ive got a divx/xvid stand alone dvd player and usally download these kind o film over torrent and then burn them straight to a cd+r/dvd+r(i bought some bulk packs and theres no converting) ..... the problem is that when the movie gets to about 1h 40m it just freeze on a regular basis. do u thing its a disk problem and i am better getting a cd-r/dvd-r as ive heard that it should work a lot better but dont see what difference it could have. i have had a look throught other forums but there is so many and i appologies if i have double posted. please advise or point me to a previous post. thanks
Cheap media is the single biggest cause of DVD and CD-related problems. Spread the word far and wide - the only decent media is stuff that says Made in Japan on the label. The one exception is Verbatim, which is also great. The rest is garbage. Stick around here a while and you'll see for yourself. If changing the media doesn't work you also might have a player with an old, buggy firmware. Go to the manufacturer's site and download a newer version if it's available. Keep in mind the thing about the media quality I mentioned is always true. P.S. it helps to burn things at slower-than-rated speeds. I never burn anything more than 4x speed, no matter what.
Ok so I just went to office depot the other day and picked up some of their "Office Depot" blank DVD-R's that were made in Taiwan. Are these any good? I also saw "Imation", although I'm not sure where they are made. Does anyone know if they are a good brand to go with?
Imation's not so hot,they are probably from India(from what i've seen recently).For peace of mind better stick with Taiyo Yuden medias or even Verbatim.They are simply the best out there.You won't go wrong with these medias. Vincent.
Thanks for the reply, Vincent. Ok so Taiyo Yuden and Verbatim are top of the line, any others? Also what about speeds? I see speeds from 4x to 16x. But then I always hear that you should only burn at speeds 4x and below so is there any need to get the 16x? What's the best place to shop for these two brands? What do you think of the prices at this link? http://www.supermediastore.com/taiyo-yuden-dvd-r-media.html
You're welcome Melissa.I've been doing quite a lot of reading here in AD since i joined in and i can tell you that Supermediastore is one of the only places to sell genuine Taiyo Yuden medias.Other good recommended places are meritline,rima and shop4tech.A lot of members do purchase their medias there,mostly from supermediastore,meritline and rima,these places have the solid reputation for selling genuine TY medias.Another good media(if you can't get TY or Verb)is Maxell from Japan. Here's a link where you can have a better idea about TY medias,it's worth having a look on that link if you're gonna get some TY medias. http://forums.afterdawn.com/thread_view.cfm/296925 About burning speed,as a good thumb rule it is advisable to burn at half the speed of the media.But there can be some exception when you use some good quality medias like TY or Verbatim,where you can burn 4x medias @4x and 8x medias @8x.But for 16x medias,it's still advisable to burn them at half the speed even for good quality medias.If you go beyond the 8x speed,there's little more risk of playback issues like skipping,etc.. From my own opinion,there's no real need of getting 16x medias since you're gonna burn them at half the speed,whatever good quality medias or not.Now if you're kind of a hurry person and need to burn things as quick as possible,then you can have them and burn them at the same speed,but the risk will be here and higher.I prefer the 8x medias and i always burn them at the same speed,but never go beyond that.Sometimes to be able to burn 16x medias @ 16x,you need to update your drive's firmware and that's another story,whereas for 8x medias,they're more or less already supported by actual firmware. Is there any particular reason why you're looking at -R media rather than the +R format?Because if your burner can booktype DVD+R to DVD-ROM,then the +R media would be better since once booktyped,the media will be more compatible on almost any standalone DVD player(new/old) and on game consoles. Vincent.
Wow! Thanks for all the info! As for the -R vs. +R I hadn't really thought about it, since I wasn't too familiar with the differences. But since you mentioned it I guess I'll just move to +R. Most of video files I want to burn onto DVD are in .avi and mpeg etc format. And so far I've just been burning them using Nero, and just burning them as Data and then watching them on my computer. But I've thinking about trying to see if I could watch them on tv as well. I was looking into purchasing the Phillips DVP642 DivX player, that you can see here at this amazon link http://www.amazon.com/Philips-DVP64...s_1/002-5921708-3817629?ie=UTF8&s=electronics Have you heard anything about his standalone player? Anyway, I'm also going to try burning them as actual DVD's instead of just Data like I usually do. There are some guides on doing this in the guide section I'm going to go through to learn how to do that. The only downer is that the files take up more space when burned as DVD's, I think. So I won't be able to get consolidate as much video on a single DVD as I would if it were burnt as Data. Thanks again for all the help.
