DVD Backup - Help!

[tveith]

OK, I would like to know if there are people out there who can actually use DVDXCopy or XCopy Xpress programs to make 100% perfect backups of dvd movies. If so, please post the brand of your dvd burner, the type of blank disks you use, and the model of your DVD unit.

I have a Pioneer A06 burner. I have tried every brand of blank disk imaginable, from Princo to Memorex, Fuji, Verbatim, Maxell, etc. In addition, I have also used DVDXCopy and DVDXCopy Xpress. I have tried 4X disks and 2X disks. I have tried burning at 1X, 2X, and 4X. I have burned with Nero and RecordNow Max. I have also tried ripping my DVDs with (another program), then preparing them for copying with (other programs). I have yet to burn a perfect copy that does not begin skipping or freezing around the 70 or 80 minute mark and then fully lock up somewhere near the end of the movie. It frustrates me to no end since the first hour generally plays flawlessly.

Although I have had varying degrees of success in different combinations, I have not been able to burn a copy that works 100% perfectly without skipping or freezing. I've used Spy Kids 2 and several other movies as test disk and the end always locks up to the point where I must unload the disk from the player or suffer serious migraines from sheer frustration of choppy video. Also, oddly enough, my copies do not play on my Dell laptop DVD-ROM drive properly either; the movies load but begin skipping immediately and then lock up.

I have read many theories in this forum ranging from problems with players, media, burning software, and even issues with DVDs having problems when they are burned to the edge of the disk. At this point, I don't know what to believe and I also don't
know how to get DVD movie backups working properly. At one point, 321Studios acknowledged that this was a problem with their software and there would be a fix coming. What happened to the fix? I'm currently using ver. 3o1, should I go back to 252? Will that make any difference?

Can anybody offer some advice here? I am going out of my mind after burning more than 50 coasters trying to get a perfect copy and not having any success. All of my burns say "successful" when completed so I know that the burn process is working OK.

And if you want to know, I am burning on a P3 800 with 512 RAM. I end all background processes before I burn and walk away from my pc during the burn process so I don't cause any unnecessary interuptions.

Any assistance in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated. At this point I am beginning to believe it is a problem with the DVD players on the market not being able to read large movies that record to the edges of the disk - why else would the
movies always play perfectly until it gets into the last 30 minutes (edge of the disk).

Thank You for any assistance any of you can offer.

TVeith

[setarip]

Since you indictae that 321 Studios acknowledged the problem and you've been making "coasters", I have two suggestions:

1) Try using the excellent freeware program, DVD Shrink, or one of the many other commercial programs (DVD95Copy, DVD2One, etc.) instead

2) Use rewriteable ("R/W") DVDs until you've resolved your problem

[tveith]

The "other programs" I refer to in my post that I have tried are Smartripper, DVDShrink and DVD2One. I have then tried burning with Nero and RecordNow Max. Still doesn't work.

Thanks

TVeith

[setarip]

Since you seem to have covered all possible sources (except one) of your problem by using multiple options (media and software), one could speculate that your burner is likely flawed.

Before you jump and say, "But I said, all of my burns say 'successful' when completed so I know that the burn process is working OK.", be advised that I previously had a CD burner (it's relevant) that started spewing out "successfully burned" CD-R coasters by the ton.

You might want to do a search of these sub-forums (particularly in the DVD Shrink sub-forum) for insight regarding Pioneer burners - as well as a Googlesearch for similar information.

Have you tried running a DVD/CD cleaning disk on your burner? Maxell makes one that retails for approximately $10US.

And I continue to suggest that you use rewriteable ("R/W") DVDs until you've resolved your problem...

[tveith]

Update

Here's an update.

I was bored and decided to do some more experimenting. I purchased some new Memorex blank DVD-R disks because they were on sale. I burned Daredevil, Spy Kids 2, Spirited Away, Top Gun, and Air Force One. I played all of the movies and the only one that locked up, had choppy video and playback problems towards the end of the film was Spirited Away. This occured in the same place on my Panasonic and Toshiba standalone players. The only difference was that I believe Spirited Away was compressed by DVDXCopy Xpress. The other movies were burned using the regular DVDXCopy program. So perhaps it is possible that it is the compression that is causing the problem with playback.

When I have time, I'll recopy Spirited away using the standard DVDXCopy and record both disks for the full movie. I'll play them back and see if they lock up. If they don't, then the problem may be a problem with my player properly playing the film based on the compression used by Xpress.

I'll post an update later on.

[setarip]

So now you're essentially contradicting your original post and are saying that the root of your problems may, in fact be:

1) Copy software used (You are SO focused on DVDXCopy et al, that it's rather hard to believe that you actually tried other compression software, such as DVD Shrink, DVD2One, etc., and had the same problems as with DVDXCopy)

2) Media used


Well, if nothing else, congratulations on apparently tracking down the source of your difficulties...

[tveith]

I'm not contradicting anything, I'm experimenting to try to find a winning combination of software/media/speed etc.

Anyhow, upon further inspection, Top Gun was also not working.

I threw away DVDXCopy and decided to try the Beta copy of DVD Shrink. I used DVDShrink to recompress the movie files for Spirited Away and Top Gun, burned with Nero 6, and this time both movies played flawlessly.

So in summary, I think I will stay with Memorex DVD-R media, use DVDShrink to rip my DVD files, and burn with Nero. This combination seems to work for me.

Cheers

[setarip]

"decided to try the Beta copy of DVD Shrink. I used DVDShrink to recompress the movie files for Spirited Away and Top Gun, burned with Nero 6, and this time both movies played flawlessly."

Glad to hear that...

[DazCarter]

Don't Waste Any More Time!!!!

Hope I can help - I know what your problem is. I've been burning DVD's for two years and have used all sorts of burners and media over the years. I have 5 standalone DVD players in my house and access to many DVD players of friends and family.

In my early days I had the problem you have. Anywhere between 50% and 80% through a disk the movie used to skip and jump as if it were playing hop scotch. I made more coasters than a small coaster making factory.

The problem was due to two issues:-
1. Poor quality (low generation) DVD blanks
2. Cheap - low quality DVD players (with cheap lasers)

If either of the two above happened I used to get skippers! especially when the movie was around 4Gb.

Solution:
Try to buy generation 4 DVD's or above and if you've a crap DVD player, it's time to sell it and get a new one. I've found Pioneer players to be the best.

Hope this helps and doesn't offend!

[tveith]

Hi DazCarter, nope, your post doesn't offend me in the least and I appreciate your feedback.

The Memorex and Verbatim DVD-R blanks work fine for me so long as I use DVDShrink to encode and prepare the DVD. When using DVDShrink, my backups all work and play flawlessly. There seems to be some issue with DVDXCopy so I will no longer use it.

I have to DVD players, my Panasonic is first generation so I can understand, and expect, incompatibilities when playing burned DVDs - however, interestingly enough, the movies I rip with DVDShrink work on my Panasonic whereas the ones I rip and burn with DVDXCopy do not (or they play really choppy and lock up).

My second DVD player is a newer Toshiba. I researched the model prior to purchasing it and it is compatible to DVD-R and DVD+R. And again it plays disks ripped with DVDShrink but not DVDXCopy.

I backed up Lord of the Rings Two Towers yesterday using DVDShrink to compress it to a single disk and I was thoroughly impressed by the quality of the image...AND it played flawlessly on both of my DVD players.

Oh well, guess the simple solution is to stay away from DVDXCopy, which is really a shame since I really like the features and ease of use.

Cheers!