I burned six DVD+R on a Sony DVD burner and am having problems playing
these DVD's on a Toshiba VCR / DVD combo unit.

Each DVD stops every few minutes or so, for about 5 - 8 seconds, and
then continues playing.

I tried these DVD's on a different DVD player, a low end unit made by RCA.

I am wondering whether the problem I having playing these DVD's is a
problem with the DVD's themselves, or whether burned DVD's sometimes
have problems with specific brands.

Thanks.

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Request for Question Clarification by aht-ga on 01 Jan 2004 19:06 PST

skip9801-ga:

*THE* place to go online for information and help in working with DVD
Recordables is:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/

They have a useful compatibility database for DVD players here:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdplayers.php

They also have a wonderful guide to DVD Recordable Media and user
reported compatibility:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdmedia

What I suggest you do is look up the specific brand of DVD Recordable
Media you are using (you did not mention it in your Question, and
there are differences between the various manufacturers as far as
compatibility goes), and look up your DVD players.

If either the media or the players are not yet in the database, you
can register with the free user forums, and ask if anyone has
experienced similar problems with your exact combination of player,
media, and burner.

DVD burning is still more of an art than a science, so you will need
to experiment with different media brands/manufacturers until you find
something that your burner and your DVD players are willing to work
with. I suggest that, in order to do this exploring, your best option
is to find a small, independent computer store who can sell you a
small quantity of several brands/manufacturers of media, before you
invest a lot of money in a package or spindle of an untested brand.

If you can provide the make/model of your burner and players, and the
specifications for your media (brand/type), I would be happy to seek
out additional information to see if your problem is typical or
unique.

Regards,

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

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Clarification of Question by skip9801-ga on 02 Jan 2004 05:46 PST

Sory - I should have listed details on what i had.

I used the following:

1. Sony DRX-510UL burner (which is reviewed favorably)
2. Memorex DVD+R 4X CD's
3. Toshiba VCR / DVD combo unit model SD-V291.

I thought CD-R was the most common CD standard and DVD+R the most
common DVD standard, but maybe I'm wrong.  Should I switch to DVD-R?

The compatibilities may be trickier than I realized.

Thanks.

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Clarification of Question by skip9801-ga on 02 Jan 2004 06:09 PST

aht-ga,

By the way, what is a "coaster?"

Harold

skip9801-ga:

Thank you for your question regarding the problems you have been
encountering trying to play burned DVD's on your DVD players.

From your question about "what is a coaster", I'm guessing that you've
read through some of the user reports! A "coaster" is, basically, all
that a CD-R or DVD Recordable is good for after it fails to burn
properly. Useful for protecting your computer table top from hot or
cold drinks. :) Personally, I like to use those AOL CD's that keep
arriving in the mail for this purpose, they are more colorful!

Based on the information provided by Toshiba for your DVD player:

http://www.tacp.toshiba.com/pdf/sd-v291.pdf

it appears that Toshiba only claims compatibility with DVD-R's burnt
as a DVD Video format.

Based on the information at DVDRHelp.com, and other similar
user-reported information elsewhere on the World Wide Web, it appears
that the Memorex DVD+R's made by CMC (Memorex doesn't actually make
any of it's own media) have mixed results, whereas the ones made by
Ricoh tend to perform better. You can double check which ones you have
using the free DVDIdentifier software available at:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdmediaform.php?dvdinfo=1#dvdinfo

and comparing it to:

http://www.dvdrhelp.com/dvdmedia.php?selectmedia=306&searchdvdwriter=65

Things you can try to improve your results are:

- switch to DVD-R media as that is the only format that Toshiba even
claims compatibility with;

- burn at a slower speed; part of the problem you are experiencing is
that the laser in your DVD player is having a hard time reading the
data tracks laid down by your burner. This can be either due to the
burner not laying down tracks uniformly (doubtful with this Sony
unit), or the DVD+R media's chemical properties making it difficult
for the laser in this specific Toshiba from reading it.

- buy a small number of several other manufacturer's DVD-R's to find
the one that works best for you.

Because DVD burning is an art, it's difficult to give you any more
than this as an answer. To answer specifically the question in your
original post's last paragraph, this type of problem is usually caused
by an incompatibility between the chemical properties of the DVD
recordable media, the way the properties change as the laser in the
burner records the data, and the ability of the laser in the DVD
player to 'see' the data on the burnt DVD. While I was not able to
find user reports of the exact same problem using the exact same
combination of equipment, the information on the Toshiba
specifications sheet points towards the DVD+R's as the cause of your
problem.

Good luck!

aht-ga
Google Answers Researcher

Very helpful information.

You might find this helpful:

http://vend4less.com/dvdr-play-compatibility.html