Glad that i could help you Melissa! First thing before rushing on +R medias,check if your burner support booktyping first.What's your burner(brand/model) by the way?If you don't know how to check it,i'll do that for you. Me too i do burn a lot of avi.files on DVD and go by the same process as you,i.e,burn them as Data DVD using Nero.They work fine on my pc as well as on my DivX standalone player,which is a Samsung.But to tell you the truth,the Philips DivX player is much better than any other brands(from what i've read and noticed),unfortunately when i bought mine the Philips was out of stock Maybe next time i'll get one of these Yeah if you burn these files as DVD files(if i can call it like that),they would definitely take more space on your DVD and you won't be able to stock much on a single DVD.But the quality won't be better because you'll be converting these files from actual avi.files which have originally been compressed(hence lost some image and sound quality).But if you do get the Philips Divx player,then you can just continue to burn them the way you always do.For me,it's the simplest and best way! If there's anything else,just let me know. Vincent.
Thanks! That's great to hear that the Philips Divx player is a good buy. It does seem alot simpler. Now all I have to do is get one. It will make things alot easier. One minor question, if I were to continue burning my video files as data and use them along with the Philips Divx player would you still suggest going with TY, Verbatim, or Maxell media and getting it in +R format? Does the brand and format make a difference even with data burns? Oh, and also the brand of my burner is a... BenQ 16X DVD±R DVD Burner With LightScribe Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model DW1655 I ordered if off of newegg a few months ago after doing some research to find out what players everyone thought were pretty good. Here's a quick link to the product page. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827101008 Did I make a good choice?
Melissa, I have almost the same burner as yours but it's not lighscribe,it's the DW-1650.So,if your burner does booktype?Oh yes,sure it does and very well!!!And one more time,very very good choice on your part to get THIS particular burner.It's the one or the 1650(for non-ligtscribe) that i always recommend others about which is the best burner to get. Yes indeed,even if you're buning your files as data,it makes a difference if you use a good quality media,namely TY,Verbatim or Maxell(Japan).With good quality medias,you know that all your backups will be sure and safe and as we say all you'll have is Peace of mind About the format too,it does a matter as if you booktype your DVD+R to DVD-ROM,you will be sure that they will be more compatible,even more than the -R format! Here's a link which can help you understand better about booktyping. http://www.booktypefaq.com/ If i'm right,you do have one program called QSuite(that you got on a cd together when you bought the 1655).Inside,you will see some features like Solidburn,WOPC,testwrite,QScan,Overburning and booktype.Just go in Booktype and change the setting there,put the current write booktype as DVD-ROM for DVD+R discs.After that,everytime you burn a +R media,it will automatically set your +R media as DVD-ROM. In case it doesn't booktype by itself,then just follow the link above to know how to booktype with Nero or DVD-Decrypter,it's very simple. And one more thing to always remember,to have a good and sucessful burn it's not to have only a good burner or use only good media,but it's a combination of both together. Have a nice day!See ya! Vincent.
Ok great! Thank you so much Vincent! You've been an excellent help! I'll go read up on booktyping at that link you provided since I really don't have a clue what it is and then look around for the CD's that came with my Burner. I'll also go to supermediastore and buy some 8X DVD+R media. Then I'll look into getting that Philips DivX player. Thanks again! P.S. What about Double/Dual Layer media? Do DVD players have any more trouble reading that? If not should I just try to get instead?
Just about any Divx-capable player is modern enough to recognize DLs. In fact, I have an old Toshiba from around 2002 that likes DLs just fine so long as they are booktyped to DVD-ROM. I can also attest to the popular Philips DVP-642 playing just about anything, and the Philips 5960 is supposedly a notch up. I wouldn't bother with Amazon if avoidable. Circuit City has the 642 on sale for the same price but you don't have to pay shipping. Target, Best Buy and other stores all carry it. You'll like Supermediastore. I get the Taiyo-Yuden Premium Line 8x DVD-R, not the +R, since it's substantially cheaper and I don't have to worry about booktyping, but the TY +R is supposed to ever so slightly better than the -R. @EVERYONE- Supermediastore has a 20 pack of DVD+R DL Verbatim inkjet printable for $29 after rebate. http://www.supermediastore.com/verbatim-double-layer-dvd-plus-r-white-inkjet-printable-95123.html
