Oddity with CD/CDRW and DVD/DVDRW burners HP and Sony, with OEM Sony Pictures DVDs and Disney CDs Options

[LilBambi]

I have noted the following in some DVD/DVDRW and/or CD/CDRW burners.

If your DVD is also a writer (such as Sony or HP), you may not be able to play (with full motion - or partial or no audio audio or no full screen) even OEM manufactured DVD movies by the likes of Sony Pictures.

Apparently there are some writers that will play these DVDs. My old Dell Inspiron 7000 will play them with the built in decoder on the ATI video card that's built in, but we haven't been able to get totally fluid motion and fullscreen, or full stereo sound from Sony Pictures DVD movies on any drive we have in the house that's capable of writing DVDs (Sony and HP DVD/RW/CD/CDRW drives) -- except -- my Dell Inspiron 7000 which is a DVD Rom/CD/CDRW. There is no reason the AMD 64 3200+ with 512MB RAM should not be capable of playing these and it plays other movie DVDs fine.

The reason I mention this is that we saw another, similar but somewhat different scenario my brother's house as well ... his 8 yr old daughter inherited their older computer with a CDROM in it and a DVD/CD/CDRW drive in it. She has two OEM Disney CDs that refuse to work in the writer at all! But will run just fine in the CDROM.

So, if you have a DVD writer for ISOs and such from one of the companies noted above, and there may be others, it may be good to have a DVD ROM/CD drive in the system as well if you intend to read more recent DVDs that you purchase or rent.

We do not have a stand alone DVD play because we hate to waste money on it when we may want to watch movies in different rooms and would like to have it put on our in house cable system. That is totally foiled by the current crop of DRM on Sony Pictures DVD movies. Really stinks!

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[goretsky]

Hello,

I recall when DVD-ROM disc drives first started to become popular in the mid- to late-1990s that sometimes they would require a firmware update to play an original DVD movie disc. Sometimes the DVD playing software had to be updated as well, or even the device drivers for the video card.

Just to confirm, the issue is not with the video card or its associated driver software, nor is it with the DVD playing software and updating the firmware on the Hewlett-Packard and Sony optical disc drives did not solve the problem?

Regards

Aryeh Goretsky

[LilBambi]

I haven't done that to the HP one, but Jim got the latest flash from Sony and it was no help.

[LilBambi]

On my system, the video is: ATI Radeon 9800 LX 256MB. Don't think that's a problem.

I know it's totally unrelated to Video in both cases. All other DVDs work fine on mine with the HP DVD+/-RW, just the newer Sony Pictures ones that are being a pain for my computer.

Jim's having trouble with the write speed as well on his and actually seeing the DVDs at all on the Sony DVD+/-RW. Sees some it's seen before but not others. And no newer ones at all.

Both of these drives are only about 1-2 yrs old. And have not been worked to death either.

I can't help but think it has something to do with DRM related stuff. Since all data DVDs and CDs work fine.

[LilBambi]

Yes, I remember when we first bought the Alien DVD many years ago and it would play on some DVD drives, but others would have trouble with the menuing system. And some on slower computers you'd have to fiddle with the read options. We got around that by using VLC to play them straight so the DVD menu would not come up. And fiddling with DVD Genie for those. Haven't had to use anything like DVD Genie for quite some time since faster computers. They have just played out of the box.

I am using Win2K and Ubuntu and the things I mentioned earlier about the Sony Pictures DVDs happen with both OSes with the HP DVD +/- RW.

[epp_b]

Hmm...HP, Sony and Disney? Sounds like a conspiracy...

[LilBambi]

Interesting at the very least. But knowing these companies penchant for control at every level....

[zlim]

I just tried to see if I have the problem. I installed a NEC DVD burner because none of my computers had a DVD burner. I can play a purchased movie in both drives the DVD reader (AOpen) and the DVD burner NEC.
This is on a 2K computer. I guess if I wish to install a writer elsewhere, I'll avoid HP and Sony (of course Sony will be my last choice of anything I purchase).

Thanks for giving the heads up on that. It would be maddening to grab a notebook and some movies to watch for a long trip, only to discover that the movies can't be viewed. Since most new computers come with a combo drive and it burns CDs and DVDs, it might be worthwhile to take a movie to test the drive in the store before you purchase the notebook. (Of course, this could be by design to sell more portable DVD players).

This post has been edited by zlim: Dec 15 2006, 01:07 PM

[Temmu]

~that~ is ludicrous. you paid for it, you should be able to play it!!

[epp_b]

~that~ is ludicrous. you paid for it, you should be able to play it!!

