DVD Writer Question

[WolfpackRon]

I have recently tried to copy a professionally made swim team video using an HP 200I DVD writer and another HP DVD writer. Both of these devices were unable to read the DVD indicating there may be an error on the disc caused by a scratch, etc. I later used a Dell DVD +R/+RW CD writer (NEC ND-1100A badge) to copy the entire DVD with no problem. Is anyone familiar with this DVD writer. It is on sale from Dell for 30% off making it $175. with no shipping. It is a DVD +R/+RW format. I was impressed with it, but was not familiar with this unit. The owner was also able to back up movie DVD's as well. Any suggestions? WolfpackRon.

[Xayd]

Copying drive to drive or ripping the original into an image first?

If copying drive to drive, that's probably why, DVD Writers for the most part are very slow readers. It wouldn't be able to keep up.

[WolfpackRon]

Using the HP 200i, it took a long time to even read the disc. Using the Dell writer, I read and wrote in less than 12-15 mins.

[WolfpackRon]

I made eight copies at about 5-6 mins. per write without a coaster after reading it one time. I was very impressed with this DVD writer. I recently found it on Newegg for $178 with Nero software. The Dell has Easy Creator 5. This drive is also under the name of Plextor, TDK, Cendyne, and Mitsumi, I think.

[Xayd]

I would bet with better than 50 50 odds that your problem is Nero or just burning too fast. It doesn't produce DVD compliant disks yet from my experiences.

ANY burned disk will have less errors when burned at a slower speed, it doesn't matter what speed the media is guaranteed to burn at. Try burning at the slowest possible speed and see if it improves.

If you still have the original disk to work with, try burning with DVD Decrypter (download from http://www.doom9.org , it's freeware) and burn with it instead of Nero and see if your results improve.

Note that DVD Decrypter can't burn your _TS folders directly so you'll need to rip an image of the original DVD first, then burn the image.

[RJ]

Well, the NEC 1100 is a 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW writer, so it can burn a DVD+R in about 15 minutes.

The HP dvd200i is a bit older, it is a 2.4x DVD+R/+RW writer, and needs 24 minutes for both. The NEC 1100 equivalent would be the HP dvd300i, which is a 4x DVD+R and 2.4x DVD+RW drive, too.

Also the newer writers are also better readers. But my HP dvd200i didn't have any problems reading DVDs so far, dunno about that problem.

RJ