My newly created DVDs are skipping and or not working all together. What in the world could be the problem? My bit rate is set at 5.5. I am working from off of one drive though, could that be the problem? Or is my DVD burner out of order? Thanks.

Could be a number of things, ranked from most possible:

1. Burn speed (VERY likely)
2. Brand of media (quite possible)
3. Burning software (less likely)
4. Burner itself going bad (not common, but possible)

Several things you can try: Did this just start happening? If so, what is different now than when things were working fine? Try burning at a lower speed, using a different brand of media, and updating your drive's firmware.

>>Did this just start happening?<<

Yes.

>>If so, what is different now than when things were working fine?<<

Outside of the DVDs not working properly, nothing is all that different on my system.

I am using a single hard drive for all the DVD prep folders, could that be the problem?

And I will try your suggestions, thanks!

Hmm...the lower burn speed didn't help any. I changed DVD-R brands. And I even went out and bought a new DVD burner and it still doesn't solve the problem. What in the world could be going on? Is it that all of my files (the DVD Prep folder and DVD Temp folder) are on the same hard drive? I am using Sony DVD Architect. Is it due to too little ram? I never had this problem before...at least not so early in the DVD.

Maybe the music files for my submenus are too big...

Are you using PCM audio?

>>Are you using PCM audio?<<
No. Should I be?

Have you placed any type of label on the DVD?

PCM should be converted to AC-3. It might help if you could go into your project settings and paste that info here.

Have you placed any type of label on the DVD?

PCM should be converted to AC-3. It might help if you could go into your project settings and paste that info here.

It was on AC-3. Also, the DVD plays fine in my Playstation 2, but it stutters from time to time on my Memorex DVD player. Is this a bit rate issue?

Have you placed any type of label on the DVD?

I'm only using a thick Black Sharpie (marker.)

Could it be my bit-rate? Is 5.5 somehow not good?

I only tend to have bit issues when going over 9,000. 8,000 tends to be just fine. Any idea if you'll be able to send your project specs? It might shed some ligt on the issue.

>>Any idea if you'll be able to send your project specs?<<

What specs? It was shot on a DVX100 in 24pa mode...other then that, I don't know what other information to give.

5.5 bit rate may be low, how long is your project?

What I mean by spec:

You should be able to open a window called "project properties" That is the info that I am looking for. It will have several tabs. Video will have for example 4:3 or 16:9 Widescreen ect. It will give you the information on how you set up your project. Most people tend to go through this on the first project they do and leave the "Start new projects with these settings" box checked. Is this sounding familar?

>>5.5 bit rate may be low, how long is your project?<<

78 Minutes

The only properties that I see are:

NTSC 720x480

The Project is Wide Screen

This is all the info that I see.

There should also be an audio tab in prefs. 78min should not be a problem.

So this DVD works on your playstation and not on the other drives?

Also I've never burned with my media files and projects on the same drive, so that may be at issue. Also I always use +R and not -R. Is this the first time you have switched to -R? Sorry so many questions, just trying to nail this down.
What is your DVD burner spec? Are you burning 8X on a 4X via a firmware upgrade? I've seen issues with that. What burning speed are you using?

>>So this DVD works on your playstation and not on the other drives?<<

Yes.

>>Also I've never burned with my media files and projects on the same drive, so that may be at issue.<<

This could be the issue…but then again, I’m not having any problems on the PS2. This maybe due to the Memorex drive.

>>Also I always use +R and not -R.<<

I thought you had to use –R?

>>Is this the first time you have switched to -R?<<

I have used nothing but –R in the past.

>>Sorry so many questions, just trying to nail this down.<<

Hey, I appreciate it.

>>What is your DVD burner spec?<<

It’s a 16x DVD burner that writes both R and RW disc. Pretty standard stuff, got it from Walmart (I have a Sony burner too.)

>>Are you burning 8X on a 4X via a firmware upgrade?

I've seen issues with that. What burning speed are you using?<<

I did both 8x and 2x.

I just played the DVD on a Sony DV Player, and I didn’t get any problems. So I’m starting to think that this Memorex DVD player is the problem.

if you went from one junk dvd-r brand to another junk dvd-r brand, you probably didn't help things any by switching brands... try a quality dvd-r like maxell or taiyo-yuden... there is no good reason to be running dvd+r over dvd-r.

hopefully you aren't running a sony burner, or a sony derivative like lite-on.

even commerical dvd's sometimes don't work on all players, so try more than just the memorex.

the location of the data files is not relevant, if the burn speed was low enuf to keep up with the hard drive... the dvd burning program should be able to do a verify operation to make sure that all of the data is burned to the dvd.

