Media or Player?

[F0sgateman]

I have ripping and burning down to a science now, so I'm pretty confident I'm not doing anything wrong on my end, but almost all my DVD's over 1.5 Hours start skipping randomly at the end. I've read that Toshiba's aren't as compatible, but I've also read about the cheap media. I am suspecting cheap media and already have some Reitek media on the way. My question to anyone who knows is, is my Toshiba DVD player going to work with the new media all the way to the end of the DVD's I burn? When they say Toshiba's aren't as compatible, does that mean if it plays it at all, it should work, or does it mean anything I throw at it is going to skip at the ends? I just want this cleared up so I know if I should keep buying more expensive media or get a new set top player. If you are familiar with Toshiba's, it's the SD-3750 I believe. For those that will ask if I've tried it in other players, yes, my friend has an RCA and one of his skipped so bad at the end he ended up finishing it off on his laptop. BTW, the recorder being used is the DVR-104 and I was using Optodiscs, I've stopped until I figure the problem, burning $1 coasters isn't much fun. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I'd also like to add I use Nero to burn the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS, and that I've tried Prassi to do the same thing and both come out with the same results.

[alexnoe]

The last question in the FAQ might be interesting for you...my optidiscs were also crap, but optodisc can be made by several manufacturers, and advdinfo doesn't work here :(

[Ber60]

I've used Optodisc and tried out several other brands.
I didn't have any problems yet with Optidisc's and I know they are from different manufacturers, but they all seem to have the same quality.
So my humble opinion is maybe it is time to renew your DVD player as I
have done, to play as many different media as possible that came recently on the market.

[atreides93]

I don't believe its the media. I had something like this happen with Apple media and cheap media too when playing them back in my Sony DVD 530D player.

I found that my Sony player was built in 1999 and DVD-R wasn't all that popular back then. Remember they started out with 3.95 gig DVD-R's at first, so I thought it was intersting how if I burned past 4 gigs on my dvd-r's, the end of the movie was always messed up on my Sony. but if I stayed below 4 gigs, it was fine.

Then I got an Oritron DVD 600, which is a cheap dvd player. its a lot newer though and guess what, it plays all those DVD-R's ,even the ones past 4 gigs without any problems. it even plays the cheap media ones.

Find out what year your dvd player was built.

[Sephan]

Im using three different types right now.. I guess i need to get that program that tells you what it is..

1-Optidisk cheap stuff from newegg.com, 2-generic purple from hypermicrosystems and 3-Standard grade silver spindle from Americal. All burnt with nero newest version, pioneer A04. Im not doing anything fancy ripping all files IFOEDIT stripping and burning, nothing but movies.. if its to big ill split to two discs first before stripping.

All of them work fine. Now I do notice that my sony DVD downstairs 3 years old is a bit particular on the CD's 50-50 chance it will skip or freeze in the movie, my new DVD player upstairs SonyNS700P which is a type that isnt being made anymore but is still buyable on the net, is a gem on everything I toss at it. Im a newbie maybe 2 monhts at this.. 20 backups of DVD's maybe 4 coasters tops. Now like I said im not doing anything fancy just the movie.. no intros, specials etc etc.

Im really starting to have my doubts on media issues.. Im going to keep going with branded 1X cheap stuff as it stands.

[Commander XJL]

Skipping at the end of the disk is a cheap media problem, it's one of the most common complaints that people have about cheap media. It may be true that a certain player will play these disks better, but its a crap media problem first. When are people gonna learn to stay away from this cheap media shit, its beginning to get ridiculous. Theres posts on this forum literally on a daily basis about someone having problems with generic media (won't play at the end of the disk, freezing, pixalation, sound problems), thats been going on since DVD burning started, so like I say, it really is getting ridiculous. It's long past the point where Doom needs to set up a seperate category for people to go and complain about problems they have cause they think 1 dollar disks are gonna work like 5 dollar disks.

[padre]

F0sgateman

It does sound like you've got defective media. I've seen similar issues with CDrecordable.com media, just before they went out of business.

I'd stay away from the completely unnamed generic media, like the "DVDPro" or "High Quality DVD-R" with no brand, and use something like PrimeDisc for media ( oh yeah, best part - it's less than $5 per disc - MUCH less). I've had lots of people from Doom9's forum, as well as the internet newsgroups tell me they've been having great success with PrimeDisc. And, for the record, I've played ALL my movies to the very end and they work perfectly. So has a guy on the newsgroups, Larry H. He's burned over 100 PrimeDisc since I recommended them. No skips, no runs, no errors....

