It is much simpler to split a DVD-9 across two DVD-5s or compress it to fit a single disc and then burn to the single layer disc. However, burning DL disc is different. It stretches the recordable DVD past its breaking point and most manufactures these days can’t even produce a reliable SL disc let alone DL disc. Thus burning a DL disc may fail most of the time, if you don’t use the right disc with the right burning software. Following is a case of DL disc burning failure:

“I used DVD Shrink to copy the whole DVD to my hard drive and the DVD folder works no problem with VLC, even the menus. Then I burned the DVD folder on a DVD+R DL. The burning went smoothly but I can’t play the burned DVD. My DVD player just shows a black screen and VLC gives an error message saying the media cannot be read. If I open the VIDEO_TS folder of the DVD with VLC, it plays various parts and when it go to the menu, the options on the menu don’t work at all”

So where is the problem? Why does the ripped DVD work on the HDD but not after burned? Is it due to the copy protection on the DVD?

To find out where the problem is, I think first you can try to compress the DVD to get below 4.7 GB and then burn on a single layer DVD disc. If the burned DVD SL works, then it’s the problem of the DL disc. Always stick to the kind of disc that always works. I have found that almost all the people who have successfully burned DL DVD use the Verbatim +R DL disc plus ImgBurn.

If the DVD SL DVD doesn’t work either, then the problem may be caused by the copy protection on the DVD as I talked in this article and you will need a capable DVD ripper.

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