This can be casued by the player, it can also be casued by having too high of a bitrate.

it's a jvc player she bought two weeks ago. Can it be I put a label on it? one of those shiny ones for a wedding? You guys think the player is not playing because it's doesn't read it with that label? thanks again.

Yes. I've heard about this so much, I've never put a label on a DVD yet. I guess it spins too fast and those labels rarely go on perfect enough. Something like that. I'm waiting to try one of the DVDs that can be printed on. But I need a printer that can do that and the only cheap one I've seen ($90.) I haven't heard any results yet. The company always says it can print on CDs and DVDs but then they only talk about CDs, which makes me suspicious if it even works on DVDs without some problems.

Some dvd players just have trouble playing "burned" DVD's, they are different than a stamped stoe bought DVD.
I have a freind that has a brand new mit's progressive scan player, and it wouldnt play one of my DVD's.
I burned the same thing just onto the other format ,(dont recall which would not play -r or +r) and it worked fine.
Other times can be the media itself, depending on the brand, make sure your using good quality media.

I'll try burning it on another format. thanks for the 411.

Here are the three things to try:

1. Use a different media. Maxell is one of the most compatible.
2. If the problem disc is DVD-R and you can burn DVD+R, try the other format (or vice versa).
3. Try burning at a lower bitrate (although I don't believe this matters).

BTW, if you find that the problem gets solved by burning at a lower bitrate (and you use the same media, same format -- DVD-R or DVD+R, and same brand), please post back here. While I don't think bitrate matters for compatibility, I am in the minority in this opinion, and I'd be more than happy to be proven wrong by someone who does a test that holds fixed all the other constants just mentioned, just changes the bitrate, and then has it play flawlessly on the same player that wouldn't play the earlier disk.

You cannot go by brand name. Outsourcing makes this impossible. You must use a program like DVD Identifier to find out who made it.

I don't get any DVDs back from customers by doing the following:

Ritek G04 DVD-R media burned at 1x using DVDA 1.0 for authoring and burning on either a Pioneer 104 or a Pioneer 105 burner.
Maximum bitrate using Vegas 4.0 is set to 8000 at most using a variable bitrate. I have also used a constant bitrate of 6500 with excellent results.

And No label!

John

I've authored 100s of DVDs:
Sticky labels are a no no.
Any printer that'll print CDs will print DVDs but you need inkjet printable media.
You MUST use good media, period. With cheap junk even if it plays today it may not play in 12 months,
Never had a problem that lower bitrates solved. Have had a problem that was caused by burining at 1x, same media burnt at 4x fixed it.
-R tends to be more compatible but with recent players not an issue, go with whichever suits you.
Burn media is NOT the same as pressed, reflectivity is lower so a player that has trouble maybe sick. I've had one that play burnt media initially start to have trouble then just wouldn;t play burnt DVDs or CDs, the lasers do wear out so your problem might be the unit is sick out of the box.
Take the DVD to a store and try in in another unit of the same model.

Bob.

As in all things, there are exceptions. I, too, have burned 100s DVDs and used labels without any problems. The single biggest factor I have found in my experience with the compatiability issue is bitrate. When I burn discs at bitrates above 6500, my clients run into problems. When I burn discs at 6500 and below, that solves the issues every time, or has thus far.

Jay

Jay,
from what I can workout about labels they don't cuase immediate problems even if you get them way off centre. The theory used to be that getting the disk out of balance would cause problems but someone tried sticking mailing labels one on top of the other to see if he could cause proble, Got a lot piled up but was never able to cause a problem.
However others have found a more insidious problem. Over time the glue dries out and becomes very rigid. Combined with that the paper label shrinks slightly. The tension on the disk causes it to warp. Now the laser can track eccentricity as the disk spins however it cannot change focus as the distance between the laser and the reflective surface is shifting twice per revolution.
All said sticky labels and printing direct to the DVD/CD costs about the same, if you're into volume, printing onto the media is cheaper, there's no way to automate sticking labels on easily.

Bob.

One thing not mentioned is the player is just plain broke. Also some players will not play if the sound is not encoded in AC-3.

JJK

I've actually leaned towards believing that high bitrate can cause problems. When you examine the bitrate of commercial replicated discs, you'll be amazed how low the bitrates are, usually around 4,500-5,500 kbps. This might be partially why they are less problematic.