Lastly, there are some cases of models of DVD players accepting and starting to play DVD-R's, then jumping, freezing and pixelating - and the cause is actually the DVD player. Sometime laser issues, firmware, etc. So, unfortunetly you've come to the major issue of consumer burning - media selection and player selection. Have you checked out VCDHelp.com for DVD-R compatibility of your Toshiba? They have some good postings from users sharing their experiences.

Good luck and don't give up!

Padre

[Commander XJL]

He said in his post he tried the disks on other players, I bet my ass if he burns the same job on a name brand disk his problem will go away for some strange reason. Try it, F0sgateman. Buy one name brand rewritable and use it to verify whats going on. And the Toshiba 3750 is compatible, just like 99.5 % of all DVD players are for DVD-R, I just checked, even though I knew it wasn't necessary. I'm actually gonna order a few (very few) Primedisks myself and try them, god help me. But I have 2 burners and 3 standalones to check them with so we'll see how good they are

[padre]

Originally posted by Commander XJL
I'm actually gonna order a few (very few) Primedisks myself and try them, god help me.

What happened to "I'll never buy cheap media again????"

God help you? God help us if you stub your toe burning one of them. Then you'll blame the disc for that too.

By the way...PrimeDisc is a name brand disk.

[Commander XJL]

Well, someone talked me into to trying one last time (his name starts with a P), and said Primedisk were great, so I guess I should say god help him if their a pixaly mess when they play. Hey, what do these didks look like on top, and are you SURE they play all the way through with NO and I mean NO pixalation, skippy, ect all the way through? Cause if I get burned for the third time I'm gonna make everyones life a living hell, worse than I already have I mean

[padre]

Commander, do us all a favor. DON'T buy any PrimeDisc or ANY media less than $5 or $10 a piece. So we don't have to hear it from you about the 'crappy cheap media'....not that we haven't already heard enough. If you had a power outage during a burn, you'd blame cheap media! But I stand by my PrimeDisc recommendation, and there are many others out there who would as well.

If you read my other posts you'd see there are two flavors of PrimeDisc. The 'Retail' version has the PrimeDisc logo etched on the top, and the dye is a lighter purple. I haven't used them much, since I buy the other type mostly - the Bulk pack in 50 or 100 disc spindles. They have a silver top (no logo) and dark purple dye. They show up as RITEK..G3 under ADVDinfo. They also have a inner ring serial number that looks like C1-xxxxxxx or so. The innner ring is semi-clear (a little foggy). But both versions burn well and I have not had any problems playing the media to the very end on about 6-7 different DVD players.

BTW: How do we all know it's not you crappy DVD player or crappy encoding or crappy burning process that made you have problems with some 'cheap' media. We don't!

Good luck (like I tell everyone else), and don't call us, we'll call you....(just you)

[alexnoe]

Commander, do us all a favor. DON'T buy any PrimeDisc or ANY media less than $5 or $10 a piece

Either you speak of australian dollars, or your income is above average.
You get even Verbatim at 4,30¤, and there's no reason for paying more in media which is not better...

[Commander XJL]

Funny how padre now doesn't want me to try these disks, I guess that says a lot. padre your the biggest idiot on this forum, I've been doing this a lot longer than you.

BTW: How do we all know it's not you crappy DVD player or crappy encoding or crappy burning process that made you have problems with some 'cheap' media. We don't!

You also CAN'T read, I've made it real clear, I have 2 burners, 3 standalones, most of these movies were never encoded (encoding couldn't cause these problems anyway, maybe when you get more experiened you'll know this, but I doubt it), I burned the same projects on name brand media to test, god you need to get off this forum for everyones sake. You must be a teenager. I've done 200 movies now, all perfect, oh except for the ones I did on generic media.

[padre]

It's amazing how Commander starts talking like he owns this forum. Thank goodness it's an open forum.

I've made over 400 DVD's, all on PrimeDisc and some others. None of which have been made on discs costing more than $2. I've not had 1 with a problem playing all the way through.

For the record, I'm probably one of the oldest people on this forum and have been working with PC's and computers while you were still sucking your thumb. But I won't be taken down to your namecalling level.

