VS X10 Ultimate fails before start of burning

[iain]

I'm running VS X10 Ultimate on Windows 10 on a desktop PC.

I have compiled a video which is 65 mins in length comprising several clips interspersed with AB scene changes and Fades to black. There are scene date displays and occasional music excerpts.

I have previously successfully burned a DVD with a virtually identical video (only the title changed) and the setup being unchanged. On each occasion when setting the burning process in action I had the following message:-

"The total size is larger than the chosen project. You can 1. Press Yes to try to fit DVD 2. Press no to go back and change project or re-select clips."

The video size was stated as 4.5GB and I was using a Sony DVD +R of 4.7GB suitable fo 120 mins so I pressed Yes and VS proceeded with rendering. Over four hours later the DVD was finished and was fine.

On the second occasion some 3 weeks later I did the same thing but it did not even reach the burning part as I had an unspecified error 5.0.0. I have since tried turning off my anti-virus which speeded up the process but still ended in the error and made no attempt to burn to the disc.

Can anyone suggest what might be wrong please? One thing occurred to me is that between the two events, Windows has installed some updates. Could one of those be responsible?

I haven't tried creating an MPEG4 file of the video which I could take to another computer to have burned as DVD. Is that likely to be any more successful?

Thanks & regards

Iain Smith

[Ken Berry]

I haven't tried creating an MPEG4 file of the video which I could take to another computer to have burned as DVD. Is that likely to be any more successful?

There is no point in creating an mpeg-4 if your intention is to burn a DVD. Under the international DVD standard, the format has to be DVD-compatible mpeg-2. MPEG videos of all types are, in addition, lossy. In other words, each time they are processed, they lose a little quality. So producing an mpeg-4 and later having to down-convert it to less-highly compressed mpeg-2 would involve a loss of quality.

Converting your project first into such an mpeg-2 would probably also help solve the rest of your problems. First off, though, the size of a DVD disc. Yes, they are shown as having a capacity of 4.7 GB but there's a bit of jiggery-pokery there between bytes and bits. In reality, a single layer DVD will only hold 4.3 GB including the menu. So in order to fit, you need to keep your project output down to that figure or a little below if you intend to add a menu.

The size of your output from the project is largely determined not only by the length, but by the bitrate used. The higher the bitrate, the higher the quality, but also the larger the file! I would have thought that a 65 minute project such as yours, when being burned to a single layer DVD, and using Dolby audio instead of (larger) standard LPCM, would just about fit on a 4.3 GB DVD if it was using a bitrate of 8000 kbps -- which in effect is the top limit bitrate for a home made DVD. Anything above that will not only increase the size of the output, but also run the risk of causing the stand-alone DVD player you play it on to skip a little or have a little difficulty in reading parts. Not always, but sometimes.

I also have the suspicion you are finishing your editing and jumping straight to Share > DVD to burn. Is that correct? There's nothing wrong with that. It's just that sometimes, like your present problem, it doesn't work. So a number of us old hands here usually first convert the project to a DVD-compatible mpeg-2 before even opening the burning module. That involves going to Share but instead of choosing a disc option, choose MPEG-2 instead. Choose one of the options which includes a bitrate of 8000 kbps and Dolby audio, and probably Upper Field First (though Frame Based is fine if you are producing a slide show of still photos). The frame size should also be 720 x 576 (PAL) or 720 x 480 (NTSC). Give it a name and press Start.

One of the advantages of this method is that when the new file is produced, you can immediately see how big it is. If it is larger than 4.3 GB then you should probably repeat the Share but lower the bitrate to, say, 7500 kbps. If, later, you have other larger projects, then as a general guide, a 90 minute project should have a bitrate of 6000 kbps, and a 2 hour project would need 4000 kbps, though with that the final quality would be no better than a VHS videotape.

You will also be able to play back the new file to make sure it has everything the way you want it. You also need to be patient in producing this file. It will take time, but later the burning process will be shorter since it will not be converting the project file to mpeg-2 as part of the burning process.

Once satisfied, you can then go to Share > DVD. When the burning module opens, if there is anything in its timeline, delete it -- it will be your project file, which is not what you want. It might look like a video, but it isn't.

Then go to Add Media in the top left of the burning screen and navigate to your new mpeg-2 file and add it to the timeline. Click on the Options cogwheel icon in the bottom left of the burning screen and make sure the box beside "Do not convert compliant MPEG files" is ticked. It is normally ticked by default in recent versions of VS, but was not ticked in older versions. Then build your menu if you want one, and burn. This time it should work.

[iain]

Ken, thank you for your fulsome and detailed reply, which is full of useful info for a non-expert such as myself.

You are correct, I was going straight to Share/Burn DVD. I will follow your instructions and will let you know how it goes.

Thanks again.

Iain Smith

[iain]

Ken, I followed your instructions and, yes, I was able to burn two copies of my DVD using your method.

However, this process removed my chapter points so the DVD is just one long chapter. Is there something I should have done to preserve these?

Iain Smith

[Ken Berry]

Part of the process of building a menu allows you to divide a single video into chapters. I guess I use that rather than inserting chapter points during the editing process, because I use our suggested alternative workflow of first rendering the project into a single new video which is used to burn the DVD.

But you should be able to go back and insert the chapters at the menu stage since you still have your new mpeg-2.

One other hint, since this might be new to you, would be to mark your chapters in the menu, and on the final page of the burning module, instead of actually burning a disc, choose to 'burn' an ISO instead. That is in effect identical to what your final DVD will look like. But it will allow you to play it back on a freeware player such as VLC Player (which can play ISO files) to check everything is the way you want it. And you can use the ISO burning tool which comes with VS to eventually burn the ISO to an actual disc once you are satisfied. Quite a few other programs such as Corel's Roxio suite, the Nero Burning ROM suite, Ashampoo's Burning Studio and the freeware ImgBurn can also burn an ISO to disc.

[lata]

Hi

Just to add a comment regarding chapter points
If you have added chapter points to the project, then render to Mpeg2 the chapter points will be embedded within the mpeg2
When you add the mpeg to the burner, an option from create chapters will allow scan to find those points.
You would then rename them in the chapter points menu

Like Ken I would render my project into shorter sections creating several video files, adding those to the burner to create a title menu, not needing a chapter menu.

[Ken Berry]

Like Ken I would render my project into shorter sections creating several video files

Umm, no -- I never suggested that at all. I've only ever said render the entire project into a new mpeg-2 and not bother about chapters until you get to the burning stage. But thanks, Trevor, for reminding me that chapter points should remain in the rendered mpeg-2, and can be scanned for and renamed in the burning module.

[iain]

Thanks for your help Ken and Trevor.

Iain

[Ken Berry]

But have you got anything to work properly?

[iain]

As I said im my post of 21st Feb, I was able to burn two copies of the DVD so that is progress.

Not had time yet to try uncovering the chapter points embedded in the mpeg file.

Iain Smith