23 replies to this topic

[Brian from OKC]

Ever since I installed EMC 9 last year, I can't burn iso files onto DVDs.  If I burn directly from MyDVD to the disc, then it plays in all of my machines.  But I prefer to tell MyDVD to burn to an iso instead of burning to a disc.  Then I use Creator Classic or Disc Copier to burn the iso to a disc.  This sometimes results in better video quality on playback.

So, when I tell Disc Copier to burn the iso onto the disc, everything on the screen looks just fine.  It takes about 45 minutes, the blue bar crawls slowly across the screen as the % climbs its way to 100, and the disc ejects itself when it's finished.  But when I try to play it on my Philips DVD player, I get a "Disc Error" message; my Panasonic player can't read the disc at all; and if I try to play it in my computer, the computer just freezes up until I eject the disc.

I used to use Creator Classic and Disc Copier all the time in EMC 7.  Why can't I use it with EMC 9?
I've already done countless reinstalls and defrags.

[gi7omy]

That's how I do it and it works fine for me which leaves the question of why it won't work for you

The only thing that jumps to mind is - are your video drivers fully up to date and do you have the latest DirectX 9.0c from MS installed?

Also, try loading it into a virtual drive and see if that works (go to Start, Roxio, Tools to find that). If that plays, then we'll have to look somewhere else for the problem

[Brian from OKC]

That's how I do it and it works fine for me which leaves the question of why it won't work for you

The only thing that jumps to mind is - are your video drivers fully up to date and do you have the latest DirectX 9.0c from MS installed?

Also, try loading it into a virtual drive and see if that works (go to Start, Roxio, Tools to find that). If that plays, then we'll have to look somewhere else for the problem

I've gone to microsoftupdates and downloaded "DirectX End-User Runtime Web Installer" which was the highest DirectX thing on the list, and then tried again to burn an iso to a disc.  Alas, the results were exactly the same as before.

As far as a virtual drive, I went to Roxio's Disc Image Loader and created a new "emulated drive".  But I can't burn to it -- it keeps telling me the tray is empty.  "Please insert a disc into drive G".  Obviously I can't insert a disc into a virtual drive.  Sounds like it would be a good experiment, but you might have to spell it out for me a little slower.

Thanks for the quick response.  Any further advice will be appreciated... I still can't get ISO to play.

[gi7omy]

Open the file and point it to where the iso is and it will load it

[Brian from OKC]

Ah, ok.  I did that just now, and the project plays in my new virtual drive.  Now what?

btw I don't know if this matters, but Roxio sometimes tosses up this message:
"Your video card is a(n) NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 420; the manufacturer is NVIDIA.  Your video card may be out of date.  Visit the manufacturer's website to download an update."  So I went to Nvidia.com and did my best to guess what I needed, but I'm still getting that message.  Doesn't seem like something that would impact an ISO burn, especially since a direct burn works just fine.

[gi7omy]

It seems more that your player doesn't like the discs that you are making (they are notoriously picky over what they will and won't play, especially the expensive high-end ones)

What you could try is burning the iso at a lower speed and see if that helps matters (it seems to work for a lot of people)

[Brian from OKC]

I had considered that, but I've tested this with 2 different players, plus my computer.  They all have the same reaction.  I've been burning everything at 2x.

[gi7omy]

Only thing left I can think of is the media itself - have you tried different brands?

I know my cheap and nasty player, made by A. Non of Taiwan happily plays anything I feed it, but my sister in law's Sony won't.

But why the same media works with direct burn, but not with iso images is totally beyond me

[Brian from OKC]

Actually that was my next question.  Should I try a different brand of media.  I've always used Sony, but I'll try another brand and see what happens.  What's a good brand to use?

[Brian from OKC]

Ok, I bought some Maxell DVD-Rs tonight.  Burned the same iso to one of them... no change.  They get exactly the same result that my Sony DVDs got.  None of my players will read them.  This is getting frustrating, because everything else seems to be working perfectly.

Further advice will be appreciated.

[cdanteek]

So, when I tell Disc Copier to burn the iso onto the disc, everything on the screen looks just fine. It takes about 45 minutes, the blue bar crawls slowly across the screen as the % climbs its way to 100, and the disc ejects itself when it's finished. But when I try to play it on my Philips DVD player, I get a "Disc Error" message; my Panasonic player can't read the disc at all; and if I try to play it in my computer, the computer just freezes up until I eject the disc.

