Testing...What to "thoroughly" check for?

[3ncrypted]

When you thoroughly test your backups you did in DVDRB, what do you test besides basic things like the disc playing, and checking the quality? Should I check the end of the movie for audio problems? I don't have time to watch all my backups all the way thru, so I am wanting to make sure I am testing the backup copy for everything that I should. Any tips?

[VamPYR]

burn your final project in a dvd-rw/+rw, and share it with your friends or family members, after they've finish watch the movie, ask them the result.:p

[jdobbs]

One quick way to check it out is to play it, try the menus, and then skip through the chapters. Make sure you look at the very end of the disc. Some of the cheaper blanks have problems on the outer edges that can result in annoying pixelation.

[gircobain]

Always a good idea to check the disk thoroughly for readability with softwares like dvdinfopro and cdcheck
Unless you wanna get surprised when some of your backups turn out to have some nasty crc errors...

[lamster]

Originally posted by gircobain
Always a good idea to check the disk thoroughly for readability with softwares like dvdinfopro and cdcheck
Unless you wanna get surprised when some of your backups turn out to have some nasty crc errors...
I always use the verify option when writing a backup, so no chance of CRC errors. (Why bother backing something up, if you're not going to verify that what you wrote is actually readable?)

[3ncrypted]

As far as burn quality, I use kprobe to do a 4X scan on every disc I burn. I have a liteon drive just for Kprobe. It's about an extra 12 minutes, but I like to check the disc.

Checking each chapter and the end of the disc is something I wondered about. I will start to do that. Anything else you all do. I know we all probably have a few things that we always do, and that's why I wanted to check with everyone.

[candsh]

I kmow a lot of folks are doing some preprocessing with Shrink to remove things and something I had a lot of problems with Shrink in doing movie only backups in the past was if you used the navagation buttons on your player it would hang up, especially going back a chapter and fast forward. As long as you put the movie in and let it play all was fine but anything other than pause could cause problems. I quickly try all of the buttons on the computer and then on the stand alone. Seem to be able to do all this fine with RB on the "full backups". Just played around with VOB Blanker on a couple and haven't had a chance to "play" with them yet. Any problems I will let you know

[jdobbs]

Originally posted by VamPYR
burn your final project in a dvd-rw/+rw, and share it with your friends or family members, after they've finish watch the movie, ask them the result.:p This is one of the main reasons I make backups. I buy the original, but I only loan out the backup. It came in handy last week when my backup of "The Ladykillers" disappeared while "checked out" by my niece and nephew...

[Rockas]

This is one of the main reasons I make backups. I buy the original, but I only loan out the backup. It came in handy last week when my backup of "The Ladykillers" disappeared while "checked out" by my niece and nephew...

Well... you didn't loose anything important, anyway lol
The movie only gets funny after the 8th beer lol

[jenos]

I have found that verify will say the backup is ok but then it won't play properly in a stand alone. Sometimes, if they manage to start out ok, they may skip in the last chapter of the main movie and freeze in the credits. I am not sure what verify checks. Decrypter rip> DVDShrink> Decrypter burn 8X. Is there a program that will check the continuance or transitional smoothness. Shrink is set to the default sharp. Would changing to the smooth setting fix this? At 4X I get frequent bad verifications. I have tried different stand alones. Verbatim and Fuji media.

[jptheripper]

you encoding settings (sharp) etc.. have 0 to do with quality of burn.

You likely are using bad media.

[jenos]

That is one of the things that I suspect but it doesn't seem like I should have such a high rate of failures with the Verbatim's and Fuji's I am using. I found that at 2.4X (slow) on my Artec my failures diminished. My Emprex DL is still having problems. They frequently verify bad at 4X and good at 8X (but playback bad on a stand alone). Could Verbatims quality have diminished lately? Would switching to a Plextor improve the situation? What does verify actually verify?

P.S. The Emprex DL has started working consistently again with 8X Fuji's running at 4X. Still, I wonder what verify checks?

