Will a HD DVD play on an older non-hd dvd player?

[ezramoro]

Just wondering because I put my recently burned copy of Top Gear season 14 Bolivia special into an older DVD player and it would play but it was very jerky, almost like there was too much data on the disk for the machine to read properly.

[manono]

You must have misstated what you did because no ordinary DVD player will play any Hi-Def material at all. What did you do to it? Did you convert it to a regular DVD? If so, the stuttering could be due to using inferior media, a faulty burn, lousy conversion to DVD, an older player not playing burned DVDs smoothly, lots of things. Can you try it in a different player to test?

How about starting over and explaining in greater detail what you did - the real source and its resolution (use MediaInfo on it if you don't know), the conversion programs used, the type of media, the burning program used, etc.

[ezramoro]

Okay, I'm new to this sorry

What kind of info should I be looking for? I downloaded the software you suggested.

[ezramoro]

Well I think it’s hi-def stuff, the site I downloaded it from says it’s a 720p HD MKV rip, and that is verbatim.

I converted it from MKV to DVD format to a regular DVD +R.

I tried it in the exact same method twice, with the same result both times. In my DVD player it says “incompatible disk” and nothing shows on the screen at all, and in the PS2 of my friend the DVD menu does show up, and it will play but it is just very jerky and lags.

I used VSO ConvertXtoDVD 4, but it’s a trial version and I’m only testing it for now. Could that be the reason? It leaves a watermark in the video.

The original file is a 720p HD MKV rip of a Top Gear episode (filmed in the UK).

I used a DVD –R to burn the converted file onto.


This is the info from the MediaInfo:

Complete name : C:\Documents and Settings\esdra\My Documents\My Videos\Topgear\Season 14\Top Gear Season 14 Bolivia Special.mkv
Format : Matroska
File size : 2.18 GiB
Duration : 1h 16mn
Overall bit rate : 4 099 Kbps
Encoded date : UTC 2009-12-27 21:05:31
Writing application : mkvmerge v2.9.5 ('Tu es le seul') built on Jun 17 2009 16:28:30
Writing library : libebml v0.7.8 + libmatroska v0.8.1
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, ReFrames : 4 frames
Muxing mode : Container profile=Unknown@3.1
Codec ID : V_MPEG4/ISO/AVC
Duration : 1h 16mn
Bit rate : 3 826 Kbps
Nominal bit rate : 3 906 Kbps
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate : 25.000 fps
Resolution : 8 bits
Colorimetry : 4:2:0
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.166
Stream size : 2.04 GiB (93%)
Writing library : x264 core 80 r1373M 4322f63

Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=6 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.0:0.0 / mixed_ref=0 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=0 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=12 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / mbaff=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=3 / wpredb=1 / wpredp=0 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=25 / scenecut=40 / rc=2pass / mbtree=0 / bitrate=3906 / ratetol=1.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=10 / qpmax=51 / qpstep=4 / cplxblur=20.0 / qblur=0.5 / ip_ratio=1.40 / pb_ratio=1.30 / aq=1:1.00


ID : 2
Format : AC-3
Format/Info : Audio Coding 3
Codec ID : A_AC3
Duration : 1h 16mn
Bit rate mode : Constant
Bit rate : 192 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Channel positions : L R
Sampling rate : 48.0 KHz
Stream size : 105 MiB (5%)
Language : English

[manono]

OK, now we're getting somewhere. It's not an HD-DVD. It's just a regular old DVD that happens to have been made using an HD source. Does it play OK on the computer, the DVD video? Did you test? Play it using PowerDVD or something like that. Then, when you put your burned DVD disc back into the DVD-ROM, does it play OK from there? It's only in your standalone unit that it stutters? Can you test it on a different standalone, perhaps at a friend's house?

If it's jerky when doing the 2 computer tests, the conversion screwed up. If it's good on the computer but jerky on your player, it's probably either a media problem or a burning-to-disc problem. If it's also jerky on a friend's newer player, it's definitely a media or burning problem. If it's only jerky on your player, it's probably that your old player doesn't play burned DVDs properly. You might try burning to DVD-R to see if it plays any better. Otherwise, get a new player.

What kind of media is it? And burning problems can often be solved by burning using ImgBurn. If you used Nero or something else, try doing a test burn with ImgBurn.

[ezramoro]

When I play the original file it's smooth and great. The burned copy on my computer is perfectly smooth and great. On my player I get an error message of "incompatible disk" and on my friends it's simply very jerky.

I'll try imgburn Thanks!

[KBeee]

Not sure where you live, but if you're in NTSC land you might have ended up with a PAL DVD (the original file was 25fps), which might explain the "incompatible disk" message on you player.

[manono]

Good point, KGee, and one I hadn't thought of. If you're in the US, ezramoro, or some other NTSC country, the DVD you made may be PAL (25fps and 720x576). You can open a VOB in that same MediaInfo to find its details. If so, most NTSC DVD players won't play a PAL DVD.