Unreliable burn results.

[Russty]

I have been using VS 10 trial and overall I think it is really good, but I have found that I get unreliable burn results for burning tv recordings to DVD. I have read the "correct proceedures" section and followed it exactly each time but sometimes I get a good DVD and other times it is jerky all the way through. I even tried the same video several times on the same RW disc and there were different results each time. The video file I create first is fine, it is just after the burn to DVD that there is the problem. I have used some free programs for quite a while which do an excellent job each time. So I assume that there could be something in the software or perhaps VS 10 is just not compatible with my HP computer.

I just thought I would post this as my experience with it. I think I will put off buying VS 10 for a while to see if there are any patches in the future that may make it behave better.

[Ken Berry]

Off the top of my head -- since you don't actually provide any specific details -- I would say you are capturing via an analogue capture card direct to mpeg-2 and using Upper Field First. But then, when you go to edit and/or burn, the program is set to produce a disc using Lower Field First. This will cause a sort of conflict (and at the very least a re-coding of the captured files and consequent loss of quality) which can produce an image which appears jerky -- or with jagged edges when there is motion or the camera is panning.

If you give us some futher details, such as what capture device is involved, the properties of the captured files, and the properties used in the burn, not to mention your computer set-up, we might be able to offer some more focused (and accurate?) suggestions.

[-db-]

I feel the same...

I've been working on a 1/2 hour slideshow presentation and have wasted about 5 DVDs because @20 mins into the show, the sound skips and the slides freeze. I don't know what to do.

Anyone else have similar problems?

[Russty]

Off the top of my head -- since you don't actually provide any specific details -- I would say you are capturing via an analogue capture card direct to mpeg-2 and using Upper Field First. But then, when you go to edit and/or burn, the program is set to produce a disc using Lower Field First. This will cause a sort of conflict (and at the very least a re-coding of the captured files and consequent loss of quality) which can produce an image which appears jerky -- or with jagged edges when there is motion or the camera is panning.

If you give us some futher details, such as what capture device is involved, the properties of the captured files, and the properties used in the burn, not to mention your computer set-up, we might be able to offer some more focused (and accurate?) suggestions.

Well, I have recorded from my DViCO Fusion DVB-T card in mpeg format. Then I have used VS 10's Ad Zapper to edit the program then made a video file using the "same as project settings" . When I play back that file it is OK. I then go to File > New Project and then click Share then Create Disc (I ensure there is nothing in the timeline) I then add the created video file and then continue with the process. Sometimes the file is a bit too large for the disc and I let VS 10 reduce its size.

My computer is an HP, Pent 4 HT, 3.2GHz, Nvidea FX 6200 Turbo cache 128MB graphics, 200GB HDD (60% free space).

Does that help?

[Ken Berry]

Thanks for all that. Others may have a different view, but I suspect the discs you may be having problems with are the ones made with files you have had the program reduce to fit the size of the disc. I have not used that function in VS10+ yet, and confess that I only used it once in VS9 to see what it would do. I confess I was not impressed with the results that one time. Frankly, they don't seem to have got it right then, and if they just copied the same function over to VS10, then it probably is still not right. This is not just my own view, by the way. Quite a number of other people on this Board have reported problems with reduce-to-fit in VS9, which ranged from uneven or jerky video in the final disc (i.e. like your result) to outright crashes if the size reduction were too big.

My inclination would be to reduce the file to fit manually by reducing the bitrate a little when you produce the video file after editing (using as a rough guide that 8000 kbps will give you around an hour of HQ video on a single layer DVD; 6000 -- 90 minutes of good quality; and 4000 -- 2 hours of normal quality. And with these figures, you will be able to squeeze a bit more on if you use Dolby audio.)

The other alternative would be to use a tried and true reduce-to-fit program like DVD Shrink or the Nero Recode module (which was designed by the same guy who developed Shrink). For that, instead of burning to disc, you would produce (preferably) a Video_TS Folder, and then direct Shrink/Recode to that. I use both programs regularly and both produce excellent results. Oh, and with either of these, I burn the reduced Video_TS file to disc using Nero's 'Burn DVD-Video Files' function.

[Russty]

Thanks Ken,

I suspect that what you say is true. It probably is to do with the shrinking part. I will try doing something which doesn't need to be shrunk and see if it is ok.

I have been using DVD Shrink before, along with Project X to Demux and cuttermaran to edit the ads out. I just thought it would be easier to have it all in one program.

Thanks again for your help.

Russty.

[-db-]

I was reading through all the forums after I posted this and found some useful info. Someone said to ALWAYS burn at 4x so I tried that last night and BINGO...it worked fine. I was burning at the default setting which is MAX and I guess that doesn't work. Again, burning at 4x worked perfectly. so hopefully this info will help others.

Thanks!