For double layer, which one: DVD+R or DVD-R????

[diomedes]

Basically I need them to burn stuff like 5 GB DVDs and stuff to playback on a standard old fashioned DVD player. which is better suited? I ask because I always thought the -R ones were intended for that purpose, but I cannot find them in stores anywhere, I've called so many places.

Thanks

 

[lowleg26]

I ask because I always thought the -R ones were intended for that purpose, but I cannot find them in stores anywhere, I've called so many places.

Really? I thought that the +R discs had a better track record of compatibility.

For dual layer discs, all I've ever used are verbatim +R discs and I have yet to run into any issues getting them to play on any kind of player. In fact, my main dvd player is now my old ps2. I'm sure we've all heard some bellyaching about how ps2's are supposed to have poor DVD playback abilities, but mine has yet to give me any issues with any burned disc.

I guess the short answer would be, +R will be just fine. But, with whatever disc you choose, make sure its a HQ one like verbatim or sony. I've burned well over 300 discs of each brand and have yet to come across any quality control issues.

:goodmood:

 

[diomedes]

Nice stuff. Many thanks. If im in future shop tonight i'll check if they have verbatim or sony. I have TDK, any idea if they are decent? I have been having epic issues burning one particular double layer dvd and so far im stranded. I don't think its time to blame TDK but maybe yet another brand switch would work.

 

[lowleg26]

Nice stuff. Many thanks. If im in future shop tonight i'll check if they have verbatim or sony. I have TDK, any idea if they are decent? I have been having epic issues burning one particular double layer dvd and so far im stranded. I don't think its time to blame TDK but maybe yet another brand switch would work.

I've had pretty good experiences with TDK, but I don't usually use them simply because there's only one store in my area that sells them (and they never seem to go on sale).

I actually recently revisited some of my old TDK burns and they've held up very well. I had a TDK disc of "Hebimetasan" episodes that all play from the disc flawlessly; but when I try to copy the episodes to HDD, I get a bad sector message on one of the episodes. That's literally the only problem I've ever had with that brand (and from what I've seen on other forums and such, TDK is generally seen as a higher quality brand).

Memorex discs, on the other hand, have given me numerous headaches. I would definitely stay away from them!

I think you've got the right idea. The discs may not be to blame, but it never hurts to try another brand and see what happens. Hopefully its not a software or hardware issue.

Does the disc image play in VLC without error? I just wonder if its the file itself that may be the issue.

 

[diomedes]

I think you've got the right idea. The discs may not be to blame, but it never hurts to try another brand and see what happens. Hopefully its not a software or hardware issue.

Yeah, troubleshooting with this stuff is hell..... Real hell. I have 2 valid dvd burners, nero and alcohol, DL DVD-R and DVD+R, I try prepackaging the iso and also burning the image directly. I have tried those combinations and all i came up with is a pile of coasters. Im pretty sure it's just the structure of the disc that somehow does not allow it to burn properly. Im looking into the idea of an alternate rip.

As for playing in VLC, i have not tried, but that's largely cause i don't know how to get PowerDVD to run an iso on my system. It only reads off discs. VLC, what do i put in the window? The iso? Can't be, and either way many of the problems are revolving around the menus, and initializing the disc.

I use TDK for plain dvd-r and they're definetly faithful. I've gone through spindles because the wholesale store i get them from only caries that brand, and at a very decent cost.

 

[lowleg26]

Yeah, troubleshooting with this stuff is hell..... Real hell. I have 2 valid dvd burners, nero and alcohol, DL DVD-R and DVD+R, I try prepackaging the iso and also burning the image directly. I have tried those combinations and all i came up with is a pile of coasters. Im pretty sure it's just the structure of the disc that somehow does not allow it to burn properly. Im looking into the idea of an alternate rip

I hate making coasters, especially with dual layer discs (they aren't cheap). And since they usually make you burn at a low speed anyway, sometimes you can't make them go any slower (so the "slow burns = good burns" adage is moot).

