Why do some of my DVDs 'hang' at certain spots on playback?

[hkeycurrentuser]

Sorry if this question's been asked before but I don't have a clue what keywords I'd use to look.

Some of the DVDs I burn play fine all the way through but one in three or four will hit a spot (or several spots) on the disc and "hang"; i.e., the video and audio stop for anywhere from a few seconds to MANY seconds...then proceed to another frame (with a brief burst of audio)...on and on. "Herky-jerky" best describes this phenomenon.

On any single, burned disc it always happens at the same place (on different DVD players, too)--although if I burn a second disc the places where this happens will be different. Also, the amount of data burned to the disc doesn't seem to matter; i.e., it might happen on a disc with only twenty minutes of play time while another disc that's nearly two hours long will work flawlessly all the way through.

Does anyone have any ideas about what causes this annoying--and rather expensive--problem?

Thanks

 

[Zeratul]

what brand of blank disc are you using? alot of the time problems like this can be corrected with better quality blanks (which also tend to be more expensive unfortunately)

 

[Webslinger]

1. Update your burner's firmware (if available)
http://forum.slysoft.com/showpost.php?p=12794&postcount=10

2. Use good quality media (Memorex, Ritek, Princo, Fuji, TDK from Costco, and Maxell that are not made in Japan are not good quality media). Are you using inferior blank media? If you're not using Taiyo Yuden (not Valueline), Verbatim, Maxell Plus, or Maxell Broadcast Quality, then chances are the answer is yes.
If you use poor quality blank media, then you should expect problems.

For +R DL blank media, use Verbatim made in Singapore or MAM-A 8x +R DL.


3. Try lowering your burn speed a little (if you have a 16x burner and 16x rated media try writing to it at 12x or 8x instead of 16x)

4. If you're using +R, +RW, or +R DL media, change the booktype to "dvd-rom"
http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=476 (step 3)

5. Avoid sticker labels (they tend to cause problems)

6. Try setting a custom size of 4300 in whatever burning program you're using (but if you're using good media, you shouldn't have to) if you're using regular single layer dvd-5 (4.7GB) discs.

7. Download Nero cd-dvd speed. It's a free program. Select the tab labeled "scandisc". Insert the problematic backup disc, select the appropriate drive letter, and click "start". If Nero cd-dvd speed reports read errors, your backup is bad (which is the most likely case), your optical drive may be slowly dying, or your optical drive simply doesn't like the disc (or your choice of blank media)--even if the disc looks fine.

Bad burn quality is notorious around the end of discs (see step 6)
and also at layer breaks when using low quality DL media (use Verbatim +R DL media made in Singapore or MAM-A 8x +R DL, and change the booktype to "dvd-rom")

 

[oldjoe]

Use better media......it's not that much more expensive.

 

[hkeycurrentuser]

Thanks, Everyone!!!

Sorry it's taken me a few days to reply to you guys' excellent (and consistent) replies to my question but I'm not used to such quick, expedient answers in forums. In fact I'm more used to having my questions ignored altogether.

Between the time of posting my question a few days ago and your consistent suggestions to USE BETTER MEDIA I'd kind of begun coming to this same conclusion myself.

I've been doing computer stuff for about twenty years now but I'm relatively new to burning DVDs: just starting my third box of 100. Of the first two boxes one was TDK DVD+R and the other was some no-name brand with just a series of numbers and letters around the center ring--both failing at about the rate I reported in my question. For better or for worse I bought these particular discs because they had writeable white paper surfaces.

The box I've just started to use is also a no-name brand, displaying only DVD+R 8x 38-3091 around the center ring. This box isn't working at all: of the five discs I've burned so far not one plays all the way through without hanging and skipping.

So it's entirely possible that it's just the media--eh? That the two no-name DVDs are of inferior quality shouldn't come as that big of a surprise, I suppose, but isn't it kind of weird that the TDK discs aren't any better?

Does anyone know of a quality brand of DVDs with writeable labels? In the alternative, which brands of DVDs have you guys used that you'd recommend?

I haven't tried turning down the burn rate but that sounds like good advice. One thing that I was smart enough to do was make sure as little else as possible was going on in the background while I was burning a disc. For example, I just added the Windows Search Indexing service to my system but I make sure to put it into Snooze mode before I burn a disc. Likewise I exit my email service and even take care not to move the mouse, in an effort not to steal clock cycles away from the burner.

I really appreciate all your helpful suggestions. You guys are as cool as the software SlySoft turns out.

