Help -- Video OK, Burn OK, disc not recognized

[japanandy]

First, I've looked at the tutorials again and again. I've tried adjusting my settings, and I really hope someone can help.

I'm using Video Studio 10 plus (trial version).

I'm using a Sony DCR-SR100 hard drive camcorder. That means I'm recording MPEG2 files. When I load the files the first time the settings are:

MPEG-2 Video, Upper Field First
24 bits, 720x480, 16:9
29.97 frames/sec
Variable bit rate (Max. 9100 kbps)

Dolby Digital Audio
48,000 Hz, 5.1 Channels
448 kbs

I captured the files by dragging them to the computer over USB.

I opened up Videostudio, imported my video files, and then adjusted the project settings (File: Project Properties). I made the settings match the video files exactly.

After editing I went to "Share" and "Create Video File" and successfully made a MPEG2 video. The video file that I created plays in Windows Media player. It has the same properties as the source clips (when I right click and check properties).

Then I closed the program and re-opened it. That gave me a blank timeline. Then I clicked on "Share" and "Create Disc." That window popped up, and I adjusted the Project Settings to match the settings above exactly.

Then I imported the MPEG2 file I had created, created a simple menu, added chapters, and disabled the transiton effects. When finished I clicked on "Burn" and it took about 30 minutes (for a one hour movie), so it wasn't re-encoding. I used a DVD -R disc. A quick check showed 3 plus GB of data had been recorded on the disc.

Finally, I took the disc over to the DVD player and put it inside, but it failed to load. The player just says "no disc." Windows Media Player just shows a black screen when I try to play the DVD.

- Are my settings not compliant? (But they seem to have worked for others who have posted here...)

- I am using the trial software. Could that be an issue?

- I don't mind using a lower bit rate or making other changes, but I'm trying to avoid re-encoding the entire movie. If I change the bit rate or use one of the regular DVD templates will that force the whole movie to re-encode (more importantly, will that solve the problem).

I really like editing with Videostudio, and I want to functionality. Please help me avoid going back to Womble (which is okay but not as fun to use and missing a couple features I want to have).

Thanks.

[FFProductions]

I'm not an expert on Videostudio but I've burnt an awful lot of disks whilst making my martial arts productions - one of the biggest let downs with burning at the moment is the quality of disk you use. Couple a cheap disk with a dvd-burner that possibly has outdated drivers/firmware and you will always have problems. You're not burning dual-layer disks which are terrible right now so this shouldn't be too difficult to sort out. Once someone with Ulead know-how comfirms that you have down everything right you should make sure that your dvd-burner is up to date (check manufacturers website) and then try a quality disk such as Verbatim.
I always burn at 8X for single layer disks and 2.4X for dual layer disks regardless of the disks rated maximum speeds. You should also note that some dvd-burners do not support certain manufacturers of disks for instance..... my phillips lightscribe dvd-burner failed to write a readable disk with my Infiniti 360 dual layer disks. I updated the drive and found that phillips had totally removed support for the manufacter of the disks (not Infiniti, the disks were made by Ricoh) and the drive now will not recognise this disk when it is inserted. It's a minefield sometimes.

[etech6355]

I haven't seen such a good description in a while, nice detailed description.
You've done everything to the "T" for compatibility.

I would use another software player to test your dvd on the computer besides WMP.
PowerDvd, windvd, ulead dvd player.

Sounds like maybe just a bad burn or as stated above the dvd-r's may not be compatible with your player.
Sounds to me like a bad burn, only guessing, your importing, editing, project settings, methods of creating the dvd are in my opinion, perfecto.

In the burning module maybe creating an iso image file or dvd folders instead of burning directly to the dvd in that module would work.
I usually create dvd folders on the harddsik. Test the dvd folder playing the dvd back from the harddisk using either powerdvd or windvd or ulead dvd player. If the dvd looks correct then I burn a Video-DVd using Nero. In Nero you start a Video_dvd project and drag the VIDEO_TS folder from the harddisk into the compilation window of nero. I also use the verify feature of nero to read the disk back and verify the burn. Takes longer but it's good to confirm and verify the burn.

