Moviefactory 7se will not publish a DVD

[metmot]

I don't know if my problem is the same as the one which a couple of people were trying to describe earlier this week. Sounds like it may be.

I originally intalled Moviefactory 7se a few months back and it had this problem but at the time I just continued to use VSx2 burning module to burn DVDs and ISO files. So last week I decided to hotrod my system here a bit and installed a fresh 64 bit Win7 ultimate which allowed me to add 4 more gigs of useable ram. Now that I have reformatted and starting anew I really don't want to reinstall X2 again. I am trying to move forward

So here's the problem. I create an MPEG 2 movie clip in X3 and then open Moviefactory. The interface is of course very familiar from all my creating in X2. I build my menu etc using exactly the steps I always used in X2 and go to burn the DVD. It converts the title and as soon as it goes to the stage of "preparing output content" a box pop up that says an unspecified error has occurred with no other information. I tried to zip through a trial project using all default settings, a random smartscene menu and a short video clip just to see if this program is capable of creating a dvd under any circumstances and it did just fine for that trial so it's something specific about what I'm doing. Whatever it is, it wasn't a problem in X2 as my steps are identical. I substituted a video that I made last week and burnt into a dvd in X2 just to rule out something about the video I made today with no change. The only difference that I can see between my successful test DVD and the one I am trying to produce is the menu options I used. For the tribute DVD I am trying to make (the funeral service is Monday morning) I use a text menu. I hide all the text, make it as small as possilbe and drag it outside the title safe area as far as I can move it. This way none of it ever shows up in the DVD no matter what buttons you push on your DVD player. It seems like all the menue in Moviefactory have a lot more of this to get rid of than some of the simple one's in X2. I have made more than 200 tributes like this successfully in both X2 and VS 11, 10. My menu page consists of only an image file for a background which I create in Photoshop with the text and enhancements that I want. I do this mainly because of the limitations of font spacing and other customizations available in the menu editor of VS/Moviefactory.

I have installed the latest Direct X. I use quicktime alternative instead of the ever invasive Apple version but that has never been an issue with VSx2 even using MOV files. I can post the movie clip properties if anyone thinks that may help but my feeling is the trouble lies elsewhere since the same clips burn just fine in X2. If I don't get this solved today I guess I will have to install X2 tomorrow just to make this DVD for Monday but I would rather solve this instead and leave X2 in the past. Less programs installed on a fresh computer always seems to be better. I don't want to use DVD Factory pro 2010 because I really would like to create an image file at the same time for archival purposes without having to burn an image from my completed disc in another program.

One other question. Can I use the menu templates from X2 in Movie Factory? Can someone remind me where they are located and if that's possible? How about all the "get more" menus Corel gave us for DVD Factory Pro? Can they be imported to Moviefactory 7se? Assuming I ever get it working that is.

Sorry for the long post and if there's not enough info to help. I'm trying

[Black Lab]

I use quicktime alternative instead of the ever invasive Apple version but that has never been an issue with VSx2 even using MOV files.

But you are not using X2! If all else is the same it would at least be worth it to look into.

As far as X2 is concerned, I have gone back to it for my authoring. DVD Factory Pro is, of course, junk, but I have also had issues with MF7SE. Problems (no audio output when using the Normalise function) that, according to the MF thread, have been around for quite some time but have never been fixed. I'm tired of being yanked around by Corel's "fixes", so I have gone back to what works.

[metmot]

Ok here's an update. I went back through and changed one step of my menu editing at a time and tried to burn an image file each time. The step which causes the crash is unchecking the motion menu box. As long as it is checked the burn module will function. Unchecking it seems to cause this unspecified error.. Of course I don't want a motion menu since my menu consists only of my premade image from photoshop. If I leave it there the menu has a hitch every 20 seconds on the still image. This is not acceptable for my purposes as the menu remains up on the screen at the memorial service until such time as they play it.

Idea on this one anyone? I haven't even tried to burn a disc yet to see if normalizing audio makes the audio inoperative. I always use the normalize audio option. Jeff you may be right, I may just have to go back to X2 for authoring which actually works as designed. I already installed it to harvest the menus and put them into moviefactory and use the same one I was used to. This worked nicely as far as adding the templates, but got the crash still.

[Black Lab]

As I said, if you search the MF forum you will see the Normalize problem has been around for quite some time. I would be surprised if it worked for you. But you never know!