Worried with major project looming and burning in DVD Arch

[Stephen Mann]

“Oddly when I took two of these and replayed them they did better the second time, and then the third time almost as they had healed themselves and played perfectly.”

I’ll bet that you burned the DVD’s at the highest speed available.

Random pixellation on playback almost always indicates that your DVD player can’t read *and correct the errors* fast enough. Try burning them at a 4X rate.

If this doesn’t describe your problem, try a lower MAX Bitrate.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Don Kimball]

Hi Steve:

These are excellent suggestions. I went into DVD Arch just to take note of the speed that I have been burning the DVD’s in question.
My burner is identified as Pioneer DVD-RW 106D 1.00
The default speed is 24.0.

I am certainly perfectly willing to drop the speed down to 4x. I did have a couple of concerns though. I have never to my knowledge changed the speed that I have been burning DVD’s since I have owned the computer over the last 7 years. The number of failed DVD’s I could count on one hand. So it leads me to think that there may be another issue.

To my embarassment I have never used a cleaner or had any maintenance done on this faithful pioneer burner over the 7 years I have owned it. Could it be that the DVD burner needs to be cleaned or needs maintenance? Also I know that to burn successfully you need a considerable amount of space on the drive. I am using an external drive with 17.5 Gig free space. Each DVD is about 3.5 Gig.

Any further wisdom on this one? I appreciate your kind suggestions.

Don

http://www.polytelismedia.wordpress.com

[Nigel O’neill]

The maximum rated speed for burning DVD’s for your drive is 4x, and 16x for CDR according to the manufacturers website. You could try lowering it to 2x.

Your drive is getting long in the tooth. 7 years is an exceptionally l-o-n-g and good service life! Given the cost of new DVD burners is around 50 bucks, you might want to consider a replacement that will allow you to burn reliably at 4x, 8x, 12x etc.

Intel i7 920, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10 (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Stephen Mann]

Changing the media could certainly do it.

Who Really Makes the Disc?

Realize that most media is produced by a relatively small number of factories, located in several different places. These factories are mostly present in Taiwan, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, China and India. There are more, but those are the largest ones. The best media generally comes from Japan, Taiwan and Singapore. The worst typically comes from China and Malaysia.

The blank disc brand name on the package means almost nothing. Apple is a great brand, but they do not make their own discs, instead outsourcing to a company like Mitsubishi Chemicals. Common companies like Memorex, Maxell and Imation all outsource to media vendors. Mitsubishi also makes the discs for Verbatim, etc.

It is the media ID that is important, as it reveals the disc manufacturer. Unfortunately, this is not written on packaging or anywhere else. Companies want consumers to be oblivious to this sort of behind-the-scenes information. The Media ID is also used by your DVD burner to determine the burn parameters which includes the maximum burn speed. Never, ever burn your DVD’s at the maximum burn rate. (You will make a lot of coasters if you do). Pick a speed in the middle; 4X or 6X is my personal limit.

I recommend that you use the freeware “DVD Identifier” to read the media ID to learn who *really* made the discs in your box:
https://www.afterdawn.com/software/cd_dvd/dvd_tools/dvd_identifier.cfm

DVD Identifier has it’s own database to interpret the media ID into the manufacturer name and write parameters. Likewise, your DVD burner has a similar lookup table in its firmware. If your burner is relatively old, then newer DVD manufacturer’s codes won’t be found. The tipoff to this is when your DVD burner falls back to “safe” parameters, like a maximum burn speed of 2X. Some older burners revert to their max burn speed, like 24X, which almost never works. If this happens to you, then you need a firmware update or a new DVD burner.

Steve Mann

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Nigel O’neill]

As Stephen suggested, there is a firmware update for this particular burner, up to 1.08 I think, but I was not going to suggest it mainly due to the factor of the age of the burner.

You could try different brands of media as suggested, as some burners handle others better. My old Pioneer preferred Sony’s and Verbatim, for instance, but had problems with TDK’s.

Intel i7 920, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10 (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Don Kimball]

Steve, Nigel:

Thanks for taking time out to offer your suggestions. I know most folks are busy with projects so your time is very appreciated. Here is my decision at this point based on the evidence I have gathered.
Given the burners age and potential wear (probably burned at least 1000 DVD’s over 7 years). I will move to purchase and install a new one. Having said so any suggestions? I will be looking for a simple work horse burner (Pioneer has been good to me for example) with no frills. One that will burn crisp video and quickly.

Thanks again!
Don

http://www.polytelismedia.wordpress.com

[Nigel O’neill]

Don

There was a time when Pioneer was the ‘Bees Knees’ of DVD burners, and the Pioneer 106 was a real work horse, as you have discovered. 1,000 DVD’s is excellent mileage from any burner nowadays. I have 3 burners in 1 machine now, all different brands (LG, Asus and TSSCorp). They each differ in that the LG can burn Blu-ray, the TSSCorp is light scribe capable and the Asus is just a plain old DVD burner, but is capable of 20x burn speeds when the media becomes available. I seldom burn over 12X, and tend to stick to 8X burn speeds for reasons Stephen has already pointed out.

If you are recording in HD or HDV, and editing in HD/HDV, and want best quality possible, Blu-ray is something you could consider. If you have the right home entertainment (blu-ray, flat screen HD TV and digital sound system), be prepared to be amazed!

Burning crisp video is not a function of the burner, but rather the editing process you take to get the video to the stage where it is ready for burning. A high burn speed is not always good as some DVD players will struggle to play such discs.

Intel i7 920, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10 (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Don Kimball]

Hi Nigel et al

Many thanks.

I went ahead and ordered this LG burner from Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/LG-Electronics-GH22NP20-SecurDisc-Internal/dp/B001TOD5CQ/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_cart_1

I am hoping it will allow me to safely burn DVD’s reliably up to 8x.
I wouldnt want to burn faster as per the advise I have received here.

Interestingly enough the company I buy my DVD’s from, have my old Pioneer Burner (brand new and never used) for sale on ebay.

https://cgi.ebay.com/Pioneer-DVR-106D-DVD-R-RW-Writer_W0QQitemZ330519353047QQcategoryZ51065QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp5197.m7QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DLVI%26itu%3DUCI%26otn%3D5%26po%3DLVI%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D6555496674042436153#ht_877wt_932

Its been such a great burner its tempting to send the new LG back and order this one. However I am going with the thought that if I can reliably burn with the new LG quicker then it would be wiser to keep the LG. vs the stable work horse of the old model. Your thoughts are welcome on this one and of course once again I am very thankful for your time and fantastic advise.

Don

http://www.polytelismedia.wordpress.com