Skrink & Final Product Problems

[MediaJunky]

OK...so I have been burning my DVD's for about a year now and with no problems. Over the last week I noticed that the recent DVD's I burned are now getting frozen frames in randon areas and stopping the playback of the DVD entirely. Not only that but sometimes I encounter a problem with Shrink in making the ISO file. Where it goes through the motions of do the analysis and encryption and then at one second left it gives me an error message and shuts down the program. I am using an AVI to DVD converter to make the VOB files. I have had no complications with that. But for some reason Shrink gets an attitude lately with it.

Now I am using quality DVD's and have not changed my brand since I started burning. I have been using the same burner and same programs (AVI to DVD, Decrypter and Shrink) to burn my DVD's. Any ideas why I would suddenly be having these problems? Thanks for any assistance....I am just running out of ideas and I don't know THAT much about the whole process.

[Taelon]

Check and make sure DMA is on, windows has a habit of setting drives to PIO mode if it encounters too many read errors. Also check the basics, memory test (memtest86), scandisk, cpu temp, etc

[BSpielbauer]

...Over the last week I noticed that the recent DVD's I burned are now getting frozen frames in randon areas and stopping the playback of the DVD entirely.
...Not only that but sometimes I encounter a problem with Shrink in making the ISO file...
Now I am using quality DVD's and have not changed my brand since I started burning....


I would check the following...
-DMA mode (as mentioned above);
-make sure no hidden programs are running while you transcode or encode, and while you burn.
-check available memory, especially while these processes are going on;
-check and double check hard drive space... if you are running at all tight on room, clean it up, and defrag;
-are you overclocking? is so, consider shutting this off;

===

Regarding rhe discs that were fine, but now are beginning to exhibit problems, that sounds like a completely unrelated issue to me. I know you said this is quality media, but you might want to post it, to see if it is one of those that is known to work initially, but to deteriorate badly within 6 mos., or a year... there are a couple of brands / types / media codes where this has been reported to be the case. Recently, one very higly-regarded type had many reports of "early deterioration" (although i have not witnessed this myself). Those were the Ritek GO4s and the Ritek GO5s, especially the ones sold after Nov. of 2004 and prior to May of 2005. I know there are others, too, with a few too many complaints of "it worked last year, but now it doesn't and now I can even see the dye deterioration around the outer edges."

==

-Bruce

[MediaJunky]

Check and make sure DMA is on, windows has a habit of setting drives to PIO mode if it encounters too many read errors. Also check the basics, memory test (memtest86), scandisk, cpu temp, etc

Umm....ok I have another question, and I am sure you can see this one coming. HWhat is DMA and how do I check it?

I have plenty of memory for the tasks and I regularly defrag and scandisk. But I will do both again for good measures.

Also there are no other programs running while I am doing this. I make sure that everything is shut down. And the DVD's I use are Verbatim. From scanning the forum I thought I remember reading that they are really good. And thanks so much for the fast responses. And if there is just a sticky for the DMA if you could just tell me where it is located. No need to retype what has probably been asked many times.

[jel]

hi mediajunky,

this may help:
http://mrbass.org/dvdnewbie/#2

in addition, running a forum search on "DMA PIO" will yield many threads on the topic.

oh, and
Welcome to the Forum! :)

j

[MediaJunky]

Alright I have checked the Dma and it was set like that already. I have defraged the drive and ran several WinFix and Disk scan programs. I even cleaned out the burner with some canned air for good measure. Now this might fix my frozen frames issue with my burnt DVD's but can it also fix my problems with Shrink?

Oh and thank you for the welcome. Everyone has been very helpful. I will attempt to burn again and edit this if it was successful.

[BSpielbauer]

Alright I have checked the Dma and it was set like that already. I have defraged the drive and ran several WinFix and Disk scan programs. I even cleaned out the burner with some canned air for good measure. Now this might fix my frozen frames issue with my burnt DVD's but can it also fix my problems with Shrink?


Good, glad to hear that the drive is wrking in DMA mode.

You have not posted anything about memory. How much RAM does your system have? You should really try a test and then check the system resource usage while you are trying to run DVDShrink. Do a search for details on how to do this. You can do a control-alt-delete to check and see what other programs are running in the background... if you have picked up any spyware / malicious programs, they are notorious for stealing lots of your memory, even while you work, and they can cause havoc when you try to do something as incredibly intense as this process is.

You also mentioned in your very first post that this problem occurs when DVDShrink is "making the ISO file... and then at one second left it gives me an error message and shuts down the program."

WHAT is the error message? This may be critical to solving this problem. The next time you see this, I urge you to jot it down, exactly, and then come and post it here. Those error messages may seem cryptic and gobbledygook-like, but they are actually trying to tell us what the problem really is.

And, regarding the other issue, (media no longer playing after time) what media is it that you are using, that is now exhibiting problems (even though it once played)?

[MediaJunky]

Good, glad to hear that the drive is wrking in DMA mode.

