Burning Problems with Video Studio 11plus

[Amanda Lambert]

Hi, I am new to this forum but need help. I have been reading similar posts about burning problems with this software.

I am only a basis user, I just enjoy making videos of my daughters Dance School shows for other parents. I do nothing complicated, simply capture, edit, never cut or add anything, use the titles then burn to dvd.
However, I can usually get the first DVD done then if I want to do another one, it will not burn.
Each time in the past, I have had to take my computer to the technician and have it wiped clean and everything re-installed.This time, I am experienceing the following problem:
Captured film, edited and burnt to cd. It burnt to 99% but my computer crashed and would not turn off without turning it off manually. I ejected the disc and it played OK. After re-booting the computer, I tied to do another copy of the saved file. It gets to 21% and freezes the entire computer.
I uninstalled ULead and re-installed.
I followed the same procedure as above and the same happened, 1 copy to 99% which froze my computer and cannot do any others.
I have deleted all ULead saved video files from my computer and tried again but no joy.
Someone has told me that perhaps I should pay for another hard drive with windows which I use solely for ULead??? Anyone else tried this.
I do not want to pay more money out as each time I have used ULead my computer has had to go into the technician and it cost money but if it works, I dont mind doing it. Parents are relying on me to supply them with DVD's which I cannot do at the moment as I cannot even copy the one I have burnt off.
Also, another question. When I originally had ULead VS11 plus, I had some drop down icons which were very helpful if I wanted to quick burn CD's or DVD's. After having my computer wiped and re-installing ULead, I no longer have this facility. Therefore, I do not have a burning package I can use as I was told not to have NERO as it was incompatible ??.
Sorry I cannot be technical but I am not a computer expert, I simply use it for e mailing, downloading music and doing videos, so no tech questions please
thank you
amanda

[2Dogs]

Sorry to hear of your problems.

It would help to identify the cause of the problem if you broke the DVD (or even CD) production process down into separate steps.

Many of us use a workflow that does that. When you have completed your edits, you use "Share > Create video File" to produce a DVD compliant mpeg2 file from the project.

This file is then inserted into a new, blank project in the "Create disc" step, and you then create your menus and chapter points.

Instead of trying to burn this second project directly to a DVD or CD, it might be better to output either to DVD folders or to an ISO file.

Output to DVD folders has the advantage that it's easy to play the project using a software DVD player, e.g. WinDVD, Windows Media Player, etc. You might do this just to check that everything is as it should be before burning to disc.

You can then burn the DVD folders or the ISO file to a DVD or CD. The advantage of an ISO file is that it is a single file, rather than folders. You can actually play the video from the ISO file if you install "virtual drive" software such as CloneCD.

It is simply not true that Nero is incompatible with Video Studio - however, the "packet writing" Nero software, InCD, is incompatible, and should not be installed.

I think that the repair technicians are being a bit disingenuous to take your money repeatedly - so I hope you can use this forum to resolve your problems for free!

Read this excellent and comprehensive thread Suggested workflow by SJJ1805

[Amanda Lambert]

Sorry to hear of your problems.

It would help to identify the cause of the problem if you broke the DVD (or even CD) production process down into separate steps.

Many of us use a workflow that does that. When you have completed your edits, you use "Share > Create video File" to produce a DVD compliant mpeg2 file from the project.

This file is then inserted into a new, blank project in the "Create disc" step, and you then create your menus and chapter points.

Instead of trying to burn this second project directly to a DVD or CD, it might be better to output either to DVD folders or to an ISO file.

Output to DVD folders has the advantage that it's easy to play the project using a software DVD player, e.g. WinDVD, Windows Media Player, etc. You might do this just to check that everything is as it should be before burning to disc.

You can then burn the DVD folders or the ISO file to a DVD or CD. The advantage of an ISO file is that it is a single file, rather than folders. You can actually play the video from the ISO file if you install "virtual drive" software such as CloneCD.

It is simply not true that Nero is incompatible with Video Studio - however, the "packet writing" Nero software, InCD, is incompatible, and should not be installed.

I think that the repair technicians are being a bit disingenuous to take your money repeatedly - so I hope you can use this forum to resolve your problems for free!

