DVD Copying

c18kayc18kay Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scoltand
edited January 2005 in Hardware
Hi there, I like to back up my DVDs because there is nothing worse that one of your best films getting scratch or stop working. I currently use Hi Space DVD+R disks, which I picked up cheap from amazon, however these disks sometimes don't play on certain players. Can this be because of the brand of disks I'm using? If so what brand is best for copying films onto? My writter only writes onto DVD+R disks.

Thanks in advance

Chris

Comments

  • roadtocanadaroadtocanada
    edited January 2005
    Your problem has nothing to do with the quality of the discs. All the brands are pretty well equal. The reason your movies sometimes don't play is because not all players are designed to play that format of disc. Many of the newer Sony and Denon players will play DVD+R without problems. I had to upgrade my player to play DVD+R. I have the Sony DVP-NS725P and it plays 99% of my discs with no problems. Keep in mind that the technology is still not perfect. Back when I had an older Sony I was only able to play approximately 60% of my DVD+R discs.
  • c18kayc18kay Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scoltand
    edited January 2005
    Thanks for getting back to me. Does DVD-R disks work on more players? The strange thing is that when I copy a film onto a blank DVD it plays on my computer and sometimes plays on my friends who has the exact same computer/dvd player as me, however sometimes it wont play - do you know why this would be?

    Thanks again

    Chris
  • drowddrowd Texas
    edited January 2005
    burning dvds is sort of a finicky process. there are just all sorts of things to take into consideration. in fact, there are certain types of media that are complete crap. i used to buy offbrand stuff from best buy and circuit city, and 60 percent of the time, they wouldnt work on my dvd player. i have recently been getting the ritek/ridata dvd-r disks from newegg and they have been great. i believe the general concensus is that the ritek dye's are the best and i would highly recommend them to you (except dvd+r of course :D ). basically, the reason we have dvd-r and dvd+r is because there are huge backers behind each standard. hp, microsoft, sony and others have all picked their specific type they will support, and unfortunately all it does is cause the customer grief. however, i believe that dvd-r plays in more dvd players than dvd+r, but obviously thats not something you want to hear. so what you need to do, is make sure that your dvd player will play dvd+r's and then stick with one brand of media that works best. like i said, the ritek's work on my computer, home dvd player, and xbox (as well as other folks dvd players), so i would recommend that brand to you. on newegg.com you can get a 50 spindle of 8x ritek dvd+r's for 23 bucks ( http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=17-132-368&depa=0 ) which is much cheaper than anything you would get at bb or cc.

    now if you are dealing with PAL and NTSC (region coding), that is a whole other issue of why it might not play, but i assume these are backups of dvds you already bought.

    anyway, thats my $68.43 cents :D
  • SSR_06SSR_06 Iowa
    edited January 2005
    i personally use memorex (i can find them localy for decent price $30 for 50). and they only won't play on my x-box. but i think its because i have a crappy thompson drive in it.

    [rant] it won't even play regular x-box games sometimes also. i bought Fable and i would sit there and skip when i got to a certin part. not a single scratch.and with halo 2, i can't play online beacause of a "disk read eror" and this was the first night i ever had the game!![/rant]
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited January 2005
    For me I've had the best luck with maxel dvd-r's on my xbox and any of my friends dvd players that I've made media for. However when it comes to blanks it's all a question of the burner I have a sony and I've tried memorex dvd-r's on them and they made several coasters so whole lot of factors. Software is another issue aswell as some programs are better at others in making media. For me I've had the most luck in using DVD-Shrinker and Nero 6 Ultra.
  • imported_oldtimerimported_oldtimer Mississauga,ON
    edited January 2005
    This is a bit of a strech as i only have used a cd-rw.Nero Express 5.5 has an option when burning that asks if you want it to play on other machines.
    Look for this option.
  • drowddrowd Texas
    edited January 2005
    heh, yeah, i have a thomson drive in my xbox as well. it was a pain when i was first trying to mod it cuz i couldnt get it to read any of my media, but it has finally settled on liking my ritek's.

    nero is great for burning, but i also wanna say that record now dx (by veritas) is a top notch program as well. and as far as free goes, dvd decrypter is pretty much the program that started it all. it is made by the guy that originally cracked dvd encryption.

    hey kryyst, do you use dvd shrink for actual burning? cuz if just used it for compression with making DVD9 fit on DVD5, but ive never used it for burning, just making images. how is it?
  • c18kayc18kay Bo'ness, West Lothian, Scoltand
    edited January 2005
    Thanks guy will try a different brand of disks - probably be ritek because they seem the most popular. I use DVD-Shrink and Nero 6 as well and have had no problems apart from this but hopefully the ritek disks will help

    Thanks again

    Chris
  • kryystkryyst Ontario, Canada
    edited January 2005
    drowd wrote:
    heh, yeah, i have a thomson drive in my xbox as well. it was a pain when i was first trying to mod it cuz i couldnt get it to read any of my media, but it has finally settled on liking my ritek's.

    hey kryyst, do you use dvd shrink for actual burning? cuz if just used it for compression with making DVD9 fit on DVD5, but ive never used it for burning, just making images. how is it?

    Yup I've got a thompson drive in my xbox as well it loves the maxells. I haven't tried riteks but I'm getting maxells easily and on sale for around $.50 a piece so I haven't wandered :)

    As for DVD shrink, no I haven't used it for actual burning just for the compression of video and certaiin rippings as nero won't play well with copy protected media. Once I get it into a format nero likes I burn with nero
  • AnimalAnimal
    edited January 2005
    i use dvd shrink to compress and burn... it works perfect but sometimes i don't, sometimes i compress with dvd srink then create an image with imgtool and then burn with dvd decrypter.... only one coaster ever. As you media... i vouch for the ritek aswell really good stuff.. just got hold of some cheap verbatim that i am waiting to test... hopefully it will be good.
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