vs 12 stops during "finalizing vob"

[ggg]

Thank you for all your help in the past. Have new one now. Vs12 is stopping during "finalizing vob" usually at 90% plus complete. It started doing this after making many dvds w/o any problems. This is a real time waster as it seems to take a lot of time to convert the video of the title seeing as I am not creating chapters or menus on these particular DVDs. Is there a reason this step even happens when there are no menus or chapters. I have checked the box "do not render compliant etc." on the cogwheel options.

[ggg]

I uninstalled VS, ran ccleaner and then reinstalled vs. Made 1 dvd. This was from a file created using share>create video file>dvd. No chapters or menus. Do not render compliant.... box was checked. Took almost an hour, most of which was converting video of title. Tried another using the same procedure (did change the MPEG setting from 90 minutes to 120 minutes). VS quit running at 99% of finalizing VOB again. What do I do? Surely not un and re install after every DVD.

[Ken Berry]

The workflow you describe in your second post sounds like the right one: first producing a DVD-compatible mpeg-2 (Share > Create Video File > DVD). Then opening the burning module (Share > Create Disc > DVD) and inserting that new file, ensuring that 'do not convert compliant mpeg files' is ticked.

But the first step depends on how long your project is. If you accept the default 'DVD' setting in Share > Create Video File > DVD, it is only good if your project is around an hour long, or less. That is because it uses (IIRC) a bitrate of 8000 kbps and will render you project into an mpeg-2 which is just under 4.3GB so that you can build a menu and burn it to a 4.2 GB single layer DVD.

But if your project is considerably longer (say 90 minutes -- which I am guessing the first one might have been since you say you changed some setting from 90 to 120 minutes), using the default 'DVD' settings will produce a file which is considerably larger than 4.3 GB. That will work if you are burning to a dual layer DVD, but of course will not fit on a single layer one. Ditto with a 120 minute project, only worse!

So it could be that VS is trying to adjust settings in the burning module to squeeze your project down to fit, but is failing to do so. However, as far as I am aware, recent versions should not even try that. Versions 9 and 10 (again if I recall correctly) had a 'squeeze to fit' feature which never really worked well. But I think that was discontinued in VS 11/11.5 and X2.

But anyway, if your projects *are* well over one hour but you are burning them to a single layer DVD, then in the Editing module you must use Share > Create Video File > Custom instead of 'DVD'. That will give you more options in the settings for the mpeg-2, including importantly the bitrate. You will have to adjust that down to around 6000 kbps for a 90 minute project or 4000 kbps for a 2 hour project. You will get another 10 minutes or so of video if you also use either Dolby or mpeg layer 2 audio.

The only other alternative is to produce your 'DVD' mpeg-2 as you have, insert that in the burning module, but set it for an 8.5 GB DVD. And instead of actually burning the disc in the last stage, choose 'DVD Folder' as the output. Then when that is produced, use a program like DVD Shrink or Nero Recode to reduce it to fit on a 4.3 GB DVD. The quality that way is very good.

[ggg]

I followed your instructions but the bitrate is already at 4000. That must be why I have been able to burn successfully up to now (after an intial learning curve). I have been making DVDs in either the 90 or 120 setting. The file sizes have generally been in the low 3GB to high 2GB range. Some actually got to 4. The main thing is that they worked. I just burned a smaller one and it worked. @plus GB but 55 minutes long.
Really weird thing just happened. VS was shut down. I was doing other work when the DVD drive just started running. After 12 minutes I finally had to turn off the computer to get it to quit. Think I just made a coaster.