advice - redo dvd

ushere wrote on 5/29/2008, 3:00 AM

the story so far - did job sd pal 4 x 1hr doco's - each released on it's own dvd.

rendered out in pal and ntsc - authored in dvda 4.5. sat with client and checked all master dvd's on 3 different pal/ntsc players. lovely job, pats on the backs all round.

gave client the whole edit and schmoozle on an external hd, and simply kept a dvcam master of each program. he, inadvertently wipes hd to record eurovision song contest

it now appears that the ntsc's disc's are playing up in OLDER machines. skipping, jumping, etc., so the client has asked me to make simple none authored (non menued) copies.

the question is -

a. do i go back to the pal masters and re-digitise

b. drop the ntsc dvd on vegas timeline - and have it smart encode (does it on
mpeg2?)

c. use womble to make straight copies from the ntsc dvd's without menu?

d. suggest he gives away new dvd players with all four bought at once?

all advice and suggestions most welcome.....

leslie

Comments

farss wrote on 5/29/2008, 3:52 AM

Take d).

How would re-authoring change anything?

One thing to watch with encoding is the minimum bitrate. Setting it too low can cause problems when the bitrate makes a rapid transition.

Bob.

Laurence wrote on 5/29/2008, 4:14 AM

Some older DVD players have problems with burned DVDs+-Rs. You could try a different brand of disc. You could try DVD-Rs instead of +Rs. You could try burning at no more than 4x speed.

I doubt that the problem is related to the authoring.

You might find that the older DVD players are having trouble with all burned DVDs, not just yours. In that case, it might be time for some new players.

ushere wrote on 5/29/2008, 6:06 AM

thanks for that, much appreciated.

i suppose that's a problem i never thought about, ie, what happens when someone else does the dupes. (my stuff goes to normal dupe house) this client just bought a couple of tower multi-burners, and i did talk to him about stock, but you know what indep. producers are like when it comes to saving the budget.....

have emailed him (he's in the states), and asked for details.....

till then, i'll sit tight, and take bob's advice - suggest clients upgrade their ancient dvd players to new $20 ones....

leslie

johnmeyer wrote on 5/29/2008, 8:05 AM

I would definitely take one of the DVDs you've already burned and simply make a straight-up copy onto better media. Strongly suggest DVD-R Taiyo-Yuden 8x Premium media from Meritline (oh, you're down under -- sorry can't help you with where to buy ..).

Quite a few knowledgeable people say that DVD+R can be more compatible with a wider range of DVD players, but only if you set the "booktype" to DVD+ROM (I think I have that correct -- I have only done this a few times). However, in the early days of burning DVDs, the most compatible was definitely DVD-R, and not DVD+R.

Thus, I would burn on DVD-R. If you can't get Taiyo-Yuden, then top of the line Verbatim. I would then take that disc and put it into a Lite-On drive (or other drive that can test discs) and run the free Nero dvd speed. It will tell you whether you've got a quality burn, or not. If you do run Nero DVD Speed, I would also recommend that you try to get hold of one of the discs that isn't playing well and test it. I'll bet you find that it has a really high error rate.

Harold Brown wrote on 5/29/2008, 8:23 AM

I use DVD-R Taiyo-Yuden 8x Premium media that I bought from Meritline and they work great. I have never had a returned DVD and I send them out for glass masters as well.

ushere wrote on 5/29/2008, 4:49 PM

thanks again,

have taken all your advice and summarised it for my client. have asked him to buy ty dvd-r media if possible, and to burn at 4x on his towers.

i will await his results before i lift pen to tablet, mouse to mat.....

again, thanks everyone,

leslie