Reliable DVD's

burchis wrote on 10/30/2003, 2:42 PM
Please clairify for me, aren't most DVD's reliable? I just created three 'Imation' coasters from a pack of 50 bought from Best Buy.

I first successfully burned my project to a HP DVD+RW disc and then attempted to copies the DVD+RW to a DVD+R. Here two coasters were born. After frustration I re-rendered and burned directly to the DVD+R and the third coasters appeared. Could it be this brand of DVD's are junk?

I have used a few of these DVD's in the past but this most recent project is pushing the 4.7G limit of the disc.

Comments

BillyBoy wrote on 10/30/2003, 3:51 PM
What follows is PURE speculation on my part.

Years ago, I burned CD's by the hundreds. Usually I'd pick up a 10 pack at a local retailer (each CD was shrink wrapped in a jewel case within the package. NEVER has a single problem, no coasters.

Then one day I was walking through either BestBuy or CompuUSA, don't remember which and they had a 50 pack spindle on sale so I grabbed a couple. The first super pack worked fine. The second pack the first few I took off the top of the spindle worked fine. There I started having troubles. Several good burns, then a coaster, then more coasters. I called the manufacturer. A name brand. They asked me to look a the code in tiny letters that's stamped on the inner hub of the blank CD's. I did. Silence on their end. Long pause while I'm on hold, then a offer to replace them.

Did they know the batch I had was "bad", by me giving them the lot number? I don't know, they never said. They did replace the spindle, but guess what, each replacement came in its own shrink wrapped jewel case. They didn't just send me another spindle, nor did I ask for that. The replacements all worked fine.

Enter the DVD era.

Basically the same story. I started out buying 3 packs or 5 packs at local stores. No problems. Tried several different name brands. No problems. On the advice of someone in the forum I ordered a super bundle (50 pack of DVD's.. A no name, but cheap. First few worked fine. Then again I stated hitting bad media. DVD-A would get though anywhere from 10% to 70%, the HP DVD writer would pop the disc out, not finished and there was a cryptic error message on screen, something about can't write to media or media bad.

My guess and its only a wild guess is sometimes and only sometimes the bulk packs aren't the same quality as the smaller packs or just being stored the way there are presents a problem.

No proof, but its odd I never had any burn problems from single packs or little 3/5/10 packs which always come in shrink wrapped jewel cases. And twice now once for CD's, once for DVD's if I bought a big bulk pack I've had problems. Go figure.
burchis wrote on 10/30/2003, 8:01 PM
Billyboy,

Thanks for sharing your experience with me. My particular problem appers to mirror the situation that you described. I have a couple of individual wrapped DVD's which I'll use on this project as a comparision test. Thanks again for your input.

Here is a different question for you assuming I still have your attention. If I render a project using the Concept MPG2 format don't I get both video and audio combined. If yes, as I'm assuming, then why must I also render using the AC3 format or why does DVd-A have to render the audio again? Maybe I am way off base in my thinking, but doesn't the resulting MP3 file contain both video and audio?
BillyBoy wrote on 10/30/2003, 10:12 PM
You have choices. You can just render as as a single MPEG-2 using the regular DV NTSC template in Vegas and DVD-A will recompress the audio portion automatically. You don't have to do anything extra. If you look at the optmize screen it can freak you with all those warnings, but that's all they are just a warnings. DVD-A's way of saying hey look, I need to do this to the audio portion first.

That's because MPEG-2 audio isn't support in the NTSC (American) DVD specs which is whyit warns it needs to recompress it and says its going to. I almost always just render to MPEG-2 (the combination video/audio) and just let DVD-A deal with it. There is nothing wrong with buring DVD's this way, in fact its what happens in other applications, they just don't mention they're doing it. DVD-A. does.

As an option Vegas 4 comes with a special template that designed for DVD-A. But its only for the video portion. That means you need to do an extra step and then also render the AC3 seperately in Vegas. Personally I don't like extra steps, so I don't bother. The reason why some do and why you may want to sometime is you can get more on a DVD since AC3 compresses more and better than MPEG-2. By doing it as a seperate render you also have a better idea how much will fit on a DVD during the important menu building stage. If you just use the single MPEG-2 method then the file sizes reported are bloated during this phase since DVD-A will recompress the audio prior to burning.

Hope that answers what your asking.
burchis wrote on 10/31/2003, 12:43 PM
In deed it does answer my question and explains possibly why I haven't been able to burn a 4.7G project to DVD. Thanks for all your support.
LeeV wrote on 10/31/2003, 1:24 PM
I've just finished a 25 pack of TDK. Each one worked perfectly. I've started a second pack of 25 and have burned five. Each one perfect. I've also used Panasonic and FujiFilm without problems. I've had trouble with Maxell and Imation and refuse to buy anymore.
pb wrote on 11/2/2003, 7:09 PM
Ritek were nasty last Christmas; maybe they are better now but I'll never trust them again.
rebel44 wrote on 11/2/2003, 11:17 PM
I am buying by10 TDK and never had a problem(X4).
I guess that I will stick with this brand.My drive is tdk440N
farss wrote on 11/3/2003, 1:34 AM
This is only a bit of an educated guess on my part although it is influenced by my own eperiences.

In general media with ink jet or thermal printed finishes is going to be better quality as it's destined for use by dub houses. They're the guys the manufacturers make the money from and they cannot afford to piss them off with lots of duds in a batch.

That's not to say there isn't some dodgy stuff destined for those guys as well. I've had one spindle of DVDs where clearly the lacquer didn't have time to dry fully before they were stacked. I had to peel them apart to get them off the spindle. Needless to say I don't buy from those guys anymore.
craftech wrote on 11/3/2003, 7:30 AM
Never had a problem with Verbatim 2x or Fuji 2x DVD-R. Currecntly I buy 5 packs of Fuji 2x DVD-R at BJs for $11.99 per box of 5. Both Verbatim 2x and Fuji 2x are made in Japan.

Unfortunately, the Fuji 50 packs which BJs sells while a great price at $69.99 for 50, are 1x Fuji media and are made in Taiwan.

John

DOGoodman wrote on 11/3/2003, 5:12 PM
I use inkjet Samsung from taperesources.com. So far, so good,

Slightly OT, does anyone have any experience with the DVD replication towers (1-7 burners with a DVD ROM or diskdrive for the originals, either standalone or 1394 connect)? Are they worth the expense or are larger quantities best left to duplication houses?
farss wrote on 11/3/2003, 7:55 PM
Depends how many of the same thing you need to do. Some of this gear has a very long payback period when you look at how cheap the dub shops are. Need to factor in your time in interfacing with them as well though.

Primera have a nice little robotic unit that prints and copies, only one at a time and only batches of 25. Price here is around $4K, should be much cheaper in the US. It does tie up a PC though.

The tower type copiers free up the PC but apart from the expensive ones don't print and then you still need to lad the DVDs yourself.