Another Burning Issue

GrizzlyIke wrote on 5/4/2008, 8:11 AM
Apparently DVDA 4.5b will only burn to +/-RW discs. Using +/-R discs produces an error message requesting an RW disc.. Is there a setting change somewhere that will allow me to use +/-R discs? Also my fairly new Sony DVD player will not play the burned +RW disc. According the player manual it should play RW's depending on the "charateristics of the authoring software"! A couple of years ago I made a DVD using DVDA 2.0 and this was not a problem. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Dave

Comments

Kennymusicman wrote on 5/4/2008, 10:01 AM
HOw up-to-date is your burner firmware?
GrizzlyIke wrote on 5/4/2008, 11:57 AM
My new computer from Dell arrived about 10 days ago so I assume everything is up-to-date. The drive is a TSSTcorpDVDF+-RW-H653B D300. The SONY DVD RW DRU-530A 1,0d is a few years old. I get the same result on both drives. I have made successful DVDs on the Sony when I had DVDA 2.0
I hope this info points to a solution.
Thanks, Dave H
MPM wrote on 5/5/2008, 10:37 AM
I’m hoping that this may help, Dave, hoping you’ll forgive a more generalized approach since the only way I could verify anything would be to use an identical burner, blank, & player. [as always no offense to any one or any brands intended, hinted or implied]...

The cause of your (or any) burning problems could be caused by any of the variables (software, hardware, media), and to track down the culprit(s) all you have to do is go thru the process of elimination. 1) If you can burn a video DVD to disc, & it works in your player(s), then render your DVD to hdd & burn with something else (recommend imgburn). 2) If #1 doesn’t work, try the same batch of media burned on a different PC in your player(s). If it works, change the way you burn (hardware &/or software). 3) If you’re still stuck, try your DVD in other players. If that works, you can try another brand of disc (Verbatim recommended), and if that doesn’t work, consider replacing the player.

There’s a bit of debate (or maybe even argument) going on about Video DVD burning speeds. Realistically there are 2 common-sense approaches: A) Blanks are cheap so try one at 8X & one at top speed & compare the results. B) Do the same as many folks, from Ballplayers to Marines, and treat yourself to a superstition / good luck charm... If you feel more confident, better about burning at 8X, what harm can it do? You might offend some folks who’ll think you’re silly, but that’s their problem, not yours. ;-)

If you want to short-cut or eliminate troubleshooting pretty much, you can try to stop problems from happening by using *only* consumer top-rated software, drives, media, & players, & replacing hardware as it wears (usually the drive mechanism, especially on players). You can also research the hardware you have, i.e. http://club.cdfreaks.com/f105/dell-tsst-ts-h653b-samsung-sh-s203b-crossflash-success-244305/
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters/sony-dru-530a/170
GrizzlyIke wrote on 5/8/2008, 8:55 AM
Well much thanks to Kennymusicman and MPM. While it turned out not to be the problem, I found a firmware update for my Sony drive, so I'm now current there. As to MPM's trial-and-error approach, I started with the easiest variable to assess...the discs. That was the problem! Apparently a batch of on-sale discs from a national computer store chain, 'tho labelled "DVD-R", behaved as "CD-R" discs in both of my drives. The problem is solved and the project is complete (and the discs are in the trash can).
Thanks again, Dave H