«

RS <> wrote:

>Terry Pinnell wrote:
>
>>
>> Because of my nervousness now about whether some of my software is
>> actually *causing* 'write errors' (see earlier post), I'm having to
>> copy the remaining 'good' ones before risking testing them. Tedious!
>>
>
>Do you have more than one burning software on your system? Its not
>necessarily a red flag, but there have been reports of conflicts in the
>past. In fact, a few years ago, I had a similar thing happen. Had Record
>Now and Nero and kept having problems. Deleted Record Now and suddenly
>problems gone.

Yes, I have amassed quite a few programs and utilities capable of
writing to DVD-RWs. Half of them in the last few days, and quite a few
from recommendations here:
ahead Nero
CloneDVD2
DeepBurner Pro
DivxToDVD
DVD Decrypter
DVD Identifier
DVD Shrink
Eazy VCD 1.15a
EO Video
IsoBuster
Super Blank
Super DVD Creator8.55
VCD Menu Lite 1.0

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK


SMARTBURN

On Tue, 04 Oct 2005 17:24:05 +0100, in 'rec.video.desktop',
in article <Re: Cannot erase DVD-RW>,
Terry Pinnell <> wrote:

>RS <> wrote:
>
>>Terry Pinnell wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Because of my nervousness now about whether some of my software is
>>> actually *causing* 'write errors' (see earlier post), I'm having to
>>> copy the remaining 'good' ones before risking testing them. Tedious!
>>>
>>
>>Do you have more than one burning software on your system? Its not
>>necessarily a red flag, but there have been reports of conflicts in the
>>past. In fact, a few years ago, I had a similar thing happen. Had Record
>>Now and Nero and kept having problems. Deleted Record Now and suddenly
>>problems gone.
>
>Yes, I have amassed quite a few programs and utilities capable of
>writing to DVD-RWs. Half of them in the last few days, and quite a few
>from recommendations here:
>ahead Nero
>CloneDVD2
>DeepBurner Pro
>DivxToDVD
>DVD Decrypter
>DVD Identifier
>DVD Shrink
>Eazy VCD 1.15a
>EO Video
>IsoBuster
>Super Blank
>Super DVD Creator8.55
>VCD Menu Lite 1.0

You can install all of the CD/DVD burning applications on a given
Windows system as you wish without causing a problem as long as the
applications in question either a) don't install their own drivers or
b) install drivers which don't happen to conflict with any
already-installed drivers.

From the list of applications that you've listed, I am only familiar
with Nero, DVD Decrypter, and IsoBuster. Of those three, only Nero
installs drivers on your system. There is, therefore, no conflict
created when having Nero, DVD Decrypter, and IsoBuster all
simultaneously installed on a single system. That said, however, I
would never attempt to actually *run* any more than one of these three
applications at once. In other words, it's perfectly okay to have all
three of these applications simultaneously *installed*, but don't ever
*run* more than one of them at a time.

If you suspect that driver conflicts may be causing a problem on your
system, and I wouldn'd rule out that possibility, I'd suggest that you
run a program, included with the Nero package, called Nero InfoTool.
In a typical installation of the full retail version of Nero 6 Ultra
Edition, it will be installed at the following location.

C:\Program Files\Ahead\Nero Toolkit\InfoTool.exe

If you don't see a Shortcut to the Nero InfoTool program on your Start
menu, then launch Windows Explorer, browse to the directory listed
above, and double-click on the InfoTool.exe file to run it.

If you seem not to have the Nero InfoTool program installed on your
system, you can get a free copy by using the Download link on the
following Web page.

http://ww2.nero.com/enu/Info_Tool.html

When Nero InfoTool is up-and-running, you'll see seven tabs: Drive,
Disc, Configuration, Software, Drivers, Hardware, and ASPI. The
Software, Drivers, and ASPI tabs will show you what's installed on
your system. You can use this information to help determine whether
it's likely you're experiencing a driver conflict.

