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Please forgive any apparent naivety in this query as i am a newcomer to VS. I am using my recently purchased VS Pro X2 Ultimate.
I am not using a camcorder at this stage but simply trying to put together some still images (JPEG) together with some short video clips obtained via the movie function on a digital still camera. I am also adding background music obtained from the VS libray and narration via microphone. Should be simple, I know! The vsp files so created run well. I successfully created a DVD at my first attempt but since then I have encountered seemingly insurmountable problems when trying to convert new vsp project files to DVD. During conversion of the title I get an "unspecified error" message or alternatively sometimes "VS has encountered a problem and needs to close.....etc" and I have spent several hundred hours already struggling in vain with the problem. I have trolled through the postings to the forum and have noted others with similar problems and have tried all the suggested fixes to no avail. I can occasionally produce a DVD using a small number of frames (say about 50) but cannot complete the conversion with my normal requirement of 180 frames or so.

Project properties: PAL (25fps); MPEG files; 24 bits 720X576 , 25fps; lower field first; DVD Pal 4.3. File size varies from about 6-15 MB and a duration of from 30 mins to 1 hour.

In desperation this mrning I tried recverting to Pinnacle Studio and compiled a fairly short collection of frames with transitions but no audio other than what accompanied a couple of video clips but again I failed to produce a DVD. So..........I am beginning to think the problem lies in my computer system rather than in anything I am doing wrong with VS. I am close to taking my computer in to a professional to check it over. Any other advice would be appreciated.

Hi Mart! Welcome to the forums!!

There is nothing in your computer specs to suggest it could not handle much more complicated projects than the one you describe. Indeed, it should even be able to handle high definition work! So unless there is something physically wrong with your burner (can other programs burn CDs or DVDs using it?), there could be something wrong with your workflow.

First, I am a little confused by some of your terminology. First, you refer to 'conversion of the title'... By this, do you mean conversion of the titles (i.e. words) you have add to the project? Or do you mean 'title' in the editing sense of a whole project/video? And what do you mean by conversion, and at which stage are you doing the conversion?

Could you also explain what you mean by 'frames'. In Video editing parlance, a frame is (for us in PAL land) a part of a video which is 1/25th of a second long. Or do you mean a single photo? If so, how long have you set the photos to last for in your slideshow? (Five seconds would be normal, and that would be 125 'frames'!! )

You should also be aware that a VSP file is not a video file. It is a very small text file which is like a road map to Video Studio. It contains information on what files (videos, stills, music, titles etc) are included in the project, where they are located on your computer and what has been done to them by way of editing... But it is not a video in any way itself.

You also need to right click on one of the video files you are using, but do so within Video Studio itself, either in the timeline or in the library window, and write down ALL its properties here please. It is possible that it is one of the more difficult video formats which could require being converted to a DVD-compatible format before being inserted in your project. (Most still cameras use a video format of 640 x 480 and a speed of 30 fps, but neither of these are in accordance with international DVD standards.) This in its own right could cause VS to come to a sudden halt. And did you use the installation disc which came with the still camera -- just so we know that you have installed any necessary codec.

Finally (for the moment at least!! ), in your reading of other posts here, you may have seen that it can sometimes be important to first convert a project (i.e. VSP) to a video *file* before trying to burn anything to DVD. In other words, you should first choose Share > Create Video File > DVD rather than Share > Create Disc > DVD. This will create a DVD-compatible mpeg-2 from your project.

Note 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.

Anyway, get back to us with the information requested above and, if I am not around, I am sure someone else will jump in to help you!!

Hi Mart

You say you are using video from a still camera, these video files are usually highly compressed files.
Right click a file and select properties, what are they?
Knowing these may help in selecting the correct conversion settings.

Conversion of these files to compatible Mpeg 2 files can have problems.

I would suspect a corrupt video file, especially as you are having problems with several programs.
Ok
First try rendering / converting the project using Share Create Video File¡XUse The Pal ¡V DVD option.
If that is successful then start a new project , Share Create Disc-Add Video File.

Otherwise
Does the fail/fault occur at the same point. If yes, Investigate the project timeline content.
Some transitions/effects have caused problems in the past.

You may have to split the project into two, rendering each half may indentify where any problem lies.

Hello Ken,
Thank you very much for your very prompt and informative response to my posting. I apologise for the use of the inappropriate jargon ( i.e. terminology) which obviously was causing some confusion - I am learning.

The first thing I did when I received your reply was to try the Share > Create Video File route that you suggested and unfortunately half way through I got the usual message "VS has encountered a problem...." At this point the whole computer froze as it has done before and I couildn't even close the program with the task manager and had to reboot. I had already noted the comments about this route for burning on other posts but here, perhaps, I should remind you of a comment I made in my initial posting that I did have one success with my first project and successfully created a DVD via the Share > Create Disc route- it's only since then that I have been able to repeat the process with other projects.

Now to answer some of your queries:

1. There appears to be nothing wrong with my burner as I use it regularly to burn CDs and DVDs using programs such as Nero and Clone CD and Clone DVD. In any case the program cuts out before it starts to burn i.e it bails out in the initial "convert" stage (see explanation in 2 below)

2. I used the term "conversion of title" because that is the heading that appears above the progress bar after i click on "Burn". I assumed it referred to cobnverting the entire project not the words of "titles".

3. I stand corrected in the use of the term "Frame". As you suggested I did mean a single photo or short video file - jargon again!!

4. Yes I did fully appreciate that a vsp file is, as you put it, like a road map for locating files for inclusion on the DVD rather than a video file itself.

