What is the difference between DVDs copied en masse and DVDs burned on a single burner? Is the tracking different? Is the redundancy different? Is the dye different? I am beginning to wonder about how well preserved one's videos and digital photographs are if one uses DVD media. Last summer purchased an I/O Magic 8x DVD burner (DVDRW IDE 1008) which recently received the 0159 firmware update (054was there when I bought the player). No difference in problem resolution. Last summer burned TEON DVD+R discs and thought that they worked well since I put them in the Philips 704 player and they played. Unfortunately I did not play anything to the end. Over Christmas I bought some Philips 1-8x +DVDR and burned the same iso file to one of them. Decrypter started out burning around 4x and finished the burn at 8x. Same problem with this disc. (also same problem if I use Nero 5.5.10.56 or Roxio). What is the problem? The movie plays fine in the burner with PowerDVD or Windows Media Player, but starts to drop audio and video and sometimes even freezes the Philips player in the later chapters of a movie. A different player in the house experiences the same problem. What is it that the pros do to get their media aligned so that it works in tons of home players that the burners can't do to get media to perform as well? I hesitate to attempt to transfer VHS tapes, video and digital media if one has to not only keep the DVDs, but the burner too in order to play these keepsakes in the future. Just wonder how many people have done the same thing, thinking that they had playable DVD's only to learn later that their media won't play on the variety of players that the commercial DVD's do. Is a different kind of redundancy possible for the later chapters? I have tried to shrink to 3/4 from 4.38 GB and the burner will burn til about the outer 1/2 to 3/8 inch of the media. I would still have to shrink further in order to get a playable disc which is not what I want to do. Prior to this, had no trouble using the CD burner that came with the computer to burn VCDs (Photostory 2) that were read by a lot of players that relatives had.
In relation to your first question, commercial DVD's are pressed, they are not burnt. For copying, the quality of the DVD media is very important. Different manufacturers use different dyes and some such as AZO metal dye are better than others. Teon does not have a good reputation as a quality brand media. Attached is some additional information from previous posts: Almost daily there are posts in relation to DVD playback - generally in relation to skipping/freezing of DVD's on playback. While these posts have been answered many hundreds of times over a wide variety of threads/topics, the question continues to reappear (generally due to inabilty to use search button at top of page or to read/comprehend previous threads/answers). Listed below is my recipe for successful DVD burning - Have burnt between 500 and 1000 without any major burning or playback problems. People are free to accept or reject this advice - it is not prescriptive, merely advisory and has worked very well for me. 1. Do not use labels on burnt media. 2. Keep your hard drive defragmented. 3. Ensure you have plently of free hard disk space. 4. Ensure you do not have sypware/virus on your system. 5. Keep you start up menu lean and clean. 6. Use a program such as HijackThis to ensure your start up log is lean and clean. 7. Avoid conflicting programs on your system e.g., Nero/Roxio do not play well together - choose one only. 8. Avoid the use of packet writing software e.g, INCD, Direct CD. 9. Avoid multi-tasking when ripping/encoding/burning. 10. Do not install problematic programs such as Interactual Movie Player and remove from system if installed. 11. Do not burn too fast (max 4x recommended). 12. Ensure definitions for virus and spyware programs are up to date. 13. Avoid burning unnecessary extras - do movie only in reauthor mode if using DVD Shrink <http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/dvd_rippers/dvd_shrink.cfm>. 14. Use brand name, quality players for burning - e.g., Plextor, Pioneer, Lite-On etc. 15. Use an el cheapo Asian/Chinese standalone for playback - they are much more versitile and reliable than name brands and normaly handle both Pal and NTSC formats. 16. Use quality DVD media - Ritek, Verbatim, TY's recommended. 17. Reduce target size of burnt DVD to approx 4400 if using DVD Shrink. 18. Store safely and keep away from children. 19. Be very wary of downloaded movies - in most cases they are not worth the time or effort to reproduce. 20. Ensure that DMA mode is enabled in your system settings. 21. Load and skip through chapters on computer DVD player (e.g, Power DVD, WinDVD) prior to burning. My System Specs (don't laugh) PIII - 800 - 256Mb Ram Programs used: DVD Shrink (98%), DVD Decrypter (approx 2%), Nero (almost 100%) for burning. Success rate: 99% plus. Burner: Pioneer 106D ROM: JLMS - Lite-On Rip/Encode time: Between 10 and 50 minutes (depending on movie) - normally under 35 minutes. Burn Time: Between 12 and 15 minutes.
Thanks for the response, COLW. Much appreciated. Just yesterday I talked with a salesperson at Best Buy and he said that most of the complaints he receives about media refer to difficult beginnings or endings of discs. He seemed to like Verbatim and TDK media. There is some optimism regarding storage and that is not dvd media, but 3 - 6 GB micro harddisks that can take a lot of punishment. Spendy, but perhaps more reliable than DVD discs.
Used Verbatim media and movie played later chapters. Could be just a bad batch from Philips, but think I will stick with Verbatim and for my own quality control will check the beginning and later chapters of the movies I back up.
Hi Colw, Have a question. After reading your recipe, which I think is great, would like to know what can go wrong if you have Roxio and Nero installed on the same PC ? I mean, regarding burning DVDs ? Thanks, Ed.
