Thanks to all who answered--I learned a lot. The solution turned out to be very simple: use DVD-R media. Thanks to Bryan's explanation, I now have somewhat of an idea why. -mj- Bryan J. Smith wrote: > Oh man, where should I begin? I'm going to top-post, because there's > just a lot of things to know. I really need to make a HOWTO (as people > on the DVDRTools have been asking). > > I could really "go in deep" on all the record/rewrite formats, because > they are pretty different. For right now, let's assume you are using > DVD-R. > > In a nutshell, there are 3 major types of drive firmwares: > - Matsushita (DVD Consortium) > - Pioneer (DVD Consortium) > - Sony/Philips (DVD+RW Consortium) > > Even though there are dual-format and even multi-format burners these > days, there are different types of firmware supported by different types > of drives. > > Pioneer firmware pretty much works with any of the following "linear, > character-by-character record" programs: > 1. cdrecord-ProDVD (Jorg's official DVD recording program, non-GPL) > 2. dvdrecord (a fork of an earlier CDRecord release, GPL) > 3. cdrecord+DVDpatch (CDRecord 2.0 + DVD drive support strings) > > Matsushita drives are a little different, typically only work with #1, > maybe #3. #3 typically comes with most newer distros (much to Jorg's > dislike, because the package is still called "cdrecord"). > > Most other DVD Consortium drives seem to be either Matsushita or Pioneer > firmware-based, some are actually both. E.g., the LG GSA-4000 series > actually support both, and _all_ DVD formats (DVD-RAM/R/RW+R+RW). > > Sony/Philips firmware is a bit different, designed around the features > (and limitations) non-DVD Consortium DVD+RW format. So while newer > drives support dual-format, they don't support all the modes. It seems > only Jorg's cdrecord-proDVD is capable of driving them. > > *BUT* you don't have to use a "linear, character-by-character record" > program. Yes, the most "consumer compatible" way to record a DVD-R is > to do so in "disc-at-once" (DAO) mode so the laser is never turned off > from beginning to end (it's also mutually exclusive with burn-proof), > which is something that Sony/Philips firmware don't support (at least > not until more recently). > > Hence why the "dvd+rwtools" tools were created. In a nutshell they > allow direct block access to the disc, instead of using a linear record. > The reasons for this have to do with the fact that DVD+RW (which DVD+R > is based on) drives weren't designed single-groove recording like DVD-R > drives (note, DVD-RW works completely different than DVD-R), because > there are inherit limitations and disadvantages with "linear, character- > by-character record" (the only real positive if legacy consumer player > compatibility). > > So if you're recording DVD+R on a Sony/Philips drive, you want to use > "dvd+rwtools." If you're recording DVD-R on a Pioneer/Matsushita drive, > you want to use either cdrecord-ProDVD or cdrecord+DVDpatch. If you're > swapping the two (DVD-R on S/P, DVD+R on P/M), they you might be able to > use newer versions of the programs and it will work, it depends. > > There's a lot of history in the formats, and the drives were designed > from different viewpoints. > > Pioneer, clearly for consumer player compatibility (DVD-R, DVD-RW more > of an "afterthought" and not very well designed). Matsushita, clearly > as an optical data archiving drive (DVD-RAM is the ultimate in > reliability and longevity, but very, very slow and not consumer player > compatible). Sony/Philips, clearly a high-performance MO drive, and > attempted to beat Pioneer to market on a lot of things (but never did > prior to dual-layer). > > -- Bryan > > More info (not to enough depth, hence why I need to put out a HOWTO) ... > > CD-R and DVD-R are single-groove, like a vinyl record and -ROM media. > The laser runs down a single, linear track, beginning to end -- a > revolution actually move the head outwards. > > CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD+RW are a MO discs, with sectors, > cylinders, etc... When it does a single revolution, it comes back to > the same place it started, so it must "step up" to the next cylinder to > emulate the same. That's why CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD+RW are not > as "compatible" with players, which expect a "single groove." > > The difference with MO it's also why you should use character-by- > character "record" for the "single-groove" media and a "rewrite" > approach, and not MO (either the kernel packet driver -- e.g., DVD-RAM > -- or dvd+rwtools -- e.g., DVD+RW/+R) for the block MO media. > > MO also has a horrendous