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As per Ken Berry¡¦s and Black Lab¡¦s replies of 27th and 28th April 2009 to my original posts of 15th April and 27th April, I¡¦ve been successfully creating discs as follows:
1) Render the project through the ¡§Create Video File¡¨ option under the ¡§Share¡¨ tab to create an mpg file;
2) Create a new VSP project with an empty timeline, click ¡§Create Disc¡¨ under ¡§Share¡¨ tab and import the mpg file created under 1) above;
3) Then run through the various stages to create a menu structure, ie selecting background video, music, chapters etc etc.
4) Burn disc, then at exit, choose ¡§Save¡¨.

If you then open the VSP file created at 2) above, when you click again on ¡§Create Disc¡¨, it says ¡§Loading Project¡¨ and the menu structure, music etc detailed at 3) above is there, ready to burn another disc if required.
However, while this seems to work fine for a while, if you open the file at some point in the future, when you click ¡§Create Disc¡¨, though it still says ¡§Loading Project¡¨, nothing actually loads. That is, if you need to burn another disc some little while after the original, then you have to go back to square one to create chapters and the menu structure etc - as if the project didn¡¦t save properly.
I suspected the problem was to do with the fact that I¡¦m saving the movie MPG files, as well as the Coral VSP files on an external USB drive. As the MPG files in particular are so large, saving them on the pc¡¦s internal hard drive would very quickly overload the pc¡¦s disc capacity. The problem with a removable external drive of course is that at the end of a session, it¡¦s likely to be dis-connected. I guess this is why when I load a Coral project, it will often be necessary to re-link thumbnails. Is my use of an external drive the cause of my problem? If so, what¡¦s the solution? Would it be better for example to save the VSP files on the pc¡¦s internal drive, even if I still have to save the much larger MPG¡¦s externally?
However, I¡¦m now not so sure that my use of an external drive is the cause of the problem. For example, as a test I¡¦ve created a menu structure, saved it then shut-down the pc and dis-connected the external drive. Then re-boot and re-connect the extrenal drive and upon loading it¡¦s all there - so it seems to be more a time issue. Not exactly sure how long, but I would say that after a week or two, the menu structure is gone - maybe something to do with cache perhaps? I¡¦m certainly no expert on how pc¡¦s handle memory cache!
Finally, given that I appear to have lost all my menu structures, chapters etc, then are there any short-cuts I could use, should I want to re-burn a disc in future? Can I just copy the original disc using Coral VS or something like Roxio? Can I import the menu structure into VS from the original disc?
Anyone got any ideas?

Thanks,
Clive

If you want to burn more copies at a later time I would suggest instead of burning to disc, burn to DVD Folders, then, with a third party app such as Nero, you can burn copies when needed with no rendering/burning process.

Starting at the end first, yes, the easiest course is simply to use any software which can copy discs (Nero, Roxio) etc. But no, it is not possible to import the menu structure from a completed DVD. By that stage, the menu has been converted to a video file and so is no long editable in the sense of rebuilding it.

But I am a little puzzled as to why you are having this problem in the first place. I certainly don't think it is an external hard disk problem as many users, myself included, use external drives for their editing and storage of the completed projects and files all the time. Nor do I think there is any built-in time-bomb so to speak whereby, after x days, "this system will destruct" and wipe only the menu edits...

I am, however, wondering about your reference to your (or indeed "our") step 2 above. I realise that you may have only there put it in a shorthand version. However, my advice on that particular point has always been as follows (I keep it as a file on a program called Type-it-in!): "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."

And that is all I have ever meant with that new project file. No name so in effect that new project doesn't exist. The objective of clearing the timeline is simply to ensure that when you open the burning module, the project file (vsp) of your "old" (but still main) project is not automatically inserted into the burning timeline.

Now again, as you are probably aware, the saving of the menu structure is one of the weakest links in VS and always has been as far as I am aware. Why Ulead, InterVideo and now Corel have never corrected it is beyond all of us here! But there you are. As you know, when building a menu or indeed doing anything in the burning module, and you close it, you get a blue progress bar indicating the program is saving the project automatically. But while it may be doing so, none of us has ever worked out where it is saving it to or where that file might be. But the bottom line is that it is certainly not to the project file.

