Hi to all,

I erroneously posted in an old thread, so starting a new one thanks Jeff53404.

I have a DVD +/- writer LITE-ON DVDRW SHW-160P65, DRIVER VERSION 5.1.2535.0 and I'm using the following software:

CLONEDVD2
V 2.9.0.3

ANYDVD
V 6.0.9.9 (I just downloaded v 6.1.0)

I've copied and burned most of my DVDs with success (DVD+/-) on the cheaper FRY's GQ brand, Approximately 3 out of 50 does not read on my 2001 stand alone DVD player, the rest of the DVDs work really well.

What was really weird was my copy of the Matrix, it was playing fine on my stand alone the first time, I played it...then when trying to finish the film 2 days later my stand alone wouldn't even recognize the disc!

So here goes Question # 1) Is that from bad archival life or what? Has this happened to anyone else?

So what I burned it to disc again, using the CLONEDVD2 file on my hard drive HOWEVER I first used Verbatim DVD-R 16x recorded at 8x, it still didn't read...then I used an HP DVD+R 16x recorded at 8x and still nothing.

Which leads to Question # 2) Is this a video failure from my clonedvd2 file or something that has to do with AnyDVD? I have not experienced any copying problems with other titles (about 10 titles) that I've copied/burned since so I don't understand what the heck is going on?

3) What is better media, TY or Verbatim? What is the difference? I'm just going by recommendations from others but I don't know why the discs are so different.

I'm sorry if I have left out any other necessary info. And THANKS in advance!

Johnny

Play your original media in both computer and standalone and see what happens? Change media to better quality and slow your burn speed down. And last dont be running memory or CPU intensive program when your burning. And where those program not conflicting with other programs? Make sure you cable connection to your external drive is working I assume that is a external model. Verbatim is the usually better media for burning and backing up. But give various better quality media a try and see which works better for your setup.

"What was really weird was my copy of the Matrix, it was playing fine on my stand alone the first time, I played it...then when trying to finish the film 2 days later my stand alone wouldn't even recognize the disc!"

What do you mean finish the film 2 days later?

Sorry, but a simple answer is best: GQ = Trash. Throw the unused blanks the dumpster. All your backups on GQ will stop working within a year or so, so you will probably be trashing them eventually as well. So I suggest you get out all your original DVD movies and start reburning your previous backups onto Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden media. Forget the HP disks. Lesson learned ... nobody saves any money using crap media!

I have a JVC player that hates Verbatim. And some players are somewhat picky even with good media. "Head Cleaning Disks" can damage the laser head, on some players, by knocking it out of alignment. Also players can tire or die in their ability to read disks. Try the good media burns on a recently manufactured player.

Best regards,
Whisperer

I am guilty of running several memory hog programs, adobe 7, mozilla firefox and microsoft word at the same time.

External drive? Nope, it's an internal drive.

I should have explained it better, I watched the film, was interrupted. I didn't get to watch the remaining scenes until 2 days later.

Serious? Damn that really sucks. What a waste of money. On eBay I saw 200 Taiyo Yuden Blank Silver 8x DVD-R DVDR Media Disks for $57 including shipping, is that a fair price? TY isn't sold at any retail store correct?

Thanks for your suggestions!

Hi again,

I would resist buying any media on ebay. You don't know how the seller cared for the items or the likelihood of a return if there's a problem (especially if the seller is a crook). When you think of the thousands of dollars you spent on hardware, software, videos and time, I don't think it makes sense to look for bargains on media (especially ebay).

There are often postings on CDF (Bargain Basement Forum) where members will post possible local sightings of TY media at various brick & mortar stores. You might enjoy following these threads but be prepared to deal with issues of MIJ (made in Japan) or MIT (Taiwan). Why not start with a 50 pack of Verbatim and suggest leaving your machine alone during the 30 minutes it's backing-up a movie.

Jeff, thanks for finding my new post. Yes, all very good suggestions. You're absolutely right on so many points.

Thanks to you and everyone else that took the time to answer my ?'s. Much appreciated!