I'd also like to mention that if you don't do packet writing, you may
want to disable Nero InCD from launching whenever you boot your
system. This is easy to do using the System Configuration Utility
program included with Windows. Just go to Start | Run... | enter
"msconfig.exe" (without the quotation marks, of course) and click the
'OK' button (or hit the Enter key on your keyboard). When the program
is up-and-running, you'll see a number of tabs including one called
'Startup'. Click on the Startup tab and you'll see a partial list of
the items which get launched every time you boot your system. If you
see InCD listed, and its checkbox has a checkmark (tick) in it,
disable it by clearing the checkbox, then click the 'Apply' and 'OK'
buttons, and re-boot your system for the change to become effective.

When you re-boot you may receive a dialog box reminding you that
you're using MSConfig to change your system's configuration (or some
wording to that effect). You may want to check the box that says
"Don't show me this message again", or some words to that effect, as
there's no need to be reminded of this every time you boot the
machine. Remember, you can always re-run the MSConfig program and
re-enable any item that you've previously disabled. Also, when you're
in the Startup tab within the System Configuration Utility (MSConfig)
program, please don't disable any items with which you're not
familiar, as this may, in the worst-case scenario, actually prevent
your system from booting--and we certainly wouldn't want that
happening as it's difficult for me to make house calls to West Sussex.


P.S. Did you run a surface scan on your bad DVD-RW discs in IsoBuster
and if so, did it report any errors?

--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/

Frank <> wrote:

>You can install all of the CD/DVD burning applications on a given
>Windows system as you wish without causing a problem as long as the
>applications in question either a) don't install their own drivers or
>b) install drivers which don't happen to conflict with any
>already-installed drivers.
>
>From the list of applications that you've listed, I am only familiar
>with Nero, DVD Decrypter, and IsoBuster. Of those three, only Nero
>installs drivers on your system. There is, therefore, no conflict
>created when having Nero, DVD Decrypter, and IsoBuster all
>simultaneously installed on a single system. That said, however, I
>would never attempt to actually *run* any more than one of these three
>applications at once. In other words, it's perfectly okay to have all
>three of these applications simultaneously *installed*, but don't ever
>*run* more than one of them at a time.
>
>If you suspect that driver conflicts may be causing a problem on your
>system, and I wouldn'd rule out that possibility, I'd suggest that you
>run a program, included with the Nero package, called Nero InfoTool.
>In a typical installation of the full retail version of Nero 6 Ultra
>Edition, it will be installed at the following location.
>
>C:\Program Files\Ahead\Nero Toolkit\InfoTool.exe
>
>If you don't see a Shortcut to the Nero InfoTool program on your Start
>menu, then launch Windows Explorer, browse to the directory listed
>above, and double-click on the InfoTool.exe file to run it.
>
>If you seem not to have the Nero InfoTool program installed on your
>system, you can get a free copy by using the Download link on the
>following Web page.
>
>http://ww2.nero.com/enu/Info_Tool.html
>
>When Nero InfoTool is up-and-running, you'll see seven tabs: Drive,
>Disc, Configuration, Software, Drivers, Hardware, and ASPI. The
>Software, Drivers, and ASPI tabs will show you what's installed on
>your system. You can use this information to help determine whether
>it's likely you're experiencing a driver conflict.
>
>I'd also like to mention that if you don't do packet writing, you may
>want to disable Nero InCD from launching whenever you boot your
>system. This is easy to do using the System Configuration Utility
>program included with Windows. Just go to Start | Run... | enter
>"msconfig.exe" (without the quotation marks, of course) and click the
>'OK' button (or hit the Enter key on your keyboard). When the program
>is up-and-running, you'll see a number of tabs including one called
>'Startup'. Click on the Startup tab and you'll see a partial list of
>the items which get launched every time you boot your system. If you
>see InCD listed, and its checkbox has a checkmark (tick) in it,
>disable it by clearing the checkbox, then click the 'Apply' and 'OK'
>buttons, and re-boot your system for the change to become effective.
>
>When you re-boot you may receive a dialog box reminding you that
>you're using MSConfig to change your system's configuration (or some
>wording to that effect). You may want to check the box that says
>"Don't show me this message again", or some words to that effect, as
>there's no need to be reminded of this every time you boot the
>machine. Remember, you can always re-run the MSConfig program and
>re-enable any item that you've previously disabled. Also, when you're
>in the Startup tab within the System Configuration Utility (MSConfig)
>program, please don't disable any items with which you're not
>familiar, as this may, in the worst-case scenario, actually prevent
>your system from booting--and we certainly wouldn't want that
>happening as it's difficult for me to make house calls to West Sussex.
>
>
>P.S. Did you run a surface scan on your bad DVD-RW discs in IsoBuster
>and if so, did it report any errors?