[japanandy]

I thought I'd solved the problem. After writing this post I "gave up" and just chose a default setting to burn the disc. Back in the disc creation part of the process, I clicked on Project Settings, then "Change MPEG Settings" and then "HQ 16:9 Dolby Digital".

The most notable change was going from "Upper Field First" to "Frame Based."

I DID customize these settings a bit: quality to 100, audio type to 3/2 (L,C,R,SL,SR), and 448 kbps.

I also burned at 4x write speed.

I was afraid that the whole thing would re-encode, but I don't think that happened because the DVD was created in well under 30 minutes.

THEN it successfully played on the computer using Windows Media Player AND Power DVD. I was feeling great and put it in the DVD player (a brand new Pioneer DV-393 that should be capable of playing a wide range of discs. Again, I got the "no disc" error.

The discs I'm using are somewhat cheap (Memorex that I bought at Costco). But I have burned DVD's on them that worked on my DVD player (using Womble plus ImgBurn).

I really hope someone out there can see an answer to this.

etech6355 - You wrote while I was typing. Maybe I'll try outputing an image or Video_TS and see if that works. I've had trouble in the past burning VIDEO_TS folders with Nero (using these same discs), so at that time I used ImgBurn instead which worked very well. Maybe that's the clue.

[GeorgeW]

Do you have any "packet writing" software installed on your computer -- the kind that allows you to drag-and-drop files to a disc If so, I'd suggest uninstalling that type of software because it has been known to interfere with burns.

I'd also try what was suggested, and burn the DVD Folders to hard drive first. You can then burn those with IMGBURN (that's how I burn most of my DVD's).

Regards,
George

[Black Lab]

THEN it successfully played on the computer using Windows Media Player AND Power DVD. I was feeling great and put it in the DVD player (a brand new Pioneer DV-393 that should be capable of playing a wide range of discs. Again, I got the "no disc" error.

If the burned disc plays in your pc then we know the burn was successful. I would look at the DVD player and it's compatibility with the media you are using as the culprit.

Check here for a compatibility chart. http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

[sjj1805]

Please view:
DVD Burning / Playback issues

[etech6355]

The most notable change was going from "Upper Field First" to "Frame Based."

Not good, keep your project settings the same as source material. That's important, your working with mpeg2 video. If you change the original fielding from upper_field_first to frame_based you end up with jerky motiion.
That's OK if your shooting a bunch of jerks, but normally it's important to retain the original fielding.

Was going to ask you if your were using Memorex.
I've found a few pioneer players to be rather picky.

Don't change your original workflow unless you want to change to stereo audio or possibly a lower bit rate for more room on the dvd.

[heinz-oz]

The only thing I would have changed if I was in your situation would have been the bitrate. Some older players tend to choke on something above 8000 kbps. however, in such cases, the disk would play but start skipping.

I tend to agree with etech6355, don't change nothing in your settings. It is not VS that's causing you grief, it's your player. Most probably it's the media. Your player might not like Memorex and/or DVD-R. Try a different media first and if that doesn't fix it try a +R disk, provided your burner can burn this format.

[GeorgeW]

If the burned disc plays in your pc then we know the burn was successful. I would look at the DVD player and it's compatibility with the media you are using as the culprit.

Because software dvd players can be more "forgiving" than set-top dvd players, it would be dangerous to assume this statement to be true in all cases (although it could very well be the case in this situation). I just wouldn't want to mislead someone into thinking that if a pc can play it from the disc then it is a 100% indicator of a successful burn...

Regards,
George

[japanandy]

I'm writing this in hopes of helping future SR100, SR60, SR40, SR200, and SR300 users. Here's what I've done, and I hope it keeps working.

1. See my opening post for capturing and editing the video. I followed the recommended procedure of creating a MPEG2 movie first, and then moving to the next step (see below).

By the way, I noticed when opening the editor the following:

- Import video files, then click on a thumbnail, then go to File:Project Settings. When I did this most of the Project Settings had already been updated to exactly match the file. I still needed to make a couple of changes: variable bit rate, two pass encoding, 9100 kbps, and 448 kbps audio. (I think Dolby 5.1 filled in automatically if I'd clicked the video file first.)

- Be sure to click the 5.1 icon just above the timeline area to have Dolby 5.1 audio enabled.

2. Burning a DVD

- I closed Videostudio and re-started it with a blank timeline.

