Well, I am still excited over the fact that I am burning dvd's. I am a little concerned over the fact that after I burned AVP (which showed 2 titles to pick to burn, I chose the one that had the longest running time, was this correct? Why were there 2 titles?)my writer automatically played it and it was great, however when I put it in my laptop, it started out fine and then I jumped forward to the middle, it was fine, then to the end and it was choppy. I replayed it at the beginning and this time it was choppy. I took it out and put it back in my writer on my puter and it played fine. After about 20 mins. I put it back in the laptop and it played fine,beginning, middle and end. ??? how confusing. Was it the chapter jumping that made it go flakey? Did jumping chapters heat the disc up and that made it go flakey? I am using Maxwell DVD-R discs, should I get the +R's? I did go to the thread "Post your bad media experiences here" and that scared me to death. How am I suppose to know what to buy and from whom??
heres an article from scubapete which might help you in selecting your next batch of discs (author: scubapete AD addict First off, we need you to change your media, Memorex is an excellent example as media goes, figures as high as 50% coasters have been reported (One member bought a stack of 50 and got 23 good burns.), not what I would call an impressive record. There are 4 different companies that manufacture Memorex BTW and product quality varies widely as you might imagine. Easy to see now why the quality of a big-named company can’t be trusted - “ Who’s making your Memorex tonight ?” Is it just Memorex ? No ! I just used Memorex as an example., Princo, Fuji, Orange Pack, Great AZO and most "store" discs aren’t all that suitable as a DVD backup media – that’s why we are specific in the type of media we are recommending. 1. * Cheap media freezes, skips, pixelats and may refuse to be recognized :-( Besides "Freezing", "skips" and pixelations, many times you’ll get a “Cyclic Redundancy error” or an "I/O error". This message can mean that your discs are scratched or dirty, it can also mean that your burner won’t accept your “cheap” media :-( Another problem which “pops up” is a “*Power Calibration Error”. This can stop you right in your tracks and most often is caused by, Yep, you guessed it, inexpensive media. *A “Power Calibration Error” can also be attributed to the Optical Components of a DVD Writer, though this isn’t usually the case. Trying to shut down your software and ejecting your DVD then restarting your program and re-inserting the same media recently cleaned has been known to help. Inexpensive media or even average media is great for text, Data, Spreadsheets, .Jpg and .Gif pictures and is good even for MP3 music BUT for DVD backups - BLAaaaaaT! It SUCKTH in an extremely Big-th way ! What we are suggesting is to download this DVD Identifier to find out who manufactured your DVD and if it's a decent quality. http://dvd.identifier.cdfreaks.com/ Once you have your disc identified, click the "More information" icon and see what information you're given. if you're not sure of the quality, come on back and we'll check it out for you - 2. A good grade, Hi-quality media is needed for DVD reproduction ! RiData, Sony, TDK, "Branded" Ritek G04's or "Branded" Verbatim Data Life, Verbatim DataLife plus, Taiyo Yuden's and generally, almost any discs manufactured by Mitsubishi are excellent bets. Among the better discs we're looking for, any media boasting "Advanced Metal AZO" - BUT it must say "METAL" AZO !, this indicates a superior dye and dye application on a good composite disc, while they are sometimes a bit "pricey" they are just the type of media we're looking for to do our DVD backups, Prices online from Meritline.com have gotten Ritek G04 starting at about a $ .45 (USD) a disc - Question - If you make coasters out of 3 cheap or even average discs and good copies from 3 RiData, Ritek, TDK, Sony or Verbatim discs - which ones then will you say are too expensive ? The 3 “Cheapo’s with no movie backup OR, the 3 recommended discs with a perfect backup on each disc ? Bear in mind, Memorex, Orange Pack, Princo, Fuji, Great AZO and others are quite good for your MP3 music, picture archives, Spread sheets, Data and your text backups and archives, they just don’t work well for DVD backups. Even DataSafe G04’s made by Ritek have been reported as an inferior quality media and are evoking that “Oh no, I shouldn’t have gotten those.” Remember, for DVD backups, purchasing inexpensive media or even average media is a gamble, some people win, the majority of people lose, varying amounts varying amounts, true but, they still lose :-( Using good grade media can guarantee you one thing to an absolute certainty; it surely cannot hurt. BTW, In an effort to clear the air, when I speak of "Cheap" or "Inexpensive" media, I'm not referring to the price you pay at the counter - I'm referring to the type of composite some manufactures use, their method of dye application and the lack of OR the poor quality control used during manufacturing. when I say "Branded" that means that when you pick up a disc in your hand, it says "Ritek" or "RiData" on the disc itself. The monetary cost of the media we recommend many times is cheaper than that you are buying now.
