DVDs colorblind?

[EdwardMartinIII]

This seems strange to me (so far).

I buy a box of cheapo ("Great Quality&quot DVD-R discs. I use Premiere with the Ligo MPEG plug-in to make my mpeg elementary streams. I use DVDLab to burn the disk. Plays fine on the console unit downstairs.

Then I buy nice Fuji disks. Unlike the "Great Quality" disks, which were a kind of pale green, these are a deep blue, almost purple.

I try burning the larger movie on them (which was built using Premiere 6.5's built-in MPEG encoder). Takes a while. DVD console never able to read 'em. Even if I put them back into the computer, the computer claims the discs are unreadable.

So, I go back to the original machine, which is using an IBM DVD-RAM/-R drive (the new one has a Sony DVD +-r+-rw drive). Three weeks ago, I burned a fine green DVD. Now, I run the SAME DVD project, but burning one of the new blue disks.

And voila -- a shiny coaster! In this last instance, the ONLY thing that changed was the physical media.

I have questions:

1. Do DVDs need to be formatted in some way before you can write to them (theory: the cheapo disks were already formatted, the blue ones not)?

2. Does burning software typically inform you if you're writing to an unformatted disk? (I'm writing to DVDLab with this question)

3. Is there a certain level of quality or necessary-depth-of-burn based on the dye colors?

I've spent the past forty minutes or so looking around online, but haven't found anything that could be considered definitive.

Thanks!


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Information so far:

Pretty much all the burns are visible and functional on the computer-based DVD players (two were crap burns, but who's to say it wasn't caused by stray Orgone energy?).

The burns on the cheapo disks are visible on the console DVD player (when those burns aren't bad). I also tried with cheapo "Officemax" brand (the cheap disks repackaged for the store's own use) and they worked, too.

I tried with a Sony DVD -R (because it's a Sony recorder, so they better play nice together!) and although the burn happened quickly and was visible on the computer-based DVD players, it was just as bogus on the console as if I had put a sandwich in there.

I need to find someone else with a console DVD player for testing. Is it possible, you think, that my console player isn't as compatible as I would like, but the crappy disks somehow make it through?

Thoughts? Suggestions?

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Ah, this was annoying as all get out.

The bad news: evidently my DVD player isn't as compatible as the literature claims it is, refusing to play most of the commercial DVD-R disks I burned.

The good news: I have fewer coasters and more copies of my movie.

The bad news: There's no one at JVC I can personally slap because the "ah-ha, we suckered you into buying this crap" timeout has expired on my DVD player.

The good news: it might be fun to shop for a new DVD player, plus maybe I can send this one to my Dad who has fewer technological needs than I, plus his was just stolen.

We ended up being able to play these disks in almost every other player we could find. Yay! Curses on my JVC "gold" DVD player. Yuck. Pfft! Pfft! Pbbbbbbt!

Problem was best solved by taking my disks with me everywhere I went and trying as many different DVD players as I could.

In the future, I will take them to the stereo store when I buy the next DVD player -- I will try my disks out in a variety of players and we'll see what happens...

So, stand down red alert!

Cheers,


Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door