Video Studio 8 error message: drive is not ready

[gael.defache]

Hello,

Yesterday evening I tried burning my first project on a DVD. I ran the burn process and went to bed...
This morning there was en error message in a OK dialog box telling me "Drive is not ready". The DVD has not been burnt.
The DVD media is a TDK 16x DVD-R and I've already burnt this type in my DVD drive.
Video Studio is 8 release.

Could it be due to stand by (not shutdown) of Windows XP Pro (not PC)?

CPU: Athlon XP 2K+
RAM: 512
MB: Elite K7S5A
DVD: Samsung 16x

Thank's for your quick answer, I've to burn it before tomorrow evening, this is for a present.

[Ken Berry]

There could be at least a couple of reasons. First, what is the exact title of your version of VS8? If it has SE in the title, does it also say 'DVD'? SE versions are 'simple editions' which have been crippled in various ways. SE Basic will usually not burn a DVD. It will if it has 'DVD' in the title.

The other possibility is if you have the Nero suite module InCD or some equivalent program installed. It is called packet-writing software which 'reserves' the DVD drive for itself (for dragging and dropping files to the drive icon for eventual burning). In doing so, it denies access to the drive to other software like Video Studio. Apart from InCD (which you have to uninstall -- though not the whole Nero suite; InCD appears as a separate program), the Roxio suite has a similar program, though I can never recall the name. And there are a variety of other packet-writing software programs that do the same thing. Some, like the Roxio module, allow them to be internally disabled while you use the drive for other purposes.

I am also somewhat suspicious about your workflow. If you went to bed expecting the burning to go on overnight, then I suspect you are not following the recommended workflow. Briefly put, this is as follows:

You capture your video. After editing, you first convert the project (as we recommend) to DVD compatible mpeg-2: Share > Create Video File > DVD. Depending on how long and complex your project is, and what resources your computer has, this process can be lengthy, and on average can take anything from roughly real time if you have a powerful computer (i.e. a one hour project will take around an hour to render), to 3 or 4 times real time (or even more) if your computer is less powerful.

Once you have your mpeg-2, save your project, then open a new one. Don't worry about a name for it -- the objective is just to clear the timeline.

Then you go to Share > Create Disc, insert your new mpeg-2 into the burning timeline, make your menu and burn. Also, make sure 'do not convert compliant mpeg files' is ticked in the middle of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen. You should not have to adjust any of the properties in the burn module.

If you follow this process, the burning process by itself should only involve conversion of the menu to video, multiplexing the video and audio and the actual burning. For a one hour DVD being burned at 4x, I would estimate this whole process (in the burning module) should not take much longer than 30 to 40 minutes.

And that's another thing. While you might have 16x blank DVDs, you should not set VS to burn your video projects at that speed. You should use a much lower speed, such as 6x or 8x (or even 4x if your burner will allow that low a speed for that type of disc). The theory, basically, is that a lower burning speed allows more time to more firmly embed the signal into the disc. This in turn raises the probability that the disc will then be able to be read fully and successfully by a wider range of DVD players.

[gael.defache]

Thank you for your answer.

I succeeded burning my DVD:
- I created DVD folders with VS
- I burnt it with Nero.

Bye.