Media & process for Sony freeze free playback?

vbimport
#1

In another thread, I asked for help regarding momentary pauses during playback. I run WinXP, burn with either RecordNow or DVD Decryptor, never have anything running in the background, and have, to date, used TY02 discs - mostly Fujifilm (made in Japan). System is Dell 2.4 Ghz, 512 Mb RAM. Burner is OEM 1620 w/G7P9 fw.

I get random momentary pauses from time to time. Disc might play without incident, might freeze for a fraction of a second 1-3x during playback. Never the same place twice, never the same # of freezes - completely random, or at least, I have yet to establish a pattern. I will be burning my next several at 4x (slow!) and will switch bitsetting back to DVD+R, instead of DVD-ROM as I had been doing to see if that helps.

Meanwhile, my question is: If you are getting flawless playback on a Sony set-top, what media are you using, and what else can you tell me about your backup process? It might be easier to duplicate someone else’s efforts rather than try to find the needle in the haystack on mine, assuming consistent, flawless playback is even possible on a Sony.

Thanks!

#2

Owen Stubbs,

I see that you have started this new thread which is why I’m responding to your last question to me in here. I use Verbatim (MCC 003 and MCC 004) DVD+R discs very often. I have tested them bitset to DVD+R and also to DVD-ROM with no playback problems on my Philips DVP642. For DVD-R media, I have used Fujifilm03 and Memorex (RITEKG05) with no playback problems. For DVD+R DL I have used Verbatim with no problems bitset to both DVD+R DL and also to DVD-ROM. Lastly, I have used Memorex branded and also Verbatim branded DVD+RW media with no problems when they have been bitset to DVD+RW and also to DVD-ROM. I don’t use any DVD-RW media as I see no use since I can’t change the bitset on these type of discs and that’s a very nice feature for rewritable media (DVD+RW) because you can change the bitset AFTER the burn. Basically, I have tried other types of media but can’t remember them all. The ones I just listed are the ones I currently use every day. But, I have had zero playback problems with any and all media types I have ever burned on my two BenQ DW1620s and then played in one of my Philips DVP642 units. I hope this helps you out and answers the question you asked me in the other thread.

#3

As mentioned in your other thread, our GE 1101PAs are pretty picky too.

I originally tried Ricoh JPNR01s +R discs I got as Memorex and Sony branded at Wally World.

We would occasionally get slight pauses, but more often we got random pixilation.

At that time I was made aware of KProbe (error testing program for LiteOn drives) and started running it on my discs - I noticed that although my discs were within the PI of 280 and PO of 32 that the KProbe author recommended, it seemed that the discs with PIs higher than 200 and/or POs higher than 12 or so were the ones I was having problems with.

I adopted tighter testing standards - I reject anything over 150/10. However that was causing me to have to reject many many discs and frankly I didn’t like burning things, testing them, rejecting them, reburning them, retesting them, on and on.

I went on the hunt for better discs, first up were some TY 4x +Rs I bought off of eBay. They read out as TY discs, but I think they were seconds or fakes as the die on them appeared uneven in color, they had scratches, etc… They would burn better - within my new tighter specs, but still gave problems during play back (again, mostly pixilization).

I also tried book typeing these media to DVD-ROM, but it didn’t help.

A friend then said to try some Ritek -R G04s as he’d had great luck with them on his LiteOn burner. WOW! They burnt at PIs of 20 or less and POs of 4 or so consistently! They played beautifully on anything I put them in!

Unfortunately after several happy months, Riteks started being inconsistent for me this fall - I got spindles that burnt fine and some that were marginal to sucky. I switched to TY 4x -Rs and they were expensive, but they burnt very well with PIs around 40 and POs around 4.