You have not posted anything about memory. How much RAM does your system have? You should really try a test and then check the system resource usage while you are trying to run DVDShrink. Do a search for details on how to do this. You can do a control-alt-delete to check and see what other programs are running in the background... if you have picked up any spyware / malicious programs, they are notorious for stealing lots of your memory, even while you work, and they can cause havoc when you try to do something as incredibly intense as this process is.

You also mentioned in your very first post that this problem occurs when DVDShrink is "making the ISO file... and then at one second left it gives me an error message and shuts down the program."

WHAT is the error message? This may be critical to solving this problem. The next time you see this, I urge you to jot it down, exactly, and then come and post it here. Those error messages may seem cryptic and gobbledygook-like, but they are actually trying to tell us what the problem really is.

And, regarding the other issue, (media no longer playing after time) what media is it that you are using, that is now exhibiting problems (even though it once played)?

I am at work now. But I can jot down the error message and RAM when I get in tonight. And now I have two to write down. Because I got another error message on my way out the door this morning....Yay. Sorry, I had planned on writing down the message yesterday when I got home, but got distracted.

And I tried to search for the sysem resourse usage, but it yeilded nothing of any help. I will try and google something up or I might be able to ask someone I know. And I will check to see what programs are running while I burn and get back to you on that too. I found a tool to run a check on my RAM though in the one thread called memtest86.

Oh and about the media not playing anymore. I was referring to the fact that I burned some...they still work fine. Then I tried to burn more using the same media (another blank dvd, but same brand) and I was having problems. So I don't have a deteriating media problem.

[MediaJunky]

Really sorry for the double post, but I figured no one would notice the changes if I didn't.

So I wrote down the error message and it is really vey generic.This is what is says:
Dvd Shrink encountered an error & cannot continue.
Programming error - exception occured
And that is when Shrink blows up and shuts down. Normally ranging from 30 secs left to 1 sec.

Also here is the specs on my computer.
Windows 2000 - service pack 4
Pent 4 - 2GHz
256MB RAM

Now I checked the task manager to see if anything was running when I used Shrink and all I saw was System Idle Process, System and Dvd Shrink. That was it. Let me know if there is any other information you would like me to post that can help you decipher this.

Oh also I have a regular monitor for my temp and it never goes outside of safe parameters anytime during the process.

----------------------------EDIT-------------------------------------------
OK it didn't work. Still having problems burning even after all the messing with stuff. I did copy the log. I am not sure if it will help at all, but here it is.

I 19:46:33 DVD Decrypter Version 3.5.4.0 started!
I 19:46:33 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (5.0, Build 2195 : Service Pack 4)
I 19:46:33 Initialising SPTI...
I 19:46:33 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 19:46:33 Found 1 CD-RW and 1 DVD±RW!
I 19:47:40 Operation Started!
I 19:47:40 Source File: G:\DVD DECRYPTER\DECRYPTEDDVD\DVD_0.ISO
I 19:47:40 Source File Sectors: 2,199,848 (MODE1/2048)
I 19:47:40 Source File Size: 4,505,288,704 bytes
I 19:47:40 Source File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 19:47:40 Destination Device: [0:0:0] DVDRW USB1008UI 0058 (E:) (USB)
I 19:47:40 Destination Media Type: DVD+R (Disc ID: MCC-003-00) (Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x)
I 19:47:40 Destination Media Sectors: 2,295,104
I 19:47:40 Write Mode: DVD
I 19:47:40 Write Type: SAO
I 19:47:40 Write Speed: MAX
I 19:47:40 Link Size: Auto
I 19:47:40 Test Mode: No
I 19:47:40 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 19:47:40 Filling Buffer...
I 19:47:41 Writing LeadIn...
W 19:48:22 Failed to Write Sectors 128 - 159 - The semaphore timeout period has expired.
W 19:48:22 Retrying (1 of 20)...
W 19:48:23 Retry Failed - Write Error
W 19:48:23 Retrying (2 of 20)...
I 19:48:23 Writing LeadIn...
I 19:48:24 Writing Image...
W 19:55:32 Failed to Write Sectors 1476224 - 1476255 - The semaphore timeout period has expired.
W 19:55:32 Retrying (1 of 20)...
I 19:55:32 Writing Image...
I 19:57:51 Synchronising Cache...
I 19:57:53 Closing Track...
I 19:57:57 Finalising Disc...
I 19:58:20 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:10:40
I 19:58:20 Average Write Rate: 7,773 KB/s (5.6x) - Maximum Write Rate: 11,091 KB/s (8.0x)

[MediaJunky]

No other ideas huh?

[setarip_old]

For an explanation of "semaphore timeouts", go to:

http://66.102.7.104/search?q=cache:yff2hoExb_wJ:www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotus/library/ls-Semaphores_Part1/+%22semaphore+timeout%22&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

[MediaJunky]

Hello...been awhile.

OK so I went and ordered some more RAM, cause I was figuring that it was the cause of my problems. I now have a 1gig strip in there. But when I tried to burn I got the same set of semaphore timeouts I was experiencing before. I had even slowed the burn speed down to 4x.

