Hung by the NEC

TorS wrote on 8/27/2004, 1:25 AM
If people gets to see how good I am they'll come running back for more, wallets wide open.

So I put a lot of love and time into a project, burn it to DVD and sell it for next to nothing, thinking it will pay off eventually. Then people start reporting back "My player says no disc", "Nothing happens" etc. Making me look a right twerp.

I burned with DVDA 1 on a NEC 1100A to cheap DVD+R discs. Needless to say, it works well on my player (others too). But not all. Those people will naturally think I don't know what I'm doing. Which unfortunately is not too far from the truth.

I flashed the firmware of my burner to the latest version (1.a3). I tried to manipulate the book type field. That is making the disk present itself as a DVD-ROM to the player - with an app called dvdbitsetter.exe. See this link:
DVDplusrw.org
but my burner would not have it.

I know that some players "prefer" DVD-R and some DVD+R. I know that some media works well in some players and others not. The most expensive players and media are not neccessarily the most versatile. But I don't want to spend my time experimenting with these things. I want to edit video, author DVDs and BURN them so that the people can play them in their players (and finally see how good I am). Is that too much to ask?
Tor

Comments

nadia wrote on 8/27/2004, 2:54 AM
i have no answers but the same thing happens to me....My burner will only let me burn on DVD+RW, and it will play on most, but not all....can't wait for the answer to this one :o)
farss wrote on 8/27/2004, 3:28 AM
This is an old problem. All I can say is pretty well so far I haven't had a single "It won't play on my player" problem.

That's not to say I won't, some players will not play burnt media period. Also as the laser in the player wears out it has more trouble playing burnt media as that is less reflective.
I always use -R media and good quality media, burn on a Sony DRU-500AX, sadly no longer available.

I always make certain clients are aware they MAY have a problem. like I said none so far. Stick to good media and a good burner and all should be well.

Bob.
Arks wrote on 8/27/2004, 6:15 AM
DVD+R is not supported by most set top players; You want to burn a DVD-R on a decent disc. You will have better compatibility with a DVD-R than a DVD+R on consumer DVD players. Thats the bottom line; try the other format.
Laurence wrote on 8/27/2004, 7:00 AM
Even with DVD-R, there is a HUGE difference in quality between the discs of different manufacturers. I use blank printable Maxells from here:

http://www.tapeandmedia.com/detail.asp?product_id=MAX635129

The discs average out to $1.20 each. I can get discs that are almost as good for about 60 cents each, but on a lot of 20 going out, the difference is that I'll get maybe four complaints back about discs not working. Also, cheaper discs are much more likely to fail several months down the line. In my experience, the Maxells last longer, have less culls, and play back in every deck I've tried. They have a blank white face that is quite printer friendly.
Laurence wrote on 8/27/2004, 7:10 AM
By the way, the best dirt cheap DVD-Rs I've found are here:

http://www.blankcdmedia.com/

They cost around 45 cents a disk.

I found their DVD-Rs to be better than most non-Maxells. Their one times burn ones are almost as reliable as the 4x Maxells, but 1x burns really do suck.

They also sell plain black good quality DVD cases for 25 cents each in quantity.

Lately all I send out are the $1.60 Maxells from the previous site post along with the 25 cent cases from blankcdmedia.
wcoxe1 wrote on 8/27/2004, 8:38 AM
I work at a University where we have a LARGE variety of old and new DVD and CD players. Potential problems abound. Lately, we have started putting a label on the case stating:

"This disc has been manufactured with high quality components using rigid standards. Unfortunately, not all DVD players are compatiable with all DVDs which are burnt outside of Hollywood. If you experience problems with this disc, please use a different player."

I suspect that the number of problems has not gone down, but the number of complaints has dropped tremendously. People now know that it is a matter of simply using a different player.

The reference to "Hollywood" is in error, of course, but people know what we are talking about, in any case. They understand the reference and the intention.
smhontz wrote on 8/27/2004, 11:07 AM
You may find dvdrhelp.com helpful. Many people have contributed lots of "This media on this burner works on these players..." kind of comments. I've had very good luck burning RITEK G04 DVD-R media.
nickle wrote on 8/27/2004, 1:13 PM
I found the following information informative:

http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

I have been using Mitsumi blank dvds (I bought a spindle) which my Toshiba -r dvd burner refuses to burn at the rated 4x and burns at 1x even though Nero says it is burning at 4x. (51 minutes is 1x) Lordsmurf refers to these disks as "landfill".(Anwell - Hongkong)

I have had no coasters out of 20 burns and the dvds play on 5 out of 6 dvd players without any problems.

I recently was unable to read a couple of data files on one of them.

I used a couple of Princo disks with the same results.

Maxell and Ritek burn at 4x with no problems.

Dvdinfo is a program which reads the disks properties and gives the manufaturer and rated burn speed and when matched with the info on Lordsmurf's site (the link above) you can determine the quality of disk that you are using, regardless of the name on the box.
TorS wrote on 8/29/2004, 2:46 AM
Thanks for all input.
I've researched the problem further.
1. There is a bad match between my burner and the blanks. Result: of 30 burned DVDs I have binned 18. What had me fooled was that some worked, typically the ones I tested myself, while I was handing out coasters to the people.
First lesson learned: Test them properly. There's a program called DVD Info (www.dvdinfopro.com) that comes in a free version as well as a "pro". It will analyze your burned media and display all relevant info.

BOOK TYPE FIELD (also known as Bitsetting)
Looking at the info displayed (on a good burn) I noticed that DVDA had set the DVD book type to DVD-ROM (on DVD+R media). Now this is extremely good news. What it means (I think) is that this setting will override all DVD+R vs DVD-R negotiations between the disk and the player, passing the disk off as a "Hollywood" burn. (DVD-ROM is a format ALL DVD players must comply with.) DVD+R has the same reflectivity as DVD-ROM, so all players can play it, but some are fooled by the book type setting into thinking it can not.
I wish someone from SONY could confirm this, at least perhaps clarify it, because my grip on technology is rather challenged by it. If my understanding is right, at least there are no reaons for DVDA users to not use the DVD+ format.

Oh and BTW, second lesson learned: Buy small quantities of different media brands and test them before you start burning great lots.
Tor