DVDs don't function correctly in newer players « Videomaker Community Forums

Ed Kassheimer
Member

I am a beginner in making DVDs and do it mostly for vacations and family events. I have noticed that the DVDs I make work on computers and older players but skip & lock up with the newer HD DVD players. I am planning to update equipment & software in the near future & would like to solve this problem but don't know what the cause might be or where to start. I have used 3 different burners with little difference. I edit & burn using Pinnacle version 12 with default settings on a Windows XP computer. All equipment is over 4 years old. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Posted 8 months ago #
gldnears
Member

What " default " settings are you using for bit rate? I discovered that bit rates above 3000 to 4000 don't always play in newer DVD players. I was burning @ max bit rate and although I could play my own DVD's not everybody else could. Has sumthin to do with RAM in the player ( even some laptop computers ).

Rick Crampton

Posted 8 months ago #
Ed Kassheimer
Member

I looked at the setting for the DVDs, its at 8500 Kbits/sec. The value isn't adjustable from the setup screen (blanked out, but since I am using high quality DVD settings elsewhere that crank up the bit rates for those sections, maybe it is also bumping up the rates for final process/burn. I will tinker with the setting over the next few days to see what happens.

Thanks for the lead

Posted 8 months ago #
Rocky
Member

First thing I would check out is the brand of the DVD you are using. When I first made inquiries as to the brand of DVD professionals in the industry use, they all recommended the same brand, Verbatim DVD-R. Suggest you make your own inquiries as I am not out to promote any DVD brand.

Second thing to check out are the particular DVD players that will not play the DVDs. DVD players have a specification called a Sampling Rate. Quality DVD players have a greater Sampling Rate that will read the DVD multiple times as opposed to cheaper DVD players that have a far lesser Sampling Rate. To eliminate this possibility, suggest you play one of the alledged faulty DV's on a modern Sony DVD player manufactured in Japan.

Both the above possibilities have resulted in skips and freeze problems when playing DVDs.

Trust the above helps.

Posted 8 months ago #
Charles Schultz
Adobe Host

I had a similar problem because I was using +R DVDs, -R DVDs I have found work the best in all of the players that I have played them in.

Posted 8 months ago #
Ian James Smith
Member

I would suggest a trial at a lower bit-rate. 8500 kB/s might be pushing it a bit for the gear you are using. If you must push the limits of the 'DVD-Standard', ensure that you are using variable bit-rate set at an 'average' of not more than 8000. For my own mpg2 stuff I used to set the maximum bit-rate to 9200 and leave the software to set the lower limit. Since, in many cases that is as low as '2', it effectively 'floats' and the average usually comes-out about 8000 kB/s or somewhat less. There is a school-of-thought, which says that any rate over 7000 kB/s comes up against a law of diminishing returns and is, essentially, a waste-of-time. My mpg2 stuff was usually pretty acceptable at that. Of course 'double-pass' with its extra analysis stage is best, if you have the time available.

Posted 8 months ago #
Jaimie
Member

A few years ago I got tired of getting back DVDs from unhappy customers so I went on a mission to find the most reliable combination of blank, burner, bit rate etc. I bought every brand of DVD blank available, several different brands of DVD players including very low end, used (from flea market) and new mid range units. I also borrowed a few laptops.

Here's what I found:

Use Taiyo Yuden blanks - DVD-R white printable surface, 8X write speed, but burn them at 6X speed.

Pioneer and Plexor burners created the most reliable DVDs

DO NOT use paper or other stick-on labels

Use Variable bit rate (2 pass is better than one pass, but they both seemed equally reliable) and set a maximum compression bit rate of 8 megabits/sec and the average of 7. This should be regarded as a maximum. There is only a very slight degradation of fast motion scenes if you reduce the max rate to 7 Mb/sec and the average to 6. The lower rates are friendlier to PCs, especially laptops, which may not have very good media player software.

I found no difference in reliability between Roxio and Adobe Encore software. I did have some trouble with freebie software downloaded from the net. Sorry, I don't remember the names.

Following the above guidelines I went from about an 8-10% failure rate down to only one reject out of the last approximately 300 burned DVDs.

Posted 8 months ago #
Malcom Terry
Member
I would think that the newer Blu-ray/DVD players would work better than the ones from years ago. Anyway, I learned years ago that just because it plays fine in your computer or set top player, does not mean it will play well in someone else's equipment. Here is the recipe I settled on and have not had any complaints since:
1. Limit the video quality to no more than 7000Kbps.
2. Use Dolby digital auto.
3. Use high quality DVD-R blanks. I use Taiyo Yuden. Avoid the standard brands you find in your local store. Those may be fine for your own everyday recordings, but when you have a paying customer, don't buy the cheapest deal.
4. Don't record at the max speed. Generally, no more than 8x.
5. Invest in a thermal printer for shiny silver blanks or an inkjet printer that can print on white blanks. Look at Casio & Epson. Stick-on labels will eventually bubble or peel, causing an imbalance in the disc and more susceptible to read errors.
Posted 8 months ago #