Hi everyone, I have a particular set of DVD movies which all of them (and only those DVD's) freeze for up to several minutes, then begin palyback for several seconds (while having skipped over those minutes). Has anyone else found that perhaps bad presses can result in this sort of issue? I'd like to return the movies sets to the distributor if this is the case, but need to confirm if this is a pressed DVD issues or not. Oddly, the same DVD's play uninterupted on another (higher end player), but the only these DVD's (and one other TV series set I have) exhibit this behaviour and only on my lower end player. Player issue or DVD issue? How to identify which?
I have recently experienced a similar problem and found that the actual DVD player was faulty, my bet would be that your discs are OK.
Download this program to ID original and backup dvds-look for the free version with adverts: http://www.dvdinfopro.com/ Here's what the original looks like using dvdinfopro: Media Information Disc Regions are 1 Media code/Manufacturer ID N/A Pressed DVD Format Type UDF 1.02 Volume Name RINGER_PS Application id Implementation id MEI Recording Date/Time (mm/dd/yyyy) 3/ 7/2006 15:34:33 Format Capacity 4.25GB(4.56GB) Book Type DVD-ROM Media Type DVD-ROM Data area starting sector 30000h Data area end sector 21FD56h Linear Density 0.267um/bit Track Density 0.74um/track Number of Layers 1 Complete Media Code Here's how the backup will ID: Media Information Disc Regions are 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 Media code/Manufacturer ID MCC 004 Media Product Revision Number 00h Format Type UDF 1.02 Volume Name RINGER_PS Application id Implementation id MEI Recording Date/Time (mm/dd/yyyy) 3/ 7/2006 15:34:33 Format Capacity 4.25GB(4.56GB) Book Type DVD-ROM Media Type DVD+R Manufacturer Rated Speed 16.0x 22160KBp Data area starting sector 30000h Data area end sector 21FD5Fh Linear Density 0.267um/bit Track Density 0.74um/track Number of Layers 1 Complete Media Code 00000000 08 02 00 00 01 0F 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 24 FD 5F .............$._ 00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 4D 43 43 00 00 00 00 00 30 .......MCC.....0 00000020 30 34 00 38 23 54 37 12 02 54 6C 02 92 5F 15 15 04.8#T7..Tl.._.. 00000030 0B 0B 08 08 01 19 1B 0C 0C 0C 0D 01 00 00 00 00 ................ That'll tell you if it is pressed or a backup copy. Sounds like player issue. Another player confirmed them by playing them perfect. Stand alone players can do some weird stuff. Also lots of pirated dvds with the pressed in dvd-rom format floating around.
Thanks ever so much for the replies. I as well tend to think the lower end player would be the issue. It's just that out of several hundred DVD/movies, only these two episode series discs play perfectly until about half way thru each DVD when the freezes begin. I guess if it is just a player issue (which I'm still doubting), then for some reason these DVD's were oddly formatted and as such only the one player can't handle it. If so, maybe the suggested identifier will show soemthing similar about the two DVD sets (as opposed to other which play normally). I just can't wrap my brain around why the first half of each DVD play just fine and just these DVD's last half's all freeze. That's why I'm still thinking the issues aren't a player related so much as a press (or formatting) issue. Especially since the low end player virtually new and the high end one is getting on at nearly two years. Maybe I'm just hard-headed. Well, no maybe there. But the aspect that they play fine until the halfway point is almost too much to disconsider the DVD's aren't at fault. My guess's the distributor has chosen some oddball or cheap formatting that's just not compatable with certain standalone players. Oh well. At least they do play, so I can't complain too much. It's just for the price we pay for legitimate DVD movies, it's aggravating that many of them seem a bit bunky and basically requires us to have an assortment of players just to watch the stuff. Thanks again for the suggestion and replies.
There are a lot of bad pressed discs out there. Just check out the dvd shrink/dvd-r newbies/and a slew of other rooms. Someone who runs into a bad pressed-also known as bum disc-thinks it's a new encryption because they can't back them up. On episodic dvds,like in a special package with 5+ discs,there are certain titled discs that do have issues. Usually ripping,not so much playing when it comes to playing originals in stand alone players. Double check the discs. Look at the bottom for any defects/dust/or even a fingerprint.Make sure all discs are clean before inserting them into any drive. Any future issues with that player,double check in other drives. A lens cleaning may be in order-but I consider that as a last resort,before drive replacement. High end or Low end players,they should play original dvds. Now backup dvds are another story. The higher dollar stand alone players tend to have more issues with playing backups than the el-cheapo. Did you try ripping those dvds with a dvd-rw drive,if you have one? I'll bet they may kick out a CRC error. Stand alone players are more forgiving on bad pressed discs. PC dvd-rom/rw drives aren't. They'll probably error out when they hit that bad area.
Thanks for the insights. Ya, I know about cleaning the discs and even the optical lenses. For the longest time I couldn't use my computer's DVD player as despite using the so called disc cleaners, what it took was alcohol and q-tips to do the job. And because I'm a smoker, I find the things absolutely act like a vaccuum cleaner or ionizer and attract the smoke to the lense as I have to clean them about once a week. As for the problematic discs, even alcohol rub downs don't help, they're just plain bunky as far as I can determine.
Almost forgot, to I suppose conclude this string, my issues with certain episodes of Xena DVD's freezing, seem tied only to my stand alone players (Toshiba SD-P2600 & Cyberhome CH-LDV 700B) as the DVD's play fine in both my laptop's drive and my LG 5160D Super Writer's drive. One would think that the manufacturer's of these two players would be forced to produce firmware upgrades to resolve the issue, No?
Pcs play them ok,and 2 stand alone players don't: Definitely try quality media-keep compression minimal-test in all your drives. If that don't help,try a lens cleaning disc in botht those stand alones.I consider that a last resort,before replacement.
