Confused Newbie

[bwalerud]

Hi

Got my first DVD-burner, a Pioneer A05 a few days ago. I've read up on all the FAQs but are thoroughly confused. This is my experience so far. Bought a pack of DVD -R and DVD -RW with the drive to try it out. The brand is PRINCO which I understand has a dubious reputation.
This is what I've done:

First attempt: Wrote a copy of a DVD-movie to one of the DVD -Rs after using DVDshrink used Nero latest and procedure discribed on this site (UDF 1.2) with Speed x2. The DVD couldn't be read neither from my Hitachi DVD-ROM on the same computer nor on my Sharp stand-alone. I also tried it on a Compaq Laptop no luck.

Second attempt: Same procedure as above using speed x1. Still no luck. Tried both disks on the Pioneer A05 which couldn't read them either. My conclusion bad media. Right?

Third attempt: Same copy to DVD -RW with Speed x1. This disk could be read by the Pioneer A05 and the DVD ROM but not on the Compaq Laptop nor the DVD stand-alone.

Fourth attempt: Used a third DVD -R, another original DVD and an ISO read/write using only DVDdcrypter. Speed x1. This DVD can be read by the Pioneer A05, runs for a while in the DVD stand-alone before freezing but is not recognized by the DVD-ROM on my computer. Have yet to try it on the Compaq Laptop.

My conclusion so far is that the PRINCO DVDs are bad, that my internal DVD seem to read DVD -RWs but not DVD -Rs.
My impression from reading up on FAQs is that DVD ROMs usually read all burned DVDs as long as they are good. My experience so far does not support this claim.

Have also checked up on my Sharp stand-alone and found out that it doesn't seem to agree too well with burned medias but people claim it should read DVD -Rs.

Any suggestions on how I should resolve these problems? It bothers me that the DVD ROMs on my stationary and portable PC doesn't read the same DVD-medias consistently.

[gooki]

"Any suggestions on how I should resolve these problems?"

Buy some quality media :) and use that.

[Buddy]

Don't use Nero.:D

[Jazz]

In addition to the above suggestions, both of which I second:

- try everything you edit with a software player first. You may be doing this, but in the beginning I worried too much about compatibility with my standalone and not enough about the correctness of the stuff I tried to burn. (Gut feel this is not your problem though).

- check the compatibility of your media with your standalone. There's overview lists out there where you can see what player will eat what formats (e.g. vcdhelp)

[bwalerud]

I've looked at the media reviews at dvdrhelp.com but people seem to have very different opinions regarding what is "quality media". Interested in hearing about which media seem to work consistently on a Pioneer A05. Thanks for the feedback!

[Arky]

Sorry, it's 5am here, and I'm afraid I'm waaay too tired to even attempt to tackle your entire post, but as far as your question about Princo goes, read this post: http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42201 about Ritek G04's

Assuming that you are using the correct procedures throughout (and that includes setting up the burn correctly), I challenge you to make a coaster with TraxData Riteks. In nearly 90 burns (some unbranded G04's, some TraxData branded G03's) I've had only one coaster, using my Sony(and I had numerous Princo coasters in the past, with my A04, which I don't blame the drive for). BigPockets are currently doing TraxData Ritek G03s (2x write) for £27.99
http://www.bigpockets.co.uk/product.php?id=250, and at this price I don't believe you can find better value, regardless of manufacturer. I ordered 75 of them 3 nights ago, and received them yesterday morning. They just don't make coasters. Seriously, just try them. Princos would only save you £3 and the difference is like chalk and cheese. :)


Arky ;o)

[Buddy]

Did you try an dvd5 copy with dvddecrypter? Making an iso file and burn it with dvddecrypter would give you an answer because that should work without problems it also answers your question about your media.
You also could try RecordNow Max because the programme will not make coasters it simply don't burn if the file is faulty.
How sure are you that your burner is oke? New does not mean it works.:D

[bwalerud]

How do you test the burner? The Pioneer A05 is brand new and doesn't seem to have any problem reading anything. I have downloaded and installed the hacked version of the firmware. But I'm not getting the ripping speed some have obtained (x5-6)
I've tried burning both using Dvdecrypter in ISO-mode and also used Nero. Today I tried both disks in a new Panasonic stand-alone. Both of them played but I didn't have time to check if they played OK all through. Thanks again for the feed-back. I'm not going to get any PRINCO DVDs in the future for sure.

[bwalerud]

I've now done some further research into these problems. The reason the burned DVD -R/Ws don't play on my DVD ROM is apparently because it's an older Hitachi drive that doesn't support 4.7 Gb DVDs. I attribute the rest of the problems to bad disks (PRINCO). The test movie I used for this trial plays fine from the hard disk but not when burned onto the Princo DVD -Rs. A Princo DVD -RW runs fine when played from the Pioneer A05 but my present stand-alone does read any DVD -RW and "sometimes" DVD -Rs according to DVDRHELP.COM.
I'm getting a new stand-alone DVD and will never again use PRINCO disks!