Should I lower it to 2x? Does that even make a difference? Maybe I am just not understanding correctly the idea behind semaphore timeouts. Sorry.......I just can't seem to get this working. I don't suppose anyone just has one of the older versions of DVD Decrypter I can have. They seemed to work fine.

[setarip_old]

Maybe I am just not understanding correctly the idea behind semaphore timeouts.

Did you check out the link I provided?

[MediaJunky]

I read through it. But I didnt understand too much of it. It seemed to be mostly about servers and such. I was having trouble following it. Sorry. I had thought that it suggested memory as an issue. Thus, why I increased my RAM.

Or is there another free program like DVD Decrypter I can use?

[MuttLover]

You describe problems with Shrink then DVDDecrypter. The log is for DVDD -- what media are you using to burn to?

The first problem (shrink making the ISO image file) -- sounds like a hardware issue. This could be memory, a crappy power supply, a hard disk going bad...

Suggestion: run memtest86 (www.memtest86.com) and then run prime95 (google for it.) If this passes, remove spyware from your system (google for Adaware.) Hopefully you have a good antivirus program running!

Still in the checklist, go to your hard drive manufacturer's web site and get their utility disk. Most have a utility package. Check the hard disk for errors.

I hope this helps point you in the right direction.

[Abond]

Is that an USB drive?

[MediaJunky]

Alright so I updated the firmware and now I am no longer getting the semaphore timeouts messages. But I still am burning incorrectly. The dvd is just spinning in my player and is not initializing. And when I pop it back in my computer Decrypter is saying the dvd is incomplete. Even though the log says everything is successful. Do you think I might have to change from Verbatim +R to -R? Even though I have never had a problem with this type before.

I haven't run the memtest and prime95 yet. I got them but haven't had time to try them out. I will post after those are used and show my results. But I did just upgrade the memory to 1gig of RAM. And yes I have a decent anitvirus & firewall running at all times and I use Adaware and spybot weekly. And I have norton system works too. So I use all their utility devices to clean up.

And yes it is a USB burner. It is an I/O Magic IDVD8DBE. Thanks so much for helping.

I will post the results from the tests you suggested. Any other ideas just jot them out and I will give them a try. Getting real frustrated at this point.

Oh and here is the log from my last burn:
I 17:38:29 DVD Decrypter Version 3.5.4.0 started!
I 17:38:29 Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional (5.0, Build 2195 : Service Pack 4)
I 17:38:29 Initialising SPTI...
I 17:38:29 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...
I 17:38:29 Found 1 CD-RW and 1 DVD±RW!
I 17:38:30 Operation Started!
I 17:38:30 Source File: G:\DVD DECRYPTER\DECRYPTEDDVD\DVD_0.ISO
I 17:38:30 Source File Sectors: 2,199,848 (MODE1/2048)
I 17:38:30 Source File Size: 4,505,288,704 bytes
I 17:38:30 Source File Implementation Identifier: DVD Shrink
I 17:38:30 Destination Device: [0:0:0] DVDRW USB1008UI 0159 (E:) (USB)
I 17:38:31 Destination Media Type: DVD+R (Disc ID: MCC-003-00) (Speeds: 4x, 6x, 8x)
I 17:38:31 Destination Media Sectors: 2,295,104
I 17:38:31 Write Mode: DVD
I 17:38:31 Write Type: SAO
I 17:38:31 Write Speed: 2x
I 17:38:31 Link Size: Auto
I 17:38:31 Test Mode: No
I 17:38:31 BURN-Proof: Enabled
I 17:38:41 Filling Buffer...
I 17:38:41 Writing LeadIn...
I 17:38:48 Writing Image...
I 18:33:13 Synchronising Cache...
I 18:33:14 Closing Track...
I 18:33:18 Finalising Disc...
I 18:34:15 Operation Successfully Completed! - Duration: 00:55:44
I 18:34:15 Average Write Rate: 1,347 KB/s (1.0x) - Maximum Write Rate: 1,386 KB/s (1.0x)

[setarip_old]

It looks like your burner may be on its last legs, as DVD Decrypter is now writing at an average of 1X versus 5.6X on your earlier log.

You might want to run a DVD/CD cleaning disc on it. Maxell makes one that retails for approximately $10US...

[MediaJunky]

Oh sorry.....I forgot to put that I changed the burn speed to see if that would effect it. I later changed it back to 6x speed. And it still had the same problem. Just spinning in place and won't initialize the dvd.

[setarip_old]

I 17:38:31 Write Speed: 2x
I 18:34:15 Average Write Rate: 1,347 KB/s (1.0x) - Maximum Write Rate: 1,386 KB/s (1.0x)

Despite what you said about changing the burn speed, it still appears that things are not as they should be. You apparently selected 2X burn speed, but the burn was performed at 1X...

[MediaJunky]

The burner is not even a year old yet. I think I might try tech support for I/O magic. I think I got the on year warrabty.....might be able to get a new one if that is indeed the problem.

Thanks so much for bearing with me setarip_old.

[setarip_old]

Just a note - "I/O Magic" burners don't have the greatest reputation for longevity...

Thanks so much for bearing with me setarip_old.

My pleasure ;>}