Thanks again!

 

[Webslinger]

I suppose, but isn't it kind of weird that the TDK discs aren't any better?

Not really

Most of those are made by Ritek and happen to be B-grade stuff that TDK has dumped on Costcos in North America . . .

Once again, if you're not using Taiyo Yuden (not Valueline), Verbatim, Maxell Plus, or Maxell Broadcast Quality, then chances are you're using junk.

Go through all the steps I listed

 

[Webslinger]

Follow the steps in the order that they are listed (and I recommend reading through all of step 5, visit the link):

1. Use Anydvd 6.4.2.6 beta: click http://sandbox.slysoft.com/beta/SetupAnyDVD6426.exe

You may need to reboot after installing if prompted to do so.

2. Click the red fox icon on your toolbar. Click "default". Click "ok".

3. If you use DVDShrink, Nero Recode, or programs that generally can't handle structural protections, right-click on the fox icon on your toolbar and select "Rip video-dvd to Hard Disk". Choose your source and destination paths. Click "Copy", and wait for Anydvd ripper to finish. You can then import that rip into whatever program you want. This is an important step if the original disc contains structural protection.

click http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=3992 and read fully

You don't need to do this if you own Clonedvd or are planning to make a backup with Clonecd.


4. Use Clonedvd 2.9.1.7: click http://static.slysoft.com/SetupCloneDVD2917.exe

5. Follow the steps from this link in order: click http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=476 (follow them step by step)

If you're using +R DL blank discs, I recommend using Clonecd: click http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=327


6. If you still have problems, then . . .

A)
a) Ensure Anydvd is running.
b) Put the problematic original movie dvd in your burner. Wait for Anydvd to scan the disc.
c) Right click the red fox icon on your toolbar.
d) Select "Create Logfile"
e) Wait for Anydvd to create a log file.
f) A pop-up screen will appear. Take note of the location where Anydvd created the logfile and the logfile's name. Click "ok".
g) Go to your My Documents folder
h) You will see a zip file called "Anydvd_Info_titleofmydisc.zip" (or something similar; see step f)
i) When replying or posting in the Slysoft forums, look for the icon that looks like

(in other words, look for the paperclip after clicking "quote" or when creating a new thread)
j) If you don't see that paperclip icon, click the "go advanced" button. You should see that icon now. Click the paperclip.
k) A small pop-up screen should appear (if it doesn't please ensure your browser is enabled to allow pop-ups from the Slysoft forums)
l) Click the "Browse" button, and locate and select the .zip file you created.
m) click "upload"
n) Close the window. When you submit reply, or submit a new thread, the .zip file will be attached automatically for us to take a look at


B) State the full a)error message(s) you encountered (click "details"), b)tell us what program(s) you were using when you received the error message(s), and c) describe in detail what you were doing when you received the error message(s). What problem are you having exactly?


C) Click http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=5091 to see if your question has already been answered

 

[hkeycurrentuser]

Thanks, Webslinger...

...for your exceptionally meticulous reply!

While I own AnyDVD, Clone DVD and Clone CD and have had the issue reported creating discs with them, the vast majority of problem discs were created from files I downloaded from Google, YouTube, Guba, etc., where protection's not an issue.

I've been using YouTube Downloader http://youtubedownload.altervista.org/ to download known-good FLV files, which I then convert to DVD format with AVS's Video Converter program http://www.avs4you.com/. I'm assuming that the set of DVD files created by this conversion is as reliable as the standalone AVI, MPG, MOV and WMV files created by the same program--which always play flawlessly.

I'm curious, Webslinger: have you experienced the hanging/skipping problem I described? Is it common?

Thanks again for your thorough reply. I will follow your instructions to the letter.

HKCU

PS...

While I use YouTube Downloader to download the majority of internet videos I've devised a trick for capturing ones resistant to downloading by third-party applications and online services: Delete the files in your Temporary Internet Files cache, open a browser window to the URL containing the video, play the video to the end, then go into the TIFs folder (...\content.ie5 on a WinXP system*), sort the files in descending order by size (so the biggest file's on top) and the top file should be your video. Sometimes the FLV extension is missing and you've got to add it when you copy the file to a permanent location but this method works 99+ percent of the time.

*Note that this is a hidden folder, so you've got to unhide it to find it. After you do it's easiest to create a shortcut to this folder so it's easy to get to next time.

 

[hkeycurrentuser]

cOOL! ! !

cOOL! ! !

;-)