Recently I couldn’t get any Ritek or TY 4x -Rs, all I could get was 8x. I tried some Ritek G05 8x -R and they sucked. I tried some TYG02 8x -Rs and they start out with a high PI - around a 100 and quickly taper down to around 10 withthin the first quarter of the disc and they stay low to the end. The POs are 5 or below. The discs play flawlessly in our players, so that’s what I’ve been using (and TY has came down in price to almost the same level as Riteks - which is actually cheaper in the long run as I hardly ever have a coaster with TY discs).

Soooo, the moral of the story - use quality consistent media that will give you good burns. Next see if it’ll play in your players, if it doesn’t try another media.

If you’d like to try some TYG02 -Rs drop me a PM and I’ll send ya a couple.

On another, more maddening note, my parents have a Mintek DVD player and it would play the error rate discs without issue! My borhter has an old Apex 700 and it would play anything, including those high error rate discs! My father-inlaw had a GE 5 disc player and it was really picky (pickier than ours!). He bought an Apex 1200 after Thanksgiving for $28 and it plays anything thrown at it.

Oh well, having a picky player makes me buy quality media and only accept good burns, so that’s not all bad . . .

I’m looking forward to playing with my 1620 when it arrives - I’m going to give a go at +R media again as it appears this burner will burn them much better than my LiteOn ever did.

Good luck in your hunt!

-Bob-

#4

Socrates & Svenson - thanks again for your replies, and thanks to Svenson for the offer of discs. I’m sitting on about 250 FujiFilm TY02’s, so it will be awhile before I can try other media, but I wanted input now so I can keep my eye on sales. From various comments on this, and other, sites, I was led to believe these TY02’s were top drawer, but perhaps that it not the case with various set-top players.

Problem with just trying a few is that it is not proof positive - I did that with the TY02’s and my first several appeared fine, so I went ahead and got more. The problem is compounded by the intermittent nature of the problem - any given disc might play fine one time, then pause during a different playback session.

Finally, since I have had this happen on multiple Sony players, plus a few other brand players, I thought I would seek input specific to Sony set-top players.

I’m beginning to wonder if the “pause/freeze” anomoly can ever really be completely eliminated.

#5

Send some to me too. Please. :bigsmile:

Sony standalone DVD players are picky about media. But my 2y old Samsung 239 plays everything I throw in it. :wink:

#6

Hi,

You may want to buy just what you need for the near future. Buying in bulk gives attractive prices, but then again with the media price falling all the time plus the media improving it may not be as good of a buy as it appears.

The pause/freeze/pixelization problem probably wont ever be completely eliminated, but most don’t find it overly troublesome either. Good media, scanning for quality burns, and using a player that’s not so picky is the ticket. Media is relatively cheap, the burners are cheap, and the players are cheap these days so finding the right combination can be done.

Again, good luck!

-Bob-

#7

That’s a fine looking scan Pinto! I hope my new burner does as well!

It’s interesting that my LiteOn starts high and curves low in the first part of the disc and your scan shows the opposite (though only ends up at about 1/3 the error rate mine start at).

-Bob-

#8

off topic

When I scan the same disc in KProbe I get this…

It looks like BenQ has better readability on the first (inner) part of the disc.
And, Litey begins to scan at 4x speed from first sector, BenQ ~2.8x… :wink:

BTW, why can´t I get some TYG02´s… :sad:

#9

Uhm, since you were posting scans of TYG02s I thought you already had some! Besides, I’m stingy!

-Bob-

#10

I have a sony NS700 which I use as a reference machine. It seems more picky, but it plays better quality than the cyberhome (which plays more - but I think at less quality).

Anyway, I have a 1600 - flashed to a 1620. When I first did this, I found that datawrite disks were having problems playing in the Sony in the 0min to 20minute zone. Stutter, freeze. I burned 2 or three more, they all had problems (differing places - same video).

Then I found a later flash (K9 or L9) and suddenly the Sony had no problems playing back the DVD+R discs. (These are Datawrite - Prodisc R03).

Recently I tried 3 DVD+R DL and the problem seems to have returned. Haven’t worked out media or Flash yet.