Error message during burning

[Jools]

Hi,

I'm a newbie here and have recently purchased PictureShow 3 Deluxe.

I've had little difficulty arranging my photos (approx 347), using the various functions to add background songs, decoration, etc, and was finally ready to burn the slideshow to a DVD. That said, this did take me a few days.

After realising the burning process was going to take hours (yesterday afternoon... and admittedly, I wasn't especially impressed about this), I left it to continue burning overnight. Some time during the early hours of this morning I heard a noise from my computer and decided to leave it until I woke this morning. When I woke I saw that the DVD burner had opened and thought that the burn must have been successful.... that the noise I had heard was the completion of the burning process and the DVD burner had opened, like it does when I burn a CD.

However, the top line was at 98% and the bottom line was at 86% (sorry.... can't remember what these are called) and there was an error message which said:

Failure error when recording to the disc.(27)

Error Information:
Class ID: 49e287a8-df6a-4198-baaf-6a4c4dd2fba2
Function ID: 6
Line Number: 390

Can anyone interpret this for me? Because I have absolutely no idea what it means.

To say I'm disappointed is an understatement. I downloaded the patch the other day and I checked my system as far as meeting requirements - which it does.

I have read several of the posts here and see that many people have had many problems with this software. I contacted technical support but I don't expect an answer any time soon considering many of you have waited an age to hear back from ULEAD'S tech support staff. And the kicker... the company I bought this software from (a large company many Aussies are all too familar with) have a policy that once the box of any software purchased is opened there are no refunds or exchanges.

This is outrageous. How the hell are you supposed to know whether software will work or not unless you try it? Totally ludicrous. Nonetheless, before I take the issue to the New South Wales Department of Fair Trading and get the refund, I was wondering if there is anything I can try to burn my slideshow to a DVD. It was supposed to be for my mother's birthday but that simply won't happen. It looks like slippers.... again.

I also saw one of the posters here say that ArcSoft DVD Slideshow is a far superior product, and that it works. Is that right? Would I be better off buying an alternative product?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Jools.

[carlnewman]

There's an update to the disc sent in the box. Doesn't tell you to check for updates during the install, but it should. Go to the Ulead main web site, chose Update Packs under Downloads.

I had the same problem - applying the patch seemed to fix it. Burned a 579 slide (12 show) DVD. Took a loooong time.

Carl

[2log]

There are many things to consider that can cause burning problems for PictureShow... which actually applies to any video rendering and burning softwares as well.

Meeting the minimum requirements doesn't guarantee you a successfull burn. You have to make sure you have enough resources for it to run properly. Close all other applications when rendering a PictureShow project. Disable any screen saver and unplug external USB devices like printers or scanners to free up memory usage.

Reduce the resolution of high quality images. DVD, which has the highest resolution for a video format, only renders a video project in 720x480 resolution for NTSC and 720x576 for PAL. That's not even half of a megapixel. If you're using images taken from a 6.3 megapixel camera for example, then the software will have a difficult time rendering it to video. The minimum requirements will not be enough.

Try reading other threads here about burning problems as well:
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=3170
http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=5146

If you're interested in a software, the best thing to do is to download the trial version first so you won't end up being frustrated later on if it does not work for you.