dvd backups skipping

splashpot · #1 08-25-2007, 04:34 PM

Disclaimer: I'm not going to deny that I'm doing anything illegal for the simple reason that it's not going to convince anything who believes otherwise. Since my question has nothing to do with illegal activities, I hope this is ok. If not, delete away.

I started backing up DVDs but I noticed that a large majority of my copies skip a lot. I've come up with several hypothesis's for why this is happening, none of which I'm sure has any plausibility.

-Old DVD burner. I'm using a 2 year old Dell Inspiron 6000 and the DVD burner that came with it. Not sure exactly why this would be a problem, but maybe old technology is more error prone?
-Old DVD+Rs. I found a stack of DVD+Rs sitting on my bookshelf in the basement. No idea how long it's been there. How fast do these deteriorate? If this is the problem, it should be solved by buying new DVD+Rs, right?
-Original DVDs are too damaged. Some of the DVDs I'm backing up have scratches on them. I figured if my computer could read it well enough to rip and burn them, they'd be fine but maybe not?

Are any of these possible causes? Does anyone know which is most likely and is there a way I can test to find the cause? Is there anything I haven't considered?

Gigi · #2 08-25-2007, 05:40 PM

Do they skip when you play them on the computer? Try burning them at 2x instead of full speed and see if it still happens. DVD's should last 10-100 years but what's more important is the quality / brand name. You're right about the if the computer can read it it should burn them.

splashpot · #3 08-25-2007, 05:47 PM

[ QUOTE ]
DVD's should last 10-100 years but what's more important is the quality / brand name.

[/ QUOTE ]
That could be it. The stack that I found in my basement is TEON brand, which I've never heard of. I just bought a stack of TDK DVD+Rs from newegg.com. Is that brand ok? What are good brand names? Memorex?

splashpot · #4 08-25-2007, 09:47 PM

Did a quick google and found this article about DVD brands and media ids. Is this accurate? If it is, anyone know how I can find out the media id of a pack of DVDs before I buy?

cbloom · #5 08-25-2007, 10:51 PM

[ QUOTE ]

-Original DVDs are too damaged. Some of the DVDs I'm backing up have scratches on them. I figured if my computer could read it well enough to rip and burn them, they'd be fine but maybe not?

[/ QUOTE ]

Your computer will in fact still read damaged DVD's and just have bad chunks, but your ripper software should report an error rate. Some small amount of errors is no big deal.