45 minutes to burn a iso to a single layer -R disc is a hair over 1X!

Place a disc that won't play in your settop player in The PC DVD drive and open DVDInfo Pro. DVDInfo Pro is found in EMC 9 tools.

Drive Information,Media Information and CD/DVD error test. Mouse over the icons at the top. Post two things from the Drive Information The drives ID like this, mine PLEXTOR DVDR   PX-716A  and Firmware Revision, mine 1.09. Post the Media Information like below, copy the info to the clip board, far right icon and past it in a post here.  Tell us the results of the CD/DVD error test. Now test a direct burn disc that does play with the CD/DVD error test.

DVDINFOPro MCC 004 in Plextor 716A                         Media Information                            
Region information                                    N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Media code/Manufacturer ID                                    MCC     004
Media Product Revision Number                                         00h
Format Capacity                                                Blank Disc
Free Blocks                                                     405405696
Free Capacity                                              4.38GB(4.70GB)
Book Type                                                           DVD+R
Media Type                                                          DVD+R
Manufacturer Rated Speed                                   16.0x 22160KBp
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV 16.0x  22160KBps
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV 12.0x  16620KBps
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV  8.0x  11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV  6.0x   8310KBps
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV  4.0x   5540KBps
Data area starting sector                                          30000h
Linear Density                                                0.267um/bit
Track Density                                                0.74um/track
Number of Layers                                                        1
                                                                        
                           Complete Media Code                          
00000000 01 02 00 00 A1 0F 02 00 00 03 00 00 00 26 05 3F .............&.?
00000010 00 00 00 00 00 00 07 4D 43 43 00 00 00 00 00 30 .......MCC.....0
00000020 30 34 00 38 23 54 37 12 02 54 6C 02 92 5F 15 15 04.8#T7..Tl.._..
00000030 0B 0B 08 08 01 19 1B 0C 0C 0C 0D 01 00 00 00 00 ................

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[Brian from OKC]

Drive Information:
Drive ID: SONY DVD RW DRU-530A
Firmware revision: 1.0D

Media information: This Media Info might be way off... when I insert the disc that has the iso on it, I get an hourglass.  I stared at it for half an hour, ejected the disc, and this information popped up on the screen:
Region information                                    N/A not a DVD-VIDEO
Drive doesn't support media code                                        
Book Type                                                         Unknown
Media Type                                                          DVD-R
Manufacturer Rated Speed                                          Unknown
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV  8.0x  11080KBps
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV  4.0x   5540KBps
Available Write Descriptor                           CLV  2.4x   3324KBps
Write Strategy Speed                                          Not Defined
Linear Density                                                 Blank Disc
Track Density                                                     Unknown
Number of Layers                                                        1
     Complete Media Code    

Error Test: I'm unable to perform it because, again, the iso disc just produces an hourglass and the DVDInfoPro freezes until I eject the disc.  

It's acting almost like the disc is blank.  So i inserted an actual blank DVD to see what would happen.  DVDInfoPro told me "the media seems to be blank!".  My set top players do the same -- they'll recognize a blank disc as a blank disc, but these iso discs just freeze them.  What on earth?

[cdanteek]

Drive doesn't support media code
Book Type Unknown, Manufacturer Rated Speed Unknown, Write Strategy Speed Not Defined

The above is not good news. The drive isn't recognizing the media ID and speeds. A Firmware update at the Sony site might help. Please read the instructions and follow them. See if the media is recognized then.

Firmware Upgrade 2.1G
DRU-530A | DRX-530UL  
  Improvements:Writing performance and reliability improvements.

  Read Instructions

http://sony.storagesupport.com/dvdrw/firmware.htm#530

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Edited by cdanteek, 11 June 2007 - 06:26 PM.

[Brian from OKC]

Will do.  A few questions first...

1. Keep in mind, my Sony drive isn't the only thing failing to recognize these discs.  This upgrade might solve the problem for my Sony, but what about my set tops?  They're acting the same as my Sony, and that's why I've been assuming the problem was with either the media or the iso, not with the drive.
2. Is Roxio a "Packet writing software"?
3. Where do I go to disable my DMA Settings?  (I read Windows Help and Support, but it neither helped nor supported

Thanks

[cdanteek]

It still could be media, Iso , or the drive.

Roxio has D2D (Drag  2 Disc) a program in the suite.

