Newbie questions/advice

[Methos1979]

Hello to all. I've been surfing for a while and finally registered. I am having an issue with burned DVD's skipping. I've read several very helpful FAQ's but still have issues. Here's my rundown:

I own a dance studio. We switched over to creating/selling DVD's this year from video. I use a Sony Mini-DV recorded. Download to Dell PC and create movies using Sonic's MDVD. It seems to create a good movie. I burned an orginal DVD to a Memorex DVD-R 8x DVD with no problems. Runs fine. Then I burned a bunch more from the same program (haven't had luck just copying using different software) and started having problems with skipping durning playback.

Checked into the 'Golden Rules of Burning' thread:

Using Memorex DVD-R 8x media (is this a good media?)

Not sure if my firmware is up to date and more than a little nervous about trying to do so. My burner is a Sony DVD+-RW Dw-D56A.

DMA settings are all correct.

Pretty sure I selected 'Auto' on burn so might have to try manually slower burns of 4x or less.

So I'm thinking either the media (if Memorex is not a good brand), the firmware (how do I check what I have?), or the speed.

I'm typically creating up to about 50 DVDs of 4 shows. I'm considering just taking the masters to a shop to have them reproduced but of course will have to pay for that.

Any obvious ideas?

Thanks for any advice. Great forum!

M

[Chewy]

doing this with a laptop and memorex is a mistake, you need a more professional setup.

laptop burners burn slow and die quick

memorex media is some of the worst

welcome to the forum

[Methos1979]

Chewy - thanks for the quick info! I was concerned about the whole laptop/heat issue and figures that the 'name brand' I thought I was buying is crap.

[Chewy]

any desktop(even 2 years old) with a new name brand dvd burner(40$ delivered) will burn quality taiyo yuden, verbatim and sony media in 8 minutes
disk after disk. Won't take long to pay for it. One job or two.

Even then don't expect to get more than 4-500 good burns from a dvd burner.

[Methos1979]

Chewy, would a standalone burner, something run from a USB port be an option? Do they make them?

[Chewy]

yes it will work but make sure you have firewire or usb2 to keep up the speed, expect to burn slower(like 4x) and wear out the laptop quicker.

I always figure laptops should be saved for their portable uses mostly.
You get a lot less computer for a lot more money.

[dmanshead]

buy an emachine they are cheap disposable computers with a few fans and a decent burner and burn away. chewy is right a laptop is good when you need portability, but for a worker a desktop is more suited to the task. my tower monitor and keyboard and mouse would not a good portable make. new egg and chiefvalue have good burners at very reasonable prices and supermedia store is the place to buy tayio yudens.