Anyway, the automatic save occurs and the burning module closes, and you are back in the Editing module. When you close that, you are asked whether or not you want to save the changes, and you say either No (because you think the program has already done so automatically) or Yes. But if you say simply Yes here, and have, in your Step 2, given that new Project a name, then the changes will be saved to that new project. And of course that was an empty timeline project! I suppose in theory that should work since at that point, all you are interested in is the new mpeg-2 of the project you created and that was inserted in the burning module and thus became part of the new project.

But just to be sure, at that point (since I never ever gave a name to the new project) when asked whether I want to save the changes, I always navigate to where my "old" (i.e. the main) project file is stored and overwrite that. And that has always seemed to work next time I reopened that file, no matter when that reopening might have been and regardless of whether or not the files in question were on an external hard drive.

Many thanks to Ken and Black Lab for their prompt replies. Before trying out their suggestions, could you clarify the following please:

Black Lab: I¡¦ve had a quick go at creating a DVD folder and also a Disc Image, dot ISO file. Presumably I could use either via something like Roxio to then burn additional DVD discs is the future?

Ken: Regarding the first part of your reply, ie simply copying an original disc using Roxio or Nero, I¡¦ve had a go using Roxio - I¡¦m using Roxio Digital Media SE, Build 2.4.31a. Unfortunately, as my hard disc is partitioned into a C and D drive, I don¡¦t think I have sufficient space on my C drive to accommodate the temp file Roxio needs to create in order to copy a disc. I have about 3Gb on my C drive and nearly 9Gb on D, but I can¡¦t find a setting in Roxio to specify that I want to use the D drive or an external USB drive to create the temp file. Appreciate this isn¡¦t really a question about Coral VS, but do you think it¡¦s worth investing in a more up to date version of Roxio, or switching to Nero?
Secondly, I follow most of what you say Ken about opening a new VSP project with a blank timeline. I¡¦ve been saving these "new" project files with the extension ¡§_FV¡¨ (standing for ¡§Final Version¡¨), once I¡¦ve created the menu structure. However, I think I lost you a bit in your final para when you say you save this ¡§new¡¨ project by overwriting the ¡§old¡¨ project (ie main project) - doesn¡¦t this mean you then lose the original file with all the hard work you¡¦ve put into creating the elements on the timeline? I think I¡¦ve missed some thing here, so if you could clarify further, that would be very helpful.

Thanks again to both you guys - your help very much appreciated.
Regards,

Clive

doesn¡¦t this mean you then lose the original file with all the hard work you¡¦ve put into creating the elements on the timeline?

I'm afraid it does. That just happens to be the way that I do it -- on the assumption that by that time, I already have a full DVD-compatible mpeg-2 of my project that I am happy enough with to want to burn to DVD. But of course you could give it another name. That way you would have a project file up to and including production of your mpeg-2; and another covering the menu structure.

But I am not aware of any other way of getting everything in the same project file unless you produce your new mpeg-2 but NOT then create a new, unnamed project file. Then open the burning module (Share > Create Disc > DVD). But then you will always have to remember to *remove* anything which is automatically inserted into the burning timeline (i.e. the project file), and manually replace it with your new mpeg-2. Then proceed as suggested above.

As for your hard disk size woes, 3 GB and 9 GB are absolutely tiny in terms of video editing -- and indeed in terms of almost anything these days. In fact if your C:\ drive only has 3 GB left, I am surprised that your defragmenting program (which I assume you regularly use! ) has not told you there is almost not enough room left on the disk for it to function properly. So apart from possibly buying a more up to date program to burn a copy of your DVD, I would be seriously thinking in terms of lashing out on a new hard disk... They are, after all, dirt cheap these days. I have, for instance, seen 1 TB disks advertised here for not much more than $100...

Apart from that, I am not familiar with the Roxio program you have. But you will find that updated programs won't necessarily do anything different in terms of burning a copy. And they will certainly need that hard disk space! I personally always use Nero but that is just because I have always used it! I was exposed to it before I had even heard of Roxio! Nothing more than that. But they do much the same things...

I might also just comment briefly on your question to Black Lab. I seem to recall he prefers the .iso route, while I personally prefer the DVD Folder route. But they are much the same. It's just that if I produce a DVD Folder, I can play that back directly using software DVD players (like PowerDVD or WinDVD) to see if the final product is really what I was seeking to achieve. You can do the same with an .iso file, but it requires an extra step -- you have to 'mount' a virtual drive on your computer (using a program like PowerISO) and then put your .iso file on that drive in order to be able to play it back. Either way, though, both the .iso file and the DVD Folder contain an exact image of what will eventually appear on your burned DVD...

