Burning question - where's the weak link?

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Things were going good. I edited and produced a nice video of a school
trip, and began the process of burning some DVDs to pass out to the
participants. Some turned out okay, most didn't. In all, only 3 of 8 DVDs
were usable. Not a happy or economical average.

First, the symptoms:
On the copies that were no good, the common thread seemed to be that they'd
play okay up to the last couple chapter points. Near the end of the movie,
the image would lock up, although the play counter (on my DVD player) would
continue to advance. This would also severely hose the DVD controls. These
disks would not load on the PC DVD drive.

My list of possible causes for your opinion:
1. Too long? This is long for a "home movie", 1:05, with about 20 chapter
points. However, the movie editing software seemed to render it properly,
and the mpeg file plays flawlessly in WMP. FWIW, I've done something
similar in the past without this problem, although that video was only about
55 minutes. Could that extra 10 minutes be the Achilles heel?

2. DVD burner temperature? This was suggested by a techie at one of the
'big box" electronics retailers. He offered the notion that the DVD drive
heated up in the process of creating a number of disks, causing errors.
Personally, I'm doubtful, especially because the first one out of the tray
was bad. I've also recently installed an auxilliary fan.

3. Bad media? I'm using Memorex DVD+R. I can understand if I'd get a bad
disk from time to time; but 5 out of 8 seems beyond the norm.

4. Processor? I have a Celeron 1.8 GHz. A different techie at a different
store was dead certain that was my problem, asserting that the Celeron was
incapable of reliable video processing.

5. Memory? I'm working w/ about 512 MB RAM (& enormous amounts of HD space
for virtual memory).

6. Software? My DVD compilation & burning program is Sonic MyDVD that came
with the Sony DVD-R drive.

7. Hardware? This is a decent (I thought) Sony DVD-RW drive (DRU-530A).

So there you have it. What's the collective wisdom here think is the most
likely answer? Where must I spend my time or money to be able to burn this
video to DVD (with a better than 37% success rate).

TIA,
Joe F.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hi Joe. See responses in-line.


rb608 wrote:
> Things were going good. I edited and produced a nice video of a
> school trip, and began the process of burning some DVDs to pass out
> to the participants. Some turned out okay, most didn't. In all,
> only 3 of 8 DVDs were usable. Not a happy or economical average.


I'll say not :-(


> First, the symptoms:
> On the copies that were no good, the common thread seemed to be that
> they'd play okay up to the last couple chapter points. Near the end
> of the movie, the image would lock up, although the play counter (on
> my DVD player) would continue to advance. This would also severely
> hose the DVD controls. These disks would not load on the PC DVD
> drive.
>
> My list of possible causes for your opinion:
> 1. Too long? This is long for a "home movie", 1:05, with about 20
> chapter points. However, the movie editing software seemed to render
> it properly, and the mpeg file plays flawlessly in WMP. FWIW, I've
> done something similar in the past without this problem, although
> that video was only about 55 minutes. Could that extra 10 minutes be
> the Achilles heel?


I strongly doubt it. I've done DVDs anywhere from 15 min. to 2 hr. and have
yet to have a problem.


> 2. DVD burner temperature? This was suggested by a techie at one of
> the 'big box" electronics retailers. He offered the notion that the
> DVD drive heated up in the process of creating a number of disks,
> causing errors. Personally, I'm doubtful, especially because the
> first one out of the tray was bad. I've also recently installed an
> auxilliary fan.


I'm doubtful too. IMO, the "techie" doesn't know what he's talking about.
Big box stores have a poor reputation for having staffers who truly know
what they're talking about.


> 3. Bad media? I'm using Memorex DVD+R. I can understand if I'd get
> a bad disk from time to time; but 5 out of 8 seems beyond the norm.


That's a possibility. Just because it's brand name media doesn't mean that
there wasn't a bad batch. Grab an app called DVD Identifier from
http://DVD.Identifier.CDfreaks.com and see out who really manufactured the
media you are using. Then, armed with the data, go to
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdmedia and read real-life reports on this media.
Also, what speed did you burn them at? If I'm doing dupes like this, I
never go over 2X burn speed.


> 4. Processor? I have a Celeron 1.8 GHz. A different techie at a
> different store was dead certain that was my problem, asserting that
> the Celeron was incapable of reliable video processing.


See answer to # 2 above about the "techie's" opinions.


> 5. Memory? I'm working w/ about 512 MB RAM (& enormous amounts of
> HD space for virtual memory).


Nope.


> 6. Software? My DVD compilation & burning program is Sonic MyDVD
> that came with the Sony DVD-R drive.


I use Vegas & DVD Architect so I can't say. Do you have the latest version
of the software?
FWIW, I use DVD Architect to author the DVD (create VIDEO_TS & AUDIO_TS
folders) but then use RecordNow Max to do the actual burning. Other folks
here are using Nero in the same fashion. Accepted thinking seems to be that
authoring apps do not necessarily make good burning apps.


> 7. Hardware? This is a decent (I thought) Sony DVD-RW drive
> (DRU-530A).


The reviews at http://www.videohelp.com/dvdwriters are mixed for this
burner. Some folks seem to have had success by updating the firmware on the
drive.


> So there you have it. What's the collective wisdom here think is the
> most likely answer? Where must I spend my time or money to be able
> to burn this video to DVD (with a better than 37% success rate).
>
> TIA,
> Joe F.


I recommend a good browse through the above mentioned site as it's a gold
mine of information/ Good luck with it and let us know if you find a
solution as it may help others.

Mike

 

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Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

"Mike Kujbida" <kujfam-misleadingspam@sympatico.ca> wrote in message
news:2lgslrFcmsb9U1@uni-berlin.de...
> Hi Joe. See responses in-line.

<good stuff snipped>

Thanks a bunch. I will cruise through those ideas and see where they lead.
The one item that catches my eye is the burning speed. I have been burning
at the max speed of the drive at 4X, but inasmuch as the write time is
relatively insignificant compared to the build time, dropping to 2X would
probably be an interesting experiment without sacrificing much actual
production time.

Joe F.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

You can rule out your processor or ram. If the video files you rendered are
fine then it isn't your computer. Rendering video is harder processor and
ram wise than burning to disc is.

As Mike said I would check the media. CD media is much more reliable than
DVD. I have had more problems with DVD media of all brands and cost, so bad
in fact that I don't bother any more at a $1 or more per disc it just isn't
worth it. I use TMPGEnc and turn all of my videos in to VCD's. I am happy
with quality and I am happy with the cost of the disc and most of all I have
had far fewer Frisbees.

John

 

[kelvin]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

> > 6. Software? My DVD compilation & burning program is Sonic MyDVD
> > that came with the Sony DVD-R drive.
>
>
> I use Vegas & DVD Architect so I can't say. Do you have the latest version
> of the software?
> FWIW, I use DVD Architect to author the DVD (create VIDEO_TS & AUDIO_TS
> folders) but then use RecordNow Max to do the actual burning. Other folks
> here are using Nero in the same fashion. Accepted thinking seems to be that
> authoring apps do not necessarily make good burning apps.

This is the same area where I had problems until I started using
RecordNow Max to do the actual burning. Even Nero has problems with
DVD+R media, particularly if you are trying to use bitsetting.