I'll be here providing a voice of reason to those users who choose to use 'inexpensive' media. If YOU don't like hearing that many people have been successfully using cheaper media, why should I leave?

And, by the way, I didn't say for ANYONE not to try PrimeDisc....Just you...

I've told tons of others, and will continue. They work for me and others, and that's it.

[alexnoe]

Funny how padre now doesn't want me to try these disks, I guess that says a lot. padre your the biggest idiot on this forum, I've been doing this a lot longer than you.

Read the usenet laws (http://www.bruhaha.de/laws.html) (only available in german :( ). Telling someone "I do that longer than you are on earth" means nothing more than "i am out of arguments, i can't add anything senseful to the topic of discussion, but i want to have the last word".

I don't know what about doom9, but on cdfreaks, "you're the biggest idiot..." would result in mod-editing your post and sending you a warning...

You've fulfilled Hellinger's Law, which should usually mean End-of-discussion.

[padre]

(Thanks alexnoe - I enjoyed that)

F0sgateman,

Sorry we seemed to have taken this thread off into an area away from your original topic. I think there is some good information listed (outside of the rants) that might help you.

From the sounds of the errors (skipping), it appears to be a media-related issue. I would suggest trying another brand of media, such as PrimeDisc, TDK, Pioneer, etc. Something new. Also trying a DVD-RW might gain you some insight as well.

Just an FYI, some DVD players will play only specific DVD-R's. For example, I have a Panasonic Portable DVD player (little LCD screen). It only likes Verbatum or PrimeDisc. Won't play TDK, Pioneer or some of the other more expensive medias, and absolutely hate the nonames (DVDPro, Mertiline, etc.).

Seeing how you tried burning with both Prassi and Nero, I'd say the burning software is probably not your issue.

Once you find which media plays the best for you, if you're like me, you'll stick with it. But getting there sometimes takes a bit of research and trials.

Good luck and let us know what the problem turned out to be!

[Commander XJL]

No, its gonna be end of discussion because either one of you are worth responding to anymore, I'm just gonna sit back and laugh now. I can't wait to see what happens when F0sgateman tries a project on a name brand disk. Then he'll know who's trying to help him and who is trying to cost him more time and aggrevation and money on wasted disks. Oh, and I've worked as a computer technician (a real paid one) since 1989 for both Macs and PC's.

From the sounds of the errors (skipping), it appears to be a media-related issue. I would suggest trying another brand of media, such as PrimeDisc, TDK, Pioneer, etc. Something new. Also trying a DVD-RW might gain you some insight as well

Now Padre is giving him the same advice I did earlier, ya he's not an idiot

[Ber60]

Dear F0sgateman

To elaborate on my previous post (hopefully wihtout any verbal abuse from the other members)
I used to have a Samsung 811 when I burned my first dvd-r (a Pioneer 4.7gig) it worked fine until halfway the movie than it started skipping and pixelating so I tried other media, with no luck, same results. So I took my different brand dvd-r's to the videoshop and tried it on a Pioneer 444 with the latest firmware and they played all fine. Subsequentely I sold the Samsung and bought the Pioneer.
Never had any problems with cheap media anymore. Now taking into account the price of high grade media it is perhaps not such a bad idea to invest in a more recent player.

[padre]

Ber60,

That's a great example of DVD players not liking some media brands, cheap or otherwise.

I actually sold my JVC high-end DVD player just because of that reason. It wouldn't play most brand DVD-R's correctly. Now, in JVC's defense, they didn't promise to play ANY DVD-R media. But I'm much happier with the Apex 3201 replacement (and the Samsung and Sony).

(p.s. I've been doing work with PC's and computers since 79, started with an S-100 Cromemco w/4k of memory and 8" floppy! Been working in the industry as an Engineer and Senior Consultant ever since. Just in case others were interested ;)

[padre]

Originally posted by Commander XJL
No, its gonna be end of discussion because either one of you are worth responding to anymore, I'm just gonna sit back and laugh now.

Didn't feel like stopping there? So you edited to not finish more?


From the sounds of the errors (skipping), it appears to be a media-related issue. I would suggest trying another brand of media, such as PrimeDisc, TDK, Pioneer, etc. Something new. Also trying a DVD-RW might gain you some insight as well

Now Padre is giving him the same advice I did earlier, ya he's not an idiot

No, there's a huge difference. I said try another BRAND. I didn't say:

When are people gonna learn to stay away from this cheap media shit

Like you did earlier in this thread. Please at least be accurate when attempting to flame.