As for playing in VLC, i have not tried, but that's largely cause i don't know how to get PowerDVD to run an iso on my system. It only reads off discs. VLC, what do i put in the window? The iso? Can't be, and either way many of the problems are revolving around the menus, and initializing the disc.

Actually, with VLC you CAN just drag and drop an ISO (or even a DVD video folder) onto the VLC window and it should play it back just fine! I've never used PowerDVD before, but I don't think that will interfere with VLC. Acually, the only video/audio player I have on my PC right now is VLC and it plays back pretty much everything (except .rm) with no additional software or codecs needed (I guess I should say that its the only player that I USE, I have iTunes because if you have an iPod you don't really get an option).

VLC has a pretty small footprint and works very well, so, even if you don't use it as your preferred player, its still nice to have around to test files that may give other players trouble. I'd definitely try the ISO with VLC before trying it on another disc.

 

[diomedes]

It appears to play adequately in vlc. You cannot select chapters as you would with the dvd player, so it auto scrolls through the 1st layer of menues slowly. But yeah, no apparent issues. The issues i'm looking for are related to commanding a certain chapter, and that is frequently when things go badly.

Pretty cool about playing isos like that in vlc, i didn't know that. Anyway, since this has been haunting me for months, i will get yet another brand and then take the final step. If non of those work, i may pull my hair out and go bald.

ah well....:wetland:

Anyway, thanks for the tips, i'll let you know what happens at the end. Should be exciting....

btw/ do you know how to use AutoGK to rip DVDs? I've been unpacking them and i find that one of the VOBs (i think the 1st one, right?) tend to playback the entire dvd within GK for dubbing, rather than the chapter that it does when viewed in a media player.

 

[lowleg26]

It appears to play adequately in vlc. You cannot select chapters as you would with the dvd player, so it auto scrolls through the 1st layer of menues slowly. But yeah, no apparent issues. The issues i'm looking for are related to commanding a certain chapter, and that is frequently when things go badly.

Yeah, I've run across a lot of ISO's that are the same way. They're basically ISO sized rips (but the quality is good). If its playing fine in VLC, then we're right back where we started. :dunno:

Anyway, thanks for the tips, i'll let you know what happens at the end. Should be exciting....

btw/ do you know how to use AutoGK to rip DVDs? I've been unpacking them and i find that one of the VOBs (i think the 1st one, right?) tend to playback the entire dvd within GK for dubbing, rather than the chapter that it does when viewed in a media player.

I'm glad I could be of some help! :goodboy:

As for AutoGK, unfortunately I've never used it. For DVD rips, I've only used Handbrake and DVD Decrypter (the combo works well, though).
EDIT: I should clarify, for video or "ISO 2 Video" conversions I use handbrake. For making ISO or DVD folder backups, I use DVD Decrypter.

Good luck with the ISO!

 

[scarletsnow]

When I did use DVD discs, I looked at the country of production as a measure of quality:

• Japan
• South-Korea/Taiwan/India/...
• China

You can look up specific discs at:
www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia?dvdmediadvdridsearch=

 

[diomedes]

So the madness continues. I'm sitting herewatching the result (typing on my iPhone) of my most recent endeavour:
picked up fujifilm DVDs this time, burn diagnostic on pc was good, put it in the player and hopes sank through the floor: the player groAned, made spinning noises, and took about 30 seconds to decide to play. It started good, and then I decided to challene the menu navigation and started a scene, then went to main menu, then went to another scene, etc. Eventually it sod not like that at all and crapper out. I restarted the DVD player again and decided to do some unrelated prep work that required about 50% of my attention. So, no glitching where I expect after watching straight through and I navigated only by prompting next track and no issues after 25 minutes like this. This is not a huge inconvenience since the DVD contains only 5 whole tracks.
Not perfect, but so far the most acceptible.
FYI burned with Nero and I extracted the files and manually pur them into DVD disc project mode with the above mentioned dl DVD+r disc.

For now, I am done. Though I feel uneasy saying that: not finished playback yet...
anyway, ..... I should write a book shouldn't I?

