Taiyo Yuden ... an omen of problems to come?

[AlecWest]

For as long as I can remember, I've burned exclusively Taiyo Yuden DVD-R disks. And though there'd be the odd coaster here and there, they have performed well overall. But recently, I cracked open a new cakebox of 100 16x Taiyo Yudens (TYG03) and encountered 3 coasters near the top of the stack. So far, the rest have burned well. But this is the first time I've encountered coasters near the top of the stack ... and wondered if this is an omen of problems to come further down in the stack.

Anybody?

Regards,
J. Alec West

[redwudz]

I still have about 150 16X TYs I bought a year or two ago. I guess I should have bought more?

[jman98]

Verbatim made discs are probably just as good. I've recently been using some Taiwan made Verbatim DVD-R discs and they are as good as anything I've ever used by Taiyo Yuden. I used Taiyo Yuden DVD-Rs a few months ago and mine were all fine.

[Krispy Kritter]

Or a bad batch...or a failing burner. I don't think a few bad burns from a single spindle are anything to worry about.

[SCDVD]

I don't want to over diagnose your problem but what you describe is one of the symptoms of a burner that is starting to fail. The problem with burners is that the laser tends to get weaker as it ages so it gradually starts to act flaky instead of just suddenly going bad.

[AlecWest]

I don't want to over diagnose your problem but what you describe is one of the symptoms of a burner that is starting to fail. The problem with burners is that the laser tends to get weaker as it ages so it gradually starts to act flaky instead of just suddenly going bad.

I have dual NEC burners, both only 6 months old and used sparingly. But, now you mention it, I think there is another problem I may need to address.

The burns themselves worked fine during the burn process. But my DVD player coughed at a few of them and gave me "no disk" messages. HOWEVER, a friend's DVD player read and played them just fine. So, the problem I'm seeing may not be bad disks or bad burners ... but instead, a 3 year-old DVD player that's getting ready to bite the dust. What a shame, if so. It's a Yamakawa DVD-275 all-region player ... bought before Yamakawa stopped selling in North America (sigh). I used to brag that the player could play anything with a shiny surface (grin). But now, it's starting to cough at my own disks. And Yamakawa itself, as a company, seems to be in transition. Their homepage in Germany just has a face-page with no internal pages (http://yamakawa.de).

My DVD player has done a LOT of work ... and now I suspect the disks are not coasters ... that the player is just "treating" them like coasters.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[guns1inger]

FWIW, my NEC 2500 burned Verbatims, Riteks, even Princos without any problems. The only discs is had consistent problems with were Sony and TYs (under the Fuji brand). I only use Verbatim now, and have no problems at all.

[gerryc]

I was burning a TY dvd a few days ago and my burner and computer completely locked up. I had to reboot to get the disc out. I looked at the disc and there was a spot about 1/16 in diameter right at the end of the burn. I looked at the next 3 discs in my cakebox and they had the same spot in the same place. After those the discs the rest were fine.

[JohnnyBob]

I've burned several hundred TYG03 and never had a coaster, knock on wood. It's the only kind of disc that has a perfect record with me. The Verbatim DVD+R DL made in Singapore were almost as good with only 1 coaster here after a lot of burns, but the new made in India kind are crap with 5-10% coasters.

You might try cleaning the laser on your older standalone DVD player. Maybe a blast of air would help, otherwise I suppose you would have to take it apart and use alcohol on a soft swab.

My other thought is possible shipping damage of the discs, where those near the top are more subject to crushing. I received a shipment from Rima that wasn't packaged properly and had some damaged discs. The spindle of 100 TYG03 was broken at the base so the discs were lying askew. A few of discs near the top were obviously damaged near the outer edges, but burned OK nevertheless with less than 3.5G data.

I recently bought some 25-packs of TYG03 from SMS in hardshell squared plastic spindle boxes, so shipping damage is very unlikely.

[p.s. gerryc, I've seen that same small spot/blemish on some Verbatim DVD+R DL made in India, and the burn always stops at that point]

[AlecWest]

Thanks to everyone. At this point, I'm now convinced that my DVD player is the culprit. I burned a few disks to take over to a friend's house over the holidays. The first time I put each of them into my player, they all got "no disk" messages on the player. But, the same disks taken over to my friend's house played just fine (and booted up immediately) in their Panasonic DVD player. They also started/played fine in their Hitachi DVD/VCR combo in a different room. So, the finger of guilt is starting to point toward my player.

