Unable to Burn Project to Hard Drive, Error 8004138c

[jojotom]

I am producing a DVD of a local Cerebral Palsy Telethon. Because the DVD file size is 9.1 GB (3 hr, 4 min), I am trying to burn it to my hard drive (123 GB), and then use DVD Shrink to reduce it to single layer DVD size. (I have no experience burning DVD files to a HD, or using DVD Shrink.) I have tried High Quality Dolby Digital, Good Quality Dolby Digital, and Long Play Approx 180 min per DVD, and get an Unexpected Error 8004138c from each. What am I doing wrong?

I am not using any background menu music, nor motion buttons. I have DVDWS 2.231.

Also, how can I take any DVD project in Workshop and save it under a different name so I have 2 copies of the same project? Then I can change one, and still have a backup copy if I decide I prefer it.

Thanks for your help.

[MikeGunter]

Hi,

My guess is that the program is looking at the amount of content and doesn't see any way of making it fit, thus crashing the system.

I don't know about the shrinking tools, either; sorry. Can they take multiple discs?

Mike

[htchien]

Some versions of DVD Shrink will not rip the DVD right with some specific DVDs, you might need to try different versions to see if the problem is fixed, or use other shrinking tools.

If the DVD is not copy-protected, you can use the Tweak and Fit module in Ulead DVD MovieFactory 4 Disc Creator to shrink the DVD to your hard disk, and then use DVDWS to import and author.

Or you can use Google to find DVD2AVI which can let you shrink the DVD to some AVI files, or Smart DVD Ripper to rip DVDs to the hard disk.

Hope this helps.

H.T.

[GeorgeW]

What format are your source files?

In the EDIT step, make sure to check the box that says "Convert to disc template" under the VIDEO and AUDIO tabs -- this will convert your videos to the template of your project (if that's what you want).

Don't burn the "image" to your HD, burn the DVD Folders. If any of your HD's is Fat32, you won't be able to burn an image larger than 4gb...

For a backup, click that little arrow next to the disc icon -- do a SaveAs/Package

[jojotom]

Thanks for the quick replies! I captured the original VHS video of the CP Telethon into Premiere 6.5 as avi files. These were exported as mpeg-2 at a CBR of 7000 kbps into DVDWS. When the project was finished, DVDWS listed its size as 9.1 GB and 3 hr and 4 min long. I was never able to burn the DVD Folders onto my hard drive, as the process would always fail (with the Unknown Error: 8004138c) at the 85th minute during Video/Audio Multiplexing. (I only mentioned DVD Shrink, because if I am able to finally burn the DVD Folders onto the hard drive, then I will need to reduce the size to fit on a DVD.) I have checked the “Convert to disc template” box to the High quality Dolby Digital, the Good Quality Dolby Digital, and the Long Play Approx 180 minute per DVD options—and all have failed at the same point during Video/Audio Multiplexing with the 8004138c error message. My hard drive has 123 GB free space, and is NTFS.

Perhaps I should have exported the mpeg2 files from Premiere at a lower CBR rate. I didn’t save all the original avi files, so I’ll try converting the missing mpeg2 files to avi files in Procoder Express, and re-export them from Premiere at a lower CBR. Because VHS tape is low resolution, does lowering the CBR always further decrease the resolution, or is there a range that no degradation is noticeable? In other words, if I had high resolution (e.g. DV), would any lowering of the CBR cause degradation; whereas for low resolution (VHS), the initial CBR reduction would have no impact?

[jojotom]

To clear up any confusion from the terms in my initial post, I mentioned the DVD file size is 9.1 GB. This is the project file size listed in DVDWS under project properties. There is no CP Telethon DVD yet; I am not trying to rip any DVD files. The initial source is VHS tape captured in Premiere 6.5 as Avi, exported into DVDWS as mpeg2, and so far unsuccessfully attempted to burn as DVD Folders on my hard drive.

Thanks again for the help!

[Devil]

IMHO, your big error was converting to MPEG-2 at 7000 kbit/s for a 3 hour project. You should have taken your AVIs into WS2 and that way you could adjust the bitrate to fit into a 4.3 Gby space, along with your menus etc.

In any case, 7000 kbit/s for a VHS original???? Like putting aviation fuel in a lawnmower! It is even better than you could get from a DV.

[jojotom]

What is a suitable CBR for a 3 hr VHS source video, to maintain as much picture quality as possible?

[Devil]

Very difficult to give a hard and fast answer, because it depends on you audo system/bitrate and authoring overheads, but we are generally talking about 3000 to 3500 kbit/s. Despite the name, even CBR is not really constant. but can vary by as much as ±500 kbit/s, depending on the scene content. Visually, there will not be much degradation of a VHS original at these bitrates, although it would be visible for a better quality input. You cannot improve on the input quality!.

[jojotom]

Thanks for your help! I’ve been telling everyone at work your comment: “Like putting (jet) fuel in a lawnmower!” I’ve gotten more laughs from that than from anything else in a long time!