Read this excellent and comprehensive thread


Thank you for this information. I am going to try this and will let you know the outcome. I actually cannot remember presisely how things go after editing so I am going to go through it and make a note so I can let you know correctly what I am doing. I have never output the project to either DVD folder or to an ISO file and am not sure how I exactly do this but I am going to try now and will let you know. As I said before, I am no computer wizard and have to have exact instructions with things!! sorry. This is why, the first time things went wrong, I was unable to follow the instruction for uninstalling (this was last year) and after ringing Correll they gave me a tool to download to wipe all ULead components completely from my hardrive. They then sent me the discs as my previous installation was by download but it would not re-install.
It was not my technician who told me Nero was incompatible, as he is a fan of Nero, it was the guy on the telephone at Corell!!.
I have another computer which has Nero and I am going to use this to burn my DVD's that I have managed to do.
I am sorry this is lots of information but I have been having problems for over two years with this and I really want to sort it as I love ULead and would like to be able to use it more than I do now.
I have just recieved an order for 25 of my videos so they cannot be so bad !! just need to make sure I can copy them but if not, a friend of mine has already tried and been successful so at least Mums will get their DVD'S.
Amanda. Suggested workflow by SJJ1805

[2Dogs]

Hi Amanda,

please don't hesitate to ask anything you want about VS. As far as I'm concerned, the only "stupid" question may be the one not asked!

I think you'll find that this is a very active forum, full of people with good experience and very willing to help.

If you can work thru things logically and make meaningful responses to suggestions from forum members posting back to you, I'm sure your problem can be resolved.

[Amanda Lambert]

Hi again,
Well, I have once again tried the process of burning and it failed at 21%. This is what I did :
Opened UL VS11plus >Video Studio Editor>Capture using firewire cable>Sony Device. Format DV, Capture Folder & Settings >c/Documents-my videos. Info: uvs 080315-002-avi
720x576,DV Type-1, PAL DV Audio (dont know if that is any use to you).
Checked Project Setting and this is what is was set at :
MPEG files. 24bits, 70 x576, 25fps, framebased. (DVD-PAL), 4:3, Video date rate: Variable. (max. 7000kbps). Audio data rate: 256 kbps. Dolby Digital Audio 48KHZ 2/0 (L/R).
Once capture finished I disconnected my camcorder. Project shown above.
>Edit>add titles to clips>add effects & Audio. After doing that I did not know where to save the file. I clicked on File at the top but it only gave me "save" or "save as". I have tried saving before to this but it never helped me. Could you be specific and explain exactly how I save the project from here to ISO file you mentioned or am I in the wrong place??. I then clicked "Share" but it never did anything so I went to "Tools">opened "Create Disc">moved to next step.
Create Menu was ticked. I entered Title as required. Do not convert compliant MPEG files is also ticked. Auto fade out first play to menu also.
>disc burner. Create disc was ticked and I also ticked create DVD folders. I went into More Burning Options and selected the lowest burning speed then selected BURN.

I just fail to see why it worked the first time after re-installing VS but now will not work after 21%?????. I am sure if I un-install and re-install again, it will work just the once.

Do you think having another hard drive just for ULead would be advantageous??. If so, what should I tell the computer Tech I need on the hard drive for my VideoStudio to work properly??

Sorry about all this,
But I am getting very frustrated and it doesn't make it easy when you do not fully understand the workings of a computer or the software.

[2Dogs]

Hi again,
Well, I have once again tried the process of burning and it failed at 21%. This is what I did :
Opened UL VS11plus >Video Studio Editor>Capture using firewire cable>Sony Device. Format DV, Capture Folder & Settings >c/Documents-my videos. Info: uvs 080315-002-avi
720x576,DV Type-1, PAL DV Audio (dont know if that is any use to you).

Yes it is useful information. It shows that you are connecting the camcorder by the best means - i.e. a firewire cable, and capturing to the usual DV type 1 avi format.

Checked Project Setting and this is what is was set at :
MPEG files. 24bits, 70 x576, 25fps, framebased. (DVD-PAL), 4:3, Video date rate: Variable. (max. 7000kbps). Audio data rate: 256 kbps. Dolby Digital Audio 48KHZ 2/0 (L/R).

Again, thanks for the information. Depending on the length of your intended project, it might be possible to set the video bitrate a little higher, but that is nothing to do with your problem.

If you intend to play the video back on your pc, frame based would be appropriate. Otherwise, if you are ultimately going to burn the finished project to DVD for playback on a set top or standalone DVD player hooked up to a TV, you would ordinarily select "lower field first" rather than frame based for the field order setting. Again, however, this will not be the cause of your problem.