[Carlos Garcia]

I've learned my lesson. Everyone who thinks their cheap media works great because it plays straight through...well more power to you. Just don't come running to me in 5 yrs when the media is no longer readable. I've learned my lesson from my old CD-Rs...most of the cheap media CD-Rs I had worked perfectly for the first couple of yrs. Now they are ALL coasters. I lost alot of info but I learned my lesson...ALL my brand name CD-Rs work perfectly today, about 7 yrs after I first burned them. DVDs are no different. I don't plan on ever using cheap brand DVD recordables. I now use TDKs exclusively...even if I WILL pay more for my disc library than my player...at least 10 yrs from now, I know they will all still play!

CG

[Commander XJL]

This is where I learned my first lesson about generic media, with CDR's. I had 500 music CD's ripped to mp3's. I needed 50 CDR's to burn them too, I got cheap and bought 50 generics. I burned all 50. Just like generic DVD's they burned ok, and everything looked alright. So I threw this massive amount of work off my computer. Guess what happened months later when I started to put these CD's back in my computer and copy the files back to my drive so I could listen to them or burn music CD's. What happened was constant read errors on every disk. I lost more work and time then you can imagine. I had a red hot poker stuck in my butt and the words generic media was on the handle. There's an idiot on this forum that thinks the way to go is buy cheap media. Then when you lose your work and time and money and they don't play, buy different generic media and do it again. Then when that doesn't work its your players fault so go buy a new player. Then when you get the magic formula, your next batch of generic DVDR's from the same place may not work, another problem people complain about with generic media. You could have bought 4 dollar quality media and saved yourself a lot of frustration, time, and money in the end. Plus know they'll play in the future, cause if they play now that don't mean shit. If this idiot likes to play russian roulette I wish he would use a gun. This forum would bennifit, because this person sure as hell isn't trying to look out for anybody. This person really ticks me off, just look at what happened to my avatar

[padre]

Originally posted by Commander XJL
If this idiot likes to play russian roulette I wish he would use a gun. This forum would bennifit, because this person sure as hell isn't trying to look out for anybody.

You know, Commander, for someone who claims to be trying to 'help' members of this forum, you seem to like to throw out some very disparaging remarks. Why?

I think the forum benefits from seeing multiple sides to each issue. There is no one GOD of DVD burning. You're not it, I'm not it, there is NO such person. But, by sharing our success (or in your case, lack there of) with various media, helps others learn.

I'll continue posting that as long as I feel like it. And the fact that my posting about my, and other people's, successful use of 'inexpensive' media urks you - yeah well.

[Commander XJL]

I'm not trying to help you, your beyond help. Your the type that if tomorrow your DVD's started to not play right, you'd be on the forum telling people generics are the way to go, cause you wouldn't have the guts to admit you blew it. Anybody that wants to spend the afternoon doing searches on this forum about media and reading would realize that when it comes to this issue there's a lot more facts on my side than yours, because there's a lot more people having "nightmares" with generic media, not "successes" like I say, complaints about generic media is a daily thing on this forum, and in a solid year I haven't heard a single complaint about higher quality media. Of course, people that have trouble with generics according to you are stupid and don't know what there doing, or there DVD player is at fault. Only a jack ass would not see the truth in this issue, but of course your name is "Padre". Good luck with your burning. I'm not going to respond to anymore of your blind nonsense

[padre]

Originally posted by Commander XJL
Only a jack ass would not see the truth in this issue, but of course your name is "Padre".

This is what I'm talking about. Here we're trying to talk about issues and problems, and you have to resort to childish namecalling? I think the forum moderator should have a look at your abuse.

[Commander XJL]

Gee, a moment ago you posted I didn't know what I was doing. So its ok for you to flame people, but your gonna whine to the moderator when some one does it to you? What a little tattle tale. Please don't tell on me. I take back what I said about not responding, people are enjoying this too much. Kinda funny this whole thread was started because of bad media, oh wait, it was because the original poster doesn't know what he is doing right? Or is his DVD player no good? You need to move out of your parents basement, and try to get a girlfriend, and take a break from DVD's for a while. I'm starting to worry about you a lot. You should give me your phone number so I can call you and try to help you. Or you could come over and watch a movie with me, I think we could be friends. :) You want to be friends, right? I know I do ;)

[padre]

I'd like to point out, the forum rules state:

4) Be nice to each other and respect the moderator. Profanity and insults will not be tolerated.

