Here are some quick tips on how to burn a good DVD.
1. Start with the good stuff. This is not as important with ROM data, but if you are burning DVD video, cheap is not the way to go. This is mainly due to the reflectivity of the material used in the discs (lower quality blank DVDs are less reflective due to cheaper materials). The better quality media you use, the more reflective it will be and will therefore be more easily read by all players. Tayio Yuden has always been the gold standard for high quality discs. I also use Prodisc and have had no problems.
2. What's the hurry? As a general rule I do not like to burn master discs at a rate quicker than 4x. The faster that your drive spins a disc, the more likely that even the smallest flaw in your blank will cause the drives mechanism to lose track of its position on a disc. This could result in defects on the disc even if your burn is successful. For duplicates, when many burns have to be done quickly, I will match the speed that the media is rated for, but continue using high quality media.
3. Check please! After I burn a master I like to put it right back into the computer and give the content a once over. If that works, I check it on one or two different players as well. There is no substitute for a strongly regimented quality control system. You do not want to replicate thousands of DVDs and then find out your master was bad.
Here are some final thoughts. Make sure the firmware on your drive is up to date. Most companies recommend DVD-R as opposed to DVD+R for DVD player capability. There is little evidence to support this, but why not? I would avoid burning dual layer DVD video for distribution just yet. The technology is still new and not very compatible with the DVD players out there. However, it is a fine technology for checking your dual layer discs before replication, if you know your player can handle them.
Kirk Peters is a Pittsburgh based multimedia programmer. He has had more than ten years experience developing multimedia applications for hundreds of companies. He can be reached by following this link for Pittsburgh Web Development. He is also a partner in Digital Disc Works DVD Duplication Services.