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View Full Version : DVD specs -- software for reading?


Don Tolson
06-01-2005, 06:08 PM
Well...as a follow-on to my post about 'a DVD is a DVD...', I now have a new Toshiba DVD Recorder (since Toshiba Canada finally decided the last one was a complete dud), and it reads even FEWER of the disks I burned from the desktop! It will still read any of the one's burned on the old DVD Recorder though, so I'm more convinced than ever that either this is due to some 'flakiness' within media provided by the same vendor (all the disks involved are from Maxell), or it has something to do with the way the DVDs were burned (i.e. the content)

So, ever the investigative and curious kind ('There HAS to be a reason for this. The standard can't be THAT flaky!), I'm wondering if there is some software I can run against existing, burned DVDs that will tell me their characteristics, such as format, bit rate, etc.

I'm hoping that I can find some sort of difference there, that will explain why one DVD will run fine on a desktop, a laptop, and another DVD player, but will not work on the DVD Recorder and my dad's DVD player.

Any ideas?

Jason Dunn
06-01-2005, 10:51 PM
Wow, you're really having no luck! I haven't had compatibility problems like that for a couple of years now. I use a variety of DVD burners (LiteOn, Pioneer, HP) and all sorts of discs (Ritek, Vebatim, generic brands) in Samsung DVD players, and have zero problems. I had problems a few years back, but nothing in a while. There are always some DVD players that just don't like home-burned DVDs, but there's not a lot you can do about that - other than buy a new DVD player. And when you consider you can get one for $50 CAN at Wal-Mart, it's suddenly much less of an issue. ;-)

Do you have Nero? It has a great tool called Nero InfoTool that gives information about the disc itself. That's likely where the problem lies, not the bit rate of the video file itself.

Don Tolson
06-01-2005, 11:33 PM
Thanks, Jason, I'll take a look. I know, it just really bugs me that I get a high-end DVD Recorder (like $800) from Toshiba, and it can't even read DVD's I burn on my desktop, that an OLLDDDD DVD player and a whole bunch of others have no problem with.

Then, if I let the DVR burn the DVD, it's readable on ANYTHING! Sheesh!

Thanks for the help, though. I do have a copy of NERO and I'll see what it says.

Damion Chaplin
06-01-2005, 11:50 PM
Yeah, it seems to me that if you're using the same media and the same content but get different results from 2 different burners, it must be the software that actually burns the DVD. Obviously the software in your standalone burner produces more reliable results than those burned from your PC. I wholeheartedly recommend Nero. The DVDs I get from Nero are almost universally accepted, and I am also using Memorex DVD-R.

Don Tolson
06-03-2005, 11:28 PM
Hmmmm, I hadn't thought about the 'software' that's doing the writing. In both cases of ones that won't work consistently, it was DVD's created by the Video Editing software (either Pinnacle or Adobe Premier Elements). Hmmmm...

Jason, what do you use to burn DVD's on the desktop?

Anyway, I think what I'm going to do is move to a two-stage process. Use Premier Elements to edit the video, then output to a camera tape, then transfer to the DVR and burn to a DVD. That should produce something readable everywhere. The shame is that the camera tape will only hold 90 minutes, rather than the 2 hour max on the DVD. Small price to pay, I guess.

Jason Dunn
06-03-2005, 11:45 PM
Thanks, Jason, I'll take a look. I know, it just really bugs me that I get a high-end DVD Recorder (like $800) from Toshiba, and it can't even read DVD's I burn on my desktop, that an OLLDDDD DVD player and a whole bunch of others have no problem with.

It's kind of scary, but I swear that the $50 DVD player I bought from Costco, is more flexible with playing different discs than my $400 Samsung player. Sometimes the cost and brand really don't matter. :(

Jason Dunn
06-04-2005, 12:09 AM
Jason, what do you use to burn DVD's on the desktop?

All sorts of things Pinnacle Studio 8/9, Premiere Elements, Nero...although there are some things software can do to make the header of the DVD more/less compatible, I think it's more about the DVD media and burner than the software.