I think in some cases, the standalone player is at fault.
My Sony DVD 530D sucks. It always skips and has problems towards the end of all disks, regardless of brand. I noticed this happens when I record more than 4 gigs on a disk.
SO I got a cheap Oritron DVD600, and guess what. it doesn't have any problems at all playing the last chapter! I've used it to watch a couple of movies now and its been great! no dropouts, no skips nothing! I'm also using the cheap Meritline media white top with purple bottom. Someone said those suck? SO far i've had no problems playing them back on my Oritron. even the Sony plays them as long as I stick to below 4.0 gigs
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Honda CBX