NTSC skips on pioneer 717

[Psychophylaxis]

I have a problem that hopefully someone here might be able to help with.

I am trying to backup NTSC DVDs to DVD-R. The process I use is...
1) SmartRipper to remove protection
2) VStrip to remove unwanted streams and demux to m2v and ac3.
3) DVD-Lab to generate simple menu frontend and compile DVD image.
4) Nero to burn image to Pioneer 106 writer at 1 speed.

This process works with no problems at all on PAL video, but with NTSC there are very small jumps visible during horizontal camera pans when played back on my Pioneer 717 standalone player. Looks like a drop frame problem, but i'm not sure.

Interestingly, the DVD plays back completely fine on the PC with WinDVD, indicating that my 717 is at fault, has anyone else seen this and know of a solution?

I have also noticed on the 717 that backups of branching title DVDs freeze at the branch points requiring the video to be stepped forward in order to continue playback. I can live with this though.

Cheers in advance...

[gooki]

First of does the 717 stutter when playing back origional NTSC DVD's?

If so then it's nothing to do with your backup method.

Does your TV support 60htz PAL? If so can you set your DVD Player to output 60htz PAL? If so this could remedy your situation.

[Psychophylaxis]

Original NTSC DVDs play with no problems. TV supports 60Hz. Already tried forcing the DVD player to output NTSC and then forcing PAL 60, didn't help. Incidentally I am also using Datasafe Media (Ritek) DVD-R discs, and Traxdata DVD+RWs.

My only conclusion is that the 717 is simply not quite up to the job. The skips are only really noticable if you examine the picture carefully or the horizontal pan moves very quickly. I am only questioning this as all the compatibility guides on the net I have seen state that the 717 will play all media types with no problems.

Has anyone else seen this effect or is it just me?

Cheers.

[gooki]

The only thing i can suggest is:

Use a different program to burn - say image tools combined with dvd decrypter.

I it will actually fix the problem, but it's worth a try.