Burning a DVD - a problem

[Davidk]

I'm using VS X5 Ultimate SP2, the OS is Windows 7 Home premium SP1, on a dual core 2.7ghz processor system, and what I am attempting to do is burn an updated DVD of a holiday movie project. Feedback on the first version (which burned to DVD OK) suggested some improvements, which I've applied to the individual project files. Burning the result to DVD is just taking far too long and seems to stall for some reason. The first time I have struck this problem. I'm looking to find out why - which might be that I have unreasonable expectations.

The contents to be burned to disk are 4 files - an introduction, a smartscene menu with music background, 2 topic files and a credits file. On prior experience I have found that it goes faster if the various content files are individually rendered, so of these files the first 3 are rendered to mpg form, and the last is a simple short vsp - a background with just text credits on it, lasts about 12 sec. the total disk occupancy reported by VS is 1.15Gb, or about 19 minutes playing time.

The file selection, menu setup and previews were all OK. The DVD inserted and at the VS burn panel, the burn rate selected to match the disk (irrelevant as it turns out - the problem being reported stalls the process before any disk burning took place), and burn is chosen.

Somewhere into the convert title phase for the second topic file, the burn process stalls. Twice I have aborted after elapsed times of about 1hour 10 mins and after finding nothing apparently amiss with the individual files, tried again. Same result, which I aborted after 1 hour 45 mins.

My earlier reference to expectations relates to creation times for a disk - currently, around twice the expected play time of the result given the preparatory work done: for disk to play about 20 minutes, a creation and burn time of 45-50 minutes.

So the questions
1. are my expectations unreasonable?
2. if not, what could be causing this??

Davidk

[Ken Berry]

You say you convert the projects to an actual video. Since you are producing a DVD, then the obvious choice for this conversion is DVD-compatible mpeg-2. Yet you then say that one of your topic files, already converted in the editing module, is going through a title conversion in the burning module. This suggests that you don't have an mpeg-2 for that video but some other format, or somehow have inserted the project .vsp file of the original project. If there was an actual mpeg-2 and the 'Do not convert compliant mpeg files' box is ticked in the Options box, then you should not be getting an 'convert title message for anything except the menu...

[Davidk]

Hi Ken,

I am baffled by this - there seems to be nothing different in the way I setup to burn disks today than when I burnt them weeks ago, yet the result is different.

1. converting projects to Mpeg-2 files. The method is - with the project open in the timeline - choose Share/create video file, choose 'same as project properties' and then when the save in panel displays, navigate to the required folder and insert a filename. This panel doesn't allow the option of any other putput format - .mpg filetype is the result that will be delivered. The result is shown in this clipped screen shot of the windows explorer result and project properties of the file that the output panel reported as in process when the stall or whatever it was occurred

So I have to assume that the file type VS wants is also what it delivers.

2. the 'do not convert compliant mpeg files' box is certainly checked - its the default. But I did check that it was set (ticked) when the output window/project preferences button is selected.

bafflement . . . .

Davidk

[lata]

Hi David

Give us some details of the 3 Mpeg files, from the timeline-- right click each clip and select properties, I assume them to be the same and DVD compliant, what are they?

Now render the VSP to Mpeg using compliant dvd settings.
You will now have four Mpeg2 compliant files.

Start a new project Share Create Disc—Add media files –Add Video use the Mpeg2 files.

As Ken mentioned there will be no further rendering, no Convert Title stage, the process should start with Convert Menu.
SmartScene menu types do take a while to convert.

My own preference would be to burn a Disc Image-- Iso file rather than a disc, if the process completes ok , play the file using VLC Media Player to check quality, then use X5 to burn the ISO file to disc.

If the process fails then there is something within the menu structure causing the problem.

[Davidk]

Because this was an update, I was updating the original project files and then creating new mpg files for use in the same burn a DVD project file I had used about 3 weeks ago.

Ordinarily, I use the create disk approach suggested. But I'd done that when I first created the original authoring files, so I didn't expect the reaction I got with an update to parts of the source which were converted to mpg before use.

Trevor's response had a number of suggestions, the ones making the most sense being:
1. make sure every item in the DVD list was a created mpg file - not a mixture of mpg's and vsp's.
2. start again with a clean slate and re-do it all.

So, that's what I did. The one topic file that had not been rendered to mpg was a music credits list, 10 sec playing time, as the last item on the DVD. So converted it.
Then created an entirely new from scratch burn a DVD authoring action, and included the menu music text and appearance I wanted. In essence, as before but newly made.

Saved it, loaded a blank disk, set the write rate, and burned. No errors and done in 5min 28 sec. Suspicious that - after the long hangups before, and with a source files that VS said would be 19min playing time. So I played it on the system players directly (VS turned off). It did take 19 minutes but it was what I wanted.

So why the original authoring file - which worked only 3-4 weeks ago - now had issues with minorly revised topic files which had been converted to mpg is beyond me.

But thanks for the help.

Davidk