DVD questions for my fellow geeks

[CrazyIvan 0]

Ok, this is the deal.

I create DVD's and they play on on CERTAIN players, WTF?, and that goes for PC DVD players or "regular" DVD players.

Does anyone of you know the answer to that?, I don't think is about the device itself, on example, I have one DVD (with a menu, containing 2 videos) and it can be played on the drive that created it only, but, I have a laptop here, an old IBM T22 and IT PLAYED IT WITHOUT A HITCH!!!.

I need some input.

Thanks

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[quade 4]

Bane of "one-off" DVD producers the planet over.

Home recordable DVDs are -NOT- guaranteed to play in ALL DVD devices all over the planet or even the one in your living room right now.

A lot? Heck yeah!
Most? Maybe.
ALL? Unfortunately . . . no.

You can -try- different brands and if you have the capabilities +R, -R, +RW and -RW, but even at that . . . you -might- get an unlucky client.

If you do a search here . . . you'll find we've discussed this in the Photo & Video Forum.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[CrazyIvan 0]

Yeah, I get that part, but it's baffleling that some do work and some don't, I'm just trying to gather some knowledge, thank you for your reply Quade.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[quade 4]

The reason some do and some don't is because the DVD format wasn't designed to be a home recordable format to begin with. It was something that was wedged in and there doesn't seem to be a single 100% universally accepted spec for the recordable discs that is also universally backward compatable with all players. There are several standards, several flavors and amount of reflectivity in the discs. I don't know if you've noticed the different "colors" the recording medium seems to come in, but I believe that's a factor.

quade -
The World's Most Boring Skydiver

[CrazyIvan 0]

Well, it's true about the "standards" and all the flavors RW+ RW+ - and all that, I haven't done a lot of research, therefore all this questions, especially now that double layer DVD's are out and getting cheaper.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[No_Shoes 0]

I've started doing editing for a friend of mine who flies video and has a nice little editing setup. We've seen many of the same things where tandems get home put in the dvd and then call us saying that they can't play the dvd. It really does come down to like previous replies stated the different types i.e. -r +r -rw +rw. I know my dvd player at home will play -r's but not +r's, I haven't had the chance to put in the any rw's yet. Thing is that there really isn't a good answer to this. Best bet would be that if you're flying tandems to ask them prior to putting it on the dvd if they know what format. If you happen to be in say North Carolina you probably will just recieve a questioning look instead of an answer (that would be personal experience there). Personally I just put in a disclaimer first letting them know that there's a chance it might not play properly and to give me a call back.

Good luck and blue skies

[CrazyIvan 0]

Quote

there's a chance it might not play properly and to give me a call back.

I hear you, but it's a crappy way to do business, I know I know, but still, that's not good.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[kelpdiver 2]

Ivan, is this a matter of the media (-r, +r) or your authoring? Most set top players tolerate both kinds fine, but few will play a disk that doesn't have the proper AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directory structure. PC players will handle virtually anything that has the VOB files. Not a suitable test.

After doing a lot of useless burns with Roxio sw, I switched to Nero and used their DVD-video wizard setting and it's been easy going since.

[CrazyIvan 0]

The software I use is Ulead DVD factory, it creates the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS directory structure but still, I have some problems.

I haven't done a research in depth, but it's perhaps something in the encoding or "something", another example is, if I burn 1 video, no menu, the DVD can be played on a player that it didn't play before and the funny thing is that if I try to play it on another player SAME BRAND it doesn't...it's really crazy, there's no consistency.

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.

[Billy 0]

DVD burning can be the bane of home vidiots!

Most newer players will play most all the formats, say the last year, back beyond that it's a crap shoot. I use this link to check on special projects for friends that really want a DVD, after I find out what DVD player they have at home.
I had a real bitch of a time starting until I made sure I had all the current drivers and updates for the burner, editing programs, and OS. I had to make some changes in my OS in the way it handles some things which made a big differance.
Once I got it all working together I quit changing things!
Good Luck

http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers.php?DVDname=&dvdr=1&dvdrw=1&dvdplusr=1&dvdplusrw=1&Search=Search&orderby=Name&Submit2=Search

Natural Born FlyerZ.com

[CrazyIvan 0]

Thanks for that link, very useful info, however, what I found out is that NOT NECESSARILLY newer players play "almost anything", like I mentioned on my original post, I even tried an "old laptop" and it worked, but, I leaning towards a problem with the standard and encoding.

Matter of deep investigation

__________________________________________
Blue Skies and May the Force be with you.