Thanks for another extremely helpful post - greatly appreciate your
help and patience.

As you may have seen, I've also opened a new thread 'Is Nero Express
ruining my DVD-RWs?', as my problems have now gone beyond erasing
difficulties.

I have Nero Info and have been using it methodically on my 10 DVD-RWs,
now a motley mixture best described as Good, Bad and Don't Know!

I'm presently tabulating key information about each of the DVD-RW
discs, and may post it tomorrow for possible discussion. But meanwhile
I can say the results are very odd. 4 of the 10 discs play OK on both
my lounge DVD player and on my PC with Power DVD. 2 of the 10 play in
the lounge but are reported Blank by Nero Info and do not play in
Power DVD or Nero ShowTime. Yet they *do* play in BS Player!
http://www.bsplayer.com
(FWIW, these 2 contain a single MPG, made with MemoriesOnTV, which is
where most of the disc's contents were made.)

More later.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK
Tue 4 October 2005, 20:58 UK time




Playable on: Extracts, Nero Info & DVD Info Pro
---------------------------- ----------------------------------
Lounge
DVD Play on PC with: File
# Player Power DVD BS Player System(s) Disc Status etc
-- ------ --------- --------- ---------- -----------------------
#1 No No Yes ISO9660, UDF 'Blank', 'Not DVD-Video'
This contains a single 1 minute MPG I burned with Nero Express).
Not accessible to Windows Explorer. ('V:\ is not accessible. Incorrect
function'.)

#2 Yes No Yes

On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 19:06:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
<> wrote:

>I have a DVD-RW on which there was a playable DVD I'd recorded. Today
>I tried to re-use it but cannot erase the existing contents. Using
>Nero Express I get just the unhelpful message 'Write Error'.
>
>How can I proceed please?
>
>Happy to provide any other details that might help isolate the
>problem.

Had similar problem with DvD+RW...

I was writing to a +RW disc in this very laptop when I got a write
error. The DvD simply did not finsh writing and I ejected it. I put
the disc back in and it gave an error upon loading so I put it aside
and tried another. The same thing happened. At first I thought it was
Nero 6613 (I was using at the time - and still do) which was at
fault. I quit the program and left it until I got home and tried the
same thing on my desktop PC, using the same version of Nero. This time
it worked, BUT , I had used another, previously unused +RW and all
worked perfectly. I then put in one of the failed write discs and it
failed to write again. Now this had me scratching my head. Both of the
failed write discs, failed to load. They also failed to format in
Nero. I tried a handful of other programs to format but all failed,
giving write error and a host of other "failure" messages. I put these
+RW's aside and tried another on the laptop. Now I had three stuffed
+RW's...

Hmmmmm...!!!

About 3 weeks later ( a month ago) I bought a Sony RDR-HX910 DvD
recorder and I decided to try one of these +RW's. If that failed I was
going to throw them out. I inserted and up came the message "Unkown
Disc" so I formatted it manually. It appeared to work. Ahah... I then
recorded a movie to one of them and yes, it copied. I then took it out
and put in into my PC DvD drive and tried to play the movie. It failed
to see any movie. I then put it into my Panasonic DvD player and it
gave disc load failure. I then put it back into the Sony HX910 and
tried to play it and it too gave a failure...

Those 3 +RW's are now in the rubbish bin....

BUT... What caused the original failure... It was on" this" laptop.
The DvD burner burner has failed. It does not work any more. The
yellow burn LED is always on and it wont read or write any DvD or CD,
so it is knackered....

I have bought hundreds of RW's, both +RW and -RW and many +/-R's too
and one or two which fall by the wayside are not going to bother me,
so any failures will get tossed out straight away...

Bruce Tyler wrote on [Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:59:25 +1300]:
> Had similar problem with DvD+RW...

Maybe you should try a DVD+RW then.

