compatible DVD standard? « Videomaker Community Forums

Millervideo
Member

I have yet to find anyone that can answer this question to my satisfaction....
[b]Why is there not a "standard" codec or encoding that will allow my burned projects to be played on any DVD player?[/b]

More related questions:
- How come commercial DVDs (store bought movies) can be viewed with no problems on any DVD player?
- Why does one of my created DVDs play fine on all of my players, but not for a client (who tried them on multiple players)?

I do this to make money, and it is very frustrating to make ten copies of a project for a client, to have them call me to say that the DVDs will not play on any of their 3 DVD players. They played perfect on mine, including my cheap 3 year old Apex.

Posted 4 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

There IS a standard codec but that has nothing to do with it. Store bought DVDs are pressed, not burned. They are neither DVD-R nor DVD+R. All DVD players are made to recognize the pressed DVD but not all can recognize a DVD-R or DVD+R (in short, the problem is not the codec but the medium). You can get DVDs pressed through a replicator but it will cost you a good chunk of change. That said, more DVD players will recognize DVD-Rs than DVD+Rs so make sure you are using those and if your client still has a problem with it, why not spring for a $25 DVD player at Wal Mart and give it to your client?

Posted 4 years ago #
ralck
Member

A DVD also has what is called a Region. This is a 'security' system designed so that a USA region DVD will only play on a USA player. The idea behind this is that Oversees DVD's would be a different region and can't be imported to the US (I say US here, but really it could be any country) and sold for cheaper than the proper US version.

I want to say that most of the time (Not 100% sure about this), when a consumer makes a DVD it is made a 'region free' DVD, which means that it should be able to play on any region DVD player (although, this isn't quite true). It seems like most of the DVD players out there can read region free DVD's, but not all of them. If your in the US, try seeing if there is a setting you can select to make sure it's a US region (I think it's region 1 or 2?). I think the Wikipedia article lists the regions based on geographic location, but I'm too lazy to look that up right now.

This could also be part of your problem?

Posted 4 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but any DVD player should be able to play a region free DVD. When you add a region code to the DVD it merely restricts players from other regions from playing it so having no region would have no restriction.

Posted 4 years ago #
ralck
Member

That's the case with most, if not all, new players (as in bought in the last 2 to 3 years) if I'm not mistaken. It might even be a bit longer than that. However, some of the older models can't always read the region free. It was actually another 'security' system to specifically not play a DVD if it didn't find a region code.
However, since this made a lot of incompatibilities with home user's DVD's, so the pressure on the DVD player makers made it so a region free should be playable on players.

I've actually seen a DVD player (My parent's) that couldn't play a region free DVD. This was a player from 5 or 6 years ago.

Posted 4 years ago #
tonsofpcs
Member

There's a bit of confusion with the 'region-free' DVDs. They can be "no-region" (the dvd was made with no region selected) OR they can be "all region" (all regions were selected). Some players will refuse to play no-region and will play all-region. This is usually for some bureaucratic reason that shouldn't affect you, but does.

Posted 4 years ago #
Millervideo
Member

Thanks for the info on "regions." But how can we best insure that our burned DVDs are going to play in the most players?

Posted 4 years ago #
Millervideo
Member

Do any of you make money doing video? If so, do you have these problems? Are your clients always able to play the DVDs? If so, how do you do it?

Posted 4 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

Read my first post, it answers your question:

Endeavor Wrote:
There IS a standard codec but that has nothing to do with it. Store bought DVDs are pressed, not burned. They are neither DVD-R nor DVD+R. All DVD players are made to recognize the pressed DVD but not all can recognize a DVD-R or DVD+R (in short, the problem is not the codec but the medium). You can get DVDs pressed through a replicator but it will cost you a good chunk of change. That said, more DVD players will recognize DVD-Rs than DVD+Rs so make sure you are using those and if your client still has a problem with it, why not spring for a $25 DVD player at Wal Mart and give it to your client?

Like I said, when you burn your own discs, there is no guarantee they will work in all players. I've never, ever had a client complain about DVD-Rs, only +Rs.

Posted 4 years ago #
Millervideo
Member

Thank you Endeavor. Would you mind if I asked you some more questions? I would also love to hear the answers from others out there who do video for money.

1. What brand of media do you use?
2. Do you ever use Duel Layer?
3. What burner do you use?
4. What editing program do you use?
5. When you make the Disc, what audio settings do you use? (PCM? MPA?)
6. When you make an AVI, what setting do you use for compression? (DV Video encoder, DIVX, Cinepac, etc?)
7. In Studio, when making a disc, what advanced settings should be chosen?
- VBR or CBR bit rate?
- Progressive encoding/ Always re-encode entire movie/ Enforce strict DVD compatibility?

I know that is a lot of questions, but I just need to make sure I am doing this right, and if anyone can add their two cents it would be valuable to me, and I'm sure to thers.

Thanks

Posted 4 years ago #
kkmac
Member

A good rule of thumb (that I follow) is never set your video transcoding setting higher than 7 MBps max. Burned discs are not as reflective as a stamped disc. The laser in most home players will struggle more with a burned disc. While many players will read a burned disc with higher than 7 MBps data rate, many will choke trying to read it. It's like driving at night with a dirty windshield. The faster you go the more likely you are to crash.

