DVD will not play on ANY PC without freezing

[bkorn]

I converted (and finalized) a VHS video tape to DVD on a TDK 8x DVD-R using a panasonic dvd recorder. The quality it great! Virtually indistinguishable from the original!

It plays beautifully on the same machine and also on 2 other DVD Players.

However, it will not play on ANY PC based DVD player. I've tried it on literally six different machines. What happens if I try, is the video will play for around 40 seconds and then freezes and hangs the player.

I called Panasonic for help, but they could offer none.

Anyone know what's going on?

Also tried ripping the DVD with DVDDecrypter, and it will not work in File Mode, though it does seem to work in IFO mode. (After an IFO rip, I can read all the vobs in a DVD player)

I'm wondering if I can get a successful copy of this disk and somehow make it "playable anywhere".

Thanks for your help!

Bruce

[arch_angel16]

It's a corrupt disc. It's not corrupt enough to make a dumb DVD player break, but it's plenty-corrupt to make Windows break reading it.

[setarip_old]

Hi!

It's possible that the "other" PC players cannot read DVD-R media at all, or cannot read the brand of DVD-R media that you've burned, or that you've burned at a high speed that they can't cope with - or they contain .VRO files (Which CAN be read by "TMPGEnc DVD Author")...

[mpucoder]

DVD recorders can use several different modes with Video-RM being compatible with DVD players. However there are many extensions, including a third type of ifo file. These disks also use a different allocation scheme which is incompatible with some software players, and makes copying difficult.

[bkorn]

It's a corrupt disc. It's not corrupt enough to make a dumb DVD player break, but it's plenty-corrupt to make Windows break reading it.

I was thinking that might be the problem. But is it the dvd recorder that is corrupting the disc? Or was the disc no good from the beginning?

(I realize that that is kind of a rhetorical question..)


I asked Panasonic if it could be a corrupt disc, but they said, no, if the movie plays on the player, the media is fine. But I know you are correct..it has to be the disc. But should I get a new recorder or new media..that is what I can't determine.)

I'm also wondering if filling a disc to the brim is likely to make the recorder corrupt the disc on finalizing. I'm trying to dub 2 hour tapes to 2 hour DVD sessions.

[Cheesus]

I've had identical problems playing back DVD's on a PC using a DVD recorder too, coincidentally a Panasonic one, although I'm not sure how relevent that is. There was nothing wrong with the discs. I suspected it was something to do with the way the disc structure. mpucoder has just cleared that up for me. mpucoder also mentioned somewhere else that software players use a different process to follow disc navigation when reading a DVD than a DVD player does. I think that is why you get the hangs.
Because of this I'm not sure if there is an easy way to create a copy that will play on a PC without using some kind of ripping tool and maybe reauthoring which would be a total pain.

[Trahald]

can you guys post a directory listing if the main directory (the one with all the files in it) and paste it here.. include file sizes.. if you dont mind.. im just curious. also may identify the issue.

[bkorn]

can you guys post a directory listing if the main directory (the one with all the files in it) and paste it here.. include file sizes.. if you dont mind.. im just curious. also may identify the issue.

On the Problematic DVD (the one that plays on all players but NO PCs)
the dir looks like this:

Volume in drive E is DVD_VIDEO_RECORDER
Volume Serial Number is 5D63-4E82

Directory of E:\

01/02/2006 02:21p <DIR> VIDEO_TS
0 File(s) 0 bytes

Directory of E:\VIDEO_TS

01/02/2006 02:21p <DIR> .
01/02/2006 02:21p <DIR> ..
01/02/2006 02:21p 12,288 VIDEO_TS.BUP
01/02/2006 02:21p 12,288 VIDEO_TS.IFO
01/02/2006 02:21p 88,064 VIDEO_TS.VOB
01/02/2006 02:21p 83,968 VTS_01_0.BUP
01/02/2006 02:21p 83,968 VTS_01_0.IFO
01/02/2006 02:21p 24,320,000 VTS_01_1.VOB
6 File(s) 24,600,576 bytes

Total Files Listed:
6 File(s) 24,600,576 bytes
3 Dir(s) 0 bytes free

Also note, and this is NEW, I was able to sucessfully rip this DVD to my hard drive using DVDShrink. It just did it. Other tools (e.g. DVDfAB, etc) were just fooled or reported errors.

[bkorn]

Once again, burned a 2 hour VHS tape onto a DVD-R using my new Panasonic DVD Recorder. This time I used a DVD-R from a friend who had many and was not having any media problems. But once again, after finalizing, I now have another DVD-R that will play perfectly on a DVD player, but will NOT play on a PC!

How frigging frustrating! That means, no easy way to make copies. So, guess I will be returnning the machine.

It's a pity, because like the reviews said, the Panasonic really does produce an EXCELLENT copy. The Sony machines (as least the VSH/DVD combo unit) was dissed by the reviewers as producing dubs that were not so great.

Now I know yall will probably recommend just using a good PC and burner to do the dubbing. But I really don't want to do that, because I just have WAY to many tapes to dub and I want to watch with my wife as I do it. Any advice or recommendations?

Thanks to everyone who responded to my original thread!

Sincerely, Bruce

[setarip_old]

Have you tried burning DVD+R media instead of DVD-R?

[Wilbert]

@bkorn,

I merged your new post with this thread.

