vicissitudes of a DVD disc

Author	Post
Everett Senior Member 2088 Posts 6/05	Posted - Jan 19 2006 : 5:10PM Im trying to figure out why a DVD, or at times certain portions of a DVD, will play perfectly in a computer and f--- up in a DVD player? And on the contrary why some discs play in a DVD player and totally freeze in a computer? I always check new discs this way when they falter to see if the problem is disc related or machine related. [Link]
DenverDon Benevolent Firmly Embedded in Depravity 5914 Posts 7/02	Posted - Jan 19 2006 : 6:06PM I don't know, but I'm sure interested in the answer to this one. DenverDon [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 19 2006 : 9:12PM Buying a good quality DVD player is one big reason. If you have a cheap one the laser is not focusing correctly and messes everything up. Buying one under 50$ never ever. And you have DVD with labels that produce a unsmooth rotating disc, resulting in horrible sounds. Dust, scratches, if its a DVD 9 than you have a layer change which can last a half second. And if it's a burned DVD-R/DVD+R you have incompatibilities. Some players won't play burned DVD's smoothly. They can be really expensive players 300-400$, but when they are old they have problems with the Recordables, because they have different reflection qualities (varies with disc producer). I save my photos on a DVD-R and a DVD+R to be safe, but maybe because I'm afraid of losing them. [Link]
Drew Black broken crankshaft 8011 Posts 9/99	Posted - Jan 19 2006 : 10:53PM I would suspect problems in the firmware before I would blame it on laser focusing issues. [Link]
Everett Senior Member 2088 Posts 6/05	Posted - Jan 19 2006 : 11:45PM de25ge wrote: Buying a good quality DVD player is one big reason. If you have a cheap one the laser is not focusing correctly and messes everything up. Buying one under 50$ never ever. And you have DVD with labels that produce a unsmooth rotating disc, resulting in horrible sounds. Dust, scratches, if its a DVD 9 than you have a layer change which can last a half second. And if it's a burned DVD-R/DVD+R you have incompatibilities. Some players won't play burned DVD's smoothly. They can be really expensive players 300-400$, but when they are old they have problems with the Recordables, because they have different reflection qualities (varies with disc producer). I save my photos on a DVD-R and a DVD+R to be safe, but maybe because I'm afraid of losing them. Click to expand I've heard of this before as far as buying a quality dvd player. I guess we'll all face a future hell withe the upcoming high def war between Blue Ray and HD DVD. By the way De... what did your DVD player cost if you don't mind me asking? [Link]

de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 20 2006 : 12:03AM I bought a XORO for 80-90 €, it was cheap but plays everything. It won several awards here in Germany and makes no problems. It is a company from Denmark I think It won a lot of awards and was No.1 in Germany it was this one I think (PAL/NTSC) no problem and region free I think (they are not allowed to advertise this fact) You normally can't go wrong with known brands, maybe they are loud when they play the disc or have not so much features like divx, mp4 or (SD,MMC card slots) and whatever is now on the market. [Link]
TheRizDawg Member 118 Posts 12/04	Posted - Jan 26 2006 : 5:45PM To be completely honest, sometimes the cheaper DVD players actually play burned DVD's better than the expensive ones. For instance, I bought a no name brand player at Wal Mart for about $35 and it plays burned DVD-R's and burned DVD+R's wonderfully (most of the time). Yet, I have a Sanyo that cost more than double the price of the No-Name and that one wont read most DVD-R's yet plays most +R's nicely! I don't get it. Another problem I encounter (in genral with various dvd players) is that sometimes a burned DVD will play very good until it reaches the final quarter of the movie and then skipping starts. There is no label on the disc to throw off rotation, so I am confused as to why this happens? Anyone care to share some insight?? [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 26 2006 : 11:29PM TheRizDawg wrote: There is no label on the disc to throw off rotation, so I am confused as to why this happens? Anyone care to share some insight?? Click to expand Quality of DVD-R or DVD+R, in general the surface of + is miles better. But buying cheap ones gives you bad quality, also there a companies in Malaysia, or so who fake DVD-R/+R and give them known brand names or ID's. For example Intenso is buying from several no name producers or bad quality from known ones. CT computer magazine made a test of Recordable DVD's one year ago and differences were huge between brands. [Link]
TheRizDawg Member 118 Posts 12/04	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 2:17PM Any idea why, in some cases, burned dvd's play fine until the last 20 to 30 minutes, then they start to skip? In some cases it seems almost like the DVD platyers can't keep up with the information, so it eventually starts to skip. But why does this happened mainly with burned DVD's and not prerecorded? [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 2:21PM TheRizDawg wrote: Any idea why, in some cases, burned dvd's play fine until the last 20 to 30 minutes, then they start to skip? In some cases it seems almost like the DVD platyers can't keep up with the information, so it eventually starts to skip. But why does this happened mainly with burned DVD's and not prerecorded? Click to expand prerecorded are pressed not burned, different materials for the information layer. Try to get DVD+R and possibly from a good brand. [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 2:27PM Burnig with slower speeds or at least the suggested speeds of the recordable producer will improve quality too. Edited by - de25ge on 1/27/2006 2:27:38 PM [Link]