Here's a good place to get "branded" Riteks for under .50 each with free shipping, both +R(Ritek Ridata 4x) and -R(Ritek G05 8x). They ship that day and you usually get 'em in 3 days, and they have an excellent return policy. http://www.meritline.com/ritek-dvd-blank-media.html BTW, fast burn speeds WILL cause errors, I NEVER burn movies over 4x and games only at 1x.
one is probably full screen and one is wide screen just buy from a reputable seller. i use rima and newegg only, but supermediastore is ok too Taiyo Yuden discs are about the only safe bet on quality discs right now, just beware of fakes anything cheaper than $40 per 100 discs for 8x are fakes i have about 600 of these and every single one is perfect http://www.rima.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=R&Product_Code=1736-100
Is there a way to tell which title is widescreen or full screen? So are you saying that it is probably not a good idea to get dvd's at Office Depot or Wally World or best buy...? Can you explain what you mean by "branded" and is there a way to tell who manufactured the disc? Is it written on the box somewhere? Thanks a million, I am learning alot, I appreciate the collective genius on this forum!
Oops, sorry, guess I should have reread andmerr's post again lol, never mind about the branded thing LOL
ok, I put my Maxwell disc and ran DVD IDENTIFIER and here is what it came up with: Unique Disc IdentifierVD-R TYGO1 Manufacturer Name: Taiyo Yuden Co., LTD Manufacturer ID: TYGO1 Status [12:27:58] DVD-R/-RW Medium Detected. Starting Identification... [12:27:58] ** Initiating LPP Retrieval [12:28:00] LPP Read Completed Without Errors [12:28:00] Disc Identification Completed Successfully Drive Capabilities: ** INFO : Drive = LITE-ON DVDRW LDW-411S [FW FS05] ** INFO : Write Capabilities = DVD+RW DVD+R ** INFO : Write Capabilities = DVD-RW DVD-R ** INFO : Disc = [DVD-R:TYG01] ** INFO : An Empty Writable Disc Is Recommended For Accurate Results ** INFO : Write Speeds (Supported By This Drive On This Disc) Listed Below ** INFO : GET PERFORMANCE Write Speed Descriptor(s) Descriptor #1 = 5540 KBPS ( 4.00x) - [CLV/Non-Pure CAV] Descriptor #2 = 2770 KBPS ( 2.00x) - [CLV/Non-Pure CAV] ** INFO : MODE SENSE Write Speed Descriptor(s) [Legacy Command] ** INFO : MODE SENSE Is Obsolete And Not Properly Supported By Some Drives Descriptor #1 = 0 KBPS ( 0.00x) - [CLV/Non-Pure CAV] - [Invalid Entry] Descriptor #2 = 0 KBPS ( 0.00x) - [CLV/Non-Pure CAV] - [Invalid Entry] ** WARNING : Drive May Have Returned Incorrect Descriptors 'Media Code-Block' ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Control Data Zone'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'CDZ'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 10h - Format Information Of Control Data Zone 0000 : 25 0f 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 12 7f 00 00 00 00 %........&...... ** INFO : Hex Dump Of 'Media Code'-Block Listed Below ** INFO : 4-Byte Header Preceding 'Media Code'-Block Discarded ** INFO : Format 0Eh - Pre-Recorded Information In Lead-In 0000 : 01 40 80 12 23 00 52 00 02 86 0d 13 66 78 80 00 .@..#.R.....fx.. 0010 : 03 54 59 47 30 31 00 00 04 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .TYG01.......... 0020 : 05 88 80 00 00 00 01 00 06 08 0f 11 87 78 80 00 .............x.. 0030 : 07 88 80 00 00 00 00 00 08 05 16 0d 0f 0b 0b 00 ................ 0040 : 09 97 08 0f 0b 00 00 00 0a 00 00 00 00 00 10 00 ................ 0050 : 0b 05 1b 13 a8 89 65 00 0c b6 89 88 80 00 00 00 ......e......... 0060 : 0d 00 00 d0 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 .......... ********************************************* How do I know from this info if this is a good dvd-R or a baddie? Also, should I be using dvd+r instead?
