Burning disappears

[samantha]

Hello,

I have used the trial version of DVD MovieFactory 4 to edit and burn a DVD from DVD-RAM discs. Now that I have the full version I go through all the same steps without any problems but after I click"burn" a box appears saying "This action will take some time to render" so I click "ok." Then a window measuring detailed progress and total progress appears. After about 5 minutes when there is 4% total progress and it has converted 8/13 video titles the window disappears and I am back at the white screen strating menu. At this point there is nothing indicating the burn process has stopped or is continuing. I waited until the little red light on my computer stopped flickering (1 1/2 hours) and checked the dvd...nothing was burned on it. Please help. I've upgraded my hard drive to 250GB and RAM to 726MB. I use windows 2000 Advanced server sp4.

Sam

[DVDDoug]

There is probably something wrong with one (or more) or your source-video files.

A couple of experiments for you:
- When you get to the "burn" step, check the box that says Create DVD folders and un-check Create Disc.

If that works, you'll get the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders on your hard drive, instead of on a DVD.

And, if that works, you have a problem during the actual burning step.


- Try making an un-edited DVD. MPEGs are not meant to be edited and they can sometimes get corrupted if you try.

If that turns-out to be the case, you may need to get a special-purpose MPEG editor. For simple cut & splice editing, VideoReDo ($50) is good. If you need to do "real editing", Womble ($50 - $140) is a good option. (I have a Womble MPEG editor.)

[samantha]

I tried doing it with the create dvd folder box checked both alone and with the burn to disc as well. Didn't work either time. I don't want to buy yet another software to make this one work. And I'm using the same stuff as I did when I successfully created a dvd with the trial version. javascript:emoticon('')
Crying or Very sad

[maddrummer3301]

Sam,
Always save your project. Sometimes restarting will fix the problem.
But, there has been many posts about installing the retail version after using the trial version about problems.

The solution was to remove all the ulead products referencing MF4 on the machine (including the registry). Then reboot & install the retail version of MF4. Then install all the updates to MF4 and reboot again.

If you don't want to go through all that then try exporting the project from the timeline first to a mpeg2 dvd compliant file.
That would be the 3rd icon down on the left (export icon).
After creating dvd compliant file(s) you start a new project and import the new mpeg2 dvd compliant file(s) you created on the harddisk.
Click on the GEAR icon and make sure "Do Not Convert Compliant Mpeg2 files" is Checked ON.

To completely remove the trial version search the MF forum for MF4 trial or similar.

Hope this helps,

MD

[samantha]

If I burn the unedited material it works. That's good, at least I can now erase my dvd-ram's to re-use on my baby. I just import the files from the dvd-ram (mpeg2) and without changing any settings am able to burn to disc. Takes approx. half an hour for 5o min. of footage. Not too bad. But I did buy this software with editing in mind, and it should work. I tried burning edited material with the box both checked and unchecked about converting compliant mpegs. Neither worked. Any other suggestions?

[maddrummer3301]

Sam,
First to know is video editing guidelines and how MF5 uses and applies them.
Once you have that down it's a common base for all mpeg2 video files.
The first thing you may want to change is the "Working Folder".
In Preferences (F6) or from the launch menu it's best to change the "Working Folder" to a NTFS partition OR a directory easy to navigate to from windows explorer.
I set my "Working Folder" to C:\MF5 so that it's easily accessible from windows explorer. When you import the video(s) from the dvd-ram disk they are stored in the "Capture" folder. So my imported videos end up under C:\MF5\Capture. If you open a window displaying this folder you can watch the videos being copied into that folder. You hit the "F5" key to refresh the windows when its highlighted (the Windows explorer window).

The reason your files are taking so long to convert is Panasonic or Hitachi, not sure of your recording is probably recording at a frame size of 704x480 for NTSC and 704x576 for PAL. I don't know where your at in the world. I'm in the US which uses NTSC.
The defaults for MF5 are 720x480, therefore the files you don't edit are NOT reprocessed and the files you have edited ARE re-rendered. MF5 is changing the 704 frame size to 720 which you DO NOT want to happen. You never want to change the frame-size. That will take a year and a day to re-render. 704 is a valid dvd compliant frame-size. 720 is simply more standard.
If you take notice after you have imported files and they are on the timeline the thumbnails DO NOT have an "X" in the upper right corner. Once you trim/edit that file then take notice that there is an "X" in the upper right corner of the thumbnail. That means the video must be recreated again because you have edited the video.
When you do this the video will be recreated in accordance with the "Project Properties/Settings". If you go to "Preferences" (F6) and select "Change Mpeg Settings" -> Customize in that screen you set the "Project Properties" to the same values as the "Source" video(s).
Right clicking on any thumbnail and selecting "Properties" or similar will display the properties of the mpeg2 file (how it was created in the recorder).
Also highlighting the thumbnail and clicking on the "I" for information will do the same (displaying the properties of the video). Take care not to hit the "X" that will delete the video from the timeline, still is on the harddisk under the "Capture" directory located directory under your "Working Directory".