Now, I've disagreed with your statements about 'inexpensive' media. But you've chosen to defend that with insults and profanity. That's enough for me.

[F0sgateman]

All I asked was what it COULD be, not to make a political debate about it. I ordered some Ritek's from shop4tech.com. I got the 50 pack to try them out. They aren't real cheap, but they aren't 4 bux a disc either. I understand the argument for more expensive media, but I'm married, with children even, ok a 2 year old, but still. If this fixes my skipping issues, fantastic, I'm all for it and will keep using them, if it doesnt I'll head to the store with one of my known to skip discs and find a player that has the features I want, and will play the end of the disc without error. Then I will buy that player on the net somewhere for about half as much and sell mine for half as much as I paid for it a year ago. If my movies don't play in a year from now, oh well, guess I'll have to do them over again on the cheap media that is out then and will last alot longer, maybe get me that new sony and waste 1/4 as much time. I will keep you posted on my success, the new DVD's should be here Tuesday of next week (9/17). Good thing too, my drives are getting FULL! Thanks for the useful comments, you people that do the namecalling, maybe they should make a special forum for you. Oh yeah, computers have changed so much since 1979 that saying you were using them back then and comparing them to now, what's that all about? I used to have an atari, I was real good at the games, but I can't say that being excellent at pong made me a quake III fragmaster now can I? Useful information please!

[Commander XJL]

Now, I've disagreed with your statements about 'inexpensive' media. But you've chosen to defend that with insults and profanity.

No, I've actually defended it with a ton of facts, if you spent more time doing searches and reading this forum instead of just posting you'd know that.

So, are you really done? I'll be sorry not to hear from you anymore

[padre]

F0sgateman,

When you get your order of Ritek's, you might want to verify them with ADVDinfo. They should be Ritek..G3. If so, from what I've seen, they should be good for your use.

Padre

[Carlos Garcia]

I just bought 50 TDKs...the BEST DVD-R media they make, the ones that come in jewel cases. It wasn't cheap, I paid about $185 with shipping. And to top this off, the very first disc I burned, I burned at 2X(because it's 2X compatible)...Well guess what? It was a coaster...went dead after title #37 of 47. I burned a 2nd TDK disc(at 1X just to be safe)and it came out perfect. Now, you may be wondering why I'm happy? Because since this IS TDK, all I have to do is mail them the disc that went bad, explain to them that I tried burning it at 2X, and it went bad, and they will send me back a free blank media in exchange. What no name brand gives you this kind of guarantee? Something to think about when buying cheap brands.

CG

[padre]

Many of the vendors who sell 'inexpensive' media, also offer a 30 day return/exchange for defective media. I know Shop4Tech has such a policy for PrimeDisc. Not sure about stuff like Leda, OptoDisc, etc. I don't think the discs like DVDPro come with any return/exchange policy.

Of course you need to take the company's track record into mind when checking for a return policy. Cdrecordable.com had a return policy, I took advantage of it and returned 2 discs.....that was about 7 months ago. I know the mail is slow but.... ;)

In my case, with PrimeDisc at $1.29 a disc, it's almost not worth the shipping $ and aggrevation to mail it back. But with the TDK at $3.70 a disc, it's definitely worth it. Nice thing about TDK is their warranty is 1 year. Nice. But, then again, you'd expect that with the price.

[atreides93]

Commander I think you should stop calling other members "idiot" over and over again. That's not very constructive here is it?

By the way, I believe you're wrong about cheap media always being the cause for skipping and problems near the end of a disk.

I first encountered those problems well before I ever heard of cheap media and was only using Apple brand name disks!!

I then discovered that my Sony 530D player was built in 1999 and doesn't play DVD-R's very well.

So unless you're going to argue that Apple disks are cheap media, I think you should realize that perhaps you're wrong sometimes and not everyone who disagrees with you is an idiot.

I'd also like to suggest you not try Primedisc, I haven't had much luck with them. I already told you to try Ritek. I have zero problems with Riteks' But if you want to go ahead and try Primedisc after I already warned you about them, then its your own faul if you have problems.