After you've made all the copies

[Jayell]

I had to burn 20 DVDs (PremEl2 to edit .. burn to folder .. Imgburn to DVD). Now that I've got these 20 DVDs in front of me, do I assume they're all OK .. or do I test a few .. do I at least make sure they all start .. or do I just hold my breath?\

[momoffduty]

I test every copy checking that all of the menu buttons work and also FF to the end to see if if returns to the Main Menu. And may watch a section here or there too.

[Jayell]

Thanks, Cheryl. That's sorta what I've been doing, although hadn't thought about making sure they return to main menu. Only 15 to go

[Bobby]

Not sure if Imgburn supports this, but Nero can be configured to do a readback check and that should be 99.9% (guessing) effective.

But I have to confess that I always (now) put each DVD in the home theater system DVD player and play it. I play through the pre-menu segment, check the Scenes menu, and make sure I play the last scene and fast forward to close to the end, making sure the end is OK and that it returns properly to the menu. And, yes, I do it for each DVD. Just making sure, as the egg-on-face issues of shipping a bad DVD are too much for me to bear

[Jayell]

Yes, I did decide that I wanted to at least make sure 'something' got recorded .. and that in my rush I didn't somehow put a blank DVD in the case. Imgburn has a 'verify' that may be similar to your 'readback' but I haven't checked that out carefully enough yet. Thanks for the input.

[Briantho]

I started using ImgBurn about 2/3 years ago with my three LG external burners and every DVD I burn goes through 'verify'. About 1 in 50 fails this - I use mainly printable TDKs and Verbatim now and then depending on availability.

Most of my projects (5/6 per year) involve producing anything between 40 and up to 200 DVDs. (Anything much more and I use a local company for the mass production.) Having checked the first couple in a DVD player the only check I do after that is turning the disk over to make sure I'm not inadvertantly packing a blank one. No complaints so far!

[Jayell]

Do you know exactly what 'verify' does? Is it saying everything burned correctly .. or just that something got burned .. no dropped frames .. or ??

[Bob]

"Verify" reads the data on the disc you just burned and compares it to the source you burned it from. If it matchs bit for bit, it passes.

[Jayell]

"Verify" reads the data on the disc you just burned and compares it to the source you burned it from. If it matchs bit for bit, it passes.

Thanks Bob! I'll quit wondering now.

[Ken Jarstad]

But I have to confess that I always (now) put each DVD in the home theater system DVD player and play it. I play through the pre-menu segment, check the Scenes menu, and make sure I play the last scene and fast forward to close to the end, making sure the end is OK and that it returns properly to the menu. And, yes, I do it for each DVD. Just making sure, as the egg-on-face issues of shipping a bad DVD are too much for me to bear

Sounds to me like you don't trust your burned DVDs. This news tends to put me again on a very bad rant. This technology never has been ready for prime time. I hope the newer streaming tech will allow us to sidestep making DVDs altogether.

[Bobby]

Well certainly sidestep BD anyhow - I think BD is dying a fast death due to high cost and the competition of streaming.

But, yes Ken, I don't trust anything any more. There have been a couple of times when I brought what I thought was a good DVD to show relatives or similar and had problems - it's very embarrassing. But I do have to admit that since I switched to TY media I haven't had any such issue but I test 'em anyhow.

[Chuck Engels]

I am still a die hard Verbatim fan. I burn 8 DVDs for each wedding that we edit, and test 2 of them.
If any don't work I will replace them but have not had one complaint. We have burned over 200 DVDs in the last 2 years.

[Peru]

But I do have to admit that since I switched to TY media I haven't had any such issue but I test 'em anyhow.

I've been trying Verbatim and Ty (premium, not value line) hub inkjet printable side by side and have no bad burns. But I test the first one all of the way through, and randomly check menus and chapters on the rest.

Since the Verbatims seem to be less expensive than the Tys, I think I'll go with them the next time I purchase discs.

[Bill Hunt]

Personally, I always burn a "test" DVD RW, and then play that in 6 different set-top players from an esoteric, down to a US$49 cheapie. If that DVD plays in each, I also test it in three different computer DVD drives, with a handful of DVD software players. Once it passes these tests, then I burn the delivery DVD's onto either Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden DVD's, and not the RW that I had used to test.

Good luck,

Hunt

[Chuck Engels]

Hunt, I will usually follow the same steps but only every time I purchase new media.
If one disc from a batch works in all my DVD players then the rest should also, so I only do this test once when I open a new spindle of discs.