I have never had a problem with my media and lately Burned DVDs have been pausing and skipping during playback. I don't know if my drive is dirty or if my burn speed is too fast?
If your backup freezes, stutters, skips, or has some pixelation, it is more than likely due to poor quality media being used. Cheap media is poorly manufactured around the edge of the disc, hence the reason why it mostly skips or freezes from the middle toward the end of the movie. The two main things to consider first are:
1. Is it cheap media that you are using? (ie. some off brand you bought at a local computer store/fair, even a store like Circuit City or Best Buy sells cheap low quality media.)
2. How fast are you burning? - Burn no faster than 4X, might have to go down to 2X with really cheap media.
Open DVD Shrink. Click "Edit", then "Preferences". On the first tab at the top in the drop down box, change it from "DVD-5 (4.7GB) to "Custom" and enter a number of 4200MB (4464MB is burning to the edge of the disc, you want to stay away from the edge as the edge of cheap media (disc's) are poorly manufactured). Screen Shot Below:
I have no experience with the program "Record Now". Someone who knows that program is bound to spot your post and tell you whether you can control burn speed in Record Now. If the answer turns out that burn speed is not controllable, then maybe you might consider changing programs as jmet seems to be suggesting.
You can right click on your drive in the device manager. In properties, you'll see the option to change write speed. Pick one and click ok. Then burn using Record Now. I use it from time to time but not that often.
YOBUZZB
Get outta heah! I've got Win2K at home and XP at work with pioneer burners and there's no such speed control option in properties. Unless you have a burner with a special or hacked driver or firmware (??)