On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:59:25 +1300, in 'rec.video.desktop',
in article <Re: Cannot erase DVD-RW>,
Bruce Tyler <> wrote:

>On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 19:06:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
><> wrote:
>
>>I have a DVD-RW on which there was a playable DVD I'd recorded. Today
>>I tried to re-use it but cannot erase the existing contents. Using
>>Nero Express I get just the unhelpful message 'Write Error'.
>>
>>How can I proceed please?
>>
>>Happy to provide any other details that might help isolate the
>>problem.
>
>Had similar problem with DvD+RW...
>
>I was writing to a +RW disc in this very laptop when I got a write
>error. The DvD simply did not finsh writing and I ejected it. I put
>the disc back in and it gave an error upon loading so I put it aside
>and tried another. The same thing happened. At first I thought it was
>Nero 6613 (I was using at the time - and still do) which was at
>fault. I quit the program and left it until I got home and tried the
>same thing on my desktop PC, using the same version of Nero. This time
>it worked, BUT , I had used another, previously unused +RW and all
>worked perfectly. I then put in one of the failed write discs and it
>failed to write again. Now this had me scratching my head. Both of the
>failed write discs, failed to load. They also failed to format in
>Nero. I tried a handful of other programs to format but all failed,
>giving write error and a host of other "failure" messages. I put these
>+RW's aside and tried another on the laptop. Now I had three stuffed
>+RW's...
>
>Hmmmmm...!!!
>
>About 3 weeks later ( a month ago) I bought a Sony RDR-HX910 DvD
>recorder and I decided to try one of these +RW's. If that failed I was
>going to throw them out. I inserted and up came the message "Unkown
>Disc" so I formatted it manually. It appeared to work. Ahah... I then
>recorded a movie to one of them and yes, it copied. I then took it out
>and put in into my PC DvD drive and tried to play the movie. It failed
>to see any movie. I then put it into my Panasonic DvD player and it
>gave disc load failure. I then put it back into the Sony HX910 and
>tried to play it and it too gave a failure...
>
>Those 3 +RW's are now in the rubbish bin....
>
>BUT... What caused the original failure... It was on" this" laptop.
>The DvD burner burner has failed. It does not work any more. The
>yellow burn LED is always on and it wont read or write any DvD or CD,
>so it is knackered....
>
>I have bought hundreds of RW's, both +RW and -RW and many +/-R's too
>and one or two which fall by the wayside are not going to bother me,
>so any failures will get tossed out straight away...


I hope that Terry reads this, because it may just be what's happening
to him, although I'd still like to see the results of an IsoBuster
Surface Scan.

I would also suggest to Terry that he disable any active anti-virus
software that may be running in the background on his system, at least
when he's burning DVDs. He can always re-enable it when he's done
burning. This is in addition to the recommendation that I made
previously with regard to disabling of InCD at system startup,
assuming that he's not doing any packet writing.

I'm also, based upon his latest posts, wondering whether he's burning
his DVD-RW discs in DVD-ROM (data) format or DVD-Video format.

--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/

Frank <> wrote:

>On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 09:59:25 +1300, in 'rec.video.desktop',
>in article <Re: Cannot erase DVD-RW>,
>Bruce Tyler <> wrote:
>
>>On Sun, 02 Oct 2005 19:06:44 +0100, Terry Pinnell
>><> wrote:
>>
>>>I have a DVD-RW on which there was a playable DVD I'd recorded. Today
>>>I tried to re-use it but cannot erase the existing contents. Using
>>>Nero Express I get just the unhelpful message 'Write Error'.
>>>
>>>How can I proceed please?
>>>
>>>Happy to provide any other details that might help isolate the
>>>problem.
>>
>>Had similar problem with DvD+RW...
>>
>>I was writing to a +RW disc in this very laptop when I got a write
>>error. The DvD simply did not finsh writing and I ejected it. I put
>>the disc back in and it gave an error upon loading so I put it aside
>>and tried another. The same thing happened. At first I thought it was
>>Nero 6613 (I was using at the time - and still do) which was at
>>fault. I quit the program and left it until I got home and tried the
>>same thing on my desktop PC, using the same version of Nero. This time
>>it worked, BUT , I had used another, previously unused +RW and all
>>worked perfectly. I then put in one of the failed write discs and it
>>failed to write again. Now this had me scratching my head. Both of the
>>failed write discs, failed to load. They also failed to format in
>>Nero. I tried a handful of other programs to format but all failed,
>>giving write error and a host of other "failure" messages. I put these
>>+RW's aside and tried another on the laptop. Now I had three stuffed
>>+RW's...
>>
>>Hmmmmm...!!!
>>
>>About 3 weeks later ( a month ago) I bought a Sony RDR-HX910 DvD
>>recorder and I decided to try one of these +RW's. If that failed I was
>>going to throw them out. I inserted and up came the message "Unkown
>>Disc" so I formatted it manually. It appeared to work. Ahah... I then
>>recorded a movie to one of them and yes, it copied. I then took it out
>>and put in into my PC DvD drive and tried to play the movie. It failed
>>to see any movie. I then put it into my Panasonic DvD player and it
>>gave disc load failure. I then put it back into the Sony HX910 and
>>tried to play it and it too gave a failure...
>>
>>Those 3 +RW's are now in the rubbish bin....
>>
>>BUT... What caused the original failure... It was on" this" laptop.
>>The DvD burner burner has failed. It does not work any more. The
>>yellow burn LED is always on and it wont read or write any DvD or CD,
>>so it is knackered....
>>
>>I have bought hundreds of RW's, both +RW and -RW and many +/-R's too
>>and one or two which fall by the wayside are not going to bother me,
>>so any failures will get tossed out straight away...
>
>
>I hope that Terry reads this, because it may just be what's happening
>to him, although I'd still like to see the results of an IsoBuster
>Surface Scan.

