Why are my movies skipping?!?!

[DrkMatt3r]

I need help...
ive been trying to back up my movies and im having trouble..
ive bought several brands of dvd-r media, i got memorex dvd-r and burnt 3 out of 15 sucessfull copies.. the other 12 movies will work in my dvd player but half way thru in the same exact spot they freeze up and skip. i took the peoples advice here and bought some ritek g04 dvd-r discs. i got them today, i burnt 3 sucessfull movies in a row including a movie that i wasted 6 memorex dvd-rs on. I thought i finally got it, wouldnt you know the next movie i tried to back up (mystic river) 3 quarters into it it starts skipping and freezing, 2 discs later its still doing it. so i decided to try another movie, same friggin thing.. what is going on?!?! this is extremely aggraveting, i read tutorial after tutorial and do the ripping/encoding/burning process to the dot and its still doing it. what im doing is using dvd decrypter to rip the files to the hard drive, using dvd shrink to reauthor the dvd with movie only and nero to burn. the first 3 movies i did with the ritek g04 worked great no problems now all of a sudden my next rips are skipping! i dunno.. please anybody with suggestions or let me know a alternate way or what im doing wrong would be GREATLY appreciated.
thanks

[ammck55]

Welcome to the forum:

Provided you don't have a corrupt install of DVDDecrypter, DVDShrink, or Nero, the only thing left is your media. Check for media compatibility using these links.

Player/media compatibility (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers)
Burner/media compatibility (http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdwriters)

Your problem most likely lies with inferior or non-compatible media.

ammck55

[Nick]

An easy test is to play your output files from your encode in a software player (ie PowerDVD, WinDVD etc). If the same vobs play OK from your hard drive but not from the disc, it is the burn/media. If the skipping is present playing from your hard drive, something has gone wrong in the encode.

It is probably a media problem, although you might wish to try slowing the burn down as this sometimes helps.

If you have Nero CD Speed on your system, try reading back the discs using it. A good burn on good media should produce a nice smooth curve. If the graph looks jumpy then either burner or media are letting you down. Splash out on some first rate media and see if that helps. In DVDR you tend to find you get what you pay for and it is worth paying out for good discs.

HTH
Nick

[DrkMatt3r]

thanks for the information,
the playback of the rip on my hard drive plays perfectly, i do test out the movie after ripping it just to make sure its smooth before i burn. what is really annoying is that im creating perfect backups 3 in a row with the new ritek g04 discs that i just purchased and all of a sudden their skipping again as my previous experience with the junk media. i will go ahead now and try what you suggested and try burning a lower speed and see if i can get this to work.
thanks again

[DrkMatt3r]

i went ahead and ran a speed test with the nero program on one of the dud dvd-r back ups i made, the line was all over the place up and down.. also i forgot to mention in my previous posts, i dont know if it matters or not i recall reading a thread on it but im burning using a toshiba sd-r6372 on my laptop. does it make a difference between pc and laptop dvd burning?
thanks again

[smiller667]

I have no idea about the particular burner you are using - but there shouldn't be a difference between laptop (i.e. slimline) and "desktop burners" (i.e. half-height devices) per se. What counts is the combination of burner firmware and a particular medium - your burner might have less problems with a different firmware revision and/or your media will give different results on another burner.

Back to your problem: could there be a cooling problem with your laptop? Maybe with summer temperatures the cooling system can't cope with head buildup, thus resulting in burning problems.

@Nick: even if a set of files plays fine on your pc, it might still have some problem ... esp. PowerDVD is _extremely_ tolerant when it comes to playing back just about anything (wrong resolution, gop size, whatever).

[DrkMatt3r]

i thought to myself the same thing that maybe the heat of the laptop might be causing the burns to be bad because this thing gets awful hot and the discs after burning all almost unbearable to touch once they come right out.
however :) i finally got this thing working, sometimes id just like to kick myself in the ass, i took nicks advice and tried burning at 2x wouldnt you know perfect backup. ive already made 6 sucessfull back ups at 2x i guess i gotta wait an extra 15mins but hey, its worth a good copy. id like to thank everyone with the quick replies and grateful suggestions.
regards,

chris

[ammck55]

Nice to hear you got it figured out and that you posted to let the gang in on how you did it; a lot of people fail to come through on the last part! I've been doing a good bit of burning on a Toshiba P-25 laptop, but I'm using an external TDK 880n, so I don't have the heat problem, thank goodness.

Nick--Nice catch! :)

ammck55

[hostyle]

Possibly a silly suggestion, but have you defragged recently? I say silly cause I don't yet have my DVD-burner (in the post), but I used to have problems with CD-R on some machines if the files being burned were badly fragged across the drive.