4 DVD-series playback

RexA wrote on 6/18/2003, 4:36 PM
I have the 4-DVD training series on Vegas 4.0 by Class on Demand. I like it fine. It was a great way to learn features as I am a new user.

I had one quirk though. I have one DVD player (Daewoo) on my main TV that pixelates or jerks on some motion in this DVD set. Its just with this one player. Other players that I have tried and my PC play it fine. All other commercial DVDs that I have played on this one player were also fine, though.

I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts about what might be different about these DVDs that bothers my Daewoo player? Bit rate?

I'm also thinking about getting a new player and want one that handles everthing -- DVD +/-, VCD, SVCD, audio, etc. I have two players here and they both have some issues with some formats. I tried a couple from JVC and Sony at a local dealer and didn't find one that played everthing without glitches.

Anyone have suggestions on a good player that's available now?

-Rex

Comments

jsteehl wrote on 6/18/2003, 9:14 PM
I have the same issue, a Daewoo and an Apex and they both have the same problem with the 4-DVD set. Went to Circuit City and tried 10 players (various from RCS, Toshiba, Pioneer, Sony). Only 2 out of the 10 did not have any problems with the DVD set. Just for sh*t and giggles I brought a DVD-R that I pressed with ReelDVD. Not a problem on any one!!!

So, if you need a new DVD player, cool. If you are buying one for the DVD set you might want to save your money. Class-On-Demand sent me a VHS set and are working on the problem. Kudos to them. However I don't carry a VCR on the road and I do use a DVD played in my office. So if I don't see a resolution by next week I will probably send them back. To back... they are gooooood stuff.

BTW, yes it works ok on my desktop computer but I don't have a DVD drive on my laptop which I'm on 90% of the time..

-Jason
starixiom wrote on 6/18/2003, 9:39 PM
I hate to say this but most of the brands of DVD players you mentioned dont use quality decoder chips or parts. Daewoo, APex, etc. or players that fall in the $70 less range tend to have a lot of features that may or may not work especially on playback.

That is not to say that you have to buy the most expensive unit or that you cant find a bargain unit with great playback. But as a general rule a lot of the cheaper units dont last the test of time.

Right now i have a Pioneer DV-525 that ive had since, i think, '99. It has handled everything ive thrown at it, even those weird little mini CDr you get at tradeshows. It even played VCD when it wasnt a listed feature. It plays cheap CDRs flawlessly. YOu can pick up this unit used for about $100.

At one time i thought that it had a glitch when playing back commercial dvds. It turned out to be a layer change that most DVD players exhibit.
MDVid wrote on 6/18/2003, 9:57 PM
Class on Demand is working on a 'fix' for the 'erratic' DVD errors that have been noted. I have been in contact with them over the past several days in attempting to 'trouble-shoot' the problem. It seems to be an encoding issue, rather than a media problem. There are work arounds, if you are willing to go through the effort. You may want to contact Eric Oldham [eric@classondemand.net] for further details.

JTH
starixiom wrote on 6/18/2003, 10:16 PM
Maybe i was just one of the lucky ones that got a good set (which conceivably i dont know how that would be possible.) Ive went through the whole set twice without any noticeable problems. Seems like everything is well as long as they recognize the problem and are willing to fix it.

Spot|DSE wrote on 6/18/2003, 11:18 PM
Thanks to you all for your patience! I was pretty surprised to hear of all the problems, they created and encoded this thing with REEL, so I expected it would be no issue. Now if they'd just used DVDA....... :-)
I'm VERY pleased to hear that Class on Demand is going all out to make sure everyone is happy. That's awesome. Their tech support and customer support is second to none, and they are really great people.
Watch for the second 'set' in the series coming soon.
DSE
kentwolf wrote on 6/18/2003, 11:33 PM
>>Watch for the second 'set' in the series coming soon.

Would this be on the more advanced side of things?

Thanks!
RexA wrote on 6/19/2003, 3:46 AM
I didn't realize this issue was so common.

My other DVD player (Philips) played the set ok. The two that I tried at the store (JVC, Sony) also seemed to have no problem with this. They had different issues with VCD and SVCD. The Daewoo plays most things fine. It has a firmware mod that makes it useful sometimes; that's the main reason I have it. The philips has menu problems with VCD.

I'm happy with the DVD set since I have a couple devices that play it ok.

I am suprised that it is still so hard to find a player that can handle everthing. The one local vendor let me move the players to try two of them. Most of dealers can't or won't let you try the players. Without that it would be a complete crap shoot with low odds of total success.

-Rex
Lawrence_S wrote on 6/24/2003, 11:54 PM
Hi SPOT,

I have just got the 4 DVDs pack! Until now, I've seen 2 of 4 DVDs... (discs 1 and 3) I'm sending you some feedback... and asking you a question...

1. Sometimes the image freezes for one or two seconds, but it does not affect the overall view, since the audio plays well... I'm playing the DVDs in a LG model.

2. Your presention is effective and friendly. Nice :)

3. The topics are all relevant, but sometimes a bit "incomplete". For exemple: you mentioned the possibility of using a joystick to control the sorround panning, but didn't show how to do it!

4. The topic about "Buses" is too superficial. I think you can develop another course covering advanced audio techniques.

5. The explanation about the differences between an OHCI-Compliant IEEE 1394 and a proprietary one is very important.

6. The topics covering Vegas configuration are also good. In fact their are the "base" for the system reliability.

7. The topic covering the function "Open a copy in Sound Forge" is VERY COOL. I didn't know that after saving a file in Sound Forge, you have just to press "T" in the keyboard to alter between takes in the Vegas time line... Simple and Great!

8. I also noticed that the resolution of the image is nice! I could see (and read) any Vegas menu options in my TV set. By the way, how did you transfered the images of Vegas interface from the computer monitor to a DV tape? What kind of interface you used do that? I teach audio basics in Brazil and this information would be very useful for me!! The school website is http://www.synthex.com.br

I also own a project studio called Nucleo de Criação. Have a look to the flash intro at http://www.nucleodecriacao.com.br :)

Thanks,

Lawrence