Yes, still reading every reply I get studiously thanks Frank!

I only got around to doing the first surface scan this morning (it's
lunchtime here now) as I was unsure which of my 10 DVD-RW discs would
be the best initial candidate. I chose #9, which was unplayable on
both lounge DVD player and PC with PowerDVD. Nero Info says "Open. Not
finalized." At the end of the (long) scan I got this:
---------
[DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]

Number of errors encountered on the disc : 2297888

This is a packet written disc. Errors are not abnormal on this disc.
To see if files are affected, look for the 'error' icon next to files
or :
Select a File System of your choice and select :

List files with read errors (in Edit Window)
---------

I don't see how to do implement that last instruction? Can't see an
'Edit' window anywhere... (Mind you, not sure 2.3M errors would make
pleasant reading!) The IsoBuster Help says
"The list with erroneous files can always be recreated without the
necessity to redo the scan. Just select the File System icon and
create the list via 'Directory tree and file information' "
But how do I reach that? All I see in the left pane (when expanded)
is:
DVD-RW
Open Session 1
Track 01
So where is 'Directory tree and file information' please?
Anyway, is that huge number of errors the likely cause of my problems
with that *particular* disc? Does this tell me anything about *how*
these errors got onto the disc? Of course, I wasn't being as
methodical 2 days ago as I'm trying to be now, but I *think* all I did
on it was use Nero Express to 'Erase disc'.

Although it ties up the drive for so long, maybe I should now do
another surface scan with a 'good' identical disc?

>I would also suggest to Terry that he disable any active anti-virus
>software that may be running in the background on his system, at least
>when he's burning DVDs. He can always re-enable it when he's done
>burning. This is in addition to the recommendation that I made
>previously with regard to disabling of InCD at system startup,
>assuming that he's not doing any packet writing.

Thanks, have now done both those before further tests.

>I'm also, based upon his latest posts, wondering whether he's burning
>his DVD-RW discs in DVD-ROM (data) format or DVD-Video format.

This is a murky area for me, so please bear with me! I've been doing
*both*, and perhaps that's causing or at least contributing to my
problems? Basically, I've been repeating operations from a very
limited repertoire:

1. In Nero Express: Erase disc.
That doesn't ask me what is on the disc, what I want to do with it, or
anything else. I'm assuming it should simply do what it says on the
can: ERASE everything, so that I have an empty, spanking new DVD-RW to
work on?

2. In Nero Express: Burn a single data file.
This was chosen for maximum speed and simplicity

3. In my DVD 'authoring' program, MemoriesOnTV: Either create a video
and store it on HD (VOB etc), or do that and also burn it to DVD.
That was the source of the content on most of the DVD-RWs I tried to
Erase. In fact, on first trying to burn from MoT onto an existing
video, there is always a message asking if I want to erase the disc
first. Every time I did so on those I tried, it failed and aborted.
That's why I turned to Nero Express to erase - and that failed too.
One other complication I'll mention in case it's relevant is that Mot
offers an option on burning to 'Use Nero Drivers'. I'm unable to be
sure for all discs which did use that. I can say that the last couple
I did for tests (just making a 'movie' from a single JPG) were with
the proprietary MoT drivers.

