Compatibility bug?

dth wrote on 1/6/2004, 9:08 PM
I recently authored a DVD which includes an introductory audio & video, a menu screen with a static image background and looping music. Off of the menu I have five buttons - three play different videos and two access chapter selection submenus for two of the videos. The overall design simulates correctly in DVDA.

On my Sony DVD player everything works as expected.

On my Pioneer DVD player, everything loads to the menu. If I select to play either of the movies that have chapter selection submenus, the DVD player goes right into stop mode. If I select either of the chapter selection submenus, the proper submenus are displayed but when I select a chapter it sends me back to the main menu. If I select the video that does not have a chapter selection submenu that plays correctly.

Incidentally, the one video that I can play on both machines uses 5.1 audio and the rest are stereo, but I can't imagine that's the problem.

Any ideas on what the problem is?
- Dave

Comments

dvddude wrote on 1/8/2004, 1:57 PM

It could be compatibility. My Pioneer plays finished discs pretty well (DVD-R), but it is VERY finicky as to the brand. 50% of DVD-R brands will not even load. It's very slow moving from menu to menu, too. And it will not play RW discs at all.

My $45 Apex, conversely, plays 95% of all DVD-R media, every DVD-RW disc I've ever thrown at it, and the transitions upon selcting menu choices are MUCH faster.

Seems strange that a junk player at 1/20th the cost of the other behaves so much better, but the Pioneer *is* two years older, which is an eternity.

So I preview RW discs on the Apex, then burn a final DVD-R and watch them on the Pioneer for my own personal "worst-case scenario" tests.
dth wrote on 1/8/2004, 7:23 PM
That was my thought at first, but the disc actually plays fine and other DVDs I burn on the same media with different menu structures play fine. It really seems like an authoring issue as opposed to a burning issue.

Incidentally, the Pioneer DVD player is brand new (less than a month old) and I'm burning DVD-Rs on a Pioneer burner. I would HOPE that those would be compatible.
- Dave
dvddude wrote on 1/9/2004, 8:02 AM

My burner is a Pioneer as well, strangely enough!