DVD burning help please?

Question:
I have a Sony DVD rewriter drive and I have always used Sony DVD's.

I burnt a film onto a Sony DVD the other day and it was fine. I then tried to burn 4 items onto a Philips rewritable DVD and that's when everything went wrong.

The first thing seemed to burn ok, but when trying to burn the second thing, the buffer was only at 2% (was at 99% previously) and it was apparently going to take 16 hours to burn 45 minutes of video!

I cancelled the process and started again with the same issue happening again.

I then went back to the original Sony DVD's I was using but I then had the same problem with them too, so somewhere along the line something must have changed a setting somewhere.

I had to uninstall the program and reinstall. I tried the Sony DVD and it was ok this time and burnt in 10 minutes but when I tried the Philips again, I got a 'dvd not formatted' message.

All disks are the same DVD+R/RW format, my drive can handle + and - formats and I was using DVDDecrypter.

Any ideas? I don't want to have to uninstall and reinstall every time to get things working again.

What could have affected the process after burning the first thing onto the rewritable disk?

Is it possible that I have a bad batch of Philips disks? Or will the problem be more likely to be with a setting in Decrypter or even a problem with my drive?

I'm not all that techie minded so if anyone has any suggestions, please keep it in simple language. Thanks.
Answers:
Just a guess but it may be with the Phillips DVD's being rewritabaleas my recorder takes longer to save documents onto a rewritable disc rather than a normal DVD
Are both discs the same speed as some rewritable discs only burn at a lower speed
Answers:
if you are burning single item onto a rewritable then dvd decrypter is not the right programme to be using. DVD decrypter should really only be used with whole films. If you are burning to a rewritable as data use roxio or nero and choose direct to disc or multi session respectively per software programme.
Answers:
Sorry, I made a mistake in my earlier post. I used DVDDecrypter for burning the film onto the Sony DVD+R, and DivxToDvd for burning the 4 other (television program) files onto the Philips rewritable DVD's.

Sony disks were 8 speed, Philips were 4 speed. When the problem happened the rate was showing as 1 speed even although the setting was at 'max'.
Answers:
DivxToDvd for burning the 4 other (television program) files onto the Philips rewritable DVD's. Does the trial version have any limits?
I know a technophobe who needs an easy-to-use tool to burn their divx stuff to dvd.
Answers:
it sounds to me like you are trying to write 4 separate files to the disc for wtahcing via either a pc or divx dvd player. You will still be better off burning the disks as data disks rather than using the programmes you have mentioned - your divx player or pc will then open them as normal fiels which you can view individually. I havent used divx todvd but I am sure dvd decrypter wont work with what you are trying to do.
Answers:
I had to uninstall the program and reinstall. I tried the Sony DVD and it was ok this time and burnt in 10 minutes but when I tried the Philips again, I got a 'dvd not formatted' message.
All disks are the same DVD+R/RW format, my drive can handle + and - formats and I was using DVDDecrypter. They might be the same formats but each disc should have a media code and thats what decides the compatabiltiy.
Sony disks were 8 speed, Philips were 4 speed. When the problem happened the rate was showing as 1 speed even although the setting was at 'max'. You need to know the exact model of DVD burner your using and something like to get the media code for the Philips DVDs. Then you have to check they're on the approved list .....
Answers:
First, what format is the film you are trying to burn?
Is it avi, MPEG, MPEG2, or what?
This makes the choice of program to burn the film entirely different and also the speed.
If you are just trying to copy a film that is on a DVD, then it is quite straight foreward and quick.
Answers:
Thanks for your replies everyone but maybe I wasn't clear enough in my original post.

I don't have any problems burning films. I don't have any problems using DVDDecrypter to burn the films.

What I do have a problem with is trying to put xvid files onto a Philips rewritable DVD using DivxToDvd.

I can put these xvid files onto separate Sony single use disks using DivxToDvd....I just have a problem with the rewritables for some reason.

The first file went on fine, no issues and fast. It was when I tried to burn the 2nd file that it all went pear shaped.

That's the bit I don't understand......why would the first file burn ok but the next one onto the same disk wouldn't? Why would it have affected the process so much that I had to reinstall the program to get all the original settings back?

Why was the buffer showing 2% when it should have been around 99%? What changed things and how do I stop them changing again?

irnbru's comment......'They might be the same formats but each disc should have a media code and thats what decides the compatability' might suggest what the problem could be? I'll check out the link tomorrow.

Anyway, cheers all for the input.
Answers:

That's the bit I don't understand......why would the first file burn ok but the next one onto the same disk wouldn't? Hi
You didn't finalise the disc did you? after you added the first file.
Its just a thought
Answers:
just but the movie and save yourself all the hastle!!
Answers:
What, until she come to use another Philips disc. Great solution!
Ed -
Answers:
wonderfullife: no, didn't finalise.

ianian99:

wolfman: 'he' is actually a 'she'

Went off today and bought a different make of rewritable dvds so I'll try them out this evening and see if there is any difference. If the same thing happens then at least I'll know it's a bigger issue than just a disk prob.
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