HELP!!My dvd player freezes and skips when i play burnt dvd's.

Is the problem with my player or the discs?

The disks are the best quality i could buy (Verbatim 16x) and i am using a brand-new-2-day-old-computer to burn them. The disk are DVD-R.
tech specs:
2GB Ram
2.4GHz processor
8x SuperDrive with 4x double-layer burning
ATI Radeon HD 2600 PRO with 256MB of GDDR3 memory

The movie is fine and plays well up till about 1hr 30min, then it goes crazy and freezes every 7seconds or so.

My DVD player is 3yrs old, a LG V782W, and after buying this computer, i don't really have the $$ to buy a new one, so if there are any other options apart from that, that would be great.


P.S-- I made a DVD image with iDVD '08 and then compressed it and burnt it with Toast 8 Titanium, if that helps.

Thanks for any help you can give....

Does a non-burned CD cause the same problems? Does a different burned CD studder at the same spot? If no to the first and yes to the second, then your burner laser transport head is not functiong well at the physical point on the cd where it's failing. Meaning the CD burner is going bad.

At what speed are you burning your disc? If you are getting coasters then you may be burning to fast. Burning movies, I recommend 4X or 6X for single layer, and 2.4X for double layer. It may take a little longer, but you will have better results. I use Verbatim 16X DVD+R because my stand alone DVD player reads +R better than -R. If your player is a stand alone make sure it was made to read DVD-R, not all stand alone players will read both formats. Disc are burnt from the inside diameter out and if it starts at 4X inside it will be burning at a faster rate when it reaches the outside edge if you let it burn without setting a speed. That's why most coasters occur at the end of the movie. lol.

Hey dallasjoh, I never thought of that, great point!

Other things that you can check:

If you give the same disk that stutters to someone else, what happens when he plays it?

Have someone else record onto one of your disks, using the same software, and play it on your system to see what happens.

Thanks for those answers so quickly. In answer to some of those questions, CD's do not cause any problem when playing, even burnt ones. Normal, bought DVD's play fine, so now i don't think it could be my DVD player. Also, the problem burnt DVD does not skip at the same points.... what does this mean? This is really frustrating because the last sentence makes it sound as if its a DVD player problem again... but how can it be when proper DVD's play fine and all CD's play fine?

I am burning the disks at 4x.... do you think i should slow that down? it's already pretty slow.


thanks jsc: Will try soon on someone elses player ASAP.

No, do not burn any slower, 4X is fine, and Verbatim are very good disc. Proper DVD's, I assume your talking about the ones you purchase, these disc are not burnt. Movies on DVD that you purchase or rent are pressed, sort of like the old 45 & 78 records of long ago. Try LG's web site and see if they have a firmware update for your DVD burner. It is just going to take some time to troubleshoot the problem so hang in there. lol.

When you say DVD player, are you talking about the same one you burn the DVD with, or are you talking about a stand alone connected to your TV?

Oh sorry dallasjoh, i mean not my computer but my stand alone DVD player connected to my TV.

My computer DVD player seems to play the disks fine....

Thanks for that tibit of info there about the company DVD's, couldn't understand how they worked flawlessly

Let me know how, or if, you resolve the issue! lol.

I've actually read Verbatim single layers vary in quality (while their D/L are some of the best).

I personally use TY (the best blanks made in Japan, bought online) @ 4x for home/family movies and other info that I do not want to lose.

I use Sony's for backing up DVD's, games and other data that's not as important. You can get them on sale (BestBuy, FredMeyers/Kroger, etc.) 100 for $22-25. I burn them @ 8x from a seperate hard drive and have never had a coaster or CRC error (and some of them are now 3+ years old).

Another thing is that retail movie DVD's have a layer break (since they're dual layer), and if you don't have your software remove it while transcoding/encoding you may notice it as a pause during the movie. Some DVD players will make it almost tranparent, while others will freeze up as if there is an error/glitch in the disc.

Noya,

Funny, I read the same thing about TY!!!

The TY disc that you use are they +R or -R. I have been debating on whether to switch because sometimes I can get them on line cheaper than Verbatim.

Ok, where to begin, everyone has good info, let's just add a tidbit. Hold 2 blank DVD up to the light, 1 DVD+R and the other DVD-R of the same brand (Ex: Memorex sell both kind). You will notice some light comong through the DVD-R and not the DVD+R, this has to do with density. DVD+R has more density, last longer "technically" then the DVD-R. Now just because I say it, doesn't mean I follow by example, I RiData 16x DVD-R disc and sometimes use TDK 16x DVD+R printables for the disc I want printed on. Now I use an LG 18x DVD+/-R burner, I use DVDFab Platinum 3.2 and have made more then 5000 movies in the last year, new burner, last one died (was an LG 16x DVD+/-R burner) I have only made about 40 coasters, (not really coasters because my cousin has a stand alone LG DVD player and the coasters work for him). I copy the complete DVD including menus and languages at 16x encoding/writing speed. Average time to take a new movie is 17 minutes encoded to harddrive and 6 minutes back to disk, copied movies (already burnt) take 13 minutes total for encoding and writing.
I use a Pentium D 820 (2.8Ghz dual core), 1.5 Gb ram, and 160Gb SATA HD.

Sorry to say, but you're transcoding the disc if it only takes 17 minutes on a Pentium D, not encoding. I don't know what you watch movies on, but transcoded full discs look horrid on my 42" 1080p and are unwatchable on my 720p front projector @ 92". Scene releases look great because they generally have one audio track and are encoded with CCE at around 3.5+ Mbps average. (not trying to sound like a smartass).

Also, Memorex sells blanks from many different producers and they vary wildly in quality (even in the same spindle/pack). One will burn at @ 16x while the next 2-3 will only be 4x. DVD Identifier will show three different disc manufacturers in a single spindle.

So far I've had pretty good luck with Memorex and Verbatim, but I noticed exactly what you're describing with FujiFilm.

@OP: Verbatim disks are among the best, AFAIK. Try another brand anyway, just to see if it makes a difference.

Hey guys, we may be getting a little away from the post and confusing them more.

Conmoy, have you any updates for us on what you have tried as for as troubleshooting.

Thanks Dallasjoh.

What i did was i tried on a friends newer DVD player, as it worked without any glitches. There must be some kind of buffer on his that is not on my older one;

Quote Noya: "Some DVD players will make it almost tranparent, while others will freeze up as if there is an error/glitch in the disc."

I still don't understand why my DVD's i burn have these glitches, but i guess i will just have to keep trying with different settings

Thanks for all your help.