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

Terry Pinnell <> wrote:

>Although it ties up the drive for so long, maybe I should now do
>another surface scan with a 'good' identical disc?

Wow, that second scan was fast! Loaded #8, which is a 'good' one, i,e.
one I have not yet tried to Erase (or burn data) with Nero Express.
After making myself a coffee, this message awaited:

---------
[DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]
No physical errors encountered. Your disc is still in good shape.
---------

OK, while I'm on a roll, let's try #10. That's one of the two which
will play on my lounge DVD player but not on my PC with PowerDVD
(which says 'No disc in drive V:') or Nero ShowTime - but does play in
BS Player. Seems bizarre to me, but no doubt light will dawn soon!

OK, IsoBuster says it's a 'Blank DVD-RW'. And, logically enough I
suppose, the Surface Scan option is not accessible.

Just to be sure, closed IsoBuster, loaded BS Player, and played it. 43
secs of video and audio. BS window says:
LEDSequencer6MB.mpg
00:00:00 / 00:00:43 Movie size: 320x240 @ 25

So how can it be an empty disc?!

More important, should I now be able to do any of the above operations
with it? If for example I Erase it in Nero Express, that should cause
no problem?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

FWIW, here's a summary of the methodical tests I did with 10 identical
brand DVD-RW discs, numbered #1 to #10.

#1 BAD
Contents = Short MPG movie (video/audio)
Lounge DVD player? NO
PC PowerDVD? NO
IsoBuster displays: Open Session 1
Track 01 0 4.38 GB
Surface scan initial message: "This is a packet written disc. Errors
are not abnormal..."
Surface scan results: About 48,000 errors when canceled at 2%

#2 BAD?
Contents = MoT movie (video/audio) Family tree
Lounge DVD player? YES
PC PowerDVD? NO
IsoBuster displays: Open Session 1
Track 01 0 4.38 GB
Surface scan initial message: "This is a packet written disc. Errors
are not abnormal..."
Surface scan results: About 46,000 errors when canceled at 2%
Question: Why can it play in lounge without any apparent flaws?

#3 GOOD?
Contents = MoT movie (video/audio) Competa; Les Estables
Lounge DVD player? YES
PC PowerDVD? YES
Surface scan results: [DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]
No physical errors encountered. Your disc is still in good shape.

#4 BAD
Contents = MoT movie (video/audio) Cologne
Lounge DVD player? YES (recheck quality)
PC PowerDVD? YES but keeps stopping
Surface scan initial message: "This is a packet written disc. Errors
are not abnormal..."
Surface scan results: Large number, but froze at 93%

#5 BAD
Contents = Short MPG movie (video/audio) LED circuit demo
Lounge DVD player? NO
PC PowerDVD? NO
IsoBuster displays: Open Session 1
Track 01 0 4.38 GB
Surface scan initial message: "This is a packet written disc. Errors
are not abnormal..."
Surface scan results: 46 errors, but sort of froze at 31%, so
unreliable result.

#6 GOOD?
Contents = MoT movie (video/audio) Cologne
Lounge DVD player? YES
PC PowerDVD? YES
Surface scan results: [DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]
No physical errors encountered. Your disc is still in good shape.

#7 GOOD?
Contents = Blank
Lounge DVD player? NO
PC PowerDVD? NO
IsoBuster displays: Track 01
0 0.00 KB 0
Surface scan results: [DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]
No physical errors encountered. Your disc is still in good shape.

#8 GOOD
Contents = MoT movie (video/audio) Ethan 1st 6 Months
Lounge DVD player? YES
PC PowerDVD? YES
Surface scan results: [DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]
No physical errors encountered. Your disc is still in good shape.

