questions for those who do alot of dvd burning - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

stainedbeautie · 02-21-2006, 04:32 AM

I have a Lite-On that has been burning odd spots on the back of dvds. They look something like an ink spot or something. Really hard to describe. They will play fine usually, but sometimes with certain ones after awhile they won't. The spots are not all over the disk, just in certain places. Do I need a new burner, or does it just needs a good cleaning? Nothing else is wrong with, but I notice sometimes the light on my lite-on will turn yellow during the burning process (which should be red all the time). like it has a problem reading in certain spots or something.

My other question is, do u guys make your own menus for the dvds you trade, or it to much of a hasle and you just put the episodes onto a dvd and be done with it. Just wondering.

BeefyBoyGod · 02-21-2006, 08:46 AM

Those spots typically have to do with the burner not liking the type of dye used in the discs. What discs are you using?

Can also be that there was a peice of dust on that spot of the disc while burning. Always make sure the disc is spotless beforehand.

savageamusement · 02-21-2006, 09:42 AM

My advice first off, having 2 liton's

Clean your player/burner.

A dvd laser cleaner, or a disc with a brush on it and run it.

You can also of course take the hardrive casing off and blow it out-
Sounds like something is on the laser-

Which your supposed to clean your burner or player for every 25 hours of use anyhow- not that most people I know of other than I do.
You can pick up a cleaning disc for 7.99 at Best buy, or less expensive at Walmart etc.

As far as dvd menues and items go.

I put a lot of work into mine as of lately. But it matters to me waht it is.
if I am making a disc of 2-3 episodes of Bones becuase I will be out of town, i just burn and forget.
If I plan on trading it- well I put more effort into it.

Chapter marks are important for those who have older machines I have learned.
And taking commericals out, is important for those shows that I am putting to SP for obvious fact of space.

Pretty isn't necessarily my intent, but what looks good, is more popular to trade-
All in all if something is worth a tremendous amount of effort, I ask myself if it is released yet, or soon to be. Because I know I can't compete with companies like Rhino, but if it is a popular show and I know I might trade it a lot- I put the work into it to make it look good and stand out.

RedWhine56 · 02-21-2006, 12:28 PM

I've not enountered the problem you're having, but regarding the menus...

I'll RECEIVE shows that I really want in any format. So if they are on DVD with no menus and I really want the show, I'll take it. However, we all know it's a PITA to have to fast foward through ~3 hours of shows to get to where you want to be (eventhough that's the way it is with VHS - I guess I've gotten spoiled!), so I do not trade anything out that does not have menus.

One thing that I DO do to shortcut is most shows I record on Tivo get transferred directly to my computer via wireless home network. If it's a show we've watched already, I'll normally just pack 3 1/2 hours of shows in MPG format on a DVD instead of converting to VOB format. Then if I need it for a trade, I'll pull it & author up a DVD. If I'm making a DVD with all the same show on it, it's really easy to take a screen capture from the opening sequence & make that the background. I normally don't make fancy buttons (but may move on to that eventually) but make text menus on top of the screen cap. I HAVE made an animated menu for a few Hollywood Squares discs I put together - had the flashing grid & the theme music. Certainly not a polished, professional look but it kept me off the streets for a day or two & was fun to watch. LOL!

JoshFromKC · 02-21-2006, 02:48 PM

My advice would be to take out the Lite-On carefully, keep everything intact, make sure the wires are connected to it. Take it out back, and shoot it. Then, go and buy an NEC, much better. But seriously, I had the SAME problem with my Lite-On with multiple disc brands and found out it was a sign that the drive was dying, in those "ink spots" the information is not burned correctly, sometimes you will be ok if it is not too big, but I noticed that most of my discs like that ended up garbage. Perhaps cleaning it will fix the problem, but I had a Lite-On for almost a year and it crapped out on me, I now have 2 NEC's and have had no problems thus far.

loren · 02-21-2006, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoshFromKC

My advice would be to take out the Lite-On carefully, keep everything intact, make sure the wires are connected to it. Take it out back, and shoot it. Then, go and buy an NEC, much better. But seriously, I had the SAME problem with my Lite-On with multiple disc brands and found out it was a sign that the drive was dying, in those "ink spots" the information is not burned correctly, sometimes you will be ok if it is not too big, but I noticed that most of my discs like that ended up garbage. Perhaps cleaning it will fix the problem, but I had a Lite-On for almost a year and it crapped out on me, I now have 2 NEC's and have had no problems thus far.

the voice of reason------------

newegg.com has the nec

nec 3550a for $38.99 with free shipping

what did the liteon cost in bad discs in the last year

i bet more than this nec will cost to buy

stainedbeautie · 02-22-2006, 12:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by loren

the voice of reason------------

newegg.com has the nec

nec 3550a for $38.99 with free shipping

what did the liteon cost in bad discs in the last year

i bet more than this nec will cost to buy

$38.99. That's certainly cheaper than a new Lite-On

, which I believe is like almost $50, correct?. I love newegg.com btw. Ordered lots from them. They are slow for me though on ocassion because I use money orders

. Will look into getting that and maybe just keeping the Lite-On for playing dvds on, works fine for that. I'll clean and it out and see what that does. shooting will work too if all else fails

. It actually started doing that when I upgraded the firmware a few months back. The burner itself is an outdated Lite-On ( 2 years old or almost that)

I use/have used:

Fuji
JVC
Sony
HP

noticed it more on the Fuji and Sony, which are the bigger brand names? Sony was just bad for it. and I believe I used a few Imations, can't remember because that may have only been a few times. I also use Maxell and Memorex RW, no "ink" stuff with those. I can only burn +R on this thing (more reason to upgrade to a new one).

