Using the latest CloneDVD & AnyDVD sw, Sony DL external burner, Verbatim media. On some movies after the halfway point they start skipping and eventually hang up and will not play anymore. I have changed burning speed's from 4x to 2x and tried +R & -R media and several different dvd players.

Any help is appreciated.

Have you tried updating firmware? What version is yours?

I had the same problem. Two reasons, in my case:

1. Media. Though it was a DVD-R 8x (Taiyo Yuden), my Philips standalone did not like it. Likes better DVD+R (RICOHJPN). Taiyo Yudens burnt at 6x were played flawlessly, though.
2. Standalone firmware.

In your case most probably it is a media problem, judging from the symptoms.

I think it may be the dvd players. They are all cheap ones. Any recomendations on a good dvd player?

I'd recommend any of the new Hyundai's. I have one myself and have never had a problem with a +or- R/RW. Media codes that have been successful are: RICOHJPN, TTG02, CMC MAG, MBIPG101, PRINCO, and even Vanguard Industries crap worked. (shame the dye fades) By the way its one of those cheap ones And I use Any and Clone DVD.

Thanks. I have ordered 3 different brands of media to see if that will fix my problem. My main unit is a 2 year old Apex. I have tried to find a BIOS update but was unsuccessful. Thanks for the help. I will post back after I test the new media.

Hard to beat Plextor when it comes to burners. Their newest, the 716A also burns to DL media.

I believe he meant stand alone players not burners.

Wayne
If you decide to replace your stand alone, when you go shopping be sure to look at the specs on the players. Try to get one that will play both DVD+ and DVD-, as well as DVD R\W. This way you'll have no restrictions on what you can burn. The DVD R\W is a good feature to have, if a disc is in question, use a DVD R\W for a trial run, if successful, do a burn to a regular DVD + or-, then erase the DVD R\W and it's ready for another experiment.
I have two R\W on hand and have erased them dozens of times with no ill effects. It's important to have the feature on the stand alone, this way when you play back on the TV, it's what you see is what you get.

One of my players is a Sony NS725P that plays everthing I've put in it.
I'm sure there are many good players out there, just be sure to select one that has the features I mentioned, but remember one thing, in most cases, you get what you pay for.

what burning software do you use. I use roxio 6. get studdering with a plextor 708A and the latest firmware. Both verbatim and memorex dvd.

I also have most of my movies hanging up & hesitates on some frames.
But ONLY the ones created with AnyDVD/ CloneDVD2

The ones created with DVDdecrypter and CloneDVD2 are just fine!

If you have a recent DVD reader on your PC, try to fast read your movie created under AnyDVD.... 100% sure that you WILL get read errors.
ie: fast reading it using DVDdecrypter, or watching the movie and fast forward as fast as possible.

The problem occurs ONLY on the newer PC DVD reader/burners.
It happens on 4 of my drives (Sony, HP etc..) but NOT on my older Pioneer A06 burner. Each on different systems.
I use a Sony 8x to burn and it cannot fast-read it's own DVD if created under AnyDVD!!!! Barely able to do a 1x reading.

Also, I can always read ANY movies on my older Panasonic "home" reader, but not my more recent Malata Progressive scan.
Again, the Malata will read fine movies created with DVDdecrypter/CloneDVD2, but NOT AnyDVD/CloneDVD2..

This occurs on ANY media, DVD+R, DVD-R, 1X, 4X, 8X, good quality media (Kodak, Ridata) as well as cheaper brands (Memorex, Cicero etc...).

Typically, at 1X reading speed, I can watch most of the movie on any reader, but more often toward the ends, it starts skipping and freezing on the models mentionned above.

As far as I am concerned, AnyDVD will remains 'disabled' and unless someone has a fix, I will deinstall it forever.

PS: I also have a friend that has the same problem and him too has tried DVDdecrypter instead of AnyDVD and it works fine.

Can someone explain what AnyDVD is doing to the burner software to be that bad?

Thanks, (but no thanks to AnyDVD)

Abe.

I found a fix....

Replace AnyDVD by "DVD Region+CSS Free".... Same kind of software.

My newly created DVD are now readable everywhere, on ANY reader, with any media brand.

...0 errors on fast read (up to 8x). Tested OK.

Abe.

I would be also interested in any opinion in this matter as I am having almost the same problem lately. It might be that it has nothing to do with AnyDVD or CloneDVD2.

I started even a thread some minutes ago. I thought that the higher burning speed of a media causes problems for the standalone and that is the reason for the freezes, hangups. I am experiencing it only lately. If burnt at a lower speed the backup is played without any problems.

The freezes start approximately from the middle of the backup.

Media used: DVD-R - Taiyo Yuden 8x.
Standalones used: Philips DVP720SA, Pioneer DV-575A.
Software used: AnyDVD 4.3.0.1, CloneDVD2 2.5.4.3.

I tell you... Try DVD Region+CSS Free (The trial gives you 15 days free) and try it at 8X.

I am sure you won't see any problems.

I burn at 8X on cheap medias and with the new program it works like a charm....

Abe,

Thanx, will give it a try as I am really annoyed by making "coasters" lately.

I have made quite a few coasters myself, thanks to AnyDVD.

I know I can still read them properly on "some" (older) DVD readers, but that is not what I want. I want to be able to read them on my laptop while on the road etc...

I also don't understand what AnyDVD does to the DVD writing program, but again, it causes these DVD to be readable only on "some" readers. NOT including my laptop and a few more (brand new) DVD readers on many systems.

>>>Let us know how your tests turns out.

Thanks,

Abe,

Problem is solved.

I looked through the threads and saw a number of posts dealing with a similar problem.

My experience will be posted in CloneDVD2 thread.
And to keep my promise: as I have suspected the hanging up of movies has nothing to do with AnyDVD or any other software.

Update:

Here is the link: http://club.cdfreaks.com/showthread.php?t=120671

Hi Alex,

I don't think you understand.

When burning movies on SOME medias with AnyDVD, I get hangs and freezes while playing on SOME (newer) drives. Although they play fine on older players.

When burning the SAME movies on the SAME media brand when NOT using AnyDVD, I can play these movies everywhere.

That is my experience....

Abe.

I got your point. The case is that AnyDVD has nothing to do with the reading problem of the final outcome in a standalone. The burner, the media and the standalone, these are the key-players in this case.

By the way, as I have promised: I used Region+CSS Free. I got the same result, i.e. backup hanging up. And I have tried it in two good quality, latest standalones: Philips DVP720SA and Pioneer DV-575A.

I start to believe you are right.

I experimented some more and I got quite strange results.

1) Media quality on Kodak was great when they came out. Now, it's a piece of crap.
It seems they have changed their manufacturing or OEM from someone else?
Not sure, but have a lot of problems reading Kodak DVD+R on new readers.
2) My Sony burner DRU-530A is "supposed" to burn at 8X if you upgrade the original firmware.
Yeah, Right! Every DVD I tried at 8X was "successfull" ... Until I tried to read them on an other drive.... I/O errors etc... Tried at 8X DVD-R only (Not tried DVD+R)
Stay at 4X when using DVD-R.
3) Memorex media seems to be quite consistent at 4X. Not available at 8X. DVD+R
4) BenQ 8X media - Stay away. (DVD-R) May be OK at 4x.
5) Ridata (Ritek), which I taught best, cannot read data back if written at 8x.
Also got write errors write writing. Paid big price for these, wasted my money.
Also DVD-R's

DVD writing seems to be much more "flakier" that I taught.

Now, I'll try to venture into the double layers, my hopes are REAL low.

Ciao,

Abe.