Bride Keeps Damaging DVD's... and blaming ME!

[Rob Evans]

Looking at it from another point of view, I actually have found the software used to burn the image has given me a much higher success rate, regardless of pc, burner and media brand. Since switching to ImgBurn , i export image files out of premiere and burn them with ImgBurn - I've used a couple of hundred each of around 7 brands over the last year, and had less than 1% failure....

saying that, i was about to embark on a dual layer render, but I think I'll stick to two singles now - thanks for the advice all!!!

[Sean Kiely]

First of all... thank you everyone for the overwhelming response to my question... it's fantastic to be a member of a forum with so many helpful members.

I think the least I can do is to give some feedback, and let you know the outcome of my problem.

I decided to "lovebomb" the bride and offered to completely replace her DVD's and cases with a new set of double edition DVD's - i.e. I split her dual layer wedding video into two single layer Verbatim-R discs. I delivered the DVD's to her house in person and spent two hours playing the DVD, taking it out of the player, putting it back in, and explaining that the problem was most likely that the original disc and her player just didn't get along.

It turned out to be an enlightening experience, as she loved the work I had done and I was able to see first hand her reaction to different techniques I had used during shooting and editing, and I learned a lot about what a bride really likes to see and hear on her video.

I also got the opportunity to examine some discs that had been played on her (Phillips) dvd player, and noted that they all had very similarly located and shaped scratch marks. I concluded that it was very likely the scratches were being caused by the same source, and most likely this was her DVD player. I examined the player and noted that the DVD drawer/tray was very shallow and not that well designed, and that it would be very easy to place a dvd into the tray incorrectly, i.e. not sitting properly in the "seat", and possibly this could result in a damaged disc.

Before leaving, she insisted she wanted to give me a glowing written reference for future customers!

So - lessons learned all around - use the right discs, and customer care is vital in this business!

Thanks again folks!

[Jim Long]

I admire you guys. I vowed never again to shoot another wedding video after dealing with crazed brides and assorted wedding bozos. Back in the good ole analog days (I was shooting SVHS and editing on two tape decks), we used multiple cameras, inserted a prologue with the happy couple growing up, etc and this was when very few were doing this kind of thing. But the bride and her mom rejected with the final product. When we inserted cut aways for reaction shots in the church, the mother moaned, "We don't want to see those people!"--as if there was a lot of action we were missing up at the altar. I do documentaries and commercials now and broadcast clients are easier to deal with than newly weds!

Anyway, I thought I would suggest something that sounds odd...Are you still using paper labels for your discs? The label actually introduces a slight wobble while the laser is reading the material. It generally won't happen on material shorter than 20 minutes. And it's never an issue with CD's because the tracking and reading of the data isn't as critical.

That's why I went to printable face DVD discs. Just a thought.

[Ervin Farkas]

Sean, are you familiar with bit setting (aka book type)? I have tried pretty much everything that's on the market and settled exclusively for TDK +R blanks burned with book type set to DVD-ROM... never had compatibility issues ever since.

[Sean Kiely]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

Sean, are you familiar with bit setting (aka book type)?

Thanks for that Ervin, I'd heard but not indulged. I'll check it out!

[Sean Kiely]

Originally Posted by Jim Long

I thought I would suggest something that sounds odd...Are you still using paper labels for your discs? The label actually introduces a slight wobble while the laser is reading the material. It generally won't happen on material shorter than 20 minutes. And it's never an issue with CD's because the tracking and reading of the data isn't as critical.

That's why I went to printable face DVD discs. Just a thought.

It doesn't sound too odd to me Jim... I'm looking into it at the moment for future discs. Thanks for the thought!

[Jason Robinson]

Originally Posted by Jim Long

Are you still using paper labels for your discs? The label actually introduces a slight wobble while the laser is reading the material. It generally won't happen on material shorter than 20 minutes. And it's never an issue with CD's because the tracking and reading of the data isn't as critical.

That's why I went to printable face DVD discs. Just a thought.

I jumped on lightscribe when it first came out but man was that a bit premature.... printables came out shortly after that and I should have gone with them. Light scribe is so slow and limited in appeal. I do like the laser look, but who knows if the brides will. No big complaints so far. Most of my brides haven't even thought as far as the appearance of the DVD.

[Gary Hanna]

Maybe buy those disc covers at staples and pop them on.

[Michael F. Grgurev]

Interesting to here that DVD+R's are the devil :}

I use pretty much the same setup Noa Put mentioned. I have a LiteOn drive and I specifically use Verbatim DVD+R's so I can change the booktype from DVD+R to DVD-ROM, just as Ervin mentioned. I also save to an image file and burn with a seperate program (which is what also booktypes the disc) as someone mentioned as well. Didn't know anything about DVD-R setting to DVD-ROM automatically on good burners (if I read that right). Mine all still read as DVD-R when burned, but I suppose I might have an older burner. There's no software that bitsets DVD-R to ROM that I know of.

--- edit --

... Also, since it's someone relevant to the thread. Has anyone had any experience with applying anti-scratch coating to their discs, post burn. A. does it work and B. any instances of the coating interfering with the disc read?

[Ervin Farkas]

Originally Posted by Michael F. Grgurev

Didn't know anything about DVD-R setting to DVD-ROM automatically on good burners (if I read that right). Mine all still read as DVD-R when burned, but I suppose I might have an older burner. There's no software that bitsets DVD-R to ROM that I know of.

That's correct, there is no such thing. The initial bit (that "tells" the player what type of disk you inserted: DVD-ROM, DVD-R/RW, or DVD+R/RW) is factory burned on DVD-R blanks. On DVD+R blanks it's left to the burner and software to write it as either DVD+R/RW or DVD-ROM.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Sean Kiely

It turned out to be an enlightening experience, as she loved the work I had done and I was able to see first hand her reaction to different techniques I had used during shooting and editing, and I learned a lot about what a bride really likes to see and hear on her video.Thanks again folks!

I allways sit out the complete dvd at the client to be sure it plays right, you did the right thing going through all this effort. It makes the client feel you care and don't consider them easy money. It might have cost you several hours to redo everything but surely you will gain extra clients out of it.

[Ervin Farkas]

Another good point can be earned with the client if you simply buy them a new DVD player - I read about this practice some place here on this forum. They are now down to under $50 (I have a $28 Philips that plays just fine) and the client will be quite impressed.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Ervin Farkas

Another good point can be earned with the client if you simply buy them a new DVD player - I read about this practice some place here on this forum. They are now down to under $50 (I have a $28 Philips that plays just fine) and the client will be quite impressed.

I have been thinking about that but the problem is often that they bought a dvd player years ago when they were quite expensive and they don't want a cheap replacement, even if it will solve their problem. Their argument is then that all movies they bought or hired play fine. Another thing to consider is that this could get around quickly resulting in other clients demanding a "free" player as well.

[Jeff Geissler]

First hand experience, my 2 cents-

Not all players will play DL dvd's-- mainly older versions. We bought a cheap 20 dollar player from wal-mart and it played the disks fine while our older more 'expensive' one didn't.

I've had MORE success using APPLE burned Dual-Layer disks (-r?)= I'd say 98% success vs 60% with PC.

Here's my theory on her story:
She's SHARING it-- it works on some and not on others, meaning not everyone has the same dvd player...The sharing would explain the scratching etc from being passed around...

[William Hohauser]

Here's a very late thought to throw in the ring:

I have actually bought $25 to $45 DVD players that will play my single-layer printable, Taiyo-Yuden or Fuji DVD-R discs perfectly and given them to nuisance clients. After proving that our discs work fine on a cheap new machine, they usually apologize and pay me back for the machine.