Newbie: DVD will not play.

[RayArt]

I am using Video Studio 11 plus. I have been able to edit a video and add music etc. I then use Create a Disc to add chapters and author a DVD. The disc seems to write OK. But when I put the disc into my DVD player it will not play. The play is saying "no disc". It will play OK on my computer in Windows Media. What am I doing wrong? I am in the UK so using PAL System. Can you please help?
Ray

[etech6355]

Sounds like your type of dvd isn't compatible with your dvd player.

If you used DVD+R media then burn a DVD-R disk and see if that plays.
DVD-R is the most compatible media for dvd players.

[2Dogs]

It could be that your DVD player needs to have a disc with the "booktype" set to DVD-ROM. This tended to be a problem with older DVD players.

If you're lucky, you may be able to change the booktype setting on your DVD burner.

Use a program like Nero to change the booktype setting. Using Nero as an example, you can open "Nero Burning ROM". Cancel any "New Compilation" window that comes up, and click on "Recorder" > "Choose Recorder" and from the resulting "Choose Recorder" box that comes up, highlight your burner and click on the "Options>>" button. If your burner allows booktype settings to be changed, there will be a "Book Type settings:" box at the bottom left. By default, it may show "Automatic", but you can click on the down arrow and select "DVD-ROM". If the box is greyed out, make sure that you also have the burner selected in the box in the main Nero Burning ROM window.

My Samsung, LG and BenQ burners allow me to change the booktype, whilst my Pioneer does not.

[Ken Berry]

Apart from changing the disc type or brand, when you burn the DVD use a burning speed which is (considerably) lower than the rated maximum speed for the brand of disc you are using. So if the disc is rated, say, at 16x, then use 8x or even 6x if your burner will allow that.

It is a fact that some of the higher end brand name DVD players are very finicky about what they will play, particularly if they are older models. Most of the cheaper imports from China and Korea, on the other hand, will play virtually anything round and silver that is put in them.

Burning at a lower speed will in effect give the burning head longer time to burn a signal which is more firmly 'embedded' in the disc, and thus increase the possibility that a wider variety of reading heads in a wider variety of DVD players will be able to read it.

And don't confuse home-made DVDs with commercial ones. The latter are stamped, not burned like the home-made ones.

[2Dogs]

Apart from changing the disc type or brand, when you burn the DVD use a burning speed which is (considerably) lower than the rated maximum speed for the brand of disc you are using. So if the disc is rated, say, at 16x, then use 8x or even 6x if your burner will allow that.

I'm sorry Ken I just have to take issue with that! I see it as a bit of an urban myth. I have no less than seven DVD burners, some of which are capable of running elaborate disk quality scans, and from my own extensive testing, I find that it's generally best to burn discs at their rated maximum speed. Bear in mind that burners adopt a strategy that varies the laser power - so at lower speeds, less power is used. I'm not convinced by the "deeper pit" argument, but more convinced by disc quality scan and transfer rate test results.

What is most important is to use the right discs with any given burner. I get good results with Sony discs and also with TDK and Imation discs that have "Made in Malaysia" on the label. Discs from TDK and Imation with "Made in Taiwan" or "Made in India" labels are pretty dire in my experience. Avoid cheap Maxell discs like the plague! Verbatim have a good name, but I've never had the best results with them. If you ever see any discs that are made in Japan at a good price, snap them up! It seems to be getting harder to find decent quality blank DVD media these days - there's an awful lot of poor quality stuff about.

Quite often, printable discs are of better quality - and I know that they're popular in the UK, where there's a much better availability of suitable printers.

@RayArt - check for any firmware updates to your burner too. It's usually best to have the latest firmware, though I've experienced exceptions to even that rule. If you let us know the burner model, it might be possible to say if you can set the booktype on it.

Even if you have a burner that doesn't let you perform more elaborate disc quality scans, you should be able to do a simple rate transfer (benchmark) test using CD DVD Speed - a freeware program available at the Nero site, which you may already have in the "tools" part of Nero if you have it installed on your pc. When you run the test, it should show a smooth curve - any big dips or peaks would indicate a problematical burn.

[Ken Berry]

2Dogs -- I know you have expressed this view about burn speeds at least once in the past. I am afraid we (and I mean quite a few of us here, and not just me) will just have to agree to disagree with you on that one...

[Ron P.]

2Dogs, I'll have to agree with Ken on this. From just the number of people that have experienced problems burning at higher speeds, that once they slowed down the burn speed, no longer suffered the problem.

I think this is one of those things that will work for some, but not all. If no problems are experienced burning at fast/max speeds, then no reason to complain. However if slowing down prevents a coaster then why not???

[2Dogs]

2Dogs -- I know you have expressed this view about burn speeds at least once in the past. I am afraid we (and I mean quite a few of us here, and not just me) will just have to agree to disagree with you on that one...

Aaah, a diplomat never forgets.....!

If no problems are experienced burning at fast/max speeds, then no reason to complain. However if slowing down prevents a coaster then why not???

I absolutely wouldn't disagree with that sentiment Ron. What I suggest, however, is that burning more slowly may not fix a burning problem, and at the end of the day, it's more important to use good media that works well with the particular burner. I don't close my mind to anecdotal evidence, but I do believe in actual results of actual tests.

Still, I fear we've drifted off topic a little!

[RayArt]

Many thanks to all who have posted here. I hae been following the thread with interest. I have one of thoses DVD players that will play virtualy anything you put into it. I have not had any problems with using + discs in the past. But you were correct, when I burnt the project to a - disc it worked ok.
Again, many thanks.
Ray

[skier-hughes]

@Ken and 2 Dogs,

I burn 1,000's of discs each month.