And yes, Nero, Roxio and a variety of other programs will burn both to disc. You could even Google and find a number of freeware programs for the process.

Thanks Ken for your reply of Aug 26. Re your opening comments, I¡¦d say I have been saving two projects - ie one up to and including production of mpeg-2 and a second covering the menu structure; see last para of my post of Aug 26. So it looks like main problem is with the fact that saving menu structure seems to be a fairly major weakness in VS, as per comments in your earlier post. However, thanks to helpful comments from yourself and Black Lab, I¡¦m confident I¡¦ll be able to deal with this in future by also burning to a video file and a dot ISO - think I¡¦ll do both, to be ¡§belt and bracers¡¨!
Must admit to being quite amused by your comments on disc space. My Sony Vaio cost best part of two grand in January 2007, when 80Gb of hard drive seemed like a lot of storage space. Now, less than three years on, I guess there¡¦s probably more storage in the chip on my credit card! I appreciate that it¡¦s cheap to buy a new hard drive, but it¡¦ll cost a bit more than a hundred bucks to shoe-horn it into my Vaio, transfer data etc. So I¡¦ll find some work-rounds for now and invest in a new laptop early next year with the BIGGEST hard drive I can get my paws on - which no doubt by the end of 2011 will be considered smaller than an Australian batting average!
Thanks again for your help.
Regards,

Clive

Just to clarify, I also go the DVD Folder route.

Must have been thinking of someone else!

Clive -- it is not as scary as you might think to install a new hard drive in a laptop. But the problem is always going to be that laptop drives are always smaller -- and usually slower -- than desktop drives. You could always just buy a larger desktop drive either already in an external case, or buy the case yourself and install the drive in it. That way you will get the space and not have the hassle of having to touch the Vaio's innards!

If I understand correctly your laptop has an 80GB hard drive.
It is split into 2 partitions and you only have a small amount of space left on each partition.

Unless you are dual booting with an operating system on each partition, then I would think that you have your operating system and your programs on your "C" drive. Your "Data" (Videos, photographs, music, spead sheets, word document and so on) on your "D" drive.

You can quickly reconfigure your computer so that you don't have to re-install anything and get back plenty of hard drive space.

1. Purchase an External USB Hard Drive - the bigger the better.
These are also available as external firewire and esata drives though the last one I bought would connect by any of the 3 available methods, strangely though the only one that worked correctly was the USB connection.

2. Move the entire contents of your existing drive "D" to the external drive.

3. Preserve your paths to those items by getting your computer to adopt drive letter D for your external drive. To do so you must firstly alter the existing drive D to another drive letter. Then alter your external drive to drive letter D.

How to change drive letter assignments in Windows XP

4. With the drive letters changed check to make sure that any programs that look for data on drive letter "D" now find it - which they should.
Once satisfied that the external drive is working correctly you now have some choices.

a. Simply reformat the old D drive to regain that space.
b. Delete the old D drive and then increase the size of your C drive to take up the space now released.

XP has the following built in tools
How to use Disk Management to configure basic disks in Windows XP
alternatively use a partition editing program such as Partition Magic
another option is to use a Vista Set up disk - no don't install vista, just use the tools on the disk to resize the existing partitions.

DVD menu structure


Joining more or less the above discussion, I kindly ask your to help solve the following disc creating problem:
I created with UVS 11.5 a Disc Image in size to exactly fit on a 4.7 DVD. I'd like to make another DVD with the same Image , but completed with another small avi (divx) file. At the same time, I like to keep the original DVD menu structure as chapter menu, while to create title menu, where the first title is the video under the original disc image, the second is the newly added video (avi) file. Obviously, I have to recode the original video on the disc image to allow space for the additional video file on the 4.7 GB DVD disc. As I noted from the above discussion t is not possible to import the menu structure from a completed DVD?(Ken Berry 24.08.2009). Does it mean that I should rebuild the same menu as chapter menu, nothing can be made use of the existing one on the disc image?

Many thanks (again) to Ken, Black Lab and Steve Jones for their helpful comments. As my Vaio is within six months of its allotted life span, I'm not going to play around with the partitions. Instead, when I need a pile of hard disc space for copying etc, I'll simply use a desk top machine in the office - which is what I should have done in the first place I guess, if mother nature had blessed me with a brain!!
Anyway, thanks again for your kind assistance.
Regards,

Clive