I'm going to take suggestions on the player. I have some of that pressurized air cleaner in cans. Will give that a try. But, if it doesn't work, it would probably cost me more to fix it than replace it.

Any recommendations for all-region NTSC/PAL DVD players would be appreciated. Under $100 would even be more appreciated.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[JohnnyBob]

It's just a Region 1 player, but I like my Durabrand DVD-1002 which I picked up at Walmart in Nov'07 for $29. It's manufactured by Lenoxx. It plays everything I throw at it, pressed and burnt discs, and functions perfectly in all respects. All other DVD player models I've tried recently have problems of various kinds. It's a bit unusual with a clamshell design. There's no DVD drawer to open/close. You just raise the clamshell top and snap the discs onto/off-of the spindle directly. The laser is in full view beside the spindle, so if it ever needs cleaning there would be no disassembly required.

[budz]

Any recommendations for all-region NTSC/PAL DVD players would be appreciated. Under $100 would even be more appreciated.

Regards,
J. Alec West

Get a Philips dvd player which can be made region free and it's NTSC/PAL as well. You can pick up one from your nearest wally worlds.

[daviedog]

i got Philips dvd player DVP-5982 plays NTSC/PAL real well and it was to easy unlock

[AlecWest]

Thanks budz & daviedog. I wouldn't know the first thing about "making" them region free. But I have been looking at this Philips model that is "sold" region free:

http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/philips5980.html

Let me know if this looks good to you ... especially if you have any input on the seller.

Now I'm almost certain that my Yamakawa player is the culprit. It's starting to do other weird stuff ... like the audio going out of sync with the video on both DVDs I burn and DVDs I buy/rent. Sometimes when I press the "pause" button, the audio comes back into sync. But I've never encountered this issue until recently.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[AlecWest]

It's just a Region 1 player, but I like my Durabrand DVD-1002 which I picked up at Walmart in Nov'07 for $29.

Thanks ... but I really need a region/format-free player. I have friends and colleagues I send PAL-format DVDs to and want to be able to play them first to make sure they're OK before I send them. I also buy a few DVDs from Amazon.co.uk and Sendit.com (in Ireland) since, ahem ahem, they sometimes make movies available that haven't yet been released in North America (grin). For example, I had a "legal" (PAL) version of the movie "Night Watch" before it was even released in North American theaters ... and had a few friends who thought I was a video pirate when I bragged to them about it, hehe. And in some cases, DVDs available in Europe and Australia are either not released in North America ... or released much later. I had a DVD of the New Zealand film, "The Quiet Earth," years ago. But until 2006, you could only get it on VHS tape in North America.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[budz]

Thanks budz & daviedog. I wouldn't know the first thing about "making" them region free. But I have been looking at this Philips model that is "sold" region free:

http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/philips5980.html

Let me know if this looks good to you ... especially if you have any input on the seller.

Now I'm almost certain that my Yamakawa player is the culprit. It's starting to do other weird stuff ... like the audio going out of sync with the video on both DVDs I burn and DVDs I buy/rent. Sometimes when I press the "pause" button, the audio comes back into sync. But I've never encountered this issue until recently.

Regards,
J. Alec West

Most PHILIPS dvd players are NTSC/PAL from the factory and can be made region free via hack. The PHILIPS 5980 looks good. I'd buy it if I needed another dvd player.

[JohnnyBob]

Too bad it doesn't have a S-Video output. I've noticed that most (if not all) of the newer DVD player models with HD (HDMI) outputs do not have any S-Video connectors. That's what I use with my regular 27" TV and satellite receiver, S-Video connections.

Even some models that claim to have S-Video connections in the official specs, don't! I had that experience with a Sony which I bought online, which clearly said it had S-Video in the specs on the Sony website, but it didn't. I had the same experience with a DVD player I selected from the Sears website, then bought at the local store. The online specs said it had S-Video, but it didn't!