[VamPYR]

i did scan some of my backup disc using DVDInfo pro 3.48 (PI/PIF) and Nero CD-DVD Speed (File Test&Surface Scan), both scan result came out perfect, but the disc have problem playback in my pioneer player(old model),lot of pixelation, it should be a media problem (prodisc MCC02), but it not being detected. After i burn another one using the same project, same media and it play without problem. i think the safer way is always test and play the backup disc in standalone player to make sure they are good.:)

[jptheripper]

i would recommend riteks, and a better burner (pioneer, plextor good for cds but not dvds)

either way, dvdrhelp.com has a great list of player and media compatiblity

[jdobbs]

I use Riteks, and I can't remember the last time I had a problem.

[jenos]

I opened a new box of Verbatim's and the top one wouldn't burn anything. Tried deeper in the stack and got one to work. Does Ritek offer hub printables? I haven't found one. Assuming my problems might be a combination of disks and cheap burners, and without deciphering the many opinions on dvdrhelp, does Pioneer have the reputation of being the best, most consistent, longest lasting, DVD burner? What temperature would expand the disk enough to alter recordability/playback - 100 degrees F?

[Rockas]

Well... as far as I'm concern MEMOREX media nver gave me any kind of problems. 100% of success.

[candsh]

Ritek Ridata offers both printable and hub printable. Get them all the time at www.meritline.com in both 4X and 8X.
I am currently on my 4th Pioneer burner and have never upgraded a single time for problems, only for features and still use the other ones on my wife's compter and on my (married) chidrens' computer. Probably the most tolerant burner as far as media is concerned but I only feed it Ritek. The only problem I ever had was with the A05 and it was my own fault. Flashed with 3rd party firmware to increase read rate and allow writing 2X disks @ 4X. Sure enough would write them only the disks wouldn't support the faster speeds and caused problems. Just used 4X disks and no more problems. The new A08 writes (with factory firmware) 8X disks @ 12X but I learned my lesson and restrict the speed to 8X on these. Let the disk set the burn speed.

With the A06 and A08 I have never burned an RB file that I couldn't use all the navigation buttons on the standalone without problems. Think I might want to try out a Sony? Wrong!!

[jenos]

Thanks. It looks like the majority agree Ritek and Pioneer is the most consistent combination. (I've never had a Memorex work). Getting back to the reason for this thread, consistency builds confidence, which diminishes the need for previewing every disk.

[dannyv]

Originally posted by jptheripper
i would recommend riteks, and a better burner (pioneer, plextor good for cds but not dvds)

either way, dvdrhelp.com has a great list of player and media compatiblity

I've used the pioneer A02, A06 and A08 burners with ritek media and I have never had a compatibility problem. I think Pioneer is one of the best burners out there with the most compatability with media.

[zamarky1]

Hi Ya

NEC 2500 : Tayio Yuden..+R bit set to DVD-ROM...hard to go wrong with that combo. Ty's are now almost the same price as Ritek's

Regards

Mark

[pg55555]

What to check for?

I would suggest to check for the last couple of chapters of the movie. In my experience, if you have a problem the outer part of the disc is the most prone to.

So go to the menu, select the latest chapters and watch them. If they are ok, probably the movie is ok.

[jenos]

I found this answer to a problem that explains, in general, how drives and media are compatable. As long as the drive supports the media, the burn should be without errors. http://www.drvupdate.com/

Q10: After burning a Princo disc, which used to be mentioned on your online media support list, I can't read the data written on the disc when using it in other drives. What is wrong ?

Answer:

Your drive uses the so-called MID code (manufacturing ID) of each media to determine which writing parameters to use in order to make a successful burn. We have found, however, that there are Princo media on the market which have identical MID codes but different dyes. Different dyes require different writing parameters. However, the drive is not able to distinguish between the different dye types due to the fact that both type of media use the same MID code. It is therefore not possible to know for certain whether the Princo media you have bought will be compatible to your drive. In order to prevent problems, we therefore don't suggest using Princo media.

[TheSeeker]

I have never heard anyone mention LG Electronics. But they make a very capable, very versatile and nicely cheap dvd burner. I have the lg gsa 4082b and i have yet to make a coaster that wasnt the result of my tinkering too much with the navigation structure of the dvd. They got great reviews on Tomshardware.com and rip faster than most drives and have no problems with heavily scratched dvd's. I almost exclusively use memorex media and havent had problems so far.