Program shuts down when creating slideshow DVD no error msgs

[spotmom]

Video Studio Pro X2 (VS X2) Problem:

When I try to create a DVD from slide shows the program runs along for a bit then just shuts off and goes away. Sometimes after only a minute, sometimes after 30. Absolutely no warning. Just blip and it is gone along with all the customizations I did for that DVD.

I had used the trial version, decided I liked it and paid for it, removed the trial version with the uninstaller, Revo uninstaller and manually finding leftovers with a thorough search. Downloaded a fresh copy from the link they gave me when I purchased and installed it.

I have not been able to produce a dvd with the purchased version!

I have tried many uninstall/reinstalls. I have updated the direct x which fixed the problem of no previews when creating a dvd, but still shuts itself off when I try to create a dvd. I have installed the patch.

I tried just making an iso and a dvd folder to rule out the burner, but the same problem.

I have used jpeg files and tiff files to make the slide shows, no difference. I tried turning off the firewall and antivirus (after turning off the modem and router!) no luck. I have run it as admin, no luck.

This is on the Win xp pro sp3 machine, 3 gb ram, pentium 4, 3 ghtz, lots of hard drive space available- Over 230gb free on both the drive where it is installed and the drive I keep my files on.

I searched this forum and found nothing like it, although I have to say after a day of waiting for the pages of this forum to load painfully slow on my fast DSL connection I have given up searching any farther. I don't know why this forum is so slow, nothing else on the web is.

Any suggestions out there? Am I doing something wrong? It did work with the trial version, but I only tried small test files, not full dvd's. I trialed it on the Vista machine and it worked then, too. I am in the process of putting it on my Vista laptop now (the paid version) and trying it on that machine to see if it will work there. I just wanted to find an answer while I was trying that.

I have 3 days wasted in this program trying to make it work and am a little more than PO'ed right now.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Assuming you have no video content.
Are you converting/rendering the slide show to a new video file prior to doing Share Create Disc.

With your slide show in the timeline Share Create Video File using the DVD option will create a video file suitable for burning.

Then from a new empty project Share Create Disc¡XAdd Video (use new file)
There should be no rendering in the burner module, the first conversion should be ¡¥create menu¡¦

Does the program still fail

[Ken Berry]

... And as for the slow forum, it is something over which we have no control. All of us here are volunteers from around the world. The forum has been having troubles for months now. We complain and complain, and some band-aid is applied, and things speed up for a while. Then it happens all over again. The latest band-aid only lasted a week or so. So we are complaining again. But believe me -- it is equally frustrating for us who are on here for several hours a day!

[spotmom]

Hi

Assuming you have no video content.
Are you converting/rendering the slide show to a new video file prior to doing Share Create Disc.

With your slide show in the timeline Share Create Video File using the DVD option will create a video file suitable for burning.

Then from a new empty project Share Create Discdd Video (use new file)
There should be no rendering in the burner module, the first conversion should be reate menu?

Does the program still fail

No video content. I take stills, make them into a slide show with a simple crossfade transition.

I make 3 slide shows that will fit on one DVD. I open an empty project and choose from the file menu make DVD, import the 3 slide shows so they will each have their own menu button, choose a template and modify the text labels to reflect the content of the disk.

I remove the music file, remove some of the menu animation and hit next till I get to the burn page, choose an iso file and a burn with an appropriate name into a folder I created.

Hit burn and watch it go for a while and then dissappear.

I just tried a different approach of making the slide shows into avi's, then burn to dvd with menus, which worked, but each avi took almost an hour to create, then another hour to make a dvd of the three together and the output was too poor to bother trying again.

I tried the program at the same time on the Vista machine just doing as described in the first post, making the slide show straight into a dvd with the bigger tiff files and it worked fine. Guess XP has a glitch somewhere.

I have 7000 old family photos to make into slide shows so the whole family can see them. I have been scanning and labeling off and on for 4 years so this is the final step and I want the output as close to perfect as possible. It will probably take 12 DVD's to cover all the pictures (it takes 24 right now, just the photos), so this is a big project!

[Ken Berry]

You should definitely NOT first convert your slideshow to an AVI for burning to DVD. A DVD requires an mpeg-2 with properties which meet international DVD standards. Creating an AVI means that, in the burning process, it will be converted to a such an mpeg-2, but you will have lost quality along the way, as I think you have found.

