Is it my burner or my software or my config?

[Alstang1]

Ok I have burned about 2000 dvd backups since January, when I bought my Pioneer A06. Reciently I have been comming across a problem of 1 out of 3-5 dvd backups are broken towards the very end of the dvd. Sometimes they skip real bad, and other times they just die out alltogether.

I have been using the same method for all dvd's. I use Ridata (go4 i think it is) from supermedia.com.

I use the DVD Decrypter, DVD21, Nero process of burning. I usually drop everything except the actual movie.

I use verification on the DVD's when burning with Nero, and sometimes they are showing verified, and I still get errors. Other times they show to have not verified the burn.

Should I start troubleshooting the burning, the hardware burner, the hard drive, or what?

If I were going to build a new system just for backing up(assuming it is hardware problem), what would be sufficient? I was thinking of building a AMD 2100 with 512 and a 100 gig hard drive. Putting the harddrive on ide 1 and burner (the used Pioneer A06) on ide 2. I would use the on board vid, and sound.

Assuming it is the burner... what is the new hottest thing on the market, that is reliable, relatively quick and less than $200?

Any help in fixing this, or suggestions on a faster more reliable software route would be much appreciated.

Thanks

Al

[dani82]

i'm not a pc expert, but i have to say the dvd burner is going bad*, 2000 backups, i'd had my burner for 4 months and burned about 35 dvds, and not one of them is a backup

i say your dvd burner is very reliable



* or maybe it's the dvds

[Alstang1]

If it is the burner, what is the hot new thing on the market for DVD burning? At the time I bought it, I was told Pioneer was the best. Any oppinions now?

Al

[Alstang1]

Any other oppinions or suggestions on what to check?

Al

[theReal]

Ok I have burned about 2000 dvd backups since January, when I bought my Pioneer A06Wow, that's like more than 8 DVDs a day - are you burning for a living, or does your day have 26 hours? ;) :confused:

Pioneer is still the best, I think. We have only Pioneer at work since the A04. Some of them were also used for thousands of DVDs and none of them went bad. OK, they're replacing the ones needed for a lot of copies pretty often because of the advanced burning speeds in the new models.

[kanos]

I have had the same problems recently when backing up my dvd's.
In the last 10 or 15 minutes of each disc, the movie would freeze up and have broken audio and video. I have a pioneer 106d burner and had burnt a lot of backups with it, maybe 1000.
I went out and bought a 107 and put it in, and every movie was still skipping at the end.
So I'm 99% sure that it isn't your burner.
I bought a new 160G SATA hard drive with 8m cache and that seemed to fix the problem. Have burnt over 100 backups with it since getting it, every one of them perfect.
My guess would be your hard drive but I'm far from an expert.
I had a 60G hard drive before and would constantly go from having no space to having a spare 50G after clearing the data i just backed up.
Is it possible that with the amount of data transfer involved in a DVD that a hard drive could burn out over a period of time?
:confused:

[theReal]

Of course HDs can go bad over time, especially with a lot of data transfer (video capturing, editing, DVD copying...) but how could that affect DVD playback on the last 10-15 minutes of a DVD?

If your HD is broken, you won't be able to start programs, your system will suddenly hang or not boot anymore. Also files played from HD will stutter or be completely unreadable.

For me the skipping in the last 10-15 minutes sounds like a typical DVD media problem. Even if you had the same brand all the time - manufacturers and quality change a lot for different batches of the same brand.
I suggest you buy some twenty or thirty Verbatim (the ones in jewel cases, not in a cakebox) and burn them. I bet none of them will skip at the end (and if they do you can be pretty sure your burner is dead)