Video DVD vs. Data DVD

[ArthurKotb]

I'm hoping someone here can answer my question.

I use Program Director 20 to make movies. An output option for the source is to burn to a DVD or .iso file. If I choose to burn the DVD it won't play on a stand alone DVD or Blu-ray player. The screen says 'unable to read disc'. I can put the same DVD in a computer DVD drive and it will play.

I can take the .iso option and create the file, then use a separate tool (ImgBurn) to create a DVD that will play on the external DVD / Blu-ray or a computer's DVD drive.

I have software that will look at the 'info' for a DVD. For the one created by Program Director it shows "Data DVD" and for the one created by ImgBurn it shows "Video DVD".

I have been trying to work with the Program Director support team to get them to understand that the DVD they produce will not play in the stand alone players (I have 3). They claim that because they can play the discs on their computer using VLC that they are valid DVD discs. I say that computers can read/play either a Data or Video DVD but stand alone players. can't. They disagree and say their software will burn only video DVD on a video DVD disc.

Does anyone know what setting they may have set incorrectly to produce a Data DVD instead of a Video DVD?

-Arthur K

[dbminter]

The only thing I can see that they might have overlooked is in the File System.  That needs to be ISS9660+UDF with UDF revision 1.02.  The Data Type needs to be MODE1/2048.

 

But, good luck getting those people to do anything.  They're set in their ways that they're right and you're wrong.  95% of tech support operates that way.  I've been telling Pioneer for over a DECADE they borked 8x DVD+RW writing in their firmware and they only addressed it last year... only to add it BACK in to the 2nd to the last firmware update they released! 

 

Hey, a fellow Kentuckian!    I'm down in Owensboro! 

[LIGHTNING UK!]

Program Director (by unknown) or Power Director (by Cyberlink) ?

If it's Power Director by CyberLink, I like to think they'd know what they're doing seeing as they make one of, if not 'the', main (licensed) DVD video player software for Windows (PowerDVD).

[ArthurKotb]

Hi DB, thanks for the reply. I'm over in Lexington 🙂

They reply once a week and their forum is set up so you can reply only once to their post, then you have to wait until they reply again. I'll save your information for the next go around but I'm not sure what it means. I don't know how to burn a video DVD as a Data DVD. I've never seen an option to do that. When you look at the files they still show the TS_Video and TS_Audio file structure, just like a video DVD. None of my players will play them but I can burn from the .iso file using ImgBurn and play it.

At least I can use another software to create the DVD and make it work, so I have a work around.

[dbminter]

Do you mean TS_VIDEO and TS_AUDIO or VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS?  If you mean the former, then, that's why they're not working on a standalone DVD player, but wouldn't explain why they work in VLC.

 

Technically, a DVD Video disc is a "Data Disc."  DVD's of all kinds are all data discs.  There's no distinction between types of discs as there are with CD's.  It's just the File Systems and other structural defaults must conform to the DVD Video standard.

[ArthurKotb]

4 minutes ago, LIGHTNING UK! said:

Program Director (by unknown) or Power Director (by Cyberlink) ?

If it's Power Director by CyberLink, I like to think they'd know what they're doing seeing as they make one of, if not 'the', main (licensed) DVD video player software for Windows (PowerDVD).

You are correct, Cyberlink Power Director 20. I used to work with some software called Program Director and I keep getting them mixed up. The software is very good and I'm not asking about that. It's only the issue with DVD burning. That option creates a DVD that will play only on a computer's DVD drive.

The developers may know what they're doing but the support people I'm working with don't seem to be up to speed on DVD players. They're saying they can burn a DVD using Power Director and play it with a stand alone DVD player, like VLC. Well of course VLC is software run on a computer and I agree it can do that. But if you put that Data Video disc into a stand along DVD player (just a player attached to a TV) it doesn't know what to do with it. I can run software on each of the discs and the ones that play on a stand alone DVD player say "DVD-Video" and the ones burned by Power Director say "DVD (Data)". So their software appears to be creating the disc as data instead of as video.

[dbminter]

Actually, give me until tomorrow and I can test the File Systems idea.  I'll add a DVD Video compliant VIDEO_TS to a job and burn it, BUT I won't let ImgBurn change the defaults to DVD Video.  I'll use my standard "data" disc structure of UDF 2.06.  If my DVD player doesn't play it, that would explain it.

