Variety of playback problems

[striperslayer59]

I have been trying to backup my "24" dvds. I thought I was doing great copying the whole content of each disk using dvddecrypter,dvdshrink,and burning with roxio easy media creator,dvddecryptor or nero. I tested the disks with power dvd after the burn and they seemed great. After completeing the first 2 seasons I began to test more thoroughly with two stand alone toshiba players and two different computers only to find that only 1 of 12 disks could play on all 4 and almost all failed on my main toshiba rd-xs32. Some disks are unrecognized getting an error message that they are damaged when inserted, others freeze at various places, usually before the main menu comes up,some deep into the show.
What I would like to know is what some good strategies are to improve the problems. I have read enough to guess that my bargain Fujifilm blanks are probably not high enough quality. My burner is a new 16X Plextor so I suspect it is not to blame. I have always left the burn speed setting at the highest or automatic and now have read that maybe a slower speed is better? I'm not sure about that as I also read the opposite in the FAQs. Or am I just compressing to much for a good burn (about 45-55% ratio, not sure of the bit rate.)? On one disk, I took just the 4 episodes to improve the % but that disk also failed. I did take out all extra audio tracks as recommended on all my burns. If I put less episodes per disk will I mess up the main menu?
Thanks for any suggestions,
Chuck

[ammck55]

Most likely, you've a media issue on your hands. Check what results others are getting with your specific burner model with this link: Player/media compatibility (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers)

As far as Fuji media, I've always had decent luck with it; one of my older players, an Apex, won't recognize Fuji RW'able media, but that' the only problem I've had with that brand. So, basing an assumption on my own personal experience, the Fuji media may not be your sole problem.

45-50% is stretching the compression ratio, you might want to take a look at the DVDShrink Compilation Guide (http://dvdshrink.info/compilation.php) and try putting less episodes on a disc (I haven't seen any of the "24" episodic discs, so I don't know how many individual episodes they cram onto them ?), but you won't be able to retain your menu, for that, you'll need to explore an authoring app, like DVD-lab. You said that your first few tests turned out "great", if that's the case, compression ratio may not be a bother, only your eyes can guide you, there.

You've asked several questions in your post, and while I've not addressed each and every one of them, the first thing I'd suggest you do is get lined out on your media, then work your problems on out from there.

ammck55

[striperslayer59]

ammck55,
Thanks, you were right on the money with the media advice, switched to Verbatim DVD-R 8x (with videoguard protection)disks and have had no further problems. I also checked the media compatibility link but found only that those Fujifilm 8x haven't been rated on my Toshiba rdxs32. I did find one review of that machine that said it failed to accept any 8x disks that the reviewer had tried. What I don't know is whether the incompatibility is with the Toshiba playing the disk, the Plextor 716a that is writing the disk, or the an interaction between the two machines.
Thanks
Chuck