Once capture finished I disconnected my camcorder. Project shown above.
>Edit>add titles to clips>add effects & Audio. After doing that I did not know where to save the file. I clicked on File at the top but it only gave me "save" or "save as". I have tried saving before to this but it never helped me. Could you be specific and explain exactly how I save the project from here to ISO file you mentioned or am I in the wrong place??.

Right, you need to recognise the difference between your project file, which will have a .vsp suffix, and the output of that project. The vsp file is effectively a set of instructions to the program for what to do with the various video clips that form the project. It's generally a very small file. When you click "save", you are saving this vsp file.

In order to create a "rendered" mpeg2 video file of the project, you need to go to the "Share" step, and then click on "Create Video File".

I then clicked "Share" but it never did anything so I went to "Tools">opened "Create Disc">moved to next step.

OK, when you clicked on the "Share" tab it probably did go to the Share screen, but unless you give the program further instructions, it won't do anything more. Instead of then clicking "Create Disc", I would suggest you click on "Create Video File" instead.

Create Menu was ticked. I entered Title as required. Do not convert compliant MPEG files is also ticked. Auto fade out first play to menu also.
>disc burner. Create disc was ticked and I also ticked create DVD folders. I went into More Burning Options and selected the lowest burning speed then selected BURN.

I just fail to see why it worked the first time after re-installing VS but now will not work after 21%?????. I am sure if I un-install and re-install again, it will work just the once.

I would still recommend you use the suggested workflow whereby you don't go to the "Create Disc" step with any video files on your timeline.

However, one possible cause could be a shortage of space on your hard drive. The first time you successfully created the DVD, there would have been quite a lot of space used up on the drive, with the DVD folders and even some additional temporary files. Perhaps you might check to see how much free space there is on your hard drive.

Do you think having another hard drive just for ULead would be advantageous??. If so, what should I tell the computer Tech I need on the hard drive for my VideoStudio to work properly??

Video editing can easily use up a lot of space on your hard drive. I certainly believe that there would be no harm in having an additional hard drive - most desktop pc's have an empty slot for a second drive, and hard drives are relatively inexpensive. I also believe it's a great idea to separate programs and data - so all your video clips and project files could be on the new drive.

I would not install Video Studio itself on another hard drive or partition. Whilst it may be possible to do that, I don't see any advantage in it. I have known other programs that don't work properly if installed on anything other than the drive containing the operating system. All my pc's have VS on the C: drive, and they work just fine.

Sorry about all this,
But I am getting very frustrated and it doesn't make it easy when you do not fully understand the workings of a computer or the software.

Not at all! It can be very frustrating tracking down the source of a problem. I only have a certain amount of pc knowledge, gained from my own pc usage. I certainly wouldn't find pc's interesting enough to take pc books to bed for night time reading!

Just try to be logical, and if you use the suggested workflow, it will make it easier to figure out the step that's causing the problem.

Check the amount of free space on your hard drive.

Don't neglect the basics either. Try running the Windows disc cleanup wizard, to free up space and clear out the "fluff" that can easily build up. Click on "Start" then "All Programs" then "Accessories" then "System Tools" then "Disk Cleanup". You will then be presented with another small window, asking you which drive to clean up, if you have more than one drive or partition on your drive. Click on "OK" You will then get a listing of files suggested for deletion. It's safe to delete all the temporary files.

Also run the defragmenter, and it may be worth scheduling a disk check. You can do both of these things by right-clicking on the drive letter in My Computer or windows Explorer, and selecting "Properties" from the drop-down menu. This will open up a Disk properties window, which will show the used and free space.

Click on the "Tools" tab, and you can then click on the "Check Now..." button. This will bring up another small window. Check both the "Automatically fix file system errors" box and the "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" box. You will then be presented with another wide window, telling you that the checks need to be performed next time you boot the pc. Click on the "Yes" button.

Then click on the "Defragment Now..." button. In the window that pops up, click on your drive letter and then the "Defragment Now" button (though I use a faster third party defragmenter, but it should be something like that.

