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I have had no problems up until now with this machine. I have downloaded a couple of Smallville SVCD`s. I think that these are encoded as NTSC, although no NTSC DVD`s I have caused problems. When I put the Smallville SVCD in and it starts the display is all blocky and the colours go all funny. If you fast forward and then hit play the picture is perfect. I have downloaded the first three episodes. 1 and 3 suffer from this problem, whereas 2 doesn`t. Is it the way that the MPEG has been encoded?

Cheers,
Paul

It does sound like a software problem rather than a hardware one. I don`t know if this advice helps....

Try and use at least average quality discs (Datasafe, Datawrite) - I like the ones with a solid white writing/upper surface rather than the cheapo "mirror" ones. Also look for discs that are as close to "silver" in colour on the bit that is read by the laser - the cheaper the disc the more blue/green they are. This may have no scientific basis but if the disc is closer to "silver" (like real CD / DVD) then it should, in theory, reflect the laser better. I stand prepared to be corrected by the disc boffins out there!

Also when burning/writing your discs try and burn vcd/svcd`s at the slowest rate you can stand (2x or 4x maximum) - I know this sounds odd if you have a 40x writer but slower burning of VCDs can reduce errors/glitches etc. (I don`t think burn speed is so critical when it comes to data backups but it may have an effect on audio cds)

Finally - it could be just a crap encoding at the source...or some data corruption somewhere along the line.

Hope this helps

pol

i have noticed this as well, (on smallville season 3 mpg`s) i cured it by NOT making them into vcd`s, all you do is create a data cd with the mpg on it the pacific will happilly read it as long as it`s standard mpg 1 or mpg 2, this also solved lip synch probs that i had, strange thos as it only seems to happen on the new smallville stuff :D

let me know if this works for you

edit- the colour of the disc`s does matter on many dvd players but the pacific 1002w seems to read anything you throw at it

This item was edited on Thursday, 30th October 2003, 18:30

Yes that seemed to solve the problem. It does seem strange though, as I have all the Season 2 mpegs written as SVCDs, and they all play without a problem.

Paul

out of interest, do you use nero for making vcd`s

I do use NERO. Version 5.5.10.15.

Paul

i tried using easy cd creator 6, and that cured the problems but it conflicted with my pc (or a program etc) so removed it and just used the raw mpg`s through nero (prefer to use nero anyway) but it`s an option you could explore if you really need it in vcd format ie, if someone wants to borrow the eps etc :D

What version of Nero were you using. Would it make a difference if I upgraded to Nero V6?

Thanks,
Paul

i`m currently using nero-6 ultra edition, don`t know if it will sort out the vcd probs as i generally still find it easier to use the raw mpegs

I do use Nero for VCD but a better program that gives you chapters as well is here - http://www.dvdrhelp.com/vcdeasyhowto.htm