- Then I clicked the 5.1 icon to make sure Dobly 5.1 was enabled.

- Then I imported the single MPEG2 movie file that I'd created.

- I clicked that file just once (without putting it on the timeline), then went to File:Project Settings, and most of the matching Project Settings seemed to match the file. I made sure all the settings matched exactly. Note: I did this a couple times, and lowering the bitrate didn't cause any problems).

- Then I clicked Share and Create DVD to switch to that module.

- I set chapters, chose a simple menu, etc. I don't know if it matters, but I disabled all motion menus and didn't create chapter menus. There is a separate "advanced" box to click to control/disable chapter menus. I partly did all this because my hour long movie was pushing the limits that would fit on a DVD.

- I made my way to the final step where I burned an ISO image.

- The I burned a disc using the ISO (image file) and ImgBurn, a free (very nice and simple) software made for this purpose.

- The resulting disc plays in PowerDVD and on my Pioneer DVD player.

Note: My DVD burner is a Sony DRU 530a. I've had some problems burning DVD's with it before (in Nero using a VIDEO_TS folder), so the drive may be part of the problem. (Yes, the driver's are updated, but it's a bit older drive now and finicky.)

(Later I'll try burning a disc with more complicated menus and try to update this thread if that causes a problem.)

[Black Lab]

If the burned disc plays in your pc then we know the burn was successful. I would look at the DVD player and it's compatibility with the media you are using as the culprit.

Because software dvd players can be more "forgiving" than set-top dvd players, it would be dangerous to assume this statement to be true in all cases (although it could very well be the case in this situation). I just wouldn't want to mislead someone into thinking that if a pc can play it from the disc then it is a 100% indicator of a successful burn...

A successful burn is a successful burn. There is no "partially" successful. If a burned disc is playable, in whatever playback device, then it is a successful burn. That it may not play in all devices is another matter to be determined.

[etech6355]

After you have created your mpeg2 dvd compliant video file.
You should start a new project, goto directly to Share -> Create Disk.
In the create disk module insert the compliant file, add chapter, menu etc.
Then create the iso.
If you carry the mpeg2 file over from the timeline into the burning module VS will re-render it again. It may be smart-rendered so no real loss of quality but that is an un-necessary step since the mpeg2 file is already dvd compliant.

Looks to me if you had created an ISO file in your first post (in others words in the first place) and did not have VS burn the dvd, and burned it with the other program it would have worked.
You do realize that after installing VS10 or MovieFactory the installation then asks you, "Would you like to read the ReadMe file"? In this readme file ulead supplies troubleshooting steps for problems and one of them is to create an ISO file and burn that as a separate process when having difficulties..

You should try this, open up a new project (forget any settings), go directly to Share -> Create Disk. Insert the compliant mpeg2 file, burn an iso file and burn that with the other program. It should be faster and easier.
If the mpeg2 file that your importing is dvd compliant AND under the GEAR icon you have "Do Not Convert Mpeg2 Dvd Compliant Video" then usually the project settings don't matter to much except when adding background audio & the menus.

[GeorgeW]

If the burned disc plays in your pc then we know the burn was successful. I would look at the DVD player and it's compatibility with the media you are using as the culprit.

Because software dvd players can be more "forgiving" than set-top dvd players, it would be dangerous to assume this statement to be true in all cases (although it could very well be the case in this situation). I just wouldn't want to mislead someone into thinking that if a pc can play it from the disc then it is a 100% indicator of a successful burn...

A successful burn is a successful burn. There is no "partially" successful. If a burned disc is playable, in whatever playback device, then it is a successful burn. That it may not play in all devices is another matter to be determined.

You could burn a VIDEO_TS folder to disc using the wrong mode (DVD DATA for instance -- instead of DVD-VIDEO). This could play properly in your PC using software dvd players, but it won't necessarily play in a set-top dvd player. So to assume that because it plays on the PC means it was burned correctly would be incorrect in this case

Regards,
George

[Black Lab]

What I am talking about is the burning procedure itself. If the disc can play without errors, then the burn was successful. It may very well be that the wrong mode was used during the burn, but my answer was geared to the topic being discussed at the time, which was whether the burn was successful or if he was having a problem with his player/media.