In Windows XP, assuming the Sony drive is on the Secondary IDE Channel.

1.  Go to Start > Run and type:  devmgmt.msc  , and hit enter.
2.  Click on the "+" next to "IDE ATA/ATAPI Contollers.
3.  Right-click on "Secondary IDE Channel" and select "Properties".
4.  Click on "Advanced Settings"
5.  Change the "Transfer Mode" to "PIO Only" using the pull-down arrow.
6.  Click OK.

Enable the DMA settings after the firmware flash.

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[Brian from OKC]

Ok I got it done.  I uninstalled Roxio beforehand, and reinstalled it afterward.  I reran the tests, and the results were exactly the same, with the following exceptions:
In the Drive test, the Firmware Version now says 2.1G instead of 1.0D
In the Media Info, the Media Type now says "UNKNOWN" instead of "DVD-R".
I had to let the hourglass sit there for like an hour before I even got these results.  The iso files are really doing a number on these discs!  I was still unable to get the Complete Media Code, and unable to run the error test.  Though I did manage to run the error test on one of my successful DVDs and no errors were found.

btw I did a little troubleshooting of my own.  I wanted to make sure my particular project settings aren't causing any of these problems, so I created a brand new project in MyDVD.  I added only one title (20 minutes long) and left everything else alone, even the default background and music.  Burned to iso, and used Disc Copier to burn iso to Disc.  Same results as always - the disc won't play in any of my 3 machines.  So this rules out the possibility that my MyDVD project was the culprit.

Finally, I picked up one more bit of info.  I tried burning the iso to a Memorex DVD-RW, and it plays flawlessly!  Trouble is, I want these projects to be finalized on DVD-Rs.  I don't want to have to put them all on RWs.  Also, Memorex is not known as one of the better brands.  Sony and Maxell are 2 of the best, so it doesn't make sense that they won't play an iso, especially since they WILL play a direct burn.

Recap:
I can burn from MyDVD straight to Sony DVD-R and it plays in all my machines, but it plays choppy.
If I burn the project to an ISO and then put the ISO on a Sony DVD-R, it freezes up all 3 of my players.
Maxell DVD-Rs get exactly the same results as Sony.
If I burn to a Memorex DVD-RW, it plays perfectly.
I have the latest DirectX.
I created a new emulated drive and put the project in it, and it plays on the computer.
My project settings aren't causing the problem.
The ISO method worked fine with EMC 7 and stopped as soon as I installed EMC 9.

The plot thickens!  What could cause an ISO burn to behave differently from a direct burn?

[cdanteek]

Brian from OKC,
I tried burning the iso to a Memorex DVD-RW, and it plays flawlessly!

Put the Memorex DVD-RW in DVDInfo Pro and save it to the clipboard and post it here for me.

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[d_deweywright]

Finally, I picked up one more bit of info.  I tried burning the iso to a Memorex DVD-RW, and it plays flawlessly!  Trouble is, I want these projects to be finalized on DVD-Rs.  I don't want to have to put them all on RWs.  Also, Memorex is not known as one of the better brands.  Sony and Maxell are 2 of the best, so it doesn't make sense that they won't play an iso, especially since they WILL play a direct burn.

Recap:
I can burn from MyDVD straight to Sony DVD-R and it plays in all my machines, but it plays choppy.
If I burn the project to an ISO and then put the ISO on a Sony DVD-R, it freezes up all 3 of my players.
Maxell DVD-Rs get exactly the same results as Sony.
If I burn to a Memorex DVD-RW, it plays perfectly.
I have the latest DirectX.
I created a new emulated drive and put the project in it, and it plays on the computer.
My project settings aren't causing the problem.
The ISO method worked fine with EMC 7 and stopped as soon as I installed EMC 9.

The plot thickens!  What could cause an ISO burn to behave differently from a direct burn?

Did you check for new firmware for your drive?  New firmware will often make a difference in how a drive behaves with different media.  Now, why the difference between Creator Classic/Disc Copier, and MyDVD?  I don't know, it would appear that they are telling the drive different things, but a firmware update for the drive could be the answer here.

[cdanteek]

In the Drive test, the Firmware Version now says 2.1G instead of 1.0D

Did you check for new firmware for your drive? but a firmware update for the drive could be the answer here.

Yes, we're trying to work through this Dave.

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[d_deweywright]

Yes, we're trying to work through this Dave.

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Oops... missed that one... thanks for pointing it out for me.