[ArthurKotb]

2 minutes ago, dbminter said:

Do you mean TS_VIDEO and TS_AUDIO or VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS?  If you mean the former, then, that's why they're not working on a standalone DVD player, but wouldn't explain why they work in VLC.

 

Technically, a DVD Video disc is a "Data Disc."  DVD's of all kinds are all data discs.  There's no distinction between types of discs as there are with CD's.  It's just the File Systems and other structural defaults must conform to the DVD Video standard.

Long day and very tired right now. I'm traveling and this laptop doesn't have a DVD player and I don't have the discs with me. Both disc types appear to have the same structure when you look at them in File Explorer. One shows in a disc analysis (DVDfab) as Data and the other as Video. Multiple video discs analyzed  all show as Video and will play on the stand alone players. Ten discs burned with PD20 will not. They will play only on a computer's DVD drive using software like VLC.

 

Sorry for any confusion

[ArthurKotb]

5 minutes ago, dbminter said:

Actually, give me until tomorrow and I can test the File Systems idea.  I'll add a DVD Video compliant VIDEO_TS to a job and burn it, BUT I won't let ImgBurn change the defaults to DVD Video.  I'll use my standard "data" disc structure of UDF 2.06.  If my DVD player doesn't play it, that would explain it.

Sure, I'm in no hurry. Traveling anyway and tuckered out tonight. Thanks for you help.

Where is that setting in ImgBurn, to set it to DVD Video or not?

[dbminter]

It's automatic.  If you add a VIDEO_TS folder to a burn job, ImgBurn asks you if you want it to automatically change all necessary settings for a DVD Video disc.

[dbminter]

It's not a File System issue.  I used my default of UDF 2.06 and told ImgBurn not to alter the File System properties for DVD Video and left it at UDF 2.06.  My LG Blu-Ray played the DVD upon insertion.

 

Now, this test is not an ideal.  It's not an apples to apples comparison.  My BD player may be programmed in such a way that it just checks for the proper disc contents as opposed to what type of disc is inserted, but I doubt that.

[LIGHTNING UK!]

If you can take an image of a disc that doesn’t play and burn it again with ImgBurn so it then plays, it could be something like booktype/ bitsetting.


Are you using dvd+r format discs?

[ArthurKotb]

Hi Lightning UK, I'm using HP DVD+R Double Layer 8X 8.5GB 240min Video

The Power Director 20 (PD20) can create an .iso image file and / or burn a DVD. If I choose the .iso file (playable on the computer using VLC) I can then use a burning software to burn a DVD and it will play on a standard DVD player or a computer. (PD20 doesn't have an option to burn a DVD from an .iso file.) If I choose to burn the DVD directly from PD20 the DVD will play on a computer but not on a standard DVD player.

I have a software called DVDfab Copy. If I start DVDfab and put the PD20 disc in the drive, DVDfab doesn't do anything. I have to select the DVD drive for the software to open the disc for copying. If I press the 'info' button it says the disc is DVD (Data) (see above). If I put the ImgBurn DVD in the drive, DVDfab immediately recognizes it and prepares to copy the disc. Pressing the 'info' button the disc shows DVD (DVD-Video).

The latest update from Cyberlink support says PD20 produces a DVD disc that can be played on the computer using VLC and that's all it's supposed to do. That's not helpful  because why would anyone want a DVD that can be played ONLY on a computer and not a standard DVD player. Most of my family is older, doesn't own a computer but does have a DVD player.

At this point I'm flogging a dead horse. Cyberlink support isn't about to either admit the PD20 software doesn't produce a DVD for a standard player or to contact the development team to find out why. I see my solution as using ImgBurn to use the .iso file from the PD20 output. Their movie producing software is good and I'm familiar with it now so I'm not about to change. I'll just add the extra step as a manual 'finishing' process. I was hoping I could be able to definitely find out why and let them know so they could update it. However, I've not been able to determine why their software burns (what appears to be) a data DVD, playable only on a computer.

[dbminter]

For about 20 years, I've been using ConvertXToDVD to make DVD's.  I've always had the software create VIDEO_TS output and used ImgBurn to create DVD Video discs from the VIDEO_TS and burn the resulting image file it creates with it.

[ArthurKotb]

There are only 2 options in PD20; burn a DVD or create an .iso file. If I burn a DVD I do have the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS on the disc, but it won't play on a standard DVD player. When I develop movies, I create .iso files and play them with VLC until I'm satisfied with the movie, then I had hoped to burn the DVD using PD20 so I could send it to relatives. Now I see I must use the .iso file and burn with different software.