#9 BAD
Contents =
Lounge DVD player? NO
PC PowerDVD? NO
IsoBuster displays: Open Session 1
Track 01 0 4.38 GB
Surface scan initial message: "This is a packet written disc. Errors
are not abnormal..."
Surface scan results: About 48,000 errors when canceled at 2%

#10 BAD?
Contents = MoT movie (video/audio) Italian Holiday (draft 1)
Lounge DVD player? YES
PC PowerDVD? NO (There's a brief flash of the OLD over-writen menu,
not seen on lounge player.)
IsoBuster displays: Open Session 1
Track 01 0 4.38 GB
Surface scan initial message: "This is a packet written disc. Errors
are not abnormal..."
Surface scan results: (POSTPONED)
Question: Why can it play in lounge without any apparent flaws?

--
Terry, West Sussex, UK

On Wed, 05 Oct 2005 14:08:55 +0100, in 'rec.video.desktop',
in article <Re: Cannot erase DVD-RW>,
Terry Pinnell <> wrote:


>>I hope that Terry reads this, because it may just be what's happening
>>to him, although I'd still like to see the results of an IsoBuster
>>Surface Scan.
>
>Yes, still reading every reply I get studiously thanks Frank!
>
>I only got around to doing the first surface scan this morning (it's
>lunchtime here now) as I was unsure which of my 10 DVD-RW discs would
>be the best initial candidate. I chose #9, which was unplayable on
>both lounge DVD player and PC with PowerDVD. Nero Info says "Open. Not
>finalized." At the end of the (long) scan I got this:
>---------
>[DVD-RW:RITEK000V11A]
>
>Number of errors encountered on the disc : 2297888

In my opinion, this disc looks like a candidate for the trash can,
sorry to say, although I don't use packet writing (Nero InCD).

>This is a packet written disc. Errors are not abnormal on this disc.
>To see if files are affected, look for the 'error' icon next to files
>or :
>Select a File System of your choice and select :
>
>List files with read errors (in Edit Window)
>---------
>
>I don't see how to do implement that last instruction? Can't see an
>'Edit' window anywhere...

I know, it's a little confusing. Also, I'm using a registered paid
version of the program and you are, I assume, using the unregistered
free version and I'm not certain of all of the differences between the
two, but I believe that if you go in to view individual sectors on the
disc, that's the "Edit Window" to which the message is referring.

>(Mind you, not sure 2.3M errors would make
>pleasant reading!)

Maybe I've just been lucky, but I've *never* encountered a disc with
that number of errors, ever.

>The IsoBuster Help says
>"The list with erroneous files can always be recreated without the
>necessity to redo the scan. Just select the File System icon and
>create the list via 'Directory tree and file information' "
>But how do I reach that? All I see in the left pane (when expanded)
>is:
>DVD-RW
> Open Session 1
> Track 01

It's talking, I believe, about the program's ability to save the error
list as a text file on your hard disk for possible future reference,
thus avoiding the need to re-scan the disc again in the future.
Personally, I'm willing to take the extra time and let it re-scan, so
I never save the information.

>So where is 'Directory tree and file information' please?

Try right-clicking on *everything* in the user interface. IsoBuster is
one of those programs which just loves the right mouse button, so much
so, in fact, that if I spend some time in IsoBuster and then switch to
another, more conventionally-written application, I have to
consciously remind myself that right-clicking on anything in sight
won't necessarily bring up a context menu.

>Anyway, is that huge number of errors the likely cause of my problems
>with that *particular* disc?

I would be inclined to believe that, yes. It's not impossible, you
know, that you were simply unfortunate enough to get a bad batch of
discs--or even ones which simply don't play well with your particular
drive and/or your drive's firmware level. In fact, it might be useful
to Google your drive's make and model and see if any firmware updates
are available for it. It certainly wouldn't be the first time that a
firmware update has fixed problems like this.

>Does this tell me anything about *how*
>these errors got onto the disc?

Not that I can see, no, but I don't claim to be a DVD-RW burning
expert, either.

>Of course, I wasn't being as
>methodical 2 days ago as I'm trying to be now, but I *think* all I did
>on it was use Nero Express to 'Erase disc'.
>
>Although it ties up the drive for so long, maybe I should now do
>another surface scan with a 'good' identical disc?

I would definitely do that, yes. Personally, for important work, I do
an IsoBuster Surface Scan right after I burn a disc.

