Is it really possible to verify a DVD burn?

[TheFamilyMan]

For years now, I've been using Nero 5.5 to burn DVDs using its verify feature. Of all the few hundreds of disks I've burned, only once that I can recall has it failed a disk . None of the verified disks has had any playback problems (other than those caused by @#^!@#! sticky labels, all of which have been remove to restore playability). I've read more than once lordsmurf denouncing the usefulness of Nero's verify. Is this verify tool really worthless, and if so what are the alternatives? I also archive all my MPEG2 files as UDFs for potential future editing, I'd hate to think that verify has let me down with all this converted footage Thanks for reading.

[Krispy Kritter]

I personally use DVDinfo Pro to check discs. I've never used the Nero utility, but I would expect it is comparing the burnt data on the disc to the disc image it used to burn the disc. I would suspect your only major concern should be the quality of your media.

[OneSickPup]

I find the use of a verify feature in any burning application to be pretty much useless and especially so for dvd-video. I could count on one hand the verify failures I got out of hundreds of discs. I still would find the occasional disc passing verify that exhibited playback issues that were not acceptable to me. If I can't justify the time to <real world> play it back to test; then a Nero CD-DVDSpeed TRT test is in order. I have found extremely few videos that have playback issues when they pass a TRT (Transfer Rate Test) on a picky reading drive. Keep in mind that you don't want to test with drives that exhibit exceptional reading capabilities. Just my two cents - good luck.

[lordsmurf]

Even DOS had data comparison tools available. Plenty of options here.

To check the so-called "quality" of the disc, you've got several tests out there, although much of it depends on the drive in use, and a leap of faith that your situation is controlled enough to give accurate results (and most home tests are not even close, in this regard).

Nero verification might make you feel better, but very often, it's a reflection of how well the computer can read data from the hard drive and compare it to the disc TOC, not necessarily a test of anything else.

[TheFamilyMan]

So it seems that nero's verify is only verifying that your drive can correctly read back the data that it's just burnt, which is all it really can do, and that is good enough for me. If another drive can't read it correctly, does it mean that the verify failed to do its job? That's tough call. I've had commercially pressed disks rejected by player A which player B plays just fine. I guess I've done the best I could by using quality media, and I'm not going to lose any sleep over this. Thanks for the replies.

[jagabo]

I use Nero Burning ROM's verify option but it only finds gross burn errors. Less than 1 out of every 100 discs I burn fails to verify. When this test fails the disc is a coaster for sure. On marginal burns you can see (and hear) the drive speed is decreasing in order to read the data.

Like OneSickPup, I run a transefer rate test with Nero CD-DVD Speed. When that curve comes out smooth I rarely see problems on other drives.