error rate, about 10^9 (1 per 1GB!). The only > standard MO format (there are plenty of non-standard ones) that tries to > improve that is DVD-RAM. It uses a verify after write and a media that > can be re-written 100,000 times, instead of only about 1,000. But DVD- > RAM is not very player compatible at all -- only a few Panasonic and > Toshiba devices. > > So for both longevity as well as consumer player compatibility, avoid > anything MO-based. > > Long story short on DVD+R, Sony/Philips originally couldn't get DVD-R to > work on its drives, because of the design of its firmware and laser. > They promised a new record format in DVD+R. Unfortunately, they even > ran into issues, and didn't get it out until the 3rd generation of DVD > +RW (2nd generation in the US -- the original 3GB DVD-R+W was Japan- > only), which also led to a lawsuit against HP and others (as their > DVD100i drives were marketed to support DVD+R). > > I'm sure Sony/Philips wish they could turn back the clock as their > promised endeavors to beat Matsushita/Panasonic to market have pretty > much been the opposite (sands dual-layer, something Sony/Philips did > beat them to), but what is done is done. > > In the end, DVD+R is really an pie-slice MO bastard, and not a single- > groove like DVD-R. Adding the lack of a DAO mode, at least in older > drives, and DVD-R is the more compatible format. Unfortunately the > Sony/Philips firmware was never designed for DVD-R and DAO, so you'll > typically have issues with record programs for it -- which requires you > to use dvd+rwtools. I highly recommend you _avoid_ DVD+R (I know people > are going to differ with me on this). > > Now Sony _was_ the first company to introduce a dual-format drive. And > they seem to have improved the firmware as of late 2003-2004 (just about > the same time as Sony/Philips finally got DVD+RW/+R interoperability > improved between licensees as well as their own consumer players!), and > Jorg's cdrecord-ProDVD can drive many Sony/Philips drives now. But DVD > +RW was really designed for data usage, not consumer players, hence why > it took awhile (despite what Sony/Philips ads say about the "most > compatible consumer format"). > > There's been a lot of shots fired on the DVD Consortium v. DVD+RW > Consortium front. I try to avoid it. I've been using DVD-RAM since > '98, and adopted DVD-R in 2000 on-ward. Sony/Philips promised a lot, > but they let a lot of consumers down on anything except the fact that > DVD+RW is the fastest. Of course, I could get into the whole CAV v. CLV > issue, which isn't really much of an issue on a "single groove" CD- > R/DVD-R (because the timing and pits are always the same, linear > relativity), but wreaks havoc with compatibility in a MO format (because > it's in a pie-slice like arrangement, which will vary in spacing, > etc...). > > [ E.g., I retroactively call CAV CD-RW formats as CD+RW, because they > are very, very different and can even cause "damage" to drives than CLV > CD-RW. Same deal, DVD-RAM and DVD-RW are CLV, DVD+RW are CAV. There > are physical format differences between a CLV MO and a CAV MO. ] > > > > On Sat, 2005-06-04 at 02:08 -0700, Mark Jarvis wrote: > >>I have an NEC DVD-RW ND2500A (that's not the label I bought it under, >>but that's what it really is.) It's supposed to read/write CDs, DVDs, >> DVD+Rs, and DVD-Rs. I'm basically dual booting between XP and CentOS 4. >>Following the recipe in "The Linux Cookbook", I tried to copy a DVD using: >> dd if=/dev/hdd of=/tmp/diskfile.iso >> then >> cdrecord dev=/dev/hdd fs=32m -sao -v -eject -dummy /tmp/diskfile.iso >> to test and >> cdrecord dev=/dev/hdd fs=32m -sao -v -eject /tmp/diskfile.iso >> to actually record. >>I had a lot of trouble getting a good read of the whole original DVD--it >>kept getting an I/O error at 94-95% of the way through. After multiple >>cleanings and 20-40 attempts, I finally got the whole thing copied with >>no reported errors. It then took me a couple of tries to get the >>cdrecord options right and to run as root to get the requisite priority. >>The "-dummy" run ran with no errors that I noticed--there was an LOT of >>output--and "-dummy" didn't work. It wrote to the blank DVD anyway. I >>then did a run without the "-dummy". Although the original will play on >>both my PC and the DVD player hooked to the TV, the two copied DVDs >>(DVD+Rs) are coasters. DURN! >>Any solutions, suggestions, pointers to articles I should read, etc. >>will be appreciated. >>BTW, I've never quite gotten around to playing DVDs or my music files >>(mp3 and Real Player .rmj files) from Linux. I'd appreciate being >>pointed in the direction to start. > > > >