>>I would also suggest to Terry that he disable any active anti-virus
>>software that may be running in the background on his system, at least
>>when he's burning DVDs. He can always re-enable it when he's done
>>burning. This is in addition to the recommendation that I made
>>previously with regard to disabling of InCD at system startup,
>>assuming that he's not doing any packet writing.
>
>Thanks, have now done both those before further tests.

As long as you can trust yourself to always remember to re-enable the
anti-virus software afterwards, I would recommend that you always
disable it prior to working with any video-related projects.

>>I'm also, based upon his latest posts, wondering whether he's burning
>>his DVD-RW discs in DVD-ROM (data) format or DVD-Video format.
>
>This is a murky area for me, so please bear with me! I've been doing
>*both*, and perhaps that's causing or at least contributing to my
>problems? Basically, I've been repeating operations from a very
>limited repertoire:
>
>1. In Nero Express: Erase disc.
>That doesn't ask me what is on the disc, what I want to do with it, or
>anything else. I'm assuming it should simply do what it says on the
>can: ERASE everything, so that I have an empty, spanking new DVD-RW to
>work on?
>
>2. In Nero Express: Burn a single data file.
>This was chosen for maximum speed and simplicity
>
>3. In my DVD 'authoring' program, MemoriesOnTV: Either create a video
>and store it on HD (VOB etc), or do that and also burn it to DVD.
>That was the source of the content on most of the DVD-RWs I tried to
>Erase. In fact, on first trying to burn from MoT onto an existing
>video, there is always a message asking if I want to erase the disc
>first. Every time I did so on those I tried, it failed and aborted.
>That's why I turned to Nero Express to erase - and that failed too.
>One other complication I'll mention in case it's relevant is that Mot
>offers an option on burning to 'Use Nero Drivers'. I'm unable to be
>sure for all discs which did use that. I can say that the last couple
>I did for tests (just making a 'movie' from a single JPG) were with
>the proprietary MoT drivers.

In my opinion, it's *really* important to choose the correct sort of
formatting when working with any recordable (-R or +R) or re-writable
(-RW or +RW) optical media. If you were burning a CD-R disc, for
example, the two most commonly used formats would be as a data
(CD-ROM) disc or as a Redbook audio CD (CDDA). There's a world of
difference between the two formats. With burnable DVD formats, you
have similar choices to make.

Burn in DVD-Video format, for example, if your intent is to create a
disc which is to be played back in a televison-set-attached DVD player
(in which case you'll need to have authored the disc prior to burning
it and the disc will have a VIDEO_TS folder containing .vob and other
special file types). Burn in DVD-ROM (data) format when you simply
want to put files, of whatever type (.avi, .mpg, .wav, .mp3, .pdf,
..doc. gif, .jpg, .txt, etc.), on the disc for use in a
computer-attached DVD drive.

Maybe it will help to think of the DVD-Video formatted disc as the
video equivalent of a Redbook audio CD and the DVD-ROM data-formatted
DVD disc as the functional equivalent (but with greater storage
capacity) of the CD-ROM disc.

And let's not even mention the -VR and +VR formats, please, where you
can perform limited re-authoring of the disc, or the DVD-Audio or SACD
formats with LPCM or DSD encoded to MLP. Or those little mini-discs
used in some low-end consumer camcorders which sometimes record MPEG-2
and sometimes, I believe, record some flavor of MPEG-4 video. Then
there's single layer and double (dual) layer and single-sided and
double-sided. Then we have the different file systems used on DVDs --
ISO 9660 and UDF, the latter of which comes in multiple versions.
Let's not forget DVD-RAM. And then there's single session versus
multi-session, the latter of which is what you want to use on
re-writable DVD media when you plan to came along later and add to or
delete from an existing compilation or erase and start over with a new
compilation.

And whatever happened to DVD-18 discs? If they were ever widely used,
we wouldn't need HD DVD discs or Blu-ray Discs (BD) to store high-def
video content, assuming MPEG-4 Part 10 AVC H.264 (or VC-1) encoding.

(Sorry for the rambling.)

A review of the DVD Demystified DVD FAQ should help - just be sure to
set aside an evening to digest all of the information.

DVD FAQ
http://www.dvddemystified.com/dvdfaq.html

--
Frank, Independent Consultant, New York, NY
[Please remove 'nojunkmail.' from address to reply via e-mail.]
Read Frank's thoughts on HDV at http://www.humanvalues.net/hdv/