MF5 Plus (TBYB) always crashes in burn of multi-trimmed MPEG

[jonvid7]

Please help. Shouldn't this work?? Any suggestions?

Symptoms: Crash occurs while burning to DVD folder, shortly after starting, while it is partway into "Converting title..." and "Converting video of the title...[001/001]". Null pointer error ("instruction at 0x07323ad0 referenced memory at 0x00000000").

Environment: Windows XP Pro, SP2. Tried on two different computers, and get crash at same step. MF5 Plus (TBYB) version 5.30.0107.0 according to 'About'. (Is there any way to check that from a file version? I tried MF5 5.0 TBYB before that -- not plus -- and maybe it didn't uninstall right??) Movie clip is about 1 hour or MPEG-2, UFF, 24 bits, 720x480, 4:3, 29.970 fps, 6500 kbps, with 384kbps MPEG stereo audio, which was captured via an Adaptec AVC-2010 PCI card, coming from an old analog Video8 tape (note: same crash whether I start with the MPEG captured with its original myDVD software at 6000 kbps, or with the new captures using MF5.0 or MF5.3 Plus).

What I've tried: I have already tried making sure the project's MPEG properties are the same as the clip properties. I have tried different menu types -- even text menus, different multi-trim edits (including just trim at start and end). Problem is consistent -- everything works nicely until I try to burn, and then it crashes. Argghhh! If I don't multi-trim at all (no scissors shown in the upper right corner of the clip image), then it burns to folder with no crash.

Please help. I am going out of my mind after having many other kinds of problems and crashes when trying myDVD 9 Studio Premier (got refund, thankfully). It's like none of the inexpensive DVD authoring software on the market is even usable, and I've wasted a couple weeks of my life trying! I use PhotoImpact, and hoped Ulead's MovieFactory would save me...and everything works great in MovieFactory 5 Plus (much better and stable than the current release of myDVD 9) -- UNTIL it crashes on the burn, which makes it useless.

Oh, and did I mention "Please help!"?

[jonvid7]

FYI, I was capturing and trimming and burning DVD's on this same system pretty successfully before, with myDVD version 5 that came with the capture card, except for audio sync problems on trimmed video, sometimes. The sync problem is why I decided to get newer and better (?) software...and then all went wrong...

[DVDDoug]

Some Ulead users can edit MPEGs, some of us have had trouble. I frequently had "lip-sync" problems, and I occasionally had crashes*.

There may be some procedures and work-arounds, but I'll let others help if you want to go that direction. (I no longer edit MPEGs with Ulead.)

I'm happy to hear you've discovered the problems with the trial version before you actually bought the software!

If your Adaptec card will allow you to capture to AVI/DV, editing in DV should solve your problems. (Convert the file to MPEG-2 once, and then don't "touch it".)

In general you are better-off using the capture software that came with your capture card/device.

For me, the solution was to switch to the Womble MPEG editor. The top-of-the-line Womble program can do simple DVD authoring, but it can't actually burn the DVD. (And, it can't capture.)

VideoReDo is a good, simple, cut and splice MPEG editor. (It won't capture, author DVDs, or burn DVDs.)


So, I use the capture software that came with my capture card. then I edit with Womble. Finally, I author & burn with Ulead (I actually use Ulead DVD Workshop.)

It's like none of the inexpensive DVD authoring software on the market is even usable, and I've wasted a couple weeks of my life trying!

MPEG was never really meant to be edited. In theory, you should be able to "cut & splice" without problems, but It's a lossy compression scheme, and for any "real editing" it has to ie de-coded, edited, and then re-coded again (an extra lossy-encode step).

Still, that's no excuse for corrupting the file to the point that it crashs, or has A/V sync problems. And, I do think the video software manufacturers should warn you about this!

Someone here reported recently that his MPEG problems went away when he switched to Adobe Premere Elements.



* Both of these problems seem to be due to file corruption... Something wrong with the MPEG data-structure. In many cases, the corrupt MPEG will play OK, but cause trouble when it's re-coded or re-multiplexed for the final DVD format.

[jonvid7]

I now notice that even the non-trimmed MPEGs -- that were burned to folder without a crash (from either the original software capture, or the new capture) -- have pauses every few seconds when I play the resulting DVD disc. Hmm.

Also FYI, I am using NTSC, and project settings include: Do not convert compliant MPEG files, two-pass conversion (and two-pass encode), and auto repeat when disc playback ends.

[ Also, thanks very much for the suggestions, DVDDoug. I might use a different product for editing, if the Ulead gurus here cannot fix me up. If editing MPEG's isn't really supported, it sure is mean that the software and literature don't tell you. ]

[jonvid7]

So that looks like a different kind of problem from the crashing issue. Something with player compatibility. I'm open to suggestions on what in my settings could make the unedited burns more compatible with the older player, to eliminate all or most pauses.

I'm still hoping someone can tell me how to trim and burn MPEGs with MF without a crash every time.

[DVDDoug]

I now notice that even the non-trimmed MPEGs -- that were burned to folder without a crash (from either the original software capture, or the new capture) -- have pauses every few seconds when I play the resulting DVD disc. Hmm.

So that looks like a different kind of problem from the crashing issue.

All of these problems are probably caused by corrupt files. I forgot to mention that the file can get corruped during capture too. I suppose that's obvious, but it can be very hard to pin-point the cause if the trouble doesn't show 'till by make a DVD.

Real-time capture is tricky, because the Windows multitasking operating system is always doing stuff in the background, even if you are only running one application. Meanwhile, the video data just keeps flowing in....

I wonder if you've got some background programs running, or something. Maybe the anti-virus is checking the video data as it comes in. Your computer should be plenty fast-enough. I checked the Adaptec website. They only recommend an 800MHz processor. Your capture card has a hardware MPEG encoder. That means that there is less data to deal with, since the data is already compressed when it hits the data bus. And, the CPU doesn't have to do anything with the data.

One theory is that all of these problems are caused by starting-out with a corrupt file. I don't know.... I never had any toruble with unedited files. But, that would explain why some users have trouble sometimes, and other users never have these problems. ...That initial corruption causes more corruption when you edit the file, and more trouble when you make the DVD. I suspect that the corruption is actually being "fixed" when the file is re-coded or re-multilexed for the final DVD... Throw-out a corrupt video frame, but keep the associated audio.... Ta-Da! ...Lip-sync problems!

In general, Adaptec has a good reputation. (I don't know about their video capture products.)

Both VideoReDo and Womble have tools that can sometimes repair an MPEG. That's OK if you are in a bind and you can't re-capture. But even if it works for your files, that's not a very good long-term solution.

If you decide to look elsewhere:
If you have access to MiniDV camera with analog inputs, it can usually be used a capture device (via firewire). Or, you can record to the MiniDV camera and transfer the digital video from the camcorder to the PC via firewire.
The ATI All-In-Wonder cards seem to be the most popular.
I have a Hauppauge card. It works great, but it's MPEG only so I can't recommend it.

A couple of sites where you can learn more about analog capture:
DigitalFAQ.com
VideoHelp.com

Do not convert compliant MPEG files, two-pass conversion (and two-pass encode),

FYI - The two-pass conversion/encode doesn't matter if you've checked Do Not Convert. ...Assuming that Movie Factory "agrees" that the files are already compliant.... (MPEG audio is not NTSC DVD compliant, but hopefully the video is not getting re-coded.)