Thanks guys...I'm starting to think the problem is the Memorex player.

In this link there is a Memorex player that is rated poorly with DVD-R disc. The model that I have here is not listed..but still...the fact that the disc plays on the PS2 and a Sony DVD player leads me to believe that the Memorex player is the problem.

http://www.customflix.com/Customer/Compatibility.jsp

Glenn, I had the exact same problem. I even went and bought a new burner. Same problem. I switched to dvd-r, same problem. I bought a new dvd player, same problem. Now, here is what I ended up doing and it FIXED the skipping. First, I had way to much stuff on my computer. I was down to less that 5% free disk on my hard drive. I got rid of a lot of old stuff and got it to 50% free space. You can not run a proper disk defragmentation with less that 15% free space. So, after I cleaned off a lot of stuff (I moved a lot of it to my backup drive) I ran the system cleanup and then ran the disk defragment program (it ran for several hours). I do not have the skipping problem anymore. Also, I use top of the line blanks. Usually Verbottum dvd-r at 2x speed. The high speeds like 16x increase the chance of skipping. And the cost really isn't that different, especially if you consider the fact that you are having to trash less disks due to burning errors. Hope this helps. Bob

if you went from one junk dvd-r brand to another junk dvd-r brand, you probably didn't help things any by switching brands... try a quality dvd-r like maxell or taiyo-yuden... there is no good reason to be running dvd+r over dvd-r.

hopefully you aren't running a sony burner, or a sony derivative like lite-on.

even commerical dvd's sometimes don't work on all players, so try more than just the memorex.

the location of the data files is not relevant, if the burn speed was low enuf to keep up with the hard drive... the dvd burning program should be able to do a verify operation to make sure that all of the data is burned to the dvd.


You are correct, however in my experience I have never had any issues with the +R and that is why I've stayed with them. I have not always had the best time using -R. There have been compatabillity issues/

Glenn, I had the exact same problem. I even went and bought a new burner. Same problem. I switched to dvd-r, same problem. I bought a new dvd player, same problem. Now, here is what I ended up doing and it FIXED the skipping. First, I had way to much stuff on my computer. I was down to less that 5% free disk on my hard drive. I got rid of a lot of old stuff and got it to 50% free space. You can not run a proper disk defragmentation with less that 15% free space. So, after I cleaned off a lot of stuff (I moved a lot of it to my backup drive) I ran the system cleanup and then ran the disk defragment program (it ran for several hours). I do not have the skipping problem anymore. Also, I use top of the line blanks. Usually Verbottum dvd-r at 2x speed. The high speeds like 16x increase the chance of skipping. And the cost really isn't that different, especially if you consider the fact that you are having to trash less disks due to burning errors. Hope this helps. Bob

This is exactly my same situation. My hard drive is stuffed to the limit. I'll have to try this.

i've never had any compatibility issues with dvd-r, and it is the more popular format, plus there are no book issues to worry about, like you get with dvd+r.

again, if you are burning with a program like nero, you can tell it to do a verify operation to compare the info on the hard disk against the info on the dvd.

there is no good reason to burn discs at 2x these days... the correct way to handle it is to let nero do a burning speed test, so that you'll know how fast the hard drive is actually feeding the data to the dvd burner.

you can then set nero to manually burn at that speed... i've tested 6x coming off of one of my hard disks, and 12x off of the other, so i know what my system is capable of... i'm on my third or fourth 100-lot stack of taiyo-yuden 16x dvd-r's, no problems at all.

you need to be aware of how dvd's get burned... they always start at the inside hub of the disk; that location burns the slowest, since the disk rotates the slowest there... so the burn speed of the disk will vary depending on where the laser is at over the disk.

i've never had any compatibility issues with dvd-r, and it is the more popular format, plus there are no book issues to worry about, like you get with dvd+r.

again, if you are burning with a program like nero, you can tell it to do a verify operation to compare the info on the hard disk against the info on the dvd.

there is no good reason to burn discs at 2x these days... the correct way to handle it is to let nero do a burning speed test, so that you'll know how fast the hard drive is actually feeding the data to the dvd burner.

you can then set nero to manually burn at that speed... i've tested 6x coming off of one of my hard disks, and 12x off of the other, so i know what my system is capable of... i'm on my third or fourth 100-lot stack of taiyo-yuden 16x dvd-r's, no problems at all.

you need to be aware of how dvd's get burned... they always start at the inside hub of the disk; that location burns the slowest, since the disk rotates the slowest there... so the burn speed of the disk will vary depending on where the laser is at over the disk.