As Trevor has already suggested, when you put together your slideshow in the timeline, and have added your transitions and any background music and titles or captions, choose Share > Create Video File > DVD. You can check the properties in the box that comes up. But if it has a bitrate of 8000 kbps, it will give you very good quality. Since it is a slideshow, it does not really matter if those properties say Upper Field First, Lower Field First or even Frame Based. Those will all work with slideshows. (If you have video, included it is different). Then you give that slideshow a name, and let the conversion to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 take place. Depending on your computer, that can take from about real time to up to 4 or 5 times the length of the project. Be patient.

Note also that after you produce your new mpeg-2, you go to File > New Project. Don't worry about giving your new project a name. The objective is just to clear the timeline of your current project.

Once that is done, you select Share > Create Disc > DVD. The burning module will open. Use the Add Media button at the top to insert your new mpeg-2 in the burning timeline. Then go to the middle of the three icons in the bottom left of the burning screen. There is a little box beside the words 'Do not convert compliant mpeg files'. Make sure that box is ticked (it usually is by default). That way, your already compliant mpeg file will not be re-encoded. Then build your menus and burn or create your ISO. Hopefully this time it will complete the process.

[Trevor Andrew]

Thanks Ken, just to add:-

your already compliant mpeg file will not be re-encoded. Then build your menus and burn or create your ISO. Hopefully this time it will complete the process.

After hitting the Burn button if you first see Convert Title then your video is being recoded. Not what you want, you should see Convert Menu.

The burning process should be relatively quick depending on the menu you chose. (Smart Menus take longer to create.)

[spotmom]

You should definitely NOT first convert your slideshow to an AVI for burning to DVD. A DVD requires an mpeg-2 with properties which meet international DVD standards. Creating an AVI means that, in the burning process, it will be converted to a such an mpeg-2, but you will have lost quality along the way, as I think you have found.

Yeah, that was an experiment with expected results . I am having good luck on the Vista machine so I may just stay with it, but I will try your instructions on the xp box and see if your tips work for that one.

When I go to make the dvd now with the mpegs I have made as per your instructions it asks if I want to "preprocess" the mpeg.
What should I do with this? Does it cause a loss of quality? Should I say yes or no?

And thanks for the advice. I am normally on the other end of the tech support phone and know what a pain it can be!

[Ken Berry]

Hmmm. Can't help there as I have never seen that message! Sounds as though it could be connected with the built-in mpeg optimizer, though I had not known that the optimizer would also produce messages in the burning module... But heck, if it says it will improve editing performance, why not say 'yes'. It is fairly common to get a pre-processing message in the editing module itself, and I always accept it there. But I would not have thought that you would be doing any editing in the burning module -- unless they include the notion of building the menus as part of the editing...

[sjj1805]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you suspect that your XP installation is faulty. This could be anything from corrupted files, conflicting software to hardware failure.

Please start here to try and resolve the problem:
Troubleshooting your computer

Regarding this Web Board, we are still having some technical problems.
Corel are aware and trying to resolve the issue(s).

[spotmom]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you suspect that your XP installation is faulty. This could be anything from corrupted files, conflicting software to hardware failure.

Please start here to try and resolve the problem:
Troubleshooting your computer

Regarding this Web Board, we are still having some technical problems.
Corel are aware and trying to resolve the issue(s).

My machine is pretty clean, a fairly recent reinstall, I keep up with patches and updates and regularly run CCleaner to get rid of all the temp files and junk. I keep my computer neater and cleaner than my house.

I am running AVG8, Comodo Firewall Pro, Malwarebytes, Spybot S&D.

I went to your troubleshooting tips and nothing really applies to my machine, I have had no crashes or hardware problems, but I did do a reinstall of SP3, there were some dlls out of place, but the next scan after a reboot showed the same problems and prompted me for the sp3 disk again. They are all 3 related to the windows media player.

I tried 2 small slide shows today, the first one failed on processing at about 90%, the second made it just fine. I retried the first one and it failed again at 90% and 55%, just shut down as usual. There is a great amount of hard drive churning going on just before it shuts down. Not sure what that is about. Nothing should be starting up or running.

It can't be a resources issue since the show that made it through the mpeg conversion process had a download of 300mb going on in the background! The one that failed had the whole computer to itself. The drive I am working from has over 200gb free and a 32mb cache.

The only appreciable difference between the two files is the one that failed is 26 minutes and the one that made it is 21 minutes. They have the same properties of vbr of 8000, best quality and compression quality of 100%, DVD NTSC 4:3.

Can I give you any more info about the machine or the project that would help?