Everett Senior Member 2088 Posts 6/05	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 6:32PM I bought a copy of "The Thing"(1982) st/Kurt Russell for 5.99. It has all of the Universal logo/artwork on the sleeve but the disc doesn't have any of the Universal stencilling for the movie like most studio discs. An obvious bootleg, it plays just fine and dubbed in widescreen. The chapter menus are set up(copied)but are not functional. You have to just play it through like a VHS. How can ya tell burned from pressed? PS: a clerk at one of the stores I rent from says a scratch across a disc is ok and it'll play with no skip. A scratch circumference wise is where the disc will give problems. Anyone back this up? [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 6:53PM Everett wrote: I bought a copy of "The Thing"(1982) st/Kurt Russell for 5.99. It has all of the Universal logo/artwork on the sleeve but the disc doesn't have any of the Universal stencilling for the movie like most studio discs. An obvious bootleg, it plays just fine and dubbed in widescreen. The chapter menus are set up(copied)but are not functional. You have to just play it through like a VHS. How can ya tell burned from pressed? PS: a clerk at one of the stores I rent from says a scratch across a disc is ok and it'll play with no skip. A scratch circumference wise is where the disc will give problems. Anyone back this up? Click to expand When the bootleg is done for example in China they naturaly press the cd, it's cheaper and faster for 1000's or 10000's of DVD's. There are lot of firms offering this service on the net for legal purposes. When you want to make a DVD from a wedding or so... PS question: It's coding theory / information theory. Can't remember how it was called Information is stored like on a LP in circular lines. 1010101010101100 1010101010101100 that are those 16-bit words on a CD if you scratch circumference you kill a whole word are dozens of them. On music CD's this wíll give you noise. If you scratch across you kill maybe two bits and information can be recovered. If you have an alphabet for example of 1= 1100 0= 0011 And one scratch in a word(place of the X) for example 0 hex 1 you know that it was a 0= 0011 because you coded it with extra information. If you have two scratches for example XX00 or 0 hex X or hex X1... you can say there is an error but you are not able to correct it. Normally the X will be interpreted by a player as a 0 or a 1, I just used the X to make it simpler. edited to corrrect. Edited by - de25ge on 1/27/2006 7:16:34 PM [Link]
TheRizDawg Member 118 Posts 12/04	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 6:55PM de25ge wrote: prerecorded are pressed not burned, different materials for the information layer. Try to get DVD+R and possibly from a good brand. Click to expand It's weird de25ge But I actually have better luck with the DVD-R's. The +R's seem to be more succeptable to start skipping 3 quarters in. ANy ideas why?? The -R's do it far less often. Shouldn't a burned DVD be an identical copy to a prerecorded (as long as there is no compression used)? Do you think compression plays a role in causing the discs to skip part way through? [Link]
TheRizDawg Member 118 Posts 12/04	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 7:00PM Everett wrote: How can ya tell burned from pressed? Click to expand Most burned discs have a Purple recording surface. I am not sure if they have made regular looking burnable ones yet. If the surface is purple, it is most likely a burned disc. [Link]

de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 7:14PM TheRizDawg wrote: Click to expand It's weird de25ge But I actually have better luck with the DVD-R's. The +R's seem to be more succeptable to start skipping 3 quarters in. ANy ideas why?? The -R's do it far less often. Shouldn't a burned DVD be an identical copy to a prerecorded (as long as there is no compression used)? Do you think compression plays a role in causing the discs to skip part way through? Click to expand I would really tend to buy a good DVD-R or DVD+R from a known brand and try to burn it with 2x or 4x and try it with the DVD-Player and then with the DVD-Burner. So you can determine if it's the disc the player or whatever. Normally - was worse from a quality point but accepted by standards, maybe industry caught up in the meantime. [Link]
Everett Senior Member 2088 Posts 6/05	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 7:24PM any chance a disc only slightly/minutely warped or misaligned will skip whether it's been pressed or burnt? [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 7:46PM Everett wrote: any chance a disc only slightly/minutely warped or misaligned will skip whether it's been pressed or burnt? Click to expand If you kick against your Player and it has no big cache for reading ahead. Warping discs is not a good idea. Edited by - de25ge on 1/27/2006 8:58:40 PM [Link]
BigBobxxx Senior Member 2681 Posts 5/04	Posted - Jan 27 2006 : 10:03PM My experience has been that, when I have problematic ORIGINAL pressed DVDs, I simply create and burn copies onto DVD-R and they work flawlessly (yet the original has issues). My opinion is that some disks have directory and menu issues that get corrected when your new burned copy creates it's own directories and menus as part of the process. For example, I have even burned new disks with just the main feature without menus (even adding chapter stops if I choose to) in order to get a movie to play correctly. It often isn't an issue with the video files... it's the bad authoring on the original causing all the problems I won't go into any details as to how FYI, DVD-R is more compatible when your goal is to watch your DVDs using a set-top player on your TV. If you're watching them on your computer, it won't matter one way or the other (as long as your computer's optical drive(s) read both formats). Finally, my current $39.95 DVD player works better than all the more expensive players I have ever had! [Link]
