OT -- Would appreciate your input -- UPDATE

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/29/2003, 9:42 PM

I burned a 90-minute DVD for a client/friend. It plays perfectly in my Pioneer DVD player. They own a Toshiba DVD player. The disc I burned played in their player up to about the mid-way point, then they say "it freezes and the image breaks up into blocks." They can't play it or scan it any further than about the half way point.

I'm thinking it's the Toshiba, since the disc plays perfectly well in my machine. What are you thoughts and/or opinions?

Thanks for your input!

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 7/29/2003, 10:31 PM

Just a maybe. Check out how it scores over at DVDHelp where they have a huge DVD player compatibility list. If the DVD plays in some players without problem and hangs in others and starts to pixelate it sounds like a bitrate issue at one extreme or simply they got their fingerprinters all over the back of the disc at the other extreme. That's enough to halt play.

Curiously, I have a Pioneer DVD player too. It plays nearly anything without problem. Many far more expensive and later model/make players stumble. Go figure.

Did you use write once or rewriteable media? Seems the later is more forgiving. That old reflectivity issue again.

riredale wrote on 7/29/2003, 11:47 PM

There are some players, especially those that are older than a few years, that just have fits with burned media. If you burned your project as a -R, find someone with a +R burner and try again, or vice-versa. Also the write-once media seem to be much more compatible than the rewritable media.

Our $200 Toshiba progressive-scan DVD player last year just hated burned media; by sharp contrast, our $49 Apex player is perfectly happy with anything we throw at it.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/30/2003, 7:11 AM

Thanks for the suggestion, BillyBoy. Will go to DVDHelp and see how it fairs. Insofar as bitrate is concerned, if memory serves me, that DVD had a bitrate of 9,000.

I used Ritek DVD-R 4X media. Everything I've read about it, mostly users' comments, say it's very reliable.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/30/2003, 7:14 AM

Thanks, Riredale. I asked how old their player was. She said they got it last Christmas. My burner is the Pioneer A06--it records all formats. As I told BillyBoy, the media was Ritek DVD-R 4X.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/30/2003, 10:38 AM

For what it's worth...

I went to the client's home and watched the DVD on her player. Of course when it reached the point where it stopped playing yesterday, it played fine. We kept watching and the same thing happened later in the disc. I left her with another disc I had burned to replace the first.

Brought the first DVD home, played in the Pioneer and it worked like a charm. I'm convinced that the problem is her DVD player. What I can't figure out is why it sticks at different points on the disc!

Anyway, I'm left trying to explain to her why it's the player and not the disc. "The DVDs from Blockbuster play in it just fine." Try to explain that to a person without any knowledge of this stuff. Exhausting!

riredale wrote on 7/30/2003, 1:09 PM

Just out of curiosity, burn a copy with a slightly lower bitrate--I'll bet that's your problem. Try a maximum of 7 or 8Mb/sec.

Even though the official DVD spec says video+audio can be anything up to 9.8Mb/sec, there are players out there that choke on high bitrates (hint: Hollywood movies typically show 4-7Mb/sec). I have personally seen some of my DVDs cause all kinds of strange freezing problems when the bitrate is very high.

BillyBoy wrote on 7/30/2003, 1:53 PM

I agree... I've read many posts here where the symptoms are similar and almost everytime it turned out the biterate was pushed beyond the default settings. Restoring resulted in a more stable disc. Some DVD players can't handle too high a bitrate. I know they are rated to, and it may be "legal" in the specs. My car has a speedometer that' goes to 180. That doesn't mean I'm going to test it driving that fast.

Strick with the default bitrates. THEY WORK FINE! In some rare cases you may want to drop the rates to squeeze a little more on a DVD, but there really isn't a reason to go higher. Commerical DVD's use a totally different process...why they almost always play fine on ANY DVD player.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/30/2003, 2:07 PM

Thanks, will give the lower bitrate a try a try. I don't remember changing it though. I thought 9 was the default.

AZEdit wrote on 7/30/2003, 3:31 PM

The bitrate should be at 8,000 for best compatability amoung the various machines. I have several table top / computer DVD's I test in before I release the master for replication or to a client. At the 8000 bitrate, I have not had a problem in Sony, Toshiba, Mintek, Apex and Pioneer.... computer models include HP, Sony, Teac, MSI, Pioneer and Lacie...
hope this helps.....

farss wrote on 7/30/2003, 3:40 PM

For what its worth I've come accross the DVD +/- problem for the first time.
Same project burnt onto DVD-RW and DVD+R, DVD-RW plays fine in 2 out of three players, DVD+R only plays in one.

I'm giving up on DVD+ for DVD Video, many of the DVDs I'm making end up in the US and I just don't want the grief of sending something all that way to find out the client cannot play the thing.
I know DVD- is still no guarantee but now I believe that the DVD Alliance are not telling the truth on this issue.

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/30/2003, 5:49 PM

Well, I split the difference between 7 & 8MB and burned a new disc. Just dropped it off and told her to watch it at her leisure. She's to call me, one way or the other. I hope to heavens this fixes the problem.

Thanks to everyone who has replied!

Jay Gladwell wrote on 7/31/2003, 10:54 AM

Riredale and BillyBoy, you were both right. The 7.5MB bitrate worked perfectly, she said.

Thanks!

BillyBoy wrote on 7/31/2003, 1:46 PM

Kewl!

The real question I think is how come some DVD players can't run at specs? The standard is suppose to support the higher bitrate, not that you really need it, but still, if it says it can it should. I hate that when it happens.