MPAA: "No, no, no, you can only play it after you let us rip you off for all you're worth"

[Temmu]

ha! truth in sarcasm.

i say again, when the technology was new, we paid $14 ea for a cd. like every other technology, we were "promised" lower prices as sales increased. ha! and again i say, ha!

[burninbush]

That is totally foiled by the current crop of DRM on Sony Pictures DVD movies. Really stinks! sad.gif

++++++++++++

Yes -- however, the solution to Sony DRM is already at hand.

I make backup copies of every dvd we buy here -- and was stymied for a while by Sony's new tricks. However, RipIt4Me and FixVTS [working with DVDDecrypter and DVDShrink] beats it. Google RipIt4Me to find all you need to know, including tutorials. Those 4 progs offer a totally freeware dvd backup solution.

FWIW, I just the other day bought a Sony AW-Q170a [think that's the number] dvd burner 18x -- and it plays commercial movies fine here, on the xp2400 box in which I mounted it. Also burns fine, cdr and dvd-r tested so far.

[b2cm]

Some of these problems may have to do with DVD-ROM format and the support for it by the optical drive firmware.

[goretsky]

Hello,

If you have verified that the problem is with the optical disc drive and not the computer or the software on it, then you should be able to purchase a replacement optical disc drive from a different vendor which works with your system.

I myself have had good results with optical disc drives from LG, Panasonic, Pioneer, Plextor, Samsung and Toshiba, to name a few.

Regards

Aryeh Goretsky

[b2cm]

HP source their optical drives from OEMs. One has to open the case to see the optical drive manufacturer (ie Asus, Philips) and model number.

[Gus K]

These days Sony is a brand to avoid, across the board. The glory days of the Sony name are long gone and there is no reason to pay a premium for it. Many Sony burners are re-badged Lite-Ons, some of the cheapest drives out there. Their constant honing of their ARccOS copy protection is becoming more than a bit annoying. It's also odd that it was Sony who fought the good fight many years ago, and won (the Betamax decision), which basically spawned the whole video cassette movie industry.

Sony has now teamed up with NEC (another maker of questionable quality burners) and will be releasing many of them under the Optiarc moniker.

A program like AnyDVD is almost a necessity these days just to be able to watch what you paid for on the device of your choice. Unfortunately the program cost more than most OEM burners.

[RandomBox]

I don't know if the Hooligan B*star*ds are at work here but especailly SONY cracks me up like not other company >> One arm of SONY screams bloody murder that their musicCDs and movieDVDs are being stolen by the bazillion$, yet another arm is selling burner$ on the market! SONY must have more than just two arms!
In all honesty, any type of conspiracy theory aside, there are a few other possible problems that can plague CD/DVD burner/player hardware that may need to be studied here. Regions Codes can make DVDs not playable and the 'improvement' called the Regional Coding Enhancements may create further chaos!

Some have answered such CHAOS with HACKs and beyond. I won't say a word about Region-free and CSS-blocks!

[burninbush]

Sony has now teamed up with NEC (another maker of questionable quality burners) and will be releasing many of them under the Optiarc moniker.

Hmmm... I've had excellent results with both LiteOn and NEC -- what manufacturer do you like if not those two?

[b2cm]

I like NEC, and I would choose Liteon over Samsung or LG.

[LilBambi]

I have heard particularly good things about the Plextor a couple years ago. Some say it's the best out there. Is it still?

BTW: The old laptop has an older Toshiba DVD Rom/CD/CDRW in it.


Please note the edit in the first posting in this topic. Thanks. --Fran

[RandomBox]

Every post should include a disclaimer...

[goretsky]

Hello,

I have used a number of Plextor optical disc drives and have to say they have probably been one of the most trouble-free brands I have used.

Regards

Aryeh Goretsky

[Temmu]

i concur. plextor is great; and that is a brand for which i gladly spend more to have.

ps,
edited so i make sense.

pps,
don't you just hate that edited by temmu thingy? i mean, it makes it look like i have to edit my short comments just to make sense. o.

This post has been edited by Temmu: Dec 30 2006, 10:51 PM

[Gus K]

Hello,

I have used a number of Plextor optical disc drives and have to say they have probably been one of the most trouble-free brands I have used.

Regards

Aryeh Goretsky

It seems there are many reports of premature failure of the current crop of Plex drives. The Plex 740A is a nice drive, but it's actually a BenQ 1640, unfortunately the Plex firmware severely crippled it. But it can be cross flashed back to a Benq 1640, considered by many to be one of the best burners ever.

The prices are also way out of line. One can buy all three- LG, Lite-on, and NEC burners for less than one new Plex.

[LilBambi]

Good info to know Gus!