If you pull one of the main movie titles then you can preview which is full screen or widescreen. ---zen-->
Dvd identifier lists those maxwell's as ty-go1. Did you mean MAXELL? Are they the maxell -r 4x yellowtops? These are very fine discs.Maxell yellowtops are made by hitachi,ritek,and ty yudin.All 3 manufacturers are excellent.I would take them in a heartbeat. Since your laptop has trouble playing then later on plays it ok,heat is most likely the culprit. Try cleaning the laser of that dvd-rom drive in that laptop.Either a can of compressed air or a disc cleaner. So you are scared of what media to buy? Those ty's and hitachi's are made in japan.When you go to a local office supplies store,just look on the outside label for these words: MADE IN JAPAN The great discs from Mitsubishi are also made in Japan. Taiwan can produce some good media like those ritek's and some of mitsubishi. They can also produce some crap. If made anywhere else other than those 2 countries,avoid them like the plague,lol
I forgot to add, I buy most of my media at staples,office depot, and walgreens.I don't pay over 40 cents a piece. I just picked up 350 sony +1-8x,"MADE IN JAPAN" that code as yuden000-T02.Ran dvdinfopro and got 0 errors,pretty darn good. Later
Thank you zenarrow for your reply. I did preview both of them and I couldn't see any difference so I just took the one that had the longest running time. Tee Hee, yes I meant Maxell, must've had java on the brain LOL. They are the yellowtops, has the dude sitting on his chair... so is the fact that they were id'd as ty-go1 mean that they are genuine TY made discs? Kewl...I was thinking that I would have to go buy new ones. Was thinking about the Verbatim I saw at Office Depot...but if these Maxells are not fakes then I guess I don't need to. Thank you so much. Is there a guide or another thread that explains the dvd codes and what they mean so that when I run the identifier again, I will have a clue as to what it means.
Hey maxaraxa, you are not the only one who calls them maxwell, A a few sellers on ebay lists these same discs as maxwell,lol Maybe there is a generic brand out there called maxwell and hope to snag us into buying them,lol It doesn't hurt to keep some good +'s around in case you run into any other pc or stand alones that won't play the - format. I like to try out a lot of different on sale media and haven't had a lick of trouble with any of them until I bought a 5 pack of verbatim -4x digital movie quality discs.1 burn error out of the first 2. I am lucky with only getting that 5 pack.The cases were worth that $5.88 price. Another program you may try a free trial,I just downloaded it a couple days ago so I don't know if this link will work or not: http://www.dvdinfopro.com dvdinfopro has a lot of things in it like analyzing your burn errors. That free trial wasn't working a week ago,now it is. I am not sure about a guide for dvd identifier. Here's a website where you can get a good idea on media quality: http://digitalfaq.com/media/dvdmedia.htm So you lucked out with the maxell ty's.They should be legit. I haven't been so lucky,my buddy has. I usually get mxl-rg02's and the other week screwed my made in japan system up thinking all yellowtops were made there and got ritek-go4's-made in taiwan. Still pretty good.
the only problem with buying them from a retail store is that it is more of a gamble of getting good discs with the brands they carry. your case is a perfect example. this time you got top of the line TY discs. next time you probably won't be so lucky. most brands sold in stores outsource, so you never know who actually made the disc
maxaraxa, one more thing, did you ever get your problem solved? media sounds ok this time, so i would follow bigorange and reduce burn speed to at least 4x i wouldn't multitask during encoding either
well I use bbmayo's guide to burning and haven't had any trouble with the actual burning process and I do burn only at 4x. What a great and easy guide, THANKS BBMAYO!!! I read and read a bunch of these threads before I started to post. There is quite alot of info in here, you just have to be patient and look. Anyway, the discs play great on my puter dvdrom and I was just curious why the laptop was being flakey. I think it is a heat thing. When I took the dvd-R out of the laptop, it was quite warm and after about 20 mins. I put it back in and it ran fine. I guess I really did luck out on those Maxells. I will get them from Newegg or rima next time. I am just glad I didn't buy the Office Depot brand dvd-r's lol! My standalone didn't play any of those that I burned so I am going to buy a 3pk of the +'s and see if it will read those. Can you explain how to tell the widescreen vs. the full screen titles? I have previewed both and couldn't tell a difference.
maxaraxa wrote: Often in the title of the movie (e.g. the file name when you create a .ISO) it will say 4:3 (fullscreen) or 16:9 (widescreen). Other than that, you should be able to see the difference just watching it. It is possible there are two different versions of the movie on the DVD. Sometimes it is called "Theatrical" and "Director's Cut" or things to that effect. ff
hey max, That last batch of maxell's i bought at office depot were those ritek's. Just the week before,they were on sale there at that same store,same quantity, and they coded as mxl-rgo2. Just in as little as one week,they switched manufacturers on the same spindle quantity. The same will hold true for maxell's bought at rima,and new egg,"3 different manufacturers". But all 3 are still good media. That is why most people will tell you to buy ty's.
so the mxl-rgo2 are good discs? Is that the code for ritek? When you buy at Newegg...they list some as "branded" and some as not. If they are not a for sure thing, why do they sell those that are not "branded"? Do you mostly buy ritek at these sites?
