I am a total newbie when it comes to dvd burning and I've been spending way too long on trying to sort it out so if someone could help me that would be great!!

Here is my problem:

I've burnt around 40 DVDs and only 10 work.

The others work perfectly until about an hour an 20 mins and then skip and stop.

I don't really know what to do as I've tried every single dvd burning software and still nothing works better!!!!

I tried to back up some dvds, the first 3 went fine but now the same problem appears!

Would anyone have any idea to help me?

thanks

Almost certainly a media problem. What type of dvd writer do you have and what type of blank dvds are you using?

Thanks for your quick reply!!!

I am using a brand new NEC burner 16* and some basic blank dvds (cheap)

Crappy media. Buy better quality media, get better results. Garbage in, garbage out!

So you reckon it's because of these blank dvds I have these problems.

Could it come from somewhere else?

It's 99% certian that it's a media problem as has already been pointed out.

You need to state the exact model NEC (probably a 3520/3540) & the media ID of the blank DVD's.

If you have Nero then CD/DVD Speed , using the disc info tab will give you this detail.
You'll get Manufacturer & MID. Post back both & someone will tell you how good/bad these are.

It is undoubtedly a media problem. Had you posted on Videohelp, one or two of the members there would have launched into insane theories about overheating drives and quantum flux and shit like that, but the truth is that the "cheap media" is cheap for a reason.

If you buy nice FUJI or VERBATIM media you will be happy again. Or if you ask around (or just read a bit) on here you'll discover which media types people like (the brand and the actual dye used are usually unrelated - I recommend Fuji and Verbatim simply because they use Taiyo Yuden films, which I happen to like)... most of us order our media in large packs once we find a type that we really like.

Just want to confirm what everyone else is saying. On cheap media Dynex
(Ritek) if burned at 16x, at the end it skips, freezes, snaps, crackles, pops .
When i burn at 8x, everything plays a lot better. Now i use on Taiyo Yuden (Fujis-Made in Japan) and i can burn at 16x in my Plextor 716a with no problems.

Yeah we forgot to mention that.

To make decent use of the discs you have now, try burning them a lot slower.

8x, 4x, 2.4x even.

Don't waist your time with the media you have. If your in the states go to either www.rima.com or www.supermediastore.com and order yourself some TY's. You can play around with slower burn speeds untill you get some quality media. Once you get some, and if you have any of the first one's left, use them for target practice.

The speed might have been a problem as well I think!

Thanks a lot for your help mates!!

I already ordered some new DVDs!

Hum...

I have another noobish question....

What does the 120min recording time means on the DVD?

That we can't put more than 120 min of film?

Thanks

120 min is real time recording. ie Burning direct from TV tuner or from Dish receiver ect.

It's meaningless for people working on a PC.

I wanted to post this in here since it seems to be a related topic.

I have been making backups of my dvds off and on for a few months now. Recently I have been running into the problem that I can make it through some of my movies no problem but some of my movies, mainly newer ones have been getting three quarters of the way thu the movie and then they start to glitch, pause for a second, screen starts messing up. Any suggestions, I will try to give you what Im using the best I can.

Burner HP 640b, came with my computer
Media: tdk dvd+r 8x, Phillips 1-8x dvd +R, just recently sony 8xdvd+r
Burning with Roxio easy cd/dvd creator 6

I have slowed it down to 4x as slow as it will go and still have these problems sometimes depending on my player. Thank you in advance for any help.

First thing is HP = Nothing personal. If you look or see me listed as Sportfish, take a look at my signature. I've got one so I'm just speaking from experience. DL a prog like DVD Identifier or DVD infopro and let us know what the midcode is for your media. In other words who it's made by. The TDK I have at home is TY 02 which is pretty good media. You should not have any problems burning this up to 12X and maybe even 16X if you have a good batch. Also DL Nero CD DVD Speed and run a create data test and a transfer rate test and post. And now the normal questions. When did you last do a DeFrag? Check and make sure your set to DMA and not PIO. Give us these results and answers and one of us should be able to help you more. Also I'm not a huge fan of Roxio. You can DL the trial version of Nero 6 for 30 days which I suggest and try that for burning. Or get DVD Decrypter .

I did the Identifier thing, I dont have the same ones as you, mine are cmc mag-e01. I just did a defrag and I am in the process of getting Nero and installing on my pc(been meaning to do it anyway). I will try these things and report back if problem is not solved. Thanks

CMC MAG E01's can give very mixed results ... esp. depending on the burner / firmware used. I wouldn't be surprised to experience some bad burns and a high degree of variability from disc to disc.

What are the MID's of the other 2 media you mentioned above? The Philips and Sony's?

It looks like the HP 640B is a rebadged LG burner ... per ala42 here in this thread: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=133813

I'm not familiar with LG drives, but maybe you can figure out which it is in the LG forum. Maybe get guided to a good firmware to best handle those CMC's. Good luck.

I've had problems with the CMC MAG E01 myself. TYG01/TYG02, MCC01RG20, YUDEN000T02 have all worked well for me using decrypter and clone 2.

Hey ugadawgs......... Wolf here has it nailed. Can't go wrong with this media. If your nable to get OEM TY's (pending your area) look for Fuji or TDK that's made in Japan. 99% chance these will be TY's. Or any Verbatim media. These two you will find to be the favorites of most of us on the forum.
BTW welcome to the forum. You too shieldwolf.

@ Sportfish1:

OT: Are you any relation to the original "sportfish" (CD Freak member name) here in these parts?

Hey ninbang.......... Ya that's my evil twin brother. Naaaaaaaa just kidding. That would be me also. I have a lake home in N.W. Mn. but I wasn't able to use two different e-mail addresses for 1 name. So I had to create Sportfish1 for when I'm at the lake and be able to recieve instant notifications from threads. But after I did this, my ISP came out with the ability to forward mail while on vacation or out of town. But I just decided to keep it as is.

Let's see ... "sportfish" + lake house in Minnesota ... so, I'm guessin' that equates to ... Northern Pike?

I've heard of people backpacking Minnesota with a light canoe and 'lake hopping' and thoroughly enjoying mother nature's bounty in the Land O Lakes. Sounds like a beautiful place.

You've almost got it right. All except the Northern Pike those toothey SOB's. Take the Northern out and replace with Walleye and then you have it. And it is beautiful 3/4 of the year unless you like the snow and cold. Personally I hate it but the other part makes up for it.

I used to live in Alaska, so I know all about "snow and cold" ... and esp. waiting 1/2 the year for spring/summer/fall to show up. Man, I really miss the fishing there - esp. fly fishing the river banks for salmon, rainbows, and dolly varden. Lots of grayling in the lakes as well. And, someone 'introduced' Northern Pike (yes, those toothy SOB's that seem to eat through anything and are so damn aggressive) into the lakes and even some fresh water streams ... some lakes have seen rainbow population practically eliminated. What an incredible nuisance. But, they put up a great fight when you get a hook ripped into their lips!!