[bkorn]

Have you tried burning DVD+R media instead of DVD-R?

No..I was told that DVD-R was the most compatible with most players. But if you think its a possible solution, I will try it.

Are DVD+Rs going away anytime soon? The goal is long term longevity.

Thanks for all the help!

Bruce

[setarip_old]

Are DVD+Rs going away anytime soon?Absolutely NOT![/Quote]I was told that DVD-R was the most compatible with most players.[/Quote]That was correct two or three years ago. Most newer standalone players play both formats - but there are still many PC DVD-ROMs(players) that play only DVD+R or DVD-R...

[bkorn]

Have you tried burning DVD+R media instead of DVD-R?

WOW! First perfect burn ever using DVD+R!. Even on a "burn to the brim".

Plays everywhere!

Thanks! For now on it's DVD+R exclusively!

Bruce

[setarip_old]

Thanks! For now on it's DVD+R exclusively!As always, my pleasure ;>}

[bkorn]

Once again, burned a 2 hour VHS tape onto a DVD-R using my new Panasonic DVD Recorder. This time I used a DVD-R from a friend who had many and was not having any media problems. But once again, after finalizing, I now have another DVD-R that will play perfectly on a DVD player, but will NOT play on a PC!


Well..here is an interesting development..I said the the DVD-R's that I created would not play on a PC. And I REALLY DID try it on 6 PCs! On all 6, it would play for 30 seconds and then lock up the player. HOWEVER, it appears that NERO 7 WILL play it! Go figure..

Bruce

[setarip_old]

Are you saying that if NERO 7 is installed on one or all of those 6 PCs, the PC will play the DVD? - Or have you just tried playing the DVD on a SEVENTH PC, that happens to have NERO 7 installed?

[Cheesus]

I would speculate that this has always been a software playback problem.
If that is the case though, what I can't my head around is why using a DVD+R would make any difference to playback on the other PC software. Is the structure written to disc any different on a DVD+R? I would've thought that would be highly unlikely. Frankly I'm bemused. It's possible Nero 7 follows the playback system of a standalone DVD player? This still doesn't explain the DVD-R versus DVD+R issue though.

[bkorn]

Are you saying that if NERO 7 is installed on one or all of those 6 PCs, the PC will play the DVD? - Or have you just tried playing the DVD on a SEVENTH PC, that happens to have NERO 7 installed?

Sorry I wasn't clear. My work PC is the 4th out of the 6 pcs that I tried to play the DVD-R on. I tried playing it again on my work PC just for "fun" (as I had just downloaded the Demo version of Nero and figured, what the hell.) Amazingly, it just played. Chapter skips worked as well. Still would not work (for more than 30 seconds) on my work PC using Media Player.

On the other PCs, by the way, I just used whatever player happened to be the default that came with the machine.

[bkorn]

I would speculate that this has always been a software playback problem.
If that is the case though, what I can't my head around is why using a DVD+R would make any difference to playback on the other PC software. Is the structure written to disc any different on a DVD+R? I would've thought that would be highly unlikely. Frankly I'm bemused. It's possible Nero 7 follows the playback system of a standalone DVD player? This still doesn't explain the DVD-R versus DVD+R issue though.

My supposedly "unplayable DVD-R" now plays using NERO on *another* one of the original 6 PCs that I tried it on.
Media Player Classic still locks up though on that machine. So your idea that this has been a software playback problem all along makes sense. STILL, it does not explain why the same DVD-R can not be ripped by DVDDecrypter in File Mode. DVDFab can't rip it either (it skips the main file). Nor does it explain why Media Player Classic has no problem playing most other DVDs.

So, I'm back to file corruption theory: there is some kind of file corruption that is bad enough to hang up most software..but not all. Whatcha think?

Bruce

[Cheesus]

I think all the ripping programs are trying to decode the DVD the same way as the software player programs and DVD recorders somehow write bad code for this way of reading a DVD. The DVD+R kind of throws a spanner in the works of this theory. The fact that Nero 7 does read the discs though on a PC proves the DVD-R's are not corrupt though, I would've thought.
Again thought it's pure speculation, I have nothing whatsoever to back this up with apart from scraps I've read by people who do know what they're talking about.
Can anyone clear this one up? I would've thought it's a fairly common problem.

[foxyshadis]

Could be an ASPI problem. Nero uses its own aspi layer, but most programs either rely on the system or use an older nero aspi. If you can set the others to use nero's aspi (and/or make it the system default), that might solve all of your -R issues.

Or it might not, but obviously nero's on to something.

[bkorn]

I don't think anyone is following this thread any more (and I don't blame them), and I apologize for ever starting it under this category (I really am a newbie, and didn't realize JUST how many categories there were)..but one last post:

I just burned my 2nd successful DVD+R on my panasonic DVD recorder, and (unlike the 4 DVD-Rs that I tried) this +R will also play on my PC. Even using Media Player Classic.

Gee.. Panasonic could have made things easy and sweet by just saying something like: For best results, use DVD+Rs when recording.

(Ironic, give that Panasonic, I *think*, were the ones championing the DVD-Rs when the format wars were raging. Who knew the competing format would actually work BETTER on their own machines!!)

Thank you all for all your help. DVD+Rs are the way go (as least for my hardware)!

Bruce