5. The still photos I am using have been taken mostly by me on an Olympus E510 and some on a Nikon Coolpix 5400 although a few of the photos were taken by my wife on a Canon Ixus 750 and by a friend on his Fuji 980. The video clips were taken on the latter two cameras and both have a frame rate of 30000 fps and video format of 640 X 480. I did use the installation discs that came with my two cameras but have not installed the discs for my wife's Canon or my friend's Fuji although again I point out that I have had one success that included video clips from the Fuji although not from the Canon.

A couple of other points I forgot to mention in my initial posting is that I have included one or two animated gifs in the failed project together with half a dozen still images that I retrieved from the web or scanned into the computer from paper copies of maps etc. I have of course tried removing all of these but burning is still a failure.

trevor andrew wrote:Hi Mart

You say you are using video from a still camera, these video files are usually highly compressed files.
Right click a file and select properties, what are they?
Knowing these may help in selecting the correct conversion settings.

Conversion of these files to compatible Mpeg 2 files can have problems.

I would suspect a corrupt video file, especially as you are having problems with several programs.
Ok
First try rendering / converting the project using Share Create Video File¡XUse The Pal ¡V DVD option.
If that is successful then start a new project , Share Create Disc-Add Video File.

Otherwise
Does the fail/fault occur at the same point. If yes, Investigate the project timeline content.
Some transitions/effects have caused problems in the past.

You may have to split the project into two, rendering each half may indentify where any problem lies.

Hello Trevor,

Thanks for your response to my posting.

The video files are all at a frame rate of 30000 fps (24bits) and format of 640X480 and are Microsoft avi files.

Yes, I suspected a corrupt file originally so have spent hours removing clips and trying to work out where the problem lies but it seems quite inconsistent and I can't identify any one clip as a problem at this stage.

Please read my reply to Ken for other observations.

I am still suspicious that there is a problem with my computer.

2. I used the term "conversion of title" because that is the heading that appears above the progress bar after i click on "Burn". I assumed it referred to cobnverting the entire project not the words of "titles".

You're correct, that VS is converting, ie; attempting to recode your project to international DVD specs, which may be why it is failing. The photographs, scanned, downloaded from the web, or from any of your digital still cameras pose no problem. However your video clips may pose problems in 2 areas.

1. The resolution, frame size of 640 x 480 is not within the DVD specs. In your case VS needs to resize each and every frame of those video clips to 720 x 576.

2. The frame rate of your video clips are 30fps, again which is not DVD compliant. So VS must chop 5 frames per second off of your video clips.

Now add to this all the cuts, transitions, effects, overlays, text-titles, audio, you have added or done, and VS is choking on trying to do it all at one time, ie; the burn. Try converting your video clips to MPEG-2 DVD compliant video files first, then use those in your project. VS may then have an easier task to perform when burning...

Microsoft AVI video files could be using any one of several codecs. Most digital still cameras use the old MJPEG (Motion JPEG) codec, while others use anything from MOV, to MPEG-4. VS seems to tolerate MJPEG better.

It is also a worry that you have not apparently installed the Canon disc -- even Canon seems to use a variety of codecs and formats for the video on its still cameras. As Ron says, MJPEG is the most common (though quickly chews up your camera's storage since the files are huge). But other use variants of mpeg-4. In any case, as I suggested in my post above, first we need you to right click on the video (and particularly the Canon stuff) in either the timeline or the Library pane and copy down manually ALL its properties. Then at least we will know what we are dealing with.

Then it might be a question of converting that video to DVD-compatible mpeg-2 before you even put it in your project... That may require you to install a third party conversion program, though we can help you with that too...

Many thanks again for all for the advice. Firstly here are the Video Clip properties you requested:

Properties for one of the video clips on the Canon Ixus 750File
File Format: Microsoft AVI Files Open DML
File Size: 101.701 KB
Frame Rate: 30,000 Frames/sec
Duration: 55.467 secs
Data Rate: 1832.83 Kbps
Video
Compression MJPEG Compressor
Attributes: 24 bits, 640X480
Total Frames: 1664 frames
Audio
Compression: PCM
Atributes: 11.024 kHZ 8bit Mono
Total samples 611,464 samples

b]Properties for one of the video clips on the Fuji 980[/b]
File
File Format: Microsioft AVI files (Note unlike the Canon properties , here it doesn't referto Open DML)
File Size: 23.978 KB
Frame Rate: 30,000 frames/sec
Duration: 21.000 secs
Data Rate: 1140.43
Video
Compression MJPEG Compressor
Attributes:24 bits 640 X 480
Total Frames: 630
Audio
Compression: PCM
Attributes: 16000 KHz 8 bit Mono
Total Samples: 336000 samples

One other comment: I have removed the audio from some of the video clips produced by my friend on the Fuji using a program called VirtualDub using Direct Stream Copy and narrated my own audio via microphone and inserted it on the timeline.

Now, following your advice I shall install the discs for the Canon and The Fuji today.

If as you suggest I need to convert the video clips to compatible MPEG-2, I will need the advice you can offer with respect to the program required to do this.

One other problem associated with all this (again probably a naive question due to my being a newcomer to all this.: Whilst fiddling around with my project to try and make it work, I have been taking single photos and video clips out but this alters the location of the narration and overlays etc relative to the video track so I have spent hours repositioning the audio overlays etc. I have of course kept the original so all is not lost!! However, despite reading the User Guide I am unable to work out how or even if I can cut bits out of my project without destroying the relative sequence of all the remaining bits. I have tried with and without ripple editing but that doesn't seem to make any difference.[/b]