DVD burning problem

Yorky

I've just used CD Burner XP to copy a DVD from a DVD+RW to a DVD-R and it won't work. I've been throught the burning process and it seemed to be working but the new DVD is still blank- is this because of the '+' to '-' incompatability?

It's as if the disc is blank.The finalisation process has been completed - the DVD's are now unusable even though they appear to be blank!

I'm unsure whether my DVD-RW is multi-format or +/-. How can I ascertain this?

Ouijaboard

Your dvd burner is multiformat, every burner sold in the past 3 yrs or so will be both +- compatible.

Never heard of cd burner xp and not too sure of its features but the best thing to do is to insert the disc you want to rip from and create an iso of the disc in a folder on the hard drive, when finished then insert the dvd-r and burn the iso just ripped to the dvd-r. If it cant complete this then you may need a more complete burning program such as nero, recordnow etc

btw what sort of format is the video files on the dvdrw in? i.e. are the in full vob format or is it an mpg or other video file?

Ouijaboard

I think a program called alcohol 120% has a free version or at least a trial. its pretty good burning software

Theres alist of decent burning software here: http://www.brothersoft.com/downloads/free-dvd-burning-software.html
magicsoft is also another good one

Yorky

Thanks for the replies. The DVD-ROM model is a Philips DROM6216 and the DVD-RW model is a Philips PBDV1640P. The DVD I'm recording from is a DVD+RW and the DVD I'm recording to is a DVD-R.

Is there a problem with cross compatibility with the DVD's?

Or, is there a problem with the drive compatibility? I don't know how old the drives are so I've done an internet search and can't find whether the drives are -,+ or multi-format.

The file format of the DVD to be copied is UDF.

Ouijaboard

Theres no problem with cross compatibility as it doesnt exist. Both +-r are very
similar in format with the difference being that they are written to disc slightly differently. Both dvd+-r can be written to and from each other with out problems.

The only problem may be either the source disc or the destination disc, can you confirm that you can read the video contents of the dvd+rw disc on a pc, and it works correctly. Has it been copied from a standalone dvdrecorder from the tv (in which case it may be formatted differently and need some adjustments before it can be watched on a dvdplayer as a dvd-r). And also have you tried writing anything to those dvd-r discs before with success

What kind of dvd-r disc are you using (make) as some poor quality discs may not work too well in that philips writer.

What you are trying to do is copy 'on the fly' from one disc to another and I cant really confirm if your burning program is up to that task. You should take it in two steps to be on the safe side. 1. get the contents of the dvd+rw onto the harddrive of the pc in iso format (i.e. an image of the disc) then 2. burn the iso just copied onto the dvd-r. The original program you were using is cabable of this. If you can do this first and the contents are working on the dvd-r then you can work up to duplicating discs on the fly without using the hard drive inbetween.

What is the extension of the video files on the original disc i.e. .mpg or .vob or other? the disc will written be udf format as almost all video contents are written in this format but the file/files on the disc should have an diff extension. Right click on any file on the dvd+rw and go to properties, in the general tab it should say what type of file it is...

The writter is a 16+-r / dual layer writer:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters/philips-dvdr1620-dvdr1640-dvdr1625-dvdr1645/744
so it should be ok for what you need to do.

Let us know if you have any luck with it.

Yorky

Thank you for the detailed reply. The DVD+RW with the source material could be viewed normally on the PC. The video was 'burned' on a laptop computer from an original. I have never used the DVD-R discs before but they cannot be recorded onto now nor even be read. They are Fujifilm 1x-16x high speed DVD-R's.

I have just tried recording onto a DVD+RW and it worked the first time. The file extension is VOB.

Do you know why it recorded straight away onto the DVD+RW but not the DVD-R?

Thanks again.

Ouijaboard

I'd say that the philips burner is having 'problems' with the fuji dvd-rs, fuji usually make pretty good quality discs but unless you can check em in a friends burner to see if they can burn anything ok then you may have a bad batch.

It seems as if its probably the drive tho. Philips were the main player in the +r/+rw camp when that particular format war began a few years ago and even though the wont say it, philips drives would 'prefer' writing to the + format rather than the enemy format Its not to say it wont write to dvd-r it will, its just probably picky about particular discs. Not the first time i've seen it. I remember a few pioneer drives that were very picky about +rs but liked almost all -rs

See if you can get your hands on some dvd+r or maybe some other good quality -r such as verbatim datalife plus and see how it goes.