[Black Lab]

Opened UL VS11plus >Video Studio Editor>Capture using firewire cable>Sony Device. Format DV, Capture Folder & Settings >c/Documents-my videos. Info: uvs 080315-002-avi
720x576,DV Type-1, PAL DV Audio (dont know if that is any use to you).
Checked Project Setting and this is what is was set at :
MPEG files. 24bits, 70 x576, 25fps, framebased. (DVD-PAL), 4:3, Video date rate: Variable. (max. 7000kbps). Audio data rate: 256 kbps. Dolby Digital Audio 48KHZ 2/0 (L/R).

You don't give your clip properties (from the library or timeline right click on one) but you do list one as avi, and because you are capturing via firewire it should be lower field first. Therefore, you Project Properties must be set for dv-avi and lower field first.

In other words, your Project Properties must match your Clip Properties.

When you are done editing go to Share>Create Video File and create a DVD-compatible MPEG-2 file.

Clear the timeline. Choose Share>Create Disc. When the burn window opens use Insert Video to add that MPEG-2 file. Make sure the Output Properties match the properties of your MPEG-2 file.

[Amanda Lambert]

Hi Guys,
First of all, I want to thank you for all your advice which I am following.
Just wanted to give you an update on what I have been doing.

Firstly, my current disc space stand at 71,554GB which isnt much less than just before I started on this. I did another disc clean up and de-frag - I do these quite often.
Also, I think I have made a bit of a mistake.
When I last openened VS11, I got a flash page telling me to update my software. However, this was not the usual one, it was to buy an update to 11.5plus. Anyhow, not wanting to miss out on anything, I bought it!!.
I downloaded the files and guess what, I now have less things than before!! i.e. Library - there is only one thing in there instead of the usual 20 something, also, Smart Menus - 3!!!! instead of the many you get to choose from.
Well, I decided not to worry about it and decided to start from the beginning once more, using some of the things you suggested when burning.
I did my capture>edit>create>save to DVD file. When I clicked on this box Create Video File I was unsure of which setting to select as there were many so I chose "same as project settings". Then closed Project, opened new project, chose share and burnt to disc.
It did burn but yet again to 99% when I had to eject the disc and my computer froze. I have played the disc back and it appears OK:
Why only 99% everytime and why is my computer freezing?? any ideas.

The other thing I have done is this.
I remembered having previously had other ULead software that is no longer in my computer. I found two discs. ULead MovieFactory 4 and Disney Magic Artist. I decided to install them. The Movie Factory 4 is the one which has the drop-down leads which I have been asking for so I was very happy to find this. I had forgotten that this is where is originated.

I decided to try and use Movie Factory 4 to burn my saved file.
I was able to edit it slightly and actually, now have more menus in the gallery than VS11 since I lost them!!. I managed to burn the disc to 100% but it would not finish itself. This also crashed my computer when finished????
I have played back the disc but the sound quality is not as good as VS11 however, the programme is now 3 years old so I checked for any updates which I found and downloaded them.
There is an upgrade to MovieFactory 6 - anyone got this and is it worth having??
Well, I am now going to try and burn another disc with MovieFactory 4 since the updates and see if its better this time.
I am not going to bother with another hard drive to run VS11 as what Jeff said makes sense to me. Perhaps I should just increase my disc space.
Well, here I go again, wish me luck

[Ron P.]

Hi Amanda,

You did not need to purchase the 11.5 upgrade. Since you already owned VS11.0 plus you qualified for the free upgrade, which just amounts to downloading and installing the Power Pack.

You will need to re-install the Content files, since it appears that you installed the main program. With VS there are generally 3 download links provided, or 2 CDs. The main program, the Content files, and the Bonus Content. You must install the first 2 to have the program fully functional with all the content such as the menus, transitions, and filters.

When you have finished editing you should create a DVD Compatible MPEG-2 file. Not knowing what the format is of your source video, I don't know if you created a MPEG-2, DV, or some other file format when you selected Same as Project Settings. The easiest way to remember what format you need is, you are going to burn a DVD correct? Well choose DVD (NSTC or PAL).

I do have DVDMF6+ and also DVDMF4 Disc Creator. I no longer have DVDMF4 installed, as the current release is so much better (for me anyway). The burn module for VS is very similar to that of DVDMF6+, however the latter provides more DVD authoring options.