How do I use Nero in conjuction with Sony DVD Architect?

I use both, however DVD-A3 just will not play well with 3rd party apps. I use Nero mostly for back-up's. I suppose you could make a master in DVD-A3 and then use Nero for your copies?

as devin mentioned, once you make the dvd master, and test it well, you can copy it straight to the hard drive and use nero to create a .nrd project that can be used to burn copies off of.

if you don't understand what a ".xxx" is, first turn on file extension viewing within windows.

nero has a dumb interface that should be abandoned asap, lol... what you want to use is: "C:\Program Files\Ahead\Nero\nero.exe" to create the nrd, and do all your burning with.

my genius neighbor is one of these guys who insists on buying cheap-ass dvd blanks... a couple of months ago he got a stack of what was supposed to be ritek 4x dvd-r's, but a couple of 'em were fully delaminating(!) around the hub... complete junk! it took him 8 burned coasters to get the 23 dvd's that he needed for the project, and that was with nero as the burning app.

ac3 may not work well with some third-party computer software dvd players, but remember that most dvd's do not get played back on pc's... your only concern, and the only way to properly evaluate a dvd, is to play it back on standalone desktop dvd players that feed into an ntsc tv.

Glen,

Devin is asking some good questions. I'll throw in a couple.

Is the 'glitch' always in the same place? In other words, it 'glitches' right when the guy puts on his hat... IF you eject, and start playing again, is it STILL right when the guy puts on his hat? What I'm looking for, is if it's repeatable. When it glitches, can you hit 'rewind' and have it glitch in the SAME place? If NOT... it's not so much a problem with the disc, as with your player and the disk.

You say it plays on your playstation, I assume it plays fine on your computer? Can you check it on any other DVD players around?

I am authoring my doc, and had a similar problem. The glitch would happen on my samsung player, then not. A different glitch would happen with my cheap NORCENT player, or not. NO glitches on the burner... The guys at DISCMAKERS said I should try different media. I had some RYTEK, some COMP USA, Sony, Maxell, Memorex, JVC and some other generic brand.

Only the JVC was absolutely flawless on every player in the house. Weird, but that's what it took.

I am burning on a Pioneer A04. Burning at 1x or 2x made no difference. I DID download the latest firmware however.

SO, if you've suddenly started having problems, when everything had been fine in the past, I would look to change media and give it a try.

Alas,

Just when you least expect, your DVDs stop burning correctly, or your burning gets much slower.

I make my living in part burning DVDs, including my own feature film DVD now, and if I've learned anything-- its this:

BE CONSISTANT.
BACKUP your working system.

If you find media that works, stick with it. I use 8X media, that costs me 15 cents each, bought in 50 packs. ($15) I go to the same store to buy it every time.

SO IMPORTANT!!!!!
When you have your system working correctly-- GHOST IT.
http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/NortonGhost.html

Because, out of the blue, something will become corrupted in your system, and you will NEVER be able to figure out what it is. Never. And if you can by some miracle, you'll waste 10 hours or more trying to figure it out. There's just too much on a PC that can go wrong, even when you do everything right.

One minute you are happily burning DVDs nice and fast, the next day, for no reason- everything is dragging slow, or not working.

10 minute flawless fix--- Restore your working Ghost image.


How you initially configure your system is ultimately the most important thing in determining reliability and speed. This can make an unbelievalby HUGE impact on how reliably and fast your system burns.

These days, I'm burning 3 simultaneous DVDs (8x media) with 4.69GB (a full DVD) in 7 minutes and 12 seconds. That results in 42X actual burning speed. Yep. True. (For the curious: http://www.neilslade.com/Papers/duplication.html )

Hopes this helps and encourages. Don't give up.

I little off topic, but one of the things that has helped me maintain a good working system, would be PC World. I highly recommend this in addition to all of the film & video mags most of us buy. In almost every issue there is some trick to be learned that can make your production experience better when working on a pc. They offer tips on keeping your system clean in layman terminology. Its well worth the $22.00 a year I pay for 12 issues.