New STB DVD player that will not play DVD+/-R

farss wrote on 8/15/2006, 12:58 AM
I wouldn't give any credibility to this rumour if it didn't come from what I assume is a reliable source, a company that both duplicates DVDs and sells DVD duplicators.
We've had an unusually high number of rejects of our DVD-R disks and started to suspect my clients duplication towers so he goes back to the company who supplied them and that's what they're claiming. There's a number of new STB DVD players that simply will not play burnt media, either + or -R.

If it's true then this is nuts, given the fairly good uptake of STB DVD recorders there's going to be a lot of very irate consummers if there's any truth in this story. Also whoever is flogging these dodgy device should have warnings in very large type on the box.

I'm wondering if anyone else has any inkling of this, surely it cannot be true?

Bob.

Comments

PeterWright wrote on 8/15/2006, 2:08 AM
Shudder - hope it's not true Bob.

Last time I heard, the economical minimum of discs for replicating was 500 - unless this has come down drastically, the cheapest solution might be to supply a DVD player with each disc!!

I often put out just 10 - 20 copies of a project. Even bigger jobs may only need 150 ....
ScottW wrote on 8/15/2006, 5:49 AM
I guess people will just need to start burning +R with a DVD-ROM booktype. Kindof a pain since none of the towers or other duplication equipment I've looked at has this capability, but for one-off's it's not too hard to do.

--Scott
apit34356 wrote on 8/15/2006, 7:44 AM
Farss, you usually cover all the bases, but are the master dvds maded with Sony's DVDA3? If so, did you use IFOedit to fix the dvd's ptrs to removed the non-used audio segment?
Serena wrote on 8/15/2006, 5:24 PM
Bob, if this player fails all burned disks (but presumably plays those pressed) are we seeing a blunt anti-pirate tool?
GGman wrote on 8/15/2006, 6:37 PM
I have been seeing quite a few threads lately about DVD burners/players not functioning with -R/+R. A month agao, my VAIO computer with the stock Pioneer 106 just suddenly stopped playing any of my previous DVD's that I burned a year ago on the same sysyem. It would work with RW disks, but not any of the -R/+s. I called Pioneer and they said I had to use the Sony firmware updates from their site. We boh felt it was somehow a currupted firmware. How and why did this happen???

The Sony update for firmware did nothing. I bought a new Lightscribe DVD and it works just fine. Is there some sort of hacking/virus something or other going around crippling the DVD units? I also lost my "just over one year old" Epson printer a few months back because it refused to see the new ink I installed (Epson ink, BTW). Turns out Epson was crippling their printers somehow over time and they had a Class Action lawsuit brought against them where they admitted guilt.

What's next?

GG
farss wrote on 8/16/2006, 6:32 AM
This I haven't tried, why, well these DVDs were for very limited release and so it seemed very unlikely to be the cause of the problem. Certainly I'll try this. I'm also getting the non playing DVD copies back to verify against the master.
If it was just MY problem then I would have run all kinds of tests etc,etc before posting here. The rumour from a duplicator is what worries me. They're saying it doesn't matter what you use to author, these damn STBs will NOT play any burnt media either + or - R.

Part of the message that I got was that the problem might have something to do with the new 16x media. Now that part of the message makes some sense, if that is the problem might be a good time to stock up on 8x media.

Speaking of things DVD, met a gent today who has a system that runs a full compatibility test and trace log on DVDs. Sorry I didn't ask what it cost.

Bob.