On a side note, what does 2 pass encode do?

Thanks!

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

I had a few problems with the tbyb X2, most I put down to my old pc not being up to scratch.

One problem was with images, in particular Progressive Jpegs.
I found that using Baseline Jpegs worked best.
What type of images are you using.

You said in an earlier post that Tiff images worked ok, it just maybe the type of image you are using.

Variable Bit Rate
This applies a varying amount to the video depending on the video content.
Basically the faster more active portions get more bits, and the slower still portions get less.
Afaik 2 pass scans the video first before applying the bits in the second pass.
This allows you to fit more video to a DVD at the same quality.

I prefer/always use constant bit rate. (at 6000) I don¡¦t have a DVD capacity issue.
And I always leave the quality slider as default setting.

[spotmom]

I think you hit the nail on the head when you suspect that your XP installation is faulty. This could be anything from corrupted files, conflicting software to hardware failure.

Please start here to try and resolve the problem:
Troubleshooting your computer

An Update, progreess was made, but I have not been able to get back on the board to let you know.

I went to the trouble shooting section as I said before, ran the Windows System File Checker, reinstalled SP3 and copied the i386 folder to the C:\, it was already there so it just added a bunch. I did not allow it to replace newer files with the ones off the CD since they were probably from updates. Figured I could go back and replace them if this try did not work.

I have been running the program with no problems since then. I have recoded many gigabytes of slideshows, created DVDs with menus and all has worked well.

The tip to convert the files before making the DVD has been the best since I can now fill the DVD and get more on it. When the recoding happens along with the burn, the DVD ends up only half full, now it is full to the edge.

Consider the problem solved. Either reinstalling SP3 or refilling the i386 folder of both has cured what ails me.

Thanks you for the time and advice!

[spotmom]

As another note I am using the mpeg optimizer for the re-code (share), vbr of 8000. I did try the other dvd and mpeg options, but this seems to result in the clearest output.

The input photos are tiffs, 600 dpi, and range in size from 6-20mb.

My whole goal is the highest quality output, regardless of size, so if you have any suggestions I will be happy to take them.

Thanks!

[Trevor Andrew]

My whole goal is the highest quality output, regardless of size, so if you have any suggestions I will be happy to take them.
Thanks!

Hi
Ok this what I do:-
I get very good slide shows, as good as the original images.
Some of the most recent slide shows used composite images, that is two or more photos to each image/clip.
I do a lot of wildlife/bird photography, showing more than one bird photo per image seems to works well.
This also allows me to add a border overcoming tv over-scan/safe area.
View http://www.stephen-wray.co.uk/LATA_2009/all.htm
will show you what i mean, although these have been downsized for web viewing.

I normally use Widescreen 16 x 9
Image clips are 2 times the size of the video frame at 2048 x 1536. This is 16:9 ratio.
The 2 times maintains quality when applying Pan & Zoom.

Larger images do not produce better quality, VS just downsizes the image to fit the video screen.
For 4 x 3 Pal the image will end up as 768 px wide. Not sure what this relates to in Ntsc. (may be 640????)
For 16 x 9 Pal 1024 px wide.
Images:- I use Jpeg compressed (baseline) to top quality.

I set VS preferences to image duration 12 sec
Effects to 4 sec Just personal preference, may be a bit slow for some.
Auto Random transitions.
Add images.
Add audio, this may not exactly match the slide duration. Using both sound tracks allows me to overlap the clips, removing the silent ends. (although I think you can do using X2 on a single track)
Change Image duration using Clip menu, to match the audio duration. You can change each image by one frame if you need to.

Converting the project.

Rendering to Dv-Avi seems to give me better quality, some artefacts were visible during transitions using earlier VS versions, we just get used to your own working processes.
I use Make Movie Manager to create a template to my cameras Dv-Avi properties. That way its compatible should I introduce video.

The resultant video file *.avi is then rendered to Mpeg 2 using a new project.
Again using the Make Movie Manager to create a template to (pal-dvd) shown below. Notice I use constant bit rate.

MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 576, 25 fps
Lower Field First
(DVD-PAL), 16:9
Video data rate: 6000 kbps
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

The resultant Mpeg 2 file being used in a new project to burn a DVD
Share Create Disc--Add Video
Now I can add as many video files to fill the disc.
There is no further rendering as the mpeg 2¡¦s are compatible for burning a dvd.

Well that¡¦s how I do it.

There is no reason why this method should not work with Ntsc sizes.