Help required

[zoomcity]

I have been trying to get a DVD backup to work for some time now, and as yet i have had no success.
Every DVD i create works perfectly on my PC, but does not even get read (no disc error message) on my standalone. So with this in mind, i went out and purchased a brand new standalone. A Philips which states it can read DVD-R/RW and DVD+R/RW. But none worked.
I have tried every method of burning that i can find, even taking a go with the big 3, to see if that could work.
My next thought was that it must be the way they were being burned so i have tried lots of different programs all to no avail.
I thought it may have something to do with the settings on my computer so i did a full hard disk format but again still nothing.
As a last resort i thought that it MUST be my DVD burner, a fairly old Pioneer A04. So last weekend i went out and bought a brand new Plextor 8 speed DVD burner. But surprise surprise nothing works.

NOTE, i have tried at least 5 different media, of varying types, DVD-R/RW and DVD+RW.

Any help at all would be greatly appreciated.

There must be something i am doing majorly wrong to have such an atrocious level of failure!!

Thanks in advance
Gareth:confused:

[Kedirekin]

I think the first step is to perform the most basic of tests.

Find a DVD5 in your collection, rip it to ISO with DVDDecrypter, then immediately burn the ISO using DVDDecrypter. Confirm that the backup works in your stand alone.

That will eliminate virtually all potential processing errors, and will set a baseline for burning, player compatibility, media compatibility. Once you eliminate burner, player and media as the source of the problem, you can move on from there.

[zoomcity]

Will do that later today, and post the results.

Gareth

[MackemX]

the test Kedirekin has suggested is the best thing to do before checking anything else :)

what model of Philips is it and what was the brand of your old player?. Philips players can be fussy sometimes even for the more advanced users due to the way they check DVD structures :(

for others with similar issues, it's best you take a few DVD-R's to the stores and play them if you can. This will be a great help in deciding on which standalone to buy :)

[zoomcity]

I did the test as suggested, and, the standalone played it... YAY..
Then i tried to play it the same again, and nothing. Wont recognise the disc.. Grr..

Any suggestions?

The model of Phillips player i have is a DVD-625.

Gareth

[Kedirekin]

DVDRHelp.com says the 625 is compatible with both +R and -R media, but the comments are more than a little confusing.

Apparently Philips only claims +R compatibility for the player, but then I think they're part of the +R consortium - and they wouldn't advertise compatibility for a competing format.

Anyway, as I said the comments on DVDRHelp are confusing and neither confirm nor deny universal -R compatibility. Some players are certainly compatible (hence the overall -R compatibility report), but not necessarily all. If you burned your test disk to -R or -RW, you might want to try a +RW to see if you have better luck.

Beyond that, burning an unmodified ISO is about the most compatible copy possible. If you can't get it to work reliably, your options are extremely limited. You can try different media brands looking for one that the player likes (expensive trial and error) or get a different player (also expensive).

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

[Arianos]

Being a highly frustrated Philips owner myself (743) I can sympathise.
Go here:
http://forum.ianc.net/forumdisplay.php?s=&daysprune=&forumid=3&x=21&y=9
You MIGHT find help. Search doesn't work there, so you will have to go through the posts manually....
It MIGHT be a firmware problem, in which case you are lucky: Almost every Philips FW can be found on the site.
However, my problems are:
EXTREMELY fussy on DVD structure (<---THAT could be your prob)
Unable to Playback DVD-Rs burned with Nero Versions >5.5.9.10, 6.0.0.0<
(Hint: Prassi, RecordNowMax and of course DVDDecrypter have not failed me ever.)
Terrible VCD playback
Terrible SVCD playback
But on the good side, it can play -+ even on the cheapest brands with no prob (apart from DVD structure...)
Anyway, good luck.

[MackemX]

Originally posted by zoomcity
I did the test as suggested, and, the standalone played it... YAY..
Then i tried to play it the same again, and nothing. Wont recognise the disc.. Grr..

Any suggestions?

The model of Phillips player i have is a DVD-625.

Gareth how old is the player?, can you not get an exchange and say it's no good for your home movie collection?

maybe the player is faulty as I have had exactly the same model player as 2 other people I know, yet mine would not play my backups yet they play fine in the other players!

mine decides when it will play a DVD-R and it's about 10% of the time if I keep loading it

can you not test a DVD that won't play in yours with another player at a store that is the same model?

have you tried creating a basic DVD using say Ulead DVD workshop or something similar to what you would when creating home movies from a digital video camera?

you could use any video really as you don't need a camera and create a test DVD and see if it plays 100% of the time

[ddlooping]

Hi all. :)

zoomcity, would you mind listing the media you have used so far?

[zoomcity]

Good ideas MackemX, I did precisely what you suggested (took the DVD player back) yesterday :) and got a full refund. I will in future take in a wide variety of DVDs to the shop to test.

Media 1:

Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:PRINCO]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [PRINCO]
Disc Application Code : [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - (2x)]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4,489.3 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Media 2:

Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-R:MBI]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Type : [DVD-R]
Manufacturer ID : [MBI]
Disc Application Code : [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x - (2x)]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,496 Sectors = 4,489.3 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------


Media 3:

Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD-RW:MCC 00RW11N9]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Type : [DVD-RW]
Manufacturer ID : [MCC 00RW11N9]
Disc Application Code : [Unrestricted Use : Consumer Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [1x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,298,480 Sectors = 4,489.2 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Media 4:


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unique Disc Identifier : [DVD+RW:RICOHJPN-W01-01]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Disc Type : [DVD+RW]
Manufacturer ID : [RICOHJPN]
Media Type ID : [W01]
Product Revision : [01]
Disc Application Code : [General Purpose]
Recording Speeds : [2.4x]
Blank Disc Capacity : [2,295,104 Sectors = 4,482.6 MB = 4.38 GB]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
[DVD Identifier - http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cant find any more blank media that i have used to identify.

Gareth