I have an NEC 16XDVDRW ND-3540A Burner. I can burn dvd's either from the inetrnet or my private ones. The problem is they play fine on my computer but when I put them into my DVD Player I get a "disc error" message and I cannot view it. My player is approximately 5 years + old.
Only +R media can have the booktype set to DVD-ROM which may make it easier for older players to read. +R DL media is already set for the DVD-ROM booktype with the NEC 3540. NEC doesn't natively support +R and +RW media booktyping in its firmware, but others have modified the firmware to make it capable of doing so. Such firmware can be found at:
There are some risks to flashing your firmware so be forewarned. Once you have flashed the modified firmware, there are several utility programs available for setting the drive's booktype. DVD Decrypter can also be used to set the booktype (which is what I use) as well as Nero. Setting the booktype may not solve your problem with the older standalone however.
You didn't say what type of media (+R, -R) you are burning. Also the quality of the media may be playing a role in your problems. Have you tried both +R and -R media? Also burning some media at higher speeds can result in standalone players not being able to read. I never burn anything above 4X or 6X speed unless I'm using extremely high quality media like TY. Otherwise I limit my speed to 4X-6X even though the media may burn at a higher speed. Some of the older players like -R media better than +R as well.
So in summary I would first suggest trying a quality media and burning at a slower speed (4X) and see if that solves your problem. New players are pretty cheap also.
NEC doesn't natively support +R and +RW media booktyping in its firmware, but others have modified the firmware to make it capable of doing so. Such firmware can be found at: http://www.micheldeboer.nl/firmware/ There are some risks to flashing your firmware so be forewarned. Once you have flashed the modified firmware, there are several utility programs available for setting the drive's booktype. DVD Decrypter can also be used to set the booktype (which is what I use) as well as Nero. Setting the booktype may not solve your problem with the older standalone however
My question here is: Do we have to flash the drive with the modified firmware first and then only use DVD Decrypter or Nero ?
NEC, in its stock firmware, only provides for +R DL bitsetting to DVD-ROM. This must still be enabled with a utility or DVD Decrypter however. One must flash the modded firmware to the drive to enable DVD-ROM bitsetting for +R and +RW media. Again a utility or DVD Decrypter, etc., needs to be used to change the booktyping from type +R or +RW to type DVD-ROM. Once that's accomplished, any program that provides for bitsetting when burning will do the bitsetting because the firmware will be set to do just that.