Taiyo Yuden is claimed by many to be among the best DVDs available. I bought a 50pk and not 1 failed and not 1 customer complained about playback problems.

When possible, avoid Mpeg2 audio settings. There are (more than a few) DVD players that can't read that audio format. I've encountered them. PCM will give the cleanest sound but uses a lot more disc space. If you need to save space for video, use Dolby Digital audio.

Since the DVD format is MPEG2, all video files leading up to (but not including) the DVD file should be uncompressed. All my avi files use the Microsoft DV AVI codec. If you make your DVD MPEG2 files from something that is compressed, it will only look as good as that compressed file.

I personally use VBR but this open for argument. If your video exceeds 1 1/2 hours, its better to use VBR (variable bit rate). Scenes with little movement in them will use a low bitrate while high action will use a higher bitrate. The helps to reduce file size and can be the difference between a video fitting or not fitting on the disc.

Posted 4 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

I totally agree with kkmac but to answer your questions:

1. What brand of media do you use?
2. Do you ever use Duel Layer?
3. What burner do you use?
4. What editing program do you use?
5. When you make the Disc, what audio settings do you use? (PCM? MPA?)
6. When you make an AVI, what setting do you use for compression? (DV Video encoder, DIVX, Cinepac, etc?)
7. In Studio, when making a disc, what advanced settings should be chosen?
- VBR or CBR bit rate?
- Progressive encoding/ Always re-encode entire movie/ Enforce strict DVD compatibility?

1. I've always used Imation because I can get a 100 pack of printable top ones at Sams Club (which I print directly onto using an epson r220) for $30 and I've never had a bad one, ever. Plus no compatability problems that I've heard of.
2. I haven't had need of as of yet but I would if I had to.
3. A Sony (cant remember the model number) that I got a year and a half ago when I built my PC. It's a 16x.
4. Adobe video collection - Looking forward to CS3 Production bundle.
5. I always use PCM for the same reasons kkmac said.
6. When I encode AVI to edit and convert to a DVD I use UNcompressed (lossless) settings. Again, for the same reason kkmac said.
7. Once more, I agree with kkmac. It depends on the length of the project but most weddings I do I use a CBR.
I generally shoot in progressive (frame) mode so I keep with progressive/yes/yes.

Posted 4 years ago #
sierranomad
Member

Here's a great website that reports on the quality of various dvd brands http://www.digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm

You can also get user comments for some brands at http://www.videohelp.com

Just a caution: forged discs are big business, so make sure you buy your discs from a reputable source. If I remember, digitalfaq.com (the first link) gives advice on this.

Posted 4 years ago #
cprybicki
Member

I would also suggest updating your DVD burner's firmware which is the software built into the drive's flash memory which acts as the control center for a drive's operation. It determines the best parameters for the speed of media you are using, and then continually monitors the burn process to ensure the quality of the burn. This also helps in the compatibility with newer DVD players.

Posted 4 years ago #
Endeavor
Member

cprybicki Wrote:
I would also suggest updating your DVD burner's firmware which is the software built into the drive's flash memory which acts as the control center for a drive's operation. It determines the best parameters for the speed of media you are using, and then continually monitors the burn process to ensure the quality of the burn. This also helps in the compatibility with newer DVD players.

That's a great point. I had a problem in the past with certain brands of disk not working with my burner but upgrading the firmware fixed the problem.

Posted 4 years ago #
ralck
Member

If your still a bit confused, this article explains a bi of it pretty well.

Oops... forgot the link.
http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv/segment_detail.asp?sid=125&sortby=&page=6&kwid=0&show=all_videos

Posted 4 years ago #
LDPLDP
Member

Another piece of advice - burn at a lower speed. The slower the speed, the lower the chance of burn errors. So, even though you have a 16x burner and 16x disks, you should burn your project at, say 2x or 4x. I have experienced disk failures (would not play or would skip on my DVD player) for disks I burned at 8x and 16x but played fine if burned at 4x.

Posted 4 years ago #
Millervideo
Member

thanks to all of you for your input. It has been very helpful and very educational. Although the problem could be any of these things, I have come to believe a big part of it has to do with using stick-on paper labels, which i will discontinue immediately.
thanks again.

Posted 4 years ago #
virtualscribe
Member

The first 1x DVD burners became practical to use when they came at an affordable price point in about 2001. It's been about 6 years and these questions are still being asked, the ones about compatibility and functionality.

:D Welcome to 2007; where we go through the same issues, only with 6-12 times the amount of data for the HD versions of the same video we are shooting today.

=====================
virtualscribe
http://www.sharingmyjoy.com

Posted 4 years ago #
LDPLDP
Member

I learned the hard way about sticky labels on DVDs. I found that the label would make the disk "cup," pulling the edge up because of the heat from the DVD player, making the disk out of range to the laser. I had to reburn a whole lot of DVDs to correct the problem. I now use a rubber stamp to put my company name on the DVD and then hand write the DVD title. It isn't pretty but it doesn't damage the DVD. I'm considering buying the new HP C5280 All in one printer which prints CD/DVD disks. I'm waiting for some reviews before I buy it.

You might still consider burning the DVD at a lower speed. In the Apple forums, this is one of the top suggestions to making a reliable DVD which everyone agrees.

Posted 4 years ago #