dbminter

Since you're new to the DVD world as you say, you may not know there are 2 kinds of writable DVD's. One is write once and one is write many. If you write to a write once media like DVD-R or DVD+R, you can't write to it again or erase anything from it. DVD-RW and DVD+RW can be rewritten to many times. DVD-RAM is also write many, but it's a relatively niche area.

I generally don't take buffer fluctuations into account. My LG drive buffers up and down and I've not had an issue with it in like 10 years. I really don't know how to read the graphs. I never pay attention to those.

HL-DT-ST ID string means it's a LG brand DVD burner. Unfortunately, I can't be any more specific about the questions you asked than what I've already said.

The drive is not writing properly to that media. Notice all the empty sector warnings on Verify. And it's most likely not a read error as you tried playing this disc back and you get problems. Did you try playing this disc in a drive other than the one you burned it on/tried Verifying on? If you still got errors, then it's the drive not properly writing to the media. What can you do? Two things basically. First, try seeing if there's a firmware update to the drive that might resolve issues writing to that kind of media. In Write mode, right click on the target drive and choose the firmware update option near the bottom of the context menu that appears. Second: replace the drive. It's either dead/dying or its firmware needs updating. If there's no firmware update, there's no need to use that drive.

Yeah, I think it might be worth trying a Verbatim BD-R and see if you get the same results. If you just burn one, you can tell if you get a complete Verify. If you don't, I would say it's something buried in the hardware changes here. I'd be a bit inclined to blame the SATA to IDE bridge.

Oh, forgot something. Operations that suddenly drop to 0x, don't do anything, and the software can't recover, e.g. waiting for read threads, are common with external drives that fail an operation. In this case, a read operation for Verify. Reads that behave this way are generally the result of failed Verifies, being unable to read the burned data back from the disc. However, in this case, manual Verify seems to work on another drive, so the problem is somewhere in that particular hardware regarding reads.

Unfortunately in your case, it's probably hard to say much of anything. This rig you've made is some kind of Frankenstein type affair, if memory serves me correctly. Parts from different manufacturers and a specialized firmware. In that kind of scenario, it's hard to say what might cause an issue. One thing that might cause a problem is the RITEK media. I've never used anything other than VERBAT-IM BD-R SL so I can't say what quality the RITEK media would be. As for the read speed, unfortunately, it really is down to the drive itself as to what it will or won't do. It may say I'll read at X max speed but not get nowhere near that.

Printing labels sounds out of ImgBurn's purview. It's intended to create and burn images, primarily. I doubt LUK even considered trying to get it to print labels to capable hardware. I know ImgBurn didn't support burning LightScribe labels to discs back when they were a thing.

Okay, you're not using the CMC discs. I 10:30:47 Destination Media Type: DVD+R DL (Disc ID: MKM-001-00) MKM is Mitsubishi, which is the only quality manufacturer of DVD+R DL out there. So, your best bet at this point is try writing at a lower speed, like you suggested. But, be aware the drive itself makes the ultimate decision on how slow it will write. So, even though the media may be rated for 2.4x, a drive may burn higher and you can't lower that speed. ImgBurn will attempt to send the proper desired slower burn rate, but the drive may not necessarily honor it. If that doesn't work, try seeing if there's a firmware update for your drive that might have a better, more compatible write strategy for it and that MKM branded media. In Write mode, right click on the drive from the burner list and choose the last option in the context menu, something like Check for firmware update. If there is an update, try applying it and see if you get better results. If that still doesn't work, your only other real option is replace your burner with something else that won't complain about that media. Write failures are rarely the cause of software errors or Windows configuration issues. They're generally drive and media compatibility related. So, that's why you want to avoid the junk media whenever possible to give your burn the best likelihood of success.

You say you're burning a DVD+R DL but there's nothing in those logs that shows you're burning a DVD+R DL. I was looking for a DVD+R DL failure to get the DID/MID to see if it was another CMC Mag disc, which it will be most likely if you bought them from a brick and mortar store. So, I couldn't tell you anything for certain.

There's no difference between DataLife Plus and AZO. Just that some parts of the world label DataLife Plus media as AZO. AZO is actually the kind of organic recording dye used in DataLife Plus media. Verbatim releases some good DataLife Plus type media but labels it as AZO without the DataLife Plus name on it. "Genuine" Taiyo Yuden media is a good choice. BUT, CMC bought TY years ago. So, you'll want to find CMC Pro media, which is the good Taiyo Yuden media or find older TY media. There's no 100% guarantee of getting playable discs, I'm afraid, because it depends on how well your drive works with certain media and how well your DVD player works with certain media. However, you're better off maximizing your possible results by using good media like DataLife Plus.

Yep, just as I thought before even looking at the Log. Here's your problem: I 13:08:09 Destination Media Type: DVD-R (Disc ID: CMC MAG. AM3) You're using the cheap Verbatim Life Series junk DVD's. CMC MAG is CMC Magnetics, which makes some of the worst discs out there. They also ironically own Verbatim which makes some of the best when you use the RIGHT Verbatim. Avoid the Life Series you find in stores. You want the DataLife Plus/AZO series. (NOT Life Series.) Those are generally only found online like Amazon.com.

JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) is an interface designed to test printed circuit boards. It can also write certain flash memory like BIOS. It may have other uses, but I don't know what they are. For some more detailed context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JTAG

I've seen conflicting statements on the necessity for USB 3.x for external BD drives. Supposedly, you need USB 3.x speeds in order to keep the communication going with the drive because of the large amount of data it writes at a time. I've also seen elsewhere statements that you can get by with USB 2.x. So, I don't know what to say. Sorry.

So, you HAVE created Blu-Ray Video discs with these SAME BD discs you've been using that do play on your Blu-Ray player? If so, then it's not the discs and you can most likely pin the problem on DVDFab.

If you changed the DVDFab templates, then that could definitely be a problem, depending on what was changed. I wouldn't even let DVDFab call ImgBurn if it has the ability to write BDMV output folders. I would then add its output manually to a job in ImgBurn's build mode. ImgBurn is "smart" enough to detect you're trying to make a Blu-Ray Video disc and automatically make any necessary changes. That's what I do with the VIDEO_TS created by ConvertXToDVD when I make DVD Video discs. Another possibility to consider here is the BD discs you're burning. Your Blu-Ray player may not like them and simply can't read them. Your PC drive wouldn't have that problem.

Reserving tracks is different from what it sounds like you're talking about. What it sounds like you're talking about is setting the layer break, which you do NOT do on Blu-Ray as far as I am aware of. You have to let reserve tracks finish; otherwise, you don't have a readable disc. Padding is automatically selected, usually. However, that generally, again, as far as I know, only applies to DVD Video. Those settings DVDFab tech support told you to change would have no bearing on creating a disc that doesn't play in a Blu-Ray player. The Blu-Ray disc plays on your PC, so it's not authored incorrectly. What is going on is DVDFab does not appear to be passing the proper customizations for a playable Blu-Ray disc.

Okay, so you're writing Blu-Ray Video content to a Blu-Ray disc. Unfortunately, at this point, I can't say what the problem might be as it probably involves your Blu-Ray creation software doing something wrong.

Good. Now, I need the 2nd part of what I asked for.

Yeah, normally the updates are transparent, but this time the cookie problem slipped through. I figured it probably was a cookie issue given how the board was no longer "saving" log ins.

Did the forum software recently go through an update within the last week or so? For a few days a bit ago, I couldn't view new posts without first "logging in" each time. There would be a button on a page saying I wasn't allowed to view that content and needed to log in. When pressing it, I would already be "logged in." That has since stopped happening, but it made me wonder if the forum software had gone through a recent update. Thanks!

If DVDFab is calling ImgBurn directly, then who knows if it's doing it correctly or not. That introduces a whole new set of additional variables for things that could go wrong. At this point, I'd ask you to do something for me. Take this disc that won't play on your Sony Blu-Ray player but will play on your PC and put it in your PC drive. Open ImgBurn in Read Mode. There's a pane of disc information on the right side of the top window that says near the top Current Profile. Right click with the mouse on this pane of information, choose Select All, right click again and choose Copy. Paste that information into a reply here on this forum thread. Next, in File Explorer, navigate to the root directory of this inserted disc. Do you see a VIDEO_TS folder or a BDMV folder in the root directory of the disc?

Well, I'm still not getting a clear answer on if you're putting a Blu-Ray into a DVD player. You say it's a Sony DVD player, but DVD players won't play Blu-Rays. You also say you're using DVDFab and then you say you're using Blu-Ray Creator. Is there a Blu-Ray option with DVDFab? So, I don't know if you're creating DVD Video or Blu-Ray Video. Probably the easiest way to answer this. When you use ImgBurn's Build mode, are you adding a VIDEO_TS folder or a BDMV folder? If it's VIDEO_TS, that's a DVD. And if you burn a VIDEO_TS to a Blu-Ray disc, it will not play in a Blu-Ray player. And it definitely won't play in a DVD player. PC drives don't care what you feed them. The software that plays back the media does it based on the file formats, not the disc formats, as standalone player hardware does.

When you say "4 files as input for 4 separate episodes" are you just burning the 4 container files to the BD or are you converting them to Blu-Ray Video first with a converter software? If you're doing the former, then popping in the BD won't automatically cause it to play. Your player has to support natively playing container files. Also, you're mixing terms. Blu-Ray and DVD are two different media formats. It's either or. Another thing, you say your Sony player is a DVD player. Are you sure it's not a Blu-Ray player instead? If it IS a DVD player only, then putting a BD in a DVD player definitely won't be recognized by a DVD only player. And, as I said, if you're making a VIDEO_TS DVD Video but burning it to BD, a BD player won't play it as a DVD, even though it will do it the other way around.

Are you creating a DVD Video or a Blu-Ray Video? You mention DVD's, but the media information you provide is for Blu-Ray. If you've created VIDEO_TS DVD Video files and you burned them to a Blu-Ray recordable disc, then a Blu-Ray player will not play them. Sony specifically created the player standard to avoid doing this.