Home-authored DVDs and Older Players

[ctdvd]

I never really understood why older DVD players (maybe 4-5 years old) have problems playing home-authored DVDs. I know some manufacturers provide firmware upgrades that allow the player to handle higher speed DVDs but any commercial DVD will play just fine on these older DVD players. Is it mostly the equipment commercial producers use or is there a way to produce DVDs at home that will play on just about any player regardless of age? For me it seems the answer has been to recommend replacing the old DVD player which does solve the problem but will replacement be required again in the near future? Suggestions? Thanks[/b]

[guns1inger]

It is a mixture of things.

1. The age of the optics. They get old, they get dusty.

2. Older players weren't really designed with playing burned discs in mind. Back then DVD burners were still the exception, not common place like now.

3. Burned discs have different reflective properties than commercial discs, often poorer. Older lasers don't read them as well.

4. You are more likely to hit the -R / +R problem with older players.

5 Older players are much more likely to have problems with cheap media than good quality media

[ctdvd]

So sticking to -R DVDs and using a brand like Verbatim? I started using Verbatim for my MPEG archives but haven't for copies of video I hand out to others. Whats your opinion of Verbatim; I checked-out the ratings on here and it seems to be pretty reliable.

[lordsmurf]

Verbatim DVD-R is the best disc you can use, in terms of being high quality with high reflectivity. If a Verbatim DVD-R will not play in player or reader in a reader, then the machine usually cannot handle burns at all (with some exceptions, but very rare).

www.nomorecoasters.com

[jman98]

So sticking to -R DVDs and using a brand like Verbatim?

Not necessarily. I have an old Apex DVD player that didn't care at all about DVD+R brands it played but was somewhat fussy about DVD-R brands it played without problems. I remember at the time using whatever cheap DVD discs I could get before I found out that some were a lot better than others and then switching to Verbatim. As guns1inger states in his excellent post, you may have +R or -R issues at play here. I can tell you that a 5 year old DVD player probably won't last much longer, so you're not going to have this problem to deal with for very long.

[discman07]

I have a toshiba SD310-7C player, the first one I ever bought, with a tag on the back that says it was made in April 1998. I still use it, the laser hasn't burned out (lasers don't get old-they burn out) and it plays commercial discs flawlessly. It won't play -R recordables simply because it doesn't recognize the type of disc. It will play bitset +R & +R DL recordables perfectly.

Gunslinger, your 5 points are tired and untrue--so what site did you copy and paste that response?

[guns1inger]

@discman - they come from experience, not any website. Frankly, I could give a damn whether you agree or not.

[lordsmurf]

Gunslinger, your 5 points are tired and untrue--so what site did you copy and paste that response?

The only one saying something untrue is yourself. Those five issues are the most common reasons a DVD will not play in an older player. You're an exception to the rule, you're in a very slim minority. Most players die within 3-5 years, some far sooner. Lasers have a fairly finite lifespan (especially true with burners), unlike the media.

A-E-I-O-U and sometimes Y. You're Y.

It could also be that (A) you don't use the machine much, or (B) you're not noticing the problem it's having. That happens a lot too when people say something is okay.

[Video Head]

I still have the same Toshiba 310 model from 1998 that discman has...built like a tank and still flawless. For $1,000 one should expect some quality. When I bought mine there where only one or two dozen titles available and Pioneer was just releasing it's recordable DVD-RAM units for many, many thousands of dollars. These were intended, not for video, but for enterprise level data back-up, rivaling DLT and other tape B/U drives.

I have never been able to get this unit to recognize ANY burned media, not even CD-R.

I suspect that DVD recordable media as we know it today did not exist in the early days of players and so no provision was ever enabled for it. Today one can purchase a sub $100 DVD player that plays multiple disc and file formats. An HTPC with the appropriate software and hardware can play just about anything you throw at it...technology shifted, not a big surprise.

VH