As for the menus discussion, thanks for all your inputs on that. I really enjoy making menus, so I have them on everything. It's something to do when I'm bored, and I'm bored alot

I haven't done animated ones yet. Just some pictures and text. Simpliar is better to me

stainedbeautie · 03-13-2006, 01:11 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152058
just wanted to let you guys know I just ordered this a few days ago. OEM, only because I don't need all the programs and a fancy box to come with it. I'll let you know how the burning goes.

I was able to get my Lite-On to work pretty good after I bought some cd cleaner. I figured I had a few bucks to spare and ordered the NEC anways. 2 burners is good for backup and such. Now if only 1gb of memory was that cheap

. Well I'm getting a 512 stick hopefully in a few weeks. Video conversion is pain on 256mb.

02-21-2006, 04:32 AM	#1
stainedbeautie Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Mar 23, 2003 Posts: 155	questions for those who do alot of dvd burning I have a Lite-On that has been burning odd spots on the back of dvds. They look something like an ink spot or something. Really hard to describe. They will play fine usually, but sometimes with certain ones after awhile they won't. The spots are not all over the disk, just in certain places. Do I need a new burner, or does it just needs a good cleaning? Nothing else is wrong with, but I notice sometimes the light on my lite-on will turn yellow during the burning process (which should be red all the time). like it has a problem reading in certain spots or something. My other question is, do u guys make your own menus for the dvds you trade, or it to much of a hasle and you just put the episodes onto a dvd and be done with it. Just wondering.
	__________________ icon credit: insecureheights

02-21-2006, 08:46 AM	#2
BeefyBoyGod Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Nov 04, 2003 Posts: 108	Those spots typically have to do with the burner not liking the type of dye used in the discs. What discs are you using? Can also be that there was a peice of dust on that spot of the disc while burning. Always make sure the disc is spotless beforehand.
	__________________ Time for the Beefy Boy jingle.....

02-21-2006, 09:42 AM	#3
savageamusement Cutest Couch Potato Senior Member Join Date: Oct 21, 2003 Posts: 2,103	my advice My advice first off, having 2 liton's Clean your player/burner. A dvd laser cleaner, or a disc with a brush on it and run it. You can also of course take the hardrive casing off and blow it out- Sounds like something is on the laser- Which your supposed to clean your burner or player for every 25 hours of use anyhow- not that most people I know of other than I do. You can pick up a cleaning disc for 7.99 at Best buy, or less expensive at Walmart etc. As far as dvd menues and items go. I put a lot of work into mine as of lately. But it matters to me waht it is. if I am making a disc of 2-3 episodes of Bones becuase I will be out of town, i just burn and forget. If I plan on trading it- well I put more effort into it. Chapter marks are important for those who have older machines I have learned. And taking commericals out, is important for those shows that I am putting to SP for obvious fact of space. Pretty isn't necessarily my intent, but what looks good, is more popular to trade- All in all if something is worth a tremendous amount of effort, I ask myself if it is released yet, or soon to be. Because I know I can't compete with companies like Rhino, but if it is a popular show and I know I might trade it a lot- I put the work into it to make it look good and stand out.
	__________________ WWW.SavageTraders.org To avoid channel surfing Wipeouts!

02-21-2006, 12:28 PM	#4
RedWhine56 Sleigh? What sleigh? Forum Regular Join Date: Aug 03, 2005 Location: In the "Secret Room" with the cronies! Posts: 756	I've not enountered the problem you're having, but regarding the menus... I'll RECEIVE shows that I really want in any format. So if they are on DVD with no menus and I really want the show, I'll take it. However, we all know it's a PITA to have to fast foward through ~3 hours of shows to get to where you want to be (eventhough that's the way it is with VHS - I guess I've gotten spoiled!), so I do not trade anything out that does not have menus. One thing that I DO do to shortcut is most shows I record on Tivo get transferred directly to my computer via wireless home network. If it's a show we've watched already, I'll normally just pack 3 1/2 hours of shows in MPG format on a DVD instead of converting to VOB format. Then if I need it for a trade, I'll pull it & author up a DVD. If I'm making a DVD with all the same show on it, it's really easy to take a screen capture from the opening sequence & make that the background. I normally don't make fancy buttons (but may move on to that eventually) but make text menus on top of the screen cap. I HAVE made an animated menu for a few Hollywood Squares discs I put together - had the flashing grid & the theme music. Certainly not a polished, professional look but it kept me off the streets for a day or two & was fun to watch. LOL!
	__________________ Off to Never, Never Land... ...Metallica

02-21-2006, 02:48 PM	#5
JoshFromKC Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Sep 14, 2005 Posts: 80	My advice would be to take out the Lite-On carefully, keep everything intact, make sure the wires are connected to it. Take it out back, and shoot it. Then, go and buy an NEC, much better. But seriously, I had the SAME problem with my Lite-On with multiple disc brands and found out it was a sign that the drive was dying, in those "ink spots" the information is not burned correctly, sometimes you will be ok if it is not too big, but I noticed that most of my discs like that ended up garbage. Perhaps cleaning it will fix the problem, but I had a Lite-On for almost a year and it crapped out on me, I now have 2 NEC's and have had no problems thus far.

03-13-2006, 01:11 AM	#8
stainedbeautie Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Mar 23, 2003 Posts: 155	http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827152058 just wanted to let you guys know I just ordered this a few days ago. OEM, only because I don't need all the programs and a fancy box to come with it. I'll let you know how the burning goes. I was able to get my Lite-On to work pretty good after I bought some cd cleaner. I figured I had a few bucks to spare and ordered the NEC anways. 2 burners is good for backup and such. Now if only 1gb of memory was that cheap . Well I'm getting a 512 stick hopefully in a few weeks. Video conversion is pain on 256mb.