Unfortunately, the quality of commercial DVDs comes from excellent 35mm color negative source material, expensive hardware MPEG encoders, and a good compressionist. So, low datarates look great.

With DVD-R's we unfortunately have to boost our bitrates to achieve similar results, although with good source material and using Canopus Procoder or CCE, you get really great quality MPEG at very low bitrates.

Anywhow, unless I have to fit a lot of material on a disc, I try to keep my average datarates at 5,000 - 6,000 kbps.


MB

Good choice on bitrate. I bet the DVD's look good and are glitch-free on 99% of players you try them in. Using 2-pass VBR is another good option. That way the bitrate is increased only where needed.

Bob, just for the record, I've moved away from labels. Now I'm using printable discs and the Epson printer.

Jay

Burning at a low bitrate, 4500, I still couldn't get my commercial master DVD to play on a cheap dvd player I had bought at Sears (forgot the make, it's a little one, convenient size).... plays fine on both of my Sony dvd players, both a couple of years old ...

that's an issue, eg a lot of folks likely buying cheap dvd players, and if we master DVD-Rs that don't play on them, that's going to cause returns..

Ken

Cervama, had the same problem (neophyte burner here). Interestingly, the problem occured in the first chapter of a multi-chapter dvd only, and on a DVD-R disk that stuttered like yours on my standalone player. Burned the same video on a single-movie DVD. Same problem. Burned on a -RW disk: no problem (!)

After switching burning and authoring software (from DVDA to Nero), had the same problem on a multi-title -R disk. No problem burning a -RW disk. No problem burning a +R (both of these were Memorex).

Finally, I bought better quality (Memorex) -R blank to replace the Pine cheapos I had before and everything now seems fine.

Moral for me: buy good blanks.

Pierre

I was under the impression that 'Memorex' was just a fancy name for 'Radio Shack'. (no pun intended) They were just smart in getting Ella Fitzgerald to do the commercials and everybody was sold after that.

>Burning at a low bitrate, 4500, I still couldn't get my commercial master DVD
> to play on a cheap dvd player I had bought at Sears (forgot the make, it's a little one,
>convenient size).... plays fine on both of my Sony dvd players,
>both a couple of years old ...

There are some DVD players that just wont play DVD-Rs properly period. That's a fact, no matter if you used 1,000 kbps. A friend of mine has one of these and it skips DVD-Rs all the time.

The point here is in regards to "maximum playback capability". So for the rest of the players out there, that do indeed playback DVD-Rs (Sony, Panasonic, Pioneer, etc) burning at lower bitrates will give you a little bit better chance of playing a disc without stutter or skipping.

Again, these steps to insure compatibility are heavily debated. One person swears that adhesive labels are fine another says they are a problem, someone else believes burn speeds of 1X give better compatibility then 2X, 4X or even 8X-- and so on and so on.

The main thing I'd like to get across here, is that when I started burning DVDs a few years ago with my first DVD burner, a Pioneer A03, I was uneducated -- we had little info, not too many DVD-R were around at that time. So, II simply thought I'd try to get the highest bitrate possible -- since I wanted the best quality. Since then I've learned to make quality my second priority and compatibility my first, since this is a big problem with DVD, one that we never experienced with VHS tapes.


MB

Media will make a difference, no question. You also have to remember that burnt media isn't the same as pressed media. The pressed stuff is more reflective. The portable battery powered DVD players are the worst culprits, they keep the laser power as low as possible for obvious reasons.

Bob.

Don't believe there is any link between Radio Shack and Memorex. The latter are made by CMC Magnetics Corporation, while the ones I had before were "Pine" made by Anwell Precision Technology.

Pierre

True re compatibility -- anyone else find this list accurate across various media? Problem is "it depends" etc on a few factors (blanks, bit rate) etc.

It might be a good compatibility start list:
http://www.customflix.com/Customer/Compatibility.jsp

Anyone know any other media/dvd player compatibility checklists like this one? And while I'm asking, any feedback on customflix as a company for either on-demand or replication work?

thanks -

Ken

The DVD discs are probably not made by Radio Shack. But I'm sure that Memorex, if it is not now, it was Radio Shack related at one time. (I think they both called themselves 'Tandy Corp.') They had to come up with a way to sell to Audiophiles and the name Radio Shack, wasn't going to do it. I know it was back at the time the Ella Fitzgerald commercials were on TV and they were pushing the cassette tapes.