I have found that using a slower burn speed increases compatibility with my customers.

I also find that quality of disc makes a bigger difference though.

[2Dogs]

I burn 1,000's of discs each month.

In your position I would be sure to use compatible media that I could burn at the maximum speed - and also use a burner, like an LG for example, that has fairly low disk recognition time and spends less time on the lead-in and lead-out parts, giving a quicker overall burn time for any given speed.

I have found that using a slower burn speed increases compatibility with my customers.

I presume you mean that you get to know them better, as you offer them a coffee whilst they wait for their disc to be burned!:lol:

[sjj1805]

Not only do I agree with the vast majority of our forum members who recommend burning at lower speeds (based upon my experience of this - not just the opinions of others) but you may be interested in reading this by Devil

I've had a look at DVDs burnt with different speeds through a metallurgical microscope. There is no doubt that the slower the speed, the sharper are the "pits". At the time I did this, 8x was the fastest available. There was a distinct improvement with 4x compared to 8x and a slight further improvement at 2x. I also looked at 1x and 2x (on 2x blanks) burnt with an older burner and the 1x was distinctly better than 2x.

I conclude therefore that it is a mistake to burn at high speeds, especially for archival purposes.

Taken from Problems burning a DVD

[skier-hughes]

I burn 1,000's of discs each month.

In your position I would be sure to use compatible media that I could burn at the maximum speed - and also use a burner, like an LG for example, that has fairly low disk recognition time and spends less time on the lead-in and lead-out parts, giving a quicker overall burn time for any given speed.

I have found that using a slower burn speed increases compatibility with my customers.

I presume you mean that you get to know them better, as you offer them a coffee whilst they wait for their disc to be burned!:lol:

I have several duplicating towers, all have pioneer burners of varying ages, so some only do 8x and some do 16x, but I burn all at 4x. I have hdd's in my towers, I burn one disc from my main video editing pc, on a sony, one of those is old as well, only does 8x, the other will do 16x, but I'm not the sort of guy to swap things to move up until they've worn out - another reason why I don't ave a HD LCD widescreen tv yet!!!! - then I copy disc to hdd on duplicator, burn to 7 or 9 discs, depending on tower, these are then verified against the hdd copy and tested to ensure they are all ok.

They then get popped into a multidisc printer, put into cases and posted off.

I do get to know my customers, as most are repeat buyers on a regular basis, and it is often over a coffee, but never while I'm waiting for a disc to copy, I'm too busy authoring the next guys dvd to stop for coffee while I'm working.

Anyway, I'm sure we all agree on one thing, some think burning fast is ok, conditions approved and some prefer not to.

Yes I am industrial, I do it for a living, so it has to be right.

[2Dogs]

Not only do I agree with the vast majority of our forum members who recommend burning at lower speeds (based upon my experience of this - not just the opinions of others) but you may be interested in reading this by Devil

I've had a look at DVDs burnt with different speeds through a metallurgical microscope. There is no doubt that the slower the speed, the sharper are the "pits". At the time I did this, 8x was the fastest available. There was a distinct improvement with 4x compared to 8x and a slight further improvement at 2x. I also looked at 1x and 2x (on 2x blanks) burnt with an older burner and the 1x was distinctly better than 2x.

I conclude therefore that it is a mistake to burn at high speeds, especially for archival purposes.

Taken from Problems burning a DVD

I see that back in 2005 then Steve, you would not recommend burning at over 4x. Times, and technology do move on, however.

Whilst I would not decry Devil's inspection of "some" DVD's under a metallurgical microscope, it's not clear how many discs he examined. Furthermore the "sharpness" of the pits he describes is not the only significant factor in DVD playback. Excessive JITTER will cause playback problems, and that would be hard to see under a microscope. Consider also that the pit is part of the blank disc structure, and the laser action causes a change in colour of a chemical dye. Whilst the sharpness of the appearance of the dye under the microscope might look nicer, it is not possible to positively infer from that alone that the discs are "more playable". I've yet to see any hard evidence of the longevity of discs being directly related to the speed of burning in an inverse function of the burn speed. I believe that in the early days of 16x DVD blank media, many lower quality discs were mis-labelled as 16x speed. Even at the current time, many 16x discs will only burn at 12x in some burners, even using the latest burner firmware.

I don't want to start a flame war over this. It's clear that many people prefer to rely on anecdotal evidence, so they are probably not willing to accept something that appears to largely contradict their longstanding beliefs.

At least Graham was able to confirm from his extensive experience that the media quality was the most significant factor. The trouble is you won't know what media works best with your burner unless you perform some tests or refer to other peoples tests with the same burner - or, as in Graham's case, burn thousands of discs. Otherwise, you might find a disc brand, hopefully with consistent quality, and using which you can say "I have no problems". The trouble is you might be able to get better quality burns, which MIGHT offer greater longevity or player compatibility with another brand of disc which you can buy for the same price.

At least RayArt's problem was solved by him following the advice given to him in the first reply to his post, leaving us free to ride our hobby horses!!!

[skier-hughes]

At least RayArt's problem was solved by him following the advice given to him in the first reply to his post, leaving us free to ride our hobby horses!!!

And it's great we can do it in such a friendly manner.

Maybe I'll invest in some brand new burners and do some testing of higher speed burning, my latest equipment is now nearly two years old so it's hardly hi-tech.

Anybody want to sponsor some learning, donations to "burning speed - that is the question" c/o www.