media error or incompatibility

[Lynda]

Hi! Have just burned 12 copies of our new DVD on Gigatain DVD-R 4.7GB 8x media (seems to be a German company - ODS gmbh and the media is made in Macau!? Some people can watch it no problem. For others, the film sticks and hangs after a certain time, no matter which chapter you start on, and ofr others the commentary cuts out on some of the sequences. Can somebody tell me if this is bad media (all from the same batch) or incompatibility between drive and media? I don't know how best to diagnose the problem. How do commercial DVD publishers avoid incompatibility problems? Is it best to burn on DVD+R? This is all a bit new to me, so any help more than gratefully received! Thanks guys, Lynda

[SirQUK]

Hi Lynda i have no experience with Gigatain DVD-R 4.7GB 8x media. Can you please download and install VSO Inspector. Please place your blank media into your recording drive and goto the media tab within this program. Here you will find a Media ID code wich will better help identitfy who originally made the media. Some more helpful facts to determine wether or not it is media or hardware or both would be to advise as to what speed you are recording at.

[Lynda]

Hi Sir! I just did download VSO so will install now and get back to you. Thanks for replying! Lynda

[Lynda]

Hmmh no media I D on VSO inspector : "Media ID : N/A" but it says: Media success: overall 88.7% (66090 samples). no statistics for this drive. My drive is a Matshita DVD-RAM LF D310. Revision A126 08/01/02. Reads all formats and burns DVD-R and DVD RAM I was using Prassi PrimoDVD 2 which came with the drive to burn and had it on the "MAX" setting - however, as it takes 2 hours to record and verify a 1hr image file (original DVD on my harddrive) , seems like MAX is 1x !!?? I just put a recorded DVD in to VSO inspector and interestingly it says it is a DVD-ROM, so did the program automatically do that and can all readers read DVD-ROM? Obviously not, perhaps, as some of our clients are getting sticking and stopping and sound cutting out. They all play perfectly on our DVD drive and DVD player. . . Yours confused but ever hopeful! Lynda

[SirQUK]

If you are using DVD-r media, bitsetting to DVD-ROM is not possible. This is used as a way to make older players accept DVD+R media which was introduced after the player was manufactured. The fact that some players play it fine and others done could be to do with the authoring process of the DVD - how did you go about authoring your DVD? Prassi used to be a very good reliable recording engine so I don't think the issue is there but you could try recording with CopyToDVD and see if the problems persist. I always recomend high end media suchas Taiyo Yuden/ Verbatim and Ricoh based media for absolute confidence in the recording although Traxdata branded media should also work without issues. Please take a look at our Media Reviews for a guide as to what some reviewed media is like in various recording devices. It is interesting that VSO Inspectors shows no Media ID code, - did you have a blank piece of media inserted? It could even be that a newer recording device might give better results. Writers such as the ones used in our reviews are all under £100 to buy in the UK and writers such as the NECs and Plextors seem to be offering very good results on a wide range of media.

[Lynda]

If bit-setting to DVD ROM is not possible why does VSO inspector show the media typa as DVD ROM for what started out as a DVD-R on which I copied my video? The film was made using high end video camcorder and edited and authored on an Apple computer, burned onto DVD and sent to me from which I made a global image on my HDD from which I make copies. My local store has a BenQ DVD burner, maybe I should upgrade? Thanks for bearing with newbie questions, I know they can be irritating! Lynda

[SirQUK]

I'm scratching my head as to why it is showing as DVDROM. I have no exeperience of DVD Reauthoring on an Apple Mac but I am reliably informed that should not be the issue by some users that do use Apple MAcs - that said you can not rule it out at this stage. I will certainly pass on this thread to users who understand the pitfalls of DVD authoring vs DVD playback better than myself ( media really is my main focus ). I do feel it is the media but I would h8 to advise that approach if you then find out that the new media has the same issues. The BenQ is a good writer if you get a proper retail BenQ 1620 upto 12x recording speeds and does offer the plus sign of having a disc quality checking support if you use CDSpeed from Nero. Unfortunatley there is no one writer that is perfect on all media at all speeds - I have 7 or 8 when reviewing media and they all behave differently. if using DVD-R media I would recomend a pioneer or NEC writer. If you prefer using DVD+R and want the DVD-ROM bitsetting feature then the BenQ can do that 'out the box'. LG 4163b is also a good writer of + and - R media upto 12x if you get a retail version. My OEM isnt the best 16x writer in my collection. if you are going to order from APR media, they do have a good offer on the 25 pod of fuji 8x+R media which uses a genuine Taiyo Yuden dye and is very good with the BenQ at 12x recording speeds.

[Lynda]

Thanks! This discussion has been a real education. I'm going to get the new writer and try the Fuji disks - and replace the "faulty" DVD's that didn't work for our clients. Cross your fingers that the new ones do! Lynda

[Roadworker]

[Lynda]

thanks roadworker, Is the px engine the same as a firmware update? If not, where can I find the latest px engine? Learning by the minute Lynda

[Roadworker]

You have to register for the latest version: http://support.sonic.com/dwnld/engine.asp?type=desktop&product=desktop

[Lynda]

Thanks for the px info roadworker. And . . . Sirquk, I've solved the 'why my recorded DVD's were showing as DVD-ROM's' riddle. On trying to update the driver for the Matshita, I discovered after many failed attempts, that the DVD-RAM device part of the driver was not installed or had been removed, so it was only functioning as a CD/DVD-ROM device! I'm amazed it recorded anything at all. Now trying another recording with the latest firmware and DVD-RAM working. And off to discover px updates. Thanks a lot to you both. You have saved my sanity - what little there was left of it! Lynda

[Lynda]

Hi roadworker, Prassi Prmo isn;t listed there, just it's latest incarnation Record Now Max. Is it ok to download the PX engine update for that? Will it work with my Prassi Primo? Thanks, Lynda

[Roadworker]

I didn't try the latest px update myself,since I ditched RecordNowMax after they released version 6,but normally,it should work....

[Lynda]

Any particular reason why you ditched it? What do you prefer now? Lynda

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