Best way to make compatible DVDs

Westside Steve wrote on 5/23/2011, 7:07 AM
Hi folks.
I'm sure this has been asked many times but what are the keys to making compatible DVDs?
A four hour show on two DLs.
I just burned a batch on DVD-RW DL (Memorex) and many of those who ghot them say they skip or don't play.
I got some Verbatim DVD R + DL to try next.
They work fine in my Sony
Is it the blanks or the burner or the + or - or the settings that hold the key?
Thanks for any ideas.
WSS

Comments

Steve Mann wrote on 5/23/2011, 7:39 AM
Who Really Makes the Disc?

From:
http://www.digitalfaq.com/reviews/dvd-media.htm

Realize that most media is produced by a relatively small number of factories, located in several different places. These factories are mostly present in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, China and India. There are more, but those are the largest ones. The best media generally comes from Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. The worst typically comes from China and Malaysia.

The blank disc brand name on the package means almost nothing. Apple is a great brand, but they do not make their own discs, instead outsourcing to a company like Mitsubishi Chemicals. Common companies like Memorex, Maxell and Imation all outsource to media vendors. Mitsubishi also makes the discs for Verbatim, etc.

It is the media ID that is important, as it reveals the disc manufacturer. Unfortunately, this is not written on packaging or anywhere else. Companies want consumers to be oblivious to this sort of behind-the-scenes information. The Media ID is also used by your DVD burner to determine the burn parameters which includes the maximum burn speed. Never, ever burn your DVD's at the maximum burn rate. (You will make a lot of coasters if you do). Pick a speed in the middle; 4X or 6X is my personal limit.

I recommend that you use the freeware "DVD Identifier" to read the media ID to learn who *really* made the discs in your box:
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/cd_dvd/dvd_tools/dvd_identifier.cfm

DVD Identifier has it's own database to interpret the media ID into the manufacturer name and write parameters. Likewise, your DVD burner has a similar lookup table in its firmware. If your burner is relatively old, then newer DVD manufacturer's codes won't be found. The tipoff to this is when your DVD burner falls back to "safe" parameters, like a maximum burn speed of 2X. Some older burners revert to their max burn speed, like 24X, which almost never works. If this happens to you, then you need a firmware update or a new DVD burner.

BlackMax wrote on 5/23/2011, 8:25 AM
>Is it the blanks or the burner or the + or - or the settings that hold the key?

Yes! ;-)

It is all of these. I've had good luck with Memorex DVD+R DL but of course these are different from your DVD-RW DL.

You should be outputting your DVDs as .iso files, and then using ImgBurn to burn them to disc. ImgBurn will tell you important stuff like this:

Destination Media Type: DVD+R DL (Disc ID: RITEK-S04-66) (Speeds: 2.4x, 4x)

This tells me for my Memorex discs that 2.4x and 4x are "legal" write speeds, and further it will tell you if your burner is capable of matching-up with these speeds.

If yes, and the speed chosen does not work, you can direct it to try the other speed i.e. I usually burn these at 4x and they work perfectly, but 2.4x is another option.

Although you didn't specifically state that you are using DVDA to burn your discs, I'd assume this is the start of your problems and you need to wean yourself away from doing this and use a "real" burning software.
TOG62 wrote on 5/23/2011, 10:07 AM
Are we really talking about DVD-RW DL? I have never found a source of such discs.
musicvid10 wrote on 5/23/2011, 11:01 AM
Playback of burned Double Layer dvd on a variety of players is a crapshoot.

Don't burn DL discs for distribution to others, because there will always be a share who are unable to play them. There is nothing you can do at your end to prevent this.

Using more compression, delivering a two-disc set, or commercial replication are are your alternatives.