I can't deliver videos using a sharpie since that would look unprofessional for a wedding video to be delivered that way. I'm now using an Epson R200 (bought it cheap at Sam's for about $90). The only problem I have now is with buying more ink. I didn't like the labels since I didn't trust the emulsion on the labels. I found out sometime ago in this forum or somewhere else about labels possibly causing playback problems due to disk inbalance as you implied. Now I'm wondering if inkjet printing on the DVDs themselves could throw off the balance (i.e., more ink on one part of the disk than the other maybe?).
The ink from the Epson printer should not hurt the playback of the burned dvd. That is the best way to go in your type of business. As you said it is a guessing game on how or if a burned dvd will play. Way too many variables in players, burners and blank media. I completely understand what you must be going through when it is part of your business. Most of us burn dvds for our own use and if it doesn't work right it only matters to us. Having customers that expect perfect results on burned dvds which for the most part is still very much trial and error could drive you crazy. I wish you the best in your work.
I started editing video on an Amiga/Video Toaster/Flyer set up and sent my videos to tape for several years. DVDs come along and I felt I had to update my equipment and get with the times. I thought I only had DVD-R and DVD+R compatibility issues to deal with and was I ever wrong and surprised. I came across this site, http://www.skylarkdvd.com/compatibility.html, which addresses some of my problems. Someone I know recommended I cut the bitrate from 6 to 4 to avoid some problems (equates to more compression) so the DVD players can keep up better I guess and I still ran into problems. I might have to put a clause in my agreements stating that if a client's DVD player is older than 2 years then the player may not be able to play back burned DVDs properly and that the client accepts responsibility for ensuring DVD player(s) are current to avoid any compatibility issues. I am sure there are others out there who have the same problem. By the way, my Panasonic works great so I wish all clients had a Panasonic DVD player - but that won't ever happen of course. I could go out and up my price to cover a new DVD player, like an Apex, which I understand plays back practically everything. Unfortunately, I can't purchase DVD players for both parents... Thanks for the feedback.
I started editing video on an Amiga/Video Toaster/Flyer set up and sent my videos to tape for several years. DVDs come along and I felt I had to update my equipment and get with the times. I thought I only had DVD-R and DVD+R compatibility issues to deal with and was I ever wrong and surprised. I came across this site, http://www.skylarkdvd.com/compatibility.html, which addresses some of my problems. Someone I know recommended I cut the bitrate from 6 to 4 to avoid some problems (equates to more compression) so the DVD players can keep up better I guess and I still ran into problems. I might have to put a clause in my agreements stating that if a client's DVD player is older than 2 years then the player may not be able to play back burned DVDs properly and that the client accepts responsibility for ensuring DVD player(s) are current to avoid any compatibility issues. I am sure there are others out there who have the same problem. By the way, my Panasonic works great so I wish all clients had a Panasonic DVD player - but that won't ever happen of course. I could go out and up my price to cover a new DVD player, like an Apex, which I understand plays back practically everything. Unfortunately, I can't purchase DVD players for both parents... Thanks for the feedback.
I am very interested in seeing what happens when the label is removed from these dvds. I have the same problem with my own. I have a 2x Lite-On DVD +/- R/RW recorder. I use the ATI TV program to capture my video directly to mp2 and I use Sonic MyDVD to burn the disks. They all have full labels on them. They played well at first, but lately they play then stop. Even on my laptop it is difficult to coax the dvd all of the way through a chapter. Is it possible that the encoding of this dvd is flawed due to craptastic software? I am left scratching my head on this one.
Have the labels started coming off? The DVDs could now be warped for whatever reason. I recommend you copy a DVD over to a better quality one such as Verbatim, Pioneer, Imation or Taiyo Yuden. I recommend you download KProbe2 and check out a DVD with a label on your Lite-On drive. After you copy that DVD over to a better quality DVD (use DVD Shrink or similar), I recommend running KProbe2 on the new DVD and compare its transfer rate with the old DVD's transfer rate.
I used to use labels until I found out that was the root of most of the problems that I was having. Experimentally, I burned a disc and ran K Probe on it. Then I put a label on it and ran K Probe again. The PI errors were probably 4 or 5 times as high. I haven't used a label since. I now use printable DVDs and print on them with an Epson R300. The ink doesn't seem to cause any problem that I can detect. The only reason I selected an R300 over an R200 was that the R300 was all there was then. I have used the R200 since and it works identically to the R300. Incidentally, the R200 is just under $80 at Sam's Club now.