Finally that "Flash Page" that provoked you to upgrade, I very highly recommend to disable that. That is part of the "phone home ET" checking that is set to on by default. Go to the Preferences (File>Preferences or just press F6 on your keyboard), and on the General tab of the Preferences dialog, uncheck the box beside Check Ulead Site every... days. When editing video, or authoring a DVD you do not want the program to decide it's time to call home, do you? Besides Corel does not provide updates very often, maybe once a year. So that function in my opinion is totally unnecessary.

[Amanda Lambert]

Hey Ron, Thanks.

I have been on the phone just now for about half hour to Corel and spoke to a guy who was very helpful. He has cleared up some points for me
and we came to the conclusion it would be better to delete my VS8 & 11 and re-install. He also agreed that I should not have bought anything else as I already had the upgraded version so he is going to credit me.
He is sending me a trial of MovieFactory6 which I am going to try instead of VS11.
He also told me that I do not need to have VS8 on my computer just because I upgraded to 11 from 8. (I thought I had to install it each time before installing 11.5 - duh, told ya I wasn't very good at these things).
I have downloaded the miscrosoft uninstall tool and removed both VS8 & 11 and also removed any folders that got left behind. I think perhaps I should check the registry but I dont like to mess around with that too much as I am not fully understanding it.
so.........here I go again, back to square one. Will have to capture and edit all over again. Yikes, where is my life going they days and nights are rolling into one!!!

[Amanda Lambert]

I am really in a mess now!!!
I uninstalled my VS8 & 11 and re-installed my VS11 plus bonus disc.
All looked good. Everything back to normal.
I re-captured my film and spent ages editing.
BUT from the MENU creation, it will not go any further.

I looked up the fault on Corels' F&A's and it said that this can happen when you install your software over a trial version and to uninstall the trial version and re-install!!. This is not the case for me. I do not have trial versions.

I decided to try and burn the project (I did save it to video file first) in MovieFactory4. All went well and I got to the burn stage but now its telling me that I DO NOT HAVE A BURNER!!. The "Drive" is greyed out and its written in faded grey letters, no disc burner.
I really dont know what to do now.
I am so tired and have spent hour after hour on this now.
Perhaps I should just have my computer into the Technician again and wiped clean and buy the Movie Factory 6. I must sort it quick as I have 40 DVD's to prepare by Friday!!!!
Any suggestions and does anyone know which tranquilisers are the best!!

[lancecarr]

Hi Amanda.
Gotta admire you persistence!
The most common cause for one type of software reporting that the DVD burner you are looking at actually does not exist and is a figment of your imagination is DLA software.
An example of this is Nero InCD and Roxio Drag to Disc(?)

They are classes of software that allow you to drag and drop files to be burned on to disc.
Unfortunately they tend to seize control of the burner on start up and never let go preventing any other burning software from accessing the drive.

If you have anything like that on your computer try disabling it first.
In the case of Nero InCD you have to go to the Add/Remove programs section of Windows to remove it altogether. Most of the others can be disabled from the system tray.

[Amanda Lambert]

Hi,
Thank you for the information. I do not have any other burning software on my computer other than MovieFactory 4 which has the droplead otpion of dropping files for burning.
I was told over a year ago not to have Nero or any other burning software by Corel so have never done it.

Any other suggestions??

Now getting very desparate not to mention tired through lack of sleep!

[Black Lab]

I was told over a year ago not to have Nero or any other burning software by Corel so have never done it.

I, and many other users on this forum, use Nero exclusively to burn.

Any other suggestions??

Is your burner accessible outside of VS - if you go to Control Panel can you browse your burner?

I used to have a problem with my burner not being recognized when burning. My solution was to put a finished DVD in. When it started to play the video I would remove it and put a blank one in. That seemed to "wake up" my burner and was able to burn my project. Hasn't happened in a long while, but maybe that's because I switched to Nero to burn.

[Amanda Lambert]

Jeff,
Hi, yes, its accessible to other programs. I just burnt a Music CD via iTunes to test it and also, checking it through "my computer" with the Corel technician, all is in working order.
The Corel technician doesn't have much idea what is happening so he suggested re-storing my computer to when I last had it into my technician.- I did this. re-stored back to December but when I re-booted, it kept coming up with critical errors on ULead and saying please re-install lots of my original software so I decided to re-store it back!!
So...............here I am, back to square one.
I thought that perhaps I have done something wrong yesterday when un-installing VS11 and re-installing. Perhaps I should restore my computer back to two days ago and then uninstall VS11 once again??
Who knows, I am a little disheartened now!!