DVD-R Discs

[Partner100]

Hi

Can anyone tell me....is it possible that a DVD cut on a DVD-R disc can play fine on computer DVD-Rom drives (and installed software such as PowerDVD) but not play on ANY standalone DVD player. I have authored discs that do just that. On the machine that cut them and on a second PC they play perfectly fine. The menus all work, the chaptering is perfect. But as soon as I put them into any of the four standalone players I have access to (all different manufacturers) the result is zero. All the players just tell you that they are loading....thats it. They don't go any further.

I can say that I have used cheaper 'unbranded' discs. But should that make a difference. I could understand if the resulting discs did not play at all, but the fact that they work perfectly on the computer suggests that the data is all there and correct.

Is there something particular that has to be on the disc that is special to standalone DVD players? Is it possible that a branded disc (such as TDK or Verbatim) would provide more compatibility. I have just bought this DVD-R drive because I read that the discs are compatible with about 80 percent of players. This would suggest that three of the four players I tried should theoretically accept them. As it stands the format seems 100 percent incompatible.

Can anyone shed light on this problem. I'm sure there are many of you out there who have much experience of compatibility of disc types and brands. In particular this issue of playing fine on PC but not on standalones would help as if I knew that it is possible and why it happens, then I might invest in another attempt on expensive discs before I take the drive back and get my money refunded!

Oh, for additional information I have tried authoring with DVDit 2.3 PE (with menus and chaptering) and also with the disc wizard of Cyberlink Power Director Pro without menus but with chapters. Both work fine in computers as I said.

Please, anyone, can you clarify what could be going on!!

Thanks all.

Dave.

[sarahjh69]

making a dvd to play on a pc is easy
Making a dvd to play on a standalone player is very hard.

for example......all the file names and directorys
have to be in CAPITAL LETTERS.

download ifoedit and dvd decryptor
copy a dvd to hard drive with dvd decryptor
use ifoedit to strip it down to size
don't forget to press the GET VTS button
or the resulting DVD will never work in a standalone player.

a lot of pc authoring proggys will never produce DVDs that play
on standalone players.
I rip lots of dvds to dvd-r....about 50% will play in a standalone
sony should play dvd-r and dvd-rw if you do it right.

Just as an illustration as to how hard this is, I got hold of
Starship Troopers on a flipper DVD.....easy to copy says I, its
already the right size to fit on dvd-r without re-authoring or stripping. I rip the whole movie (in its original 2 parts)
I burn both parts to dvd-r...same process for both parts...no editing or changing.
Side 1....put in sony player......CANNOT PLAY THIS DVD
Side 2....put in sony player.......plays perfectly

put them in pc dvd player....both sides play perfectly
Good luck.......you will need it!!!

[Partner100]

Thanks for your reply. I will take note of your comments, 'cos I intend to rip rip rip!!

For those (especially those in the UK) who are reading this I have solved the problem. I took the cheap discs back the supplier who very kindly changed them......for even cheaper discs. Now, there's not a problem. They play on any machine I put them in perfectly. So it was down to the discs after all.

For those interested, the ones that did not work at all were the MIRROR brand. The new ones that are fine are DATASAFE.

Thanks to all who helped, all their advise was very useful indeed!!

Dave.