 

[diomedes]

So the madness continues. I'm sitting herewatching the result (typing on my iPhone) of my most recent endeavour:
picked up fujifilm DVDs this time, burn diagnostic on pc was good, put it in the player and hopes sank through the floor: the player groAned, made spinning noises, and took about 30 seconds to decide to play. It started good, and then I decided to challene the menu navigation and started a scene, then went to main menu, then went to another scene, etc. Eventually it sod not like that at all and crapper out. I restarted the DVD player again and decided to do some unrelated prep work that required about 50% of my attention. So, no glitching where I expect after watching straight through and I navigated only by prompting next track and no issues after 25 minutes like this. This is not a huge inconvenience since the DVD contains only 5 whole tracks.
Not perfect, but so far the most acceptible.
FYI burned with Nero and I extracted the files and manually pur them into DVD disc project mode with the above mentioned dl DVD+r disc.

For now, I am done. Though I feel uneasy saying that: not finished playback yet...
anyway, ..... I should write a book shouldn't I?

 

[lowleg26]

For now, I am done. Though I feel uneasy saying that: not finished playback yet...
anyway, ..... I should write a book shouldn't I?

a whole book? lulz, there's nothing wrong with being thorough about a tech issue! :evillaugh:

I've heard very good things about MIJ Fujifilm discs, so at this point I think we can rule out media and hardware as a factor.

From what's happened and the information you've posted, I'd guess the ISO itself is just funky. I don't mean that it itself is broken or anything, but just that it may have been ripped and structured weird.

It just seems odd that this ISO is basically "video only" and lacks menus if it's DL DVD size. I've never seen a DVD9 ISO that was altered for any kind of "space saving" reason. I mean, since you're already past the 4.3gig marker, why shave off options for no reason? The original ripper may have had some good intentions (or limitations) that are just lost on us here. I suppose its also possible that the source DVD that the rip was taken from was a bootleg or something. A friend of mine loaned me some DVDs he bought in Beijing and I quickly found out that my remote would be of no help to me. That disc was going to do what it wanted! :destroy:

Well, if its going from disc to screen, that's the important thing! I hope it continues to at least be usable for you.

 

[diomedes]

nono you misunderstood, it has menues, but they are mildly unstable. I can go to a chapter menu and select things, but it functions best when you hit "play all" and then just hit the next scene button on the remote.

I am getting an alternate rip anyway, since i don't consider this completely stable, but it's enough to make me finally settle in bed and sleep after a day-long war campaign against this "funky" iso, as you aptly so named it.

Anyway, i think your suggestion to spring for another DL dvd+r brand was what solved the problem for me, regardless if it's sony or whatever. It worked, and i probably would have been reluctant going for another +R, so thanks for that.

 

[lowleg26]

nono you misunderstood, it has menues, but they are mildly unstable. I can go to a chapter menu and select things, but it functions best when you hit "play all" and then just hit the next scene button on the remote.

I am getting an alternate rip anyway, since i don't consider this completely stable, but it's enough to make me finally settle in bed and sleep after a day-long war campaign against this "funky" iso, as you aptly so named it.

Anyway, i think your suggestion to spring for another DL dvd+r brand was what solved the problem for me, regardless if it's sony or whatever. It worked, and i probably would have been reluctant going for another +R, so thanks for that.

No problem. Always happy to help if I can.

 

[Rollyco]

1) Find a good firmware for your drive on http://club.myce.com/ and upgrade it.

2) Search for your drive model in the Blank DVD Media Tests subforum and look for good scans of media on your particular drive, then go out and buy that media. Consumer dual-layer burning has always been a very flaky technology. Last time I checked, the general agreement was that Verbatim (made in Singapore or Indonesia, NOT India) were the only truly reliable discs. I forget if that was for +R or -R. Things may have changed, so do your own research.

3) Always burn your discs with ImgBurn at the speed recommended in the forum above. Nero and Alcohol are not as reliable, despite what the fanboy crowd may say.



... or do what I do, and just encode everything down to DVD-5 size

 

[diomedes]

Thanks Rollyco, you're advice is valuable. I will look into the above details and if I'm lucky will really help.