Problem burning DVDVideo playable in standalone DVD Players

[paul48]

Is the problem due to my Dell Inspiron 640m/Philips SDVD8820_AD15 hardware, or software, or my not using correct settings ?

 

I recently installed Imgburn 2.4.4.0 and like the simple user menu very much. Initially used just the 1st icon: Write image file to disc, as I thought that should be the simplest of the 2 burning options.

 

When I burn a Video to DVD-R, the resulting disk will play in 1 standalone Philips DVD Player, but NOT in other standalone DVD players

 

When I burn to DVD-RW or DVD+RW, ImgburnLog indicates no problem UNTIL it reaches VERIFY, at which point it fails, tries to format the disc but fails. Tried various media, including Philips DVD+RW but no improvement. The varied DVD-R media is normally readable in my machine - but the whole point of my writing to disc is so OTHERS can!

 

Occasionally, the Dell Inspiron/Philips DVD combination fails to Play even factory pressed DVD Films.

 

The default Sonic DVD burn software that came pre-installed by Dell also had this problem, but can no longer reproduce that, as the HD failed, so losing all Dell preinstalled software.

 

Although laptop bought with '2 yr International Warranty' in UK for use in Brazil/travel, delivered late with faulty 'enhanced' screen. told by Dell Brasil, Inspiron Warranty doesn't work in Brasil. No response to from day#1 to the technical/warranty issues from either Dell's UK, Brasil or USA offices.

 

As the spec of the machine says it can write DVD-+RW I am mystified as to why it never could, and also why so few DVD-R's I burn't, are even readable in other PC's. When I first bought the laptop using the Sonic, I wrote at 'Max' speed. But since using Imgburn I have set the Write speed to 4x. I reinstalled WindowsXP Pro MCE SP2 from the Dell supplied 'recovery disc', and most of the Dell drivers from their website.

 

Any ideas on pinning down the root of the problem ?

In case I have overlooked any important 'settings' I attach a LOG file of the DVD-R burn

I 16:04:38 ImgBurn Version 2.4.4.0 started!

I 16:04:38 Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition (5.1, Build 2600 : Service Pack 2)

I 16:04:38 Total Physical Memory: 1,038,712 KB - Available: 524,276 KB

I 16:04:38 Initialising SPTI...

I 16:04:38 Searching for SCSI / ATAPI devices...

I 16:04:38 Found 1 DVD

Edited September 10, 2009 by paul48

[LIGHTNING UK!]

The first log shows everything went fine and that disc is at least 100% readable by your burner.

 

As for why some players will play it and some won't, that's kinda hard to say.

 

It could be due to the way the files were authored or it could be due to the way the image was built - note that this 'test5.iso' was not built by ImgBurn and so problems with it are out of my hands.

 

TYG02 are great discs normally and you certainly don't need to burn them at 4x. Are they real 'Taiyo Yuden' branded ones or are they sold under a different name?

 

There is a firmware update available for your burner, you can get it from here - http://www.firmwarehq.com/Philips/SDVD8820/files.html

It may improve the burn quality on those discs (and others).

 

Your second log just shows that the drive did a rubbish job of burning the media as it appears to be unable to reinitliase the disc properly. Again, the firmware update might fix this. If it doesn't, don't use disc with that dye (PHILIPS-041-00) again.

 

Have you tried using a cleaning disc in your drive at all?

 

btw, there's a newer release of ImgBurn out, and SP3 for Windows XP is out too.

[paul48]

The first log shows everything went fine and that disc is at least 100% readable by your burner.

 

As for why some players will play it and some won't, that's kinda hard to say.

 

It could be due to the way the files were authored or it could be due to the way the image was built - note that this 'test5.iso' was not built by ImgBurn and so problems with it are out of my hands.

 

TYG02 are great discs normally and you certainly don't need to burn them at 4x. Are they real 'Taiyo Yuden' branded ones or are they sold under a different name?

 

There is a firmware update available for your burner, you can get it from here - http://www.firmwarehq.com/Philips/SDVD8820/files.html

It may improve the burn quality on those discs (and others).

 

Your second log just shows that the drive did a rubbish job of burning the media as it appears to be unable to reinitliase the disc properly. Again, the firmware update might fix this. If it doesn't, don't use disc with that dye (PHILIPS-041-00) again.

 

Have you tried using a cleaning disc in your drive at all?

 

btw, there's a newer release of ImgBurn out, and SP3 for Windows XP is out too.

 

I saw you had a new release, but thought unlikely to be your software at fault as my probs occured with the original Sonic supplied by Dell. Looking at your other points, no I have not applied the SP3 toWinXP, currently trying to decide on a 'freeware' backup program (thinking to install 'Amanda') to save all user data before altering my system. I see that reinstalled WinXP won't read .nfo (MSInfo docs), and thought to run 'sfc /scannow', but see it asks for my SystemDisc... maybe best install a backup program now, backup to ext HD,then 'repair' whatever WinXP needs. Then can apply SP3. No I haven't used a 'Cleaner Disc', not sure what to ask for in the shops - will investigate.. is there a particular type of Cleaner Disc I should look for?

Re. firmware update from the site you mention, 2 q: is flash upgrade near 100% riskfree? might Dell cite my updating firmware as excuse for not replacing the drive, should they ever respond ? - I see from googling that drive, Dell have frequently swopped out the Philips for NEC or Pioneer for other customers, but I did not find any blog specifically citing the above drive having this problem, other than Laptop drives not being as good.

Edited September 10, 2009 by paul48

[LIGHTNING UK!]

You're correct, my software is not at fault but you don't need to be one of these people that only update something to fix something. Not all problems are obvious to an end user and of course old versions don't have newer/better/faster/cheaper features!

 

Nope, just a regular cleaning disc for an optical drive / cd player / dvd player etc.

 

It's just like a standard disc only it has little brushes on it that clean the laser lens as they whizz over it.

[paul48]

You're correct, my software is not at fault but you don't need to be one of these people that only update something to fix something. Not all problems are obvious to an end user and of course old versions don't have newer/better/faster/cheaper features!

 

Nope, just a regular cleaning disc for an optical drive / cd player / dvd player etc.

 

It's just like a standard disc only it has little brushes on it that clean the laser lens as they whizz over it.

Thanks for that advice, will get a cleaning disc. Your reply clashed with my adding "Re. firmware update from the site you mention, 2 q: is flash upgrade near 100% riskfree? might Dell cite my updating firmware as excuse for not replacing the drive, should they ever respond ? - I see from googling that drive, Dell have frequently swopped out the Philips for NEC or Pioneer for other customers, but I did not find any blog specifically citing the above drive having this problem, other than Laptop drives not being as good." Any thoughts on that, also the frequent gen refs to laptops not being good at burning discs ?

[LIGHTNING UK!]

might Dell cite my updating firmware as excuse for not replacing the drive,

 

No, the firmware files are direct from Dell's site - and you can get them from dell itself if you want to. We just collected everthing together on firmwarehq.

 

They can't moan about something they're offering to end users themselves.

 

It's quite true, laptops drives are rubbish in general. I wouldn't advise anyone to use one unless they really had to.