However it looks like all recent HD/HDMI DVD players also have component connectors. I wonder if there's a cheap component-to-S-Video adapter available? I have some composite-to-S-Video adapters and they do not give S-Video quality, only composite quality, so they're a wasted effort. However I would expect a component-to-S-Video adapter to give at least S-Video quality(?).

Anyway, that is an important factor for me when buying a new DVD player.

[Daffyd39]

[quote="AlecWest"]Thanks budz & daviedog. I wouldn't know the first thing about "making" them region free. But I have been looking at this Philips model that is "sold" region free:

http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/philips5980.html

No need to go there, as mentioned the WallyWorld Philips DVP 5982 (also available at Sams Club) is an excellent choice. My friend just bought one for $69 and after researching the region-free hack here, it was a simple as turning on the player, opening the tray and pushing a numerical sequence on the remote. Voila! It now plays all regions and NTSC/PAL flawlessly with surpisingly good quality!
D.

[AlecWest]

oops - delete

[AlecWest]

Thanks budz & daviedog. I wouldn't know the first thing about "making" them region free. But I have been looking at this Philips model that is "sold" region free:

http://www.regioncodefreedvd.com/philips5980.html

No need to go there, as mentioned the WallyWorld Philips DVP 5982 (also available at Sams Club) is an excellent choice. My friend just bought one for $69 and after researching the region-free hack here, it was a simple as turning on the player, opening the tray and pushing a numerical sequence on the remote. Voila! It now plays all regions and NTSC/PAL flawlessly with surpisingly good quality!
D.

OK ... I've seen the https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp-5982/8185 page. That will remove the region block. But if I put in a PAL DVD, would I have to do something else before it played on my NTSC television? On my Yamakawa player, there are 3 settings ... PAL - NTSC - AUTO. Sometimes the AUTO setting works. Sometimes, I have to actually press the PAL button on my remote. What settings, if any, are on the remote for the Philips player?

BTW, and getting back on topic since this is in the "media" category, I recently bought 100 Taiyo Yuden DVDs that were shipped in four 25-pack spindles ... all with a MicroBoards.com label on the spindle boxes. Whenever I've ordered TY's in the past, I've always gotten them in 100-pack spindles or 100-pack celophane-wrapped bundles ... with either no label on them or a Linkyo label. However, the ones I just got are 16x TYG03's ... just like the other ones I've gotten in the past. Is Taiyo Yuden owned by MicroBoards.com ... or is MicroBoards just a first-line distributor? I assume they're still made in Japan though, on the 25-pack spindles, there's no "MADE IN" wording indicating a country of origin.

P.S. I bought them through SuperMediaStore.com ... which is where I've bought them in the past.

Regards,
J. Alec West

[jman98]

OK ... I've seen the https://www.videohelp.com/dvdhacks/philips-dvp-5982/8185 page. That will remove the region block. But if I put in a PAL DVD, would I have to do something else before it played on my NTSC television? On my Yamakawa player, there are 3 settings ... PAL - NTSC - AUTO. Sometimes the AUTO setting works. Sometimes, I have to actually press the PAL button on my remote. What settings, if any, are on the remote for the Philips player?

If you live in the USA or Canada or some other NTSC country, you need to set your DVD player to use NTSC and do NOT use AUTO as the video output. Unless you have either deliberately bought a multi-standard TV (you would know if you had done this) or have one of the rare HD TVs that can support PAL resolutions, using PAL and AUTO should not work for you for PAL video. In fact, they should fail miserably - every time. Setting the DVD player to output NTSC will always give a signal that an NTSC TV can correctly play.

NTSC means send every video signal out as NTSC and convert PAL to NTSC if necessary.
PAL means send every video signal out as PAL and convert NTSC to PAL if necessary
AUTO means send every video signal out in the same format as it is on disc (PAL goes out as PAL, NTSC goes out as NTSC) and this will fail when you play a PAL DVD on a TV that can only display NTSC video. AUTO works by default because most US customers never play PAL DVDs, only NTSC, so NTSC always goes out as NTSC. In Europe, most TVs are multi-standard, so AUTO works because most TV can display both PAL and NTSC signals.