Mpeg2 files are created and compressed as a one-time process. So, if you change or edit anything to the file then it must be re-created again.
There are many tricks on how to recreate the new mpeg2 file depending on how much editing you have done to the video.
"Smart-Rendering" is a process where the program (MF5) will quickly recreate the file by scanning over the Un-Edited material and only re-rendering the Edited material. This makes mpeg2 editing go much faster.

MF5 has editing capabilities but what I call somewhat limited. MF5 has a great feature that many other programs do not have. The ability to EXPORT your videos quickly to "Dvd Compliant" specs.

What you need to do first is change the "project properties" to the same values as your source video properties. That will let MF5 pick up and change anything you may have missed in my next example for when you go to the burning stage.

Take and highlight one of the videos on the timeline.
Edit the video trim/cut/etc.
Click on the "Export" icon and select "Fast Export".
Give the videos file an easy name to remember and store the file in the "Working Folder" so you can easily remember where it's at.

Watch how fast the new file is created. MF5 does all the assigning of the values to the file automatically using the video source properties as the new files properties.
Then delete the thumbnail of the video you edited on the timeline.
Goto the top 2nd icon from the left (Import Icon). Click on that and navigate to the folder where you "Fast Exported" the new video. Highlight the new video file you created and then click "OK" to import and add the video back to the timeline. That is a new video file and the old original one is still on the harddisk in the capture folder.

Now under the GEAR icon with "Do Not Convert" checked ON the dvd creation process will not take long to create.
Remember that the new file you created and imported is dvd compliant because you took it from the dvd-ram disk. It should NOT have an "X" in the upper right corner unless you re-edit that file again. If you do that then you need to re-create a new one as in the previous step.

Now go to the menu stage, select whatever menu you want then click on the edit tab. Set background music to NONE. Click on the bottom menu transition and select "X" for none.
Then goto burn and watch how fast the process goes for creating a dvd.

Recommended method:
You can uncheck "Burn Disk" and click on the down-arrow (advanced options are displayed) and check off "Create Dvd Folders" and assign a directory to create the dvd folders.
When you click on “Burn” icon that warning seems to always appear. Just click OK.
There will be about 5 seconds to create the menu page & then the program should immediately goto “Video/Audio Multi-Plexing”, that is the actual burning to the harddisk of the dvd.

Now using a program like WinDvd, PowerDvd or ulead dvd player you can play and test the dvd from the harddisk before actually burning the dvd. This way you can preview the work and make changes in any text etc. When you use the software dvd players on the computer that would be the option "Play from Folder" or "Play dvd from folder" or similar wording.

That would be an example how to use MF5 and quickly create a dvd.

Of course one can create chapters, fancy menus with background music & transitions etc.

The export feature of MF5 is very powerful. If you goto “Export” -> Customize and set the properties the same as the source file then “Smart Rendering” will be used and the new file will be quickly created.
So if you JOIN any files they need to be re-created again. Using the customize will make this go quickly providing ALL the videos combined have the same video properties.

If you have videos that have different frame sizes it's not recommended to join them with others that have different frame sizes.

One more note is MF5 always creates dvd folders on the harddisk before burning a dvd. If create dvd folders isn't checked on then they are deleted after burning the dvd. The dvd folder is created in a temp folder under the working folder.

Hope this helps,

MD

[samantha]

Thanks for your extensive reply. I'll attempt the export/re-import steps but want to bring to your attention that I have MF4, not MF5. I hope it doesn't make a difference for this step. By the way I'm in the US and I have windows 2000, a 232GB slave drive and 768MB RAM.

Also, I'm not really clear about how to change the working folder for my set up. I've installed a 250GB hardrive (G) where I installed MF4. However, tHe C drive is where my operating system lives. I noticed when I installed MF4 some files went to the C drive including the working folder, but most went to the G drive.

Should I still change my working folder?

[maddrummer3301]

First, I don't know who told you to install to another drive other than the Operating system. unless you were using the trial version. Any trial versions of MF4 is recommended to install to a different directory prior to installing any retail version. But, if you installed the trial to C:\ then maybe installing the retail to G:\ wasn't a bad choice.

