Can't play Blu-ray disk after burning with VS Ult x7

[Mr68]

I have successfully created several Blu-ray disks of projects recently using VideoStudio Ultimate x7 version 17.1.0.22. However, my most recent project will not play on either of my home BR players. The symptoms on each player are different. The first one, Sony BDP-S350, the disk loads, the player hunts and then shuts off. The other, a Samsung, the disk loads, then skips to a scene near the end of the video, goes blank, then shows the same scene, then blank, etc. until I shut it off. I was able to "rewind" and could see the contents of the video played backwards, but as soon as I press play, it goes to the same scene as before and repeats the alternating on and off behavior.
Steps I have taken so far: Uninstalled VS and reinstalled. Updated SW with service pack 1. Generated and small test project and burned a Blu-ray disc which played successfully. Made a copy of the original project which I then edited by removing a large number of files. I burned a copy of this project but it exhibited the exact same behavior as before.
I am using Ridata BD-R 25GB disks.
The original project is about 1 hour in length so I have been waiting many hours each time i try something new to troubleshoot this problem. Any help you could offer would be very appreciated.
Thanks.

[lata]

Hi Mr68

And welcome to the forums.

I assume you are going to the burner module with the project open in the timeline.

Can you open your project to create a video file first.
Share Create Video File AVCHD or Bluray. This will render the project to a new compliant video file suitable to burn a BD
To burn a disc, start a new project – Share Create Disc Bluray
This opens the burner module, top left to Insert Media –Insert Video file – using the file created above.

If you provide details of your original video file, from the timeline Right click and choose Properties, we may be able to suggest other options for Share Create Video File, maybe Same as first clip would be more suitable.

On the final window you could choose to create BD Folder, that will save the files to the hard drive, playing using a suitable media player would test its functions, before burning to disc, saves on making coasters.

Do the discs play ok using your PC?

[Mr68]

Thank you so much for your rapid reply. I will try to answer your questions the best I can but there seems to be a little difference between what I see on screen and what you are asking. Here goes:
Yes, my original attempt to burn the disc started after I had opened the project and it was in the timeline. I have seen the option to create a video file in my previous version of VS (x5 I think), but I don't see that now. When I go to the share tab I see the screen shot attached. Only when I click on the disc icon do I get an option to save project to disc in either a Blu-ray or AVCHD format. So I can't proceed with your next step until I can figure out where to get the option to save as a video file.
I took several screen shots showing the properties of the video clips. The third clip is an overlay video from a different source than the main video.
The disc did not autoplay when I inserted it. I never seem to know which subfile to dbl click on to make it play if I go to the disc using Explorer so I tried several unsuccessfully. I opened VS and tried Import from Digital Media using the Capture tab. I was able to play the video from there.

Just tried to upload all the attachments and found that 3 max is allowed. I will send them in a separate post if that is OK.
Thanks again. Hope this info is what you are looking for.

[Mr68]

Here is the last attachment showing the properties of the Overlay clip. Thanks.

[lata]

Hi

The properties of your video file look ok to me, the same as I use from my Panasonic cam corder, except I own the Pal version not NTSC.
You should not have any problems in using your video files to burn a BluRay disc



1 / Edit your project
2 / Share – Top Icon - this opens the Create Video File section, although says “Create a video that you can play on your computer”, maybe they should have kept the old description.

3/ At the top shows Same as Project Settings, tick the box then change to Same as First Clip
Assuming the first video in the timeline is one of your M2TS files, the properties should show as your images.

Similar to these…………
MPEG Transport-Stream Files
24 bits, 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps
Upper Field First
(HDMV-NTSC), 16:9
H.264 Video
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 16800 kbps)
Audio data rate: 384 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 3/2(L,C,R,SL,SR)

You render the project to these settings.
If you choose AVCHD you will be able to create the same template using the + symbol

4 / Play the rendered video to test quality.

To burn the disc….

5 / start a new project Share – Disc option – Bluray – Opens the burner module, nothing in the timelines.
6 / Top Left Icon – Add Media – Add Video File – browse and find the video rendered above.
7 / Create a menu, then burn a disc.
8 / the process will complete without rendering the video (Convert title) as you are using a compliant video file, the actual burn process will be faster.

9 / by choosing to Create Blu-ray Folders will create a folder structure BDMV
This will perform the same processes but save to the hard drive.

I mentioned playing the BDMV folder, there are problems….
You may not be able to play the BDMV + menu -- not many free media players will play these files.
In fact I am having great difficulty in finding a player that will actually play the menu structure.
Corel WinDVD Pro plays them provided you use the trial version, for how long that works is any bodies guess, as Corel admit it should not do that and will be fixing it?????? Removing that facility.

DVDFab Media Player should play the BDMV, but I am also having problems with that program.

That’s the bad news

If the burning process completes ok, use ImgBurn to burn the BDMV to bluray disc.
ImgBurn is free and I would say worth having……….


I use a Ritek dye disc, and may well be a Ridata disc, I use a program called DVD Identifier, that shows the full details of the disc.

[Mr68]

SUCCESS!!
Thank you Trevor for your response and expert advice.
I have to tell you the interesting behavior of the disc on the two players I have. The main player is the relatively old Sony BDP-S350. When the disc started playing, everything looked fine until the scene went from my titles to the primary video clip. At that point the picture started pixelating badly. I fast forwarded the disc a bit and the picture smoothed out. I reversed the disc back to where it first started acting up and it played better but not perfect. I then ejected the disc and tried it in the Samsung player where it played flawlessly. I had updated firmware in the Sony last week, so it is up-to-date. Oh, well.
I didn't mess with creating a menu for this disc. At this point I really just wanted to see if it could play. Now that you have identified a sequence of operations for me that should work, I can try to add the menu on my next attempt. I sure am glad the price of these BR discs have come down to a reasonable level since I've created a lot of worthless coasters in this process!
Thank you again for your interest and help on this issue.
Regards,
Don

[Ken Berry]

A way of avoiding creation of coasters is to "burning" a Blu-Ray folder instead of an actual BD disc on the final page of the burning module. You can then play the folder in a player like the freeware VLC Player which will play just about anything. That way you can check how it came out. And when it is finally acceptable, you can burn the folder to disc. Unfortunately, this would require you either to go through the burning process again in VS, this time with a disc in the drive, or else use third party software such as Nero or Roxio suites, or the freeware ImgBurn.