TheRizDawg Member 118 Posts 12/04	Posted - Jan 28 2006 : 2:04PM Thank you dg25ge and BigBobxxx for getting into these issues. I appreciate hearing your opinions on this stuff. I really enjoy the benefits of DVd burning, but it seems like there are still flaws in the technology, so it's good to hear what works and doesn't work for other people as well. Some other questions I'd like to know your thoughts on regarding this- What do you consider a good brand dvd-r? What do you think of Maxell? TDK? Memorex? Also, if a burned DVD plays fine for the first 3 quarters and then stars skipping after that, what do you think would cause that? Thanks again guys! [Link]
Bill All-Star Member 5334 Posts 6/00	Posted - Jan 28 2006 : 3:06PM The discussion here is right on the borderline of causing this thread to be shut down. If the discussion is going to be about recordable DVD's let's keep it to that without getting into the discussion of copying. Otherwise, I'll need to shut this one down. [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 28 2006 : 3:32PM They say Maxell, Verbatim, Pioneer, Mitsui, Sony and TDK all make quality media I used Philips without problems and had severe problems with Intenso Maybe you look around into special forums or have a look at computer magazines.... I used an external harddisk and after a headcrash had my data saved on DVD's. They are still too small for me but better than CD's. [Link]
BigBobxxx Senior Member 2681 Posts 5/04	Posted - Jan 28 2006 : 5:57PM Bill wrote: The discussion here is right on the borderline of causing this thread to be shut down. If the discussion is going to be about recordable DVD's let's keep it to that without getting into the discussion of copying. Otherwise, I'll need to shut this one down. Click to expand Gee, Bill, I thought I was being very clear about NOT crossing the line: I won't go into any details as to how Click to expand For whatever it's worth, we shouldn't have to resort to making copies of DVDs we paid good money for in order to make the damn things playable, should we?! [Link]
Bill All-Star Member 5334 Posts 6/00	Posted - Jan 28 2006 : 11:38PM BigBobxxx wrote: Gee, Bill, I thought I was being very clear about NOT crossing the line: Click to expand That's probably because you are not aware of exactly where that line it. It's not just the "how to" details that are over the line. If you want to talk about burning DVD's from files legally downloaded from the Internet or of home movies, great. But once you start talking about removing menus, etc..., you're standing directly on top of that line. [Link]
de25ge Member yes I'm virilis 954 Posts 11/05	Posted - Jan 29 2006 : 5:31AM Bill wrote: Click to expand shopping info link Are they allowed to do this? [Link]

CG_Gurl80 Member Sexy Bitches 486 Posts 1/05	Posted - Jan 29 2006 : 6:06AM TheRizDawg wrote: ... What do you consider a good brand dvd-r? What do you think of Maxell? TDK? Memorex? Click to expand People all over the world will tell you, Taiyo Yuden rules. Very high quality at a reasonable price. I've never had problems with Maxell, TDK or Memorex. But I've heard that Memorex Dual Layers are pretty inconsistent. Considering dual layers are still hideously overpriced, that probably won't be an issue to you. [Link]
BigBobxxx Senior Member 2681 Posts 5/04	Posted - Jan 29 2006 : 8:25AM Bill wrote: BigBobxxx wrote: Gee, Bill, I thought I was being very clear about NOT crossing the line: Click to expand That's probably because you are not aware of exactly where that line it. It's not just the "how to" details that are over the line. If you want to talk about burning DVD's from files legally downloaded from the Internet or of home movies, great. But once you start talking about removing menus, etc..., you're standing directly on top of that line. Click to expand Actually, I don't want to talk about burning files at all :) I thought I was merely discussing a legal work-a-round for dealing with the poor-quality DVDs we get stuck with -- frequently -- as consumers of porn. I thought I knew where the "line" was, but I'm sure I'm not smart enough to distinguish between "burning DVD's from files legally downloaded from the Internet" and burning corrective DVDs from files legally purchased in my DVD collection. So, relax, I tip-toed up to the "line" and I will now leave this thread alone. No need to spoil it for the other kids [Link]
Solid Member 180 Posts 5/04	Posted - Feb 1 2006 : 11:12PM all the audio video and computer forums say Taiyo Yuden is by far the best,most reliable media,and they often recommend this online vendor for the best price and service:Click here I guess some of you have read that article about burned dvds and cds not having a very long lifespan,around 2-5 years.People do run scanning programs on their burned dvds,and sure enough they are starting to develop bad sectors,etc,and sometimes become unplayable within a year or sooner,even if the disc seemed perfect when first burnt.The best thing to do is to use quality media in the first place,such as TYs and Verbatim.I've heard many people have had problems with Memorex.A basic rule of thumb is made in Japan dvds are usually very good,made in taiwan is a crapshoot quality wise,and ALWAYS stay away from made in HK/China media. [Link]