There have been problems after installing the full version and having the trial version.
If you had the trial version on C:\ then installing the retail version on C: without cleaning out the directories & registry may cause a problem.

Should be OK though. You would have experienced the problems by now.

Using Win2000 MF4 is same procedure as MF5 except the EXPORT icon is located the 3rd icon down on the left side of the screen.

Posted:
>>>Also, I'm not really clear about how to change the working folder for my set up
Left Icon on bottom of screen -> Preferences (Or, use the HotKey, hit F6 while on the timeline).
Under Preferences set the working folder to G:\MF4 is your case.
Also under Preferences set the Quality to "BEST"

Also, if you post again post the name/model of your ram recorder and other useful information.. Much easier for others to help with advice.

Do not put personnel information if you fill this out. Just basic, country & video format etc. Makes it easier for others to help with advice.
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=8960

MD

[samantha]

I am in disbelief! It worked and quickly!

One question: Do I need to re-create the clip if I re-edit it?

Aloha...you are wonderful.

[maddrummer3301]

Most likely yes, MF will tell you by putting and "X" in the upper right hand corner of the thumbnail.

Re-Editing mpeg2 video can cause loss of quality depending on how much editing you do.

MD

[nyco_ork]

I had the same problem on one project: the burn screen simply evaporated, and the display went back to the white default screen of the main app. This had nothing to do with the installation, or with installing a retail version over a trial version. It happened with a project I had edited extensively, adding and deleting clips/sections after I had already created menus. What I finally guessed was that the DWZ file had itself been corrupted, not the MPEG files. I reverted to an earlier version of the DWZ file, redid the edits, and then the burn worked fine.

I would suggest you get a program like Iomega Automatic Backup and set it to back up your DWZ files automatically, since there is no such provision for sequential backups in MF. Then you can roll back to a previous version if you have any instances of file corruption, or if you simply decide you prefer an earlier version after all.

R

[dude16]

I've got the same problem. It starts converting the menu,then says something about multiplexing, but when the bar reaches 99% is says ULEAD can't burn the DVD. I've created chapters and a menu and edited out the commercials, does that have anything to do with it. I first thought it had something to do with the disc recorder or the dvds, but now I know it's the software. The red light won't even come on when it's burning. Something is wrong, but what do I do? I know about the creating the dvd folders, but then once they're created how do I burn it to a DVD ?

[dude16]

I don't quite understand, what happened in Sam's case. It's hard to follow??

[TOF]

First, I don't know who told you to install to another drive other than the Operating system. unless you were using the trial version. Any trial versions of MF4 is recommended to install to a different directory prior to installing any retail version. But, if you installed the trial to C:\ then maybe installing the retail to G:\ wasn't a bad choice.

MD

MD, I always put Program files on another partition than the OS partition. You may enjoy replacing all your settings after a re-install/replace but I don't. I also encourage my users to not allow the default C:\xxxxx to be employed during installation. Windows gathers enough Common and System32 files as it is. I also move My Documents, pagefile, Address Book and IE message folder to another partition. A practice I've used for years. Much cleaner IMO.

I have MF5 installed on one partition and the video files on another partition on a separate HD. No problems editing. No problems burning.

I do however use another program for mpeg capture.

FWIW

[maddrummer3301]

Hi,
I didn't mean for that post to sound harse.

i agree with you that your methed can be done and does work on a properly configured system, especially the paging file to a degree maybe. If only 2 drives and the 2nd drive is for capturing/recording then a paging file on that physical disk could cause that drive to thrash. The thrashing can cause dropped frames. That's another reason video/audio editing is suggested to have at least 1 gig ram and the paging file to be located on a physical drive other than the data drive. 1 gig of ram provides a reasonable amount for bufferring before having to page.

In this posters case the program was installed to the 2nd harddisk which was being used for data/video & audio. That works but sometimes an update patch may/maynot find the program installed.
Personally I keep the programs files and OS on a separate physical disk then from the data files. Some of my drives are formatted at the maximum cluster size allowable for that drive format. That reduces interrupt requests for each disk IO read/write operation. But not good efficient drive space useage for small files like configs, dll's & programs.

After setting up systems using similar methods as yours I ended up choosing simplicity. One for OS & programs and one or more for data. Backups of the OS is easier and it works for my setups with removable drives etc.

I only use WinDoze mainly for audio/video work & small junk.

I agree your methods work.

MD