half the movie is fine, half is bad

Hello,

I am brand new to this--I backed up my first DVD the other day. It was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I followed the instructions at:
http://forum.digital-digest.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=45238
and used DVD Decrypter and DVD Shrink.

My DVD played fine on my DVD player for half the movie. But the last half got pixelated and would skip chapters. I tried a different DVD player but the same thing happened.

But when I tried to watch the DVD using my computer, it played fine.

Could my DVD players be too sensitive? I don't know if the problem was with decrypting, shrinking or burning.

Any suggestions?
Thanks

 

What brand of discs did you use and at what speed did you burn??

 

Thanks for writing.

I used a Memorex DVD-R 4.7 GB, 120 Minute video disk.

For the speed, I believe I left the default of DVD Decrypter which is MAX.

 

You couldn't have chosen a worse brand of disc, memorex are horrible discs and would more than likely be the problem, try Verbatim or Sony (made in japan) and burn at 4X.

Heres a little reading about memorex

http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/262544

 

Thanks for writing. I thought all disks were the same! i guess not.

I only have a few Memorex disks. I also bought a stack of Samsung Pleomax thermal printable DVD -R 8X 120 min , 4.7 GB disks. I hope they are ok because i have 50 of them and bought them online so it's hard to return. Do you know anything about those disks?

I'm just confused about why playing my DVD in the computer will work fine, but playing it in the DVD player makes half the movie pixelated. If the disk was bad, wouldn't it also be bad when using it in the computer?

 

Try reducing the recording speed from "max" to a slower speed on the Memorex discs. The fact that they played on the DVD computer drive means the file structure was OK, but the inability to to play through on the DVD player could be due to a number of things.

Some discs are better than others, but the quality differences are usually not as significant as compatibility. The recommended discs are the most compatible. Those that are less compatible are often called "horrible" and worse by people who confuse the two properties.

 

Ok, although memorex disc are really bad, they should at least play without troubles on your dvd. But the real problem is the speed your burning them. Try the slowest you can and I assure you your movie will play without troubles. Remember when buying those low quality disc (like memorex) try burning them at the slowest you can, because they tend to have incredible amount of errors when burned at high speeds.

 

Those discs are "rated" at 4X--now 8X, but no rating shows up on the boxes because the customers who buy them are the ones who record them at 1X in their stand-alone DVD recorders. That's probably why they are slower speed than media that are found in spindles or jewel cases.

As for claims of low quality, those who make such claims should be able to specify what drive and firmware is being used so that compatibility issues can be ruled out and then specify those test parameters that are out of spec. I've seen claims that "Verbatim are really bad," "TDK are really bad," "Taiyo Yuden 16X are really bad," and on and on. Trouble shooting these complaints generally uncovers other issues. Trying to record a 4X disc at 8X or 12X is bound to produce errors--assuming that any drive will allow it.

 

thanks to all who wrote. I will try to burn again at 1x and post back the results.

besides taking more time, is there a difference in quality between burning at 1x and burning at MAX?

 

No there is no difference in the quality of the video of the DVD. The difference will be in the amount of write errors you may encounter if you burn at "MAX", resulting in the problems you mentioned above (skiping chapters, pixelating).

PD: Personally I burn at 4x all my dvd's, 1x is really really slow, so I reccomend you to try at 2x or at 4x when trying to burn dvds.

 

@ rutica,

all you have to do is get better media like gwendolin wrote. ur problem is simply Memosux, theres a reason why 99.9% of AD members dont recommend them, plain and simple they suck.

You will never go wrong with Verbatims or Taiyo Yuden disks.

 

The complexity of optical disc recording precludes the use of adjectives such as "plain and simple." There are cases where you can go wrong with Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim discs, but those cases are rare because these media are not only very high quality but also the most compatible with drives. Plain and simple advice is too often misleading or inaccurate information. As a "newbie" you will soon be able to distinguish the usefulness of the information from namecallers and those who take the time to examine or ask for more details to try to define your problem and to fix it. Be wary of "plain and simple" advice.

 

As Shrink was used could it be the compression rate was very high causing the playback probs?

 

I tried burning 3 DVDs last night.

1). a store-bought Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. I burned it at a speed of 1x on a Samsung Pleomax thermal printable DVD -R 8X 120 min , 4.7 GB disk.
On my Onkyo DVD player, the previews played fine but there was no sound. But when trying to watch the main movie, I got a message 'the disk may be dirty or damaged. contact the manufactor'.
i tried to play the DVD in my computer and i had fine sound and video.

2). a store-bought Lost in Translation DVD (boring movie by the way). I burned it at a speed of 1x on a Samsung Pleomax thermal printable DVD -R 8X 120 min , 4.7 GB disk.
On my Onkyo DVD player, I got a message 'the disk may be dirty or damaged. contact the manufactor'.
i tried to play the DVD in my computer and i had fine sound and video.

3). An avi of Butterfly Effect. I burned it at a speed of 4x on a Memorex DVD-R 4.7 GB, 120 Minute video disk. I used Cucusoft Pro 7.07 to convert from avi to dvd and used Nero Express 6 to burn. On my Onkyo DVD player, it plays, but it is choppy. i tried to play the DVD in my computer and i had fine sound and video.

I have a stack of 50 Samsung DVDs. I hate to have to throw them away. Is there anthing else I can try besides slowing down the burn speed?

 

Hi again:

To altercuno: I doubt that may be a problem as you see with 3 different cases and 3 different movies the problem reproduces itself.

Getting to the problem again, it seems like your Onkyo Dvd Player may be a little picky so before wasting any more dvds, why dont you look for any other available standalone DVD player, try playing those movies to see if the problem repeats itself.

You wont be wasting the DVDS, but the issue is that you (with our help ) will have to find were the problem is, and then try to find a solution.

About the burning speed: 1x, (dont worry 2x and 4x is good from my personal experience so dont waste precious time burning at 1x),some weird weird times some players dont like reading dvds burned at 1x so try burning at the speeds I mencioned before.

So to put it in little words I recommend you as your next step: Try playing the DVD on another Stand alone player to see if the problem persist, Try burning the movies at 2x or 4x to see if your player then proceeds to read it (as I said some times some dvd players dont like to read movies burned at 1x for some really odd odd reason). If you still have the problem, you can post back and we can help you find more solutions.

 

dont throw those diskies away!! you can always use them for data! do a back up or put your music collection on them!

when I first started this I bought some realllllly bad disk, they were totally unusable for movies but worked great for music and backups.

 

dont blame ya a bit... shoot, when I get some not so good media.. I use it for my car stereo.. not dvd's of course that way out in the car theyre disposable .. and if someone steals em.. no biggie...

 

Thank you all for writing and for your good advice.

I asked someone to test the 3 DVDs on their player and the results are:

quote:
"The Lost in Translation and Butterfly Effect are recorded ok and the image is good. I tried also in the middle of the film and is ok.

The Eternal Sunshine... recorded the previews with good image but no sound. When the movie starts, the DVD freeze and I had to eject the movie."
end quote

Reminders: the Eternal Sunshine and Lost in Translation were both recorded at a speed of 1x on a Samsung Pleomax thermal printable DVD -R 8X 120 min, 4.7 GB disk.

The Butterfly Effect was an avi. I used Cucusoft Pro 7.07 to convert from AVI to DVD and used Nero Express 6 to burn at a speed of 4x on a Memorex DVD-R 4.7 GB, 120 Minute video disk.

So it looks like Onkyo is too sensitive.

How do I do a CRC scan?