Painfully slow "converting video title"

[karlamei]

Just started using DMF4. I have AVIs that I want to burn onto DVDs to play on regular DVD players, but it's painfully slow. I'm at 1% of the "converting video title" stage and it's been at least 10 minutes. I have a reasonably new computer that is quick otherwise. What can I do to speed up the process? Am I doing something wrong? It takes this long if I select "Record to disc" or "create dvd folders" or "created disc image file".

[randym77]

If there's an answer to this, I'd like to know it. I tried MF4 this week, and after two days, it was still at only 65% or so. That it just too slow to be usable.

MF 2 is much faster, but there's a really annoying audio/video synch problem. A pity, because it looks a lot better than Roxio and other DVD burning software I've tried.

[stevekng]

The likely cause of this is that you don't have your preferences set to NTSC. You have them set to PAL/SECAM which is the default on a new install for some reason.

[randym77]

But it asks you, when you install, what country you're in, and whether you want PAL or NTSC. Does that screen do nothing but give you something to click while the program is installing?

[randym77]

Well, I checked my preferences, and it's set to NTSC.

And slower than molasses, flowing uphill in January...

[GeorgeW]

are your source .avi files either divx or xvid? those types of videos can be problematic...

[stevekng]

Other considerations are system configuration(amount of ram, processor speed, video card, etc.), and whether you are creating a motion menu. Motion menues take a good long time if you have a bunch of them on your project. The MF project status bar would read "converting motion menu" for each chapter it had to create; 20 chapters, 20 motion files to create. I don't use that option too often, unless I have a game on TV I can watch while the DVD files are cooking.

[karlamei]

Sorry to sound like a moron, but how do I know what type of files I have?

[karlamei]

Well I THINK the bulk of my files are:
File Format: Microsoft AVI files -- open DML
Video compression: XviD MPEG-4 Codec
Audio compression: MPEG Layer-3

Can I convert these files into something that will run faster on DMF?

Also, my settings are to NTSC (or whatever it is) and not PAL.

What can I do!?!?!?!

Thanks for all the replies!

[randym77]

I don't think I'm creating a motion menu. In fact, one thing I like about Ulead is you can go menu-less, which is my preference.

My computer is a couple of years old now, but Roxio Easy Media Creator 7 burns the exact same AVI to DVD in under an hour, so I don't understand why Ulead should take three days.

[tonyl33]

Blaming the software for anything that goes wrong is like a bad workman blaming his tools. DVD production is a complex issue unlike all those advertisements selling videocams proclaiming that you can produce a DVD in a breeze. Your system must be in peak condition especially when you are dealing with AVI format. I prefer MPEG2 - less hassle & lesser disk usage & the format is compliant - cuts down the rendering.
When creating menus, motion menus are very attractive & 30secs is better than 20secs but take note of the volume involved - sometimes it's more than 1Gb just for the menu. As I have a fairly powerful & pristine system, my project rarely takes more than an hour to finish with MF4.
I defrag my HDD daily with Diskeeper 8.0

[randym77]

Blaming the software for anything that goes wrong is like a bad workman blaming his tools.

Sorry, I don't buy it. Workmen are supposed to have special knowledge ordinary folk don't have. Indeed, that is what they are paid for. Software, OTOH, is often sold on the "so easy anyone can use it" premise.

I don't need a menu because the DVDs only hold an hour, and I'm burning hour-long videos. If there's only one item on the disc, what do you need a menu for?

[tonyl33]

I emphasise on 'Bad workman' who blames everything except himself. If he is ignorant, then ask & learn.
As I said before, motion menus are very attractive & professional looking. My customers loved them & they even ask for longer duration & putting in their fav music. I will only comply if there's enough space but so far I do not face any problems.
Unlike DVD movies, VCD movies do not have menu but I ever compile 3 VCD movies complete with 3 mins chapters & motion menu for each individual movie & burn them on a normal DVD. You can watch 3 movies at one go & you can choose which one to watch first & you can choose the scenes too.

[randym77]

I don't have any "customers," and I'm not planning on getting any. I just want to make some DVDs out of my AVIs, for personal use, maybe to share with family.

Nero, Sonic, etc., are not this slow. Heck, even earlier versions of MF are not this slow. MF 2 is just as fast as Roxio, etc. It's only MF 4 that's slow. My system is pretty fast for most apps. (Including games and 3d animation.) And obviously, I am not the only one having trouble. Just because you're not having trouble doesn't mean there isn't a problem.

[stevekng]

One other thing you can do is to create the more system friendly MPEG2 files and then convert them to AVI files with a converter program like the ones Allok software puts out. I use one of their programs to convert WMV files to MPEG2 but it will also convert WMV to MPEG1, AVI, DVX,SVCD,VCD, IFO files, and ISO files. It's mighty handy and quick. I can covert a 2 hour WMV file in about 16 or 18 minutes. Allock also makes a program that converts DVD, MPEG, WMV, etc. to AVI. They all cost around $25.00 each.