Some DVD's don't play :-(

garo wrote on 12/4/2004, 11:57 PM
Last Friday I prepared and burnt a DVD for a pub evening event - mine and another DVD would not play on their machine. A commercially made DVD worked fine ... so now I look like a dumb___t and wonder what could possably be the difference? My DVD played just fine on the shops own machine (we judiciously tested it before the showing at the pub) .
Proceedure was as follows: Editing video in V5 rendered as mpeg2 DVD PAL then into DVDA2 - there I DIDN'T check the OPTIMISE button and there under I see the default is NTSC which mayby should be switched to PAL - could this be the problem? Anyother suggestions?

//Garo

Comments

Liam_Vegas wrote on 12/5/2004, 12:10 AM
Some older DVD players do not play burned DVD's all that well. That is a fact of life. Occasionally you will also find that some newer DVD players also will not be able to play certain brands of burned DVD's. In the end there is no 100% fool-proof way of guaranteeing your DVD can be played on every type of DVD player out there.

I have burned 100's of DVD's and never had one returned yet... I imagine it is just a matter of luck.
garo wrote on 12/5/2004, 12:14 AM
That's a "drag" - makes me sound very unproffesstional: "This may not work for you ...."
:-(
and I am the bragging type too!! :-) ("I got it - just let me handel this .... ")

//Garo
Liam_Vegas wrote on 12/5/2004, 12:29 AM
What you need to say is... "Where did you get THAT DVD player from? It must be pretty old if it cannot play burned DVD's... you need to replace it. "

Seriously - DVD players are SO cheap these days... and the odd thing is that these cheap ones seem to play everything you throw at them.

ANother way to handle it... is to carry around your own DVD player - that you know works with your burned DVD's.
stepfour wrote on 12/5/2004, 12:33 AM
A while back I made a DVD that was to be presented at an evening event. I insisted on checking it first on the equipment at the ballroom and sure enough they had an old single-laser Toshiba player that could not read my DVD-R. I ended up agreeing, for a few extra $$, to hook my cheapo Apex DVD player into the hotels A/V system and all went well the night of the event. My point is, whenever possible you have to make sure everything works together. That's what makes you look smart.
Liam_Vegas wrote on 12/5/2004, 12:34 AM
Just noticed this "Editing video in V5 rendered as mpeg2 DVD PAL then into DVDA2 - there I DIDN'T check the OPTIMISE button and there under I see the default is NTSC which mayby should be switched to PAL" in your original post... should have realized before...

What country are you in? Should the DVD be in PAL format - or NTSC?

You need to make sure your DVD project (and your rendered MPEG file) is setup to the correct format.

Although... I happen to know that most of the DVD players in the UK all seem to be able to play NTSC DVD's (as I regularly send NTSC DVD's over to my family - and they play just fine). But... this may be the primary issue.
Jay Gladwell wrote on 12/5/2004, 2:14 PM
If we're hired and/or asked to make a video (DVD) for presentation, I always make certain I'm the one presenting it. I use MY equipment. If that is not possible, I ALWAYS check to see what equipment is being used.

Too, every DVD that goes out of here has a disclaimer that reads:

"Good Dog Productions wants you to have a positive experience with our digital video discs. We use only high quality DVD-R media to maximize compatibility. The vast majority of DVD players work fine with our DVD-R discs. Still, there are some that may experience problems,
especially older models. This compatibility issue does exist for at least 10% of the DVD players in use today. More often than not, the best remedy is to purchase a new DVD player. This is not as outrageous as it may sound. Consider that several quality DVD players, such as the Apex AD1100w, may be purchased at stores like Wal-Mart for under $45.00.
"NOTICE: Most professionals agree that DVDs are an archival storage medium. With proper storage and careful handling, your DVD should last a life time. Do not expose to direct sunlight or heat. After playing, immediately return disc to its case and store in a cool, dry environment away from direct sunlight and heat."

If you are so inclined, feel free to use as much or as little as you care to for your DVDs.

Jay
StormMarc wrote on 12/5/2004, 2:28 PM
I have found some older players that would not play my discs burned at 2X but would play the disc when burned at 1x. Also the brand sometimes makes a difference as well. My friends computer would not play a certain brand but every other brand I tried was fine. It's wierd but seems to be getting better with the newer recorders and discs.

Marc