DVD Skips

CVM wrote on 5/3/2007, 7:07 PM
Hi gang,

I am using Taiyo Yuden 8x white topped DVD-Rs (NOT the economy kind). I am recording my wedding videos to DVD using the pre-installed Dell DVD-RW drive in my Dual Core system. Sometimes I burn using DVDA 3, other times I use Nero BurningROM. I always burn at 4x speed (slower the better I was told). I ink directly on the disk top... fairly evenly.

From time to time, the DVDs skip during playback... in a multitude of machines and at various different locations on the same disk. I have a client who just e-mailed saying 'what gives?'

Thoughts on this matter?

Comments

TGS wrote on 5/3/2007, 8:01 PM
If you spray a clear acrylic enamel or similar, after inking, be careful not to let any mist under the disc. (probably obvious)
You may've gotten a bad batch of DVDs. Taiyo Yuden has been sort of adopted as "the best" by quite a few people, which means their sales have skyrocketed and they may be trying to keep up with orders. Meaning: sloppy production.
Those are just guesses.
blink3times wrote on 5/3/2007, 8:20 PM
If it's happening with 2 different burn programs then it would stand to reason that it be more of a hardware or operational problem.... faulty burner, background programs running, weak memory module... I would start by looking at it from that angle anyway.

I would also bring the burn speed up a little... slow is good, but too slow can be as bad as too fast. I always burn at 1/2 to 2/3 the max burn speed of the disk
Dreamline wrote on 5/3/2007, 8:48 PM
I have had these problems over the years and every time replacing the burner has fixed the problem.
riredale wrote on 5/3/2007, 9:28 PM
What average/min/max bitrate? It can have a major effect if the max is too high, or even sometimes if the min is too low.

What does "skip" mean? Does the video freeze momentarily, or it jumps ahead over entire sections of video?

Learn what your own setup (burner + disk) can do regarding bitrate. Burn a disk at max, then less, then less... Look at all the disks with Nero CD/DVD Speed under the "Disk Quality" tab. A score in the lower-right corner gives a general idea of how good a burn you did. If the fastest speed gives a crappy burn, never use it. I suspect you'll discover that with TY disks you can let 'er rip.
johnmeyer wrote on 5/4/2007, 12:23 AM
1. Use Nero DVD Speed (free download) to test the quality of the "bad" disc, and then, in the same burner, test a "good" disc that doesn't skip. Any major differences? This may help determine if you have a bad batch of discs.

2. Some people claim that really high bitrates (like CBR at 8,000,000 bps) can stress some players and that they can't keep up. What was the bitrate setting? I am not entirely certain whether this can really cause problems, but I'm not sure one way or the other.

3. I definitely second the notion already brought forth that a burner that is on the edge of failing can cause problems. I've lost three in the past three years, and all of them declined rather than failed outright.

4. I don't think the low burn rate is going to give you better burns. The only way to know for sure is to burn two discs from the identical material, using the same burner, but do one at 4x and the other at 8x. Then, test using Nero DVD Speed. I'll bet dollars to doughnuts that you won't see a difference, and if you do, the 8x may be better.