works perfectly.

The media ID on the Sony Discs is SONY16D1. I did notice on LordSmurf's site that Sony has done some outsourcing, and it also says Made in Taiwan on the Wrapper. So, did the media change on me?

[aedipuss]

i'd switch to verbatim dvd-r if possible. media can be a picky thing. personally i burn verbatim's at 16x every day without any problem discs. we'll just say the totals over a 1000 and leave it at that.

ps2's lasers are the cheapest junk out there and will give problems with any dvdr that's not perfect.

[nic2k4]

To figure out if the player is the problem, try your bad discs in a new player (maybe a friend's or buy one ...).

[John Shumate]

Well...intresting enough, I went and tried again. This time, instead of burning at 2x, I burned at 8x with ImgBurn, and it burned, and verified the data with no issues.

Went to play it on the DVD player, and it works properly. So, its not the DVD player. It was just the media...or the burning method so it seems. Seems to work better when burning at 8x than it does at 2x..intresting.

Thanks for the help guys.

Oh, and BTW, where can I get Verbatim DVD-R in bulk for cheap at an actual store? I don't use online retailers.