Can't burn a DVD?

SpywareShooter

I made a video last month and just got around to uploading it to my computer to burn it to a DVD. I just bought a bunch of DVD-Rs, and my other computer came with one blank DVD+R. I went with the freebie first. I uploaded the video and tried to burn it to the DVD+R and I was glad when it worked. Then I went to play it in the DVD Player. "Disk Error". The other DVD player, another error.

I figured maybe DVD+Rs aren't compatible with DVD players or something, and I went to try it on a -R. I went to burn it and Windows Media Player (what I am using to burn it) said to insert a blank disk.

How can I get it to work? Is there some sort of process I need to do before burning the video to DVD?

GrayFox

+r disks are incompatable with most dvd players

maximusbad

Yea DVD+r's are gonna not be compatiable with most dvd players, although there are a few newer ones which support it. I would reccomend using DVD-R's.

profdlp

What burning software are you using?

SpywareShooter

I tried it with a -R but it wouldn't even burn. It said to insert a writable disk. I am using Windows Media Player to burn them.

profdlp

Is you burner dual-format? Nearly all of the newer ones these days are, but older ones were often limited to one type of blank DVD.

What brand and model do you have?

SpywareShooter

The computer was bought in October 2004 so it should have all the new stuff. Do you want to know the model of the computer itself (its an OEM) or the burner?

Thrax

Windows Media Player is <i>the worst</i> program to burn with. Use Nero.

And tell us what burner you have.

SpywareShooter

Can I legally get Nero for free? I just use WMP because it came with the computer and Sonic RecordNow doesn't burn DVDs.

profdlp

I agree with the Nero recommendation. Unfortunately, it would probably make more sense to buy a new burner with the full version bundled than it would to buy the standalone software.

For test pruposes, you could try DeepBurner Free. That might help answer the question of whether your problem is with hardware or software.

SpywareShooter

I dont know what model the burner is but the case has a sticker on it that says it's a Double Layer 8x burner. I'll try the download, thanks.

FormFactor

There is a 30 trial for nero... I beleive the trial version is speed limited to 2.4 or 4x.

Does the one you burned successfully play on pc?


Is there a video_ts and and audio_ts folder on the one that burned successfully?

SpywareShooter

I just found out that I have to encode it to MPEG. I've heard people say it took them days to burn a DVD and I was wondering why mine burned in 30 seconds. It must be because it wasn't encoded. I am encoding it now with a program I downloaded. It's been about 30 minutes and its about 1/3 done. I'll try to play it when it's encoded. Hopefully it'll work and that won't be 4 disks wasted.

SpywareShooter

I encoded it to MPEG-2 (m2v format) and burned it and it still didn't work? Anything I'm missing? I'm getting sick of wasting my DVD-Rs

profdlp

Does it play in WMP, or anything else you might have installed on your computer?

You really need to tell us what brand & model the burner is. If it's not compatible with the -R format you're wasting your time. Look in Device manager under DVD/CD-ROM Drives and see if that gives you a hint. It might list the firmware, etc, under "Details".

The other catch might be the brand of discs you're using. Some brands don't get along with some standalone DVD players.

SpywareShooter

It plays in WMP but not Winamp. With WMP its really low quality though, and with Winamp I get a black screen. Another thing is the video was originally 38 minutes long, and when I play it off of the DVD on WMP it says its 26 mins. Were these 12 minutes cut off or is WMP just not recognizing them?

I burned it last night with the Ashtonsoft program, and it placed it inside a folder (called New E:\) on the disk. Could this folder be why the DVD player isn't recognizing it? I think it is trying to play the folder rather than the video itself.

The video disks I got were Memorex DVD-R. I'll try to find the burner type later tonight when I give it another try.

profdlp

SpywareShooter wrote:

It plays in WMP but not Winamp. With WMP its really low quality though, and with Winamp I get a black screen.

That may just be a plugin and/or codec problem. Either way, it shows that something got burned. Do you have any DVD playback software that came with the drive? (Something like WinDVD, PowerDVD, etc.) You might try that and see what happens.

Another thing is the video was originally 38 minutes long, and when I play it off of the DVD on WMP it says its 26 mins. Were these 12 minutes cut off or is WMP just not recognizing them?

That might be a case of the player just not picking up the length properly. FF to near the end and see if the whole video is there.

I burned it last night with the Ashtonsoft program, and it placed it inside a folder (called New E:\) on the disk. Could this folder be why the DVD player isn't recognizing it? I think it is trying to play the folder rather than the video itself...

Is E: you DVD drive? The name "New" is probably just the default name it assigns the disc if you don't choose one yourself.

SpywareShooter

Yes, WinDVD came with my computer. I will try to play it with that.

E:\ is my DVD and CD writer drive. I use it as my main disk drive also. When I ripped the video to my computer (it was originally on CD-R, I didn't have any DVD-Rs) it uploaded it to a folder called New E:\. It is the same folder that is on the DVD-R.

SpywareShooter

OK I found software that worked, it burned it with a VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folder, although there was nothing in the AUDIO_TS. I went to play it on the DVD player and it no longer caused errors, but its just a white screen and it wont let me pause, play, fast foreward, rewind, or stop, only eject.

A friend gave me another burned DVD to try that was burned on a +R and it worked fine. It's in the same format. Maybe my DVD player can't read -R media?

Thrax

Did your previous DVDs not have a VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folder?

SpywareShooter

No they didn't.

Thrax

No wonder it didn't work. All DVDs have to have all the video files in a VIDEO_TS folder, and an empty AUDIO_TS folder.

DVD players won't read your disk without them, because it's not even a <b>DVD</b> without them. It's just.. A data disk that happens to have mpeg files on it.

SpywareShooter

But the disk that gives the white screen has AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders and it doesn't work.

Thrax

I also sincerely doubt that the video files are being encoded correctly.

What bitrate are you using? What kind of audio streams? What video resolution? What are you using to author the DVD?

profdlp

SpywareShooter wrote:

But the disk that gives the white screen has AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders and it doesn't work.

Recorded on a DVD +R, or a DVD -R?

Home players can be picky about the format. My $30 AMW home DVD player has handled everything I've thrown at it. My dad bought a much more expensive machine (I forget the brand) which he returned the several days later because it was incompatible with so many discs which worked fine in other machines.

The trick to the game is to find what works for your particular hardware, then stick to that.

SpywareShooter

The white screening disk is on a -R, the working one from a friend is on a +R

profdlp

SpywareShooter wrote:

The white screening disk is on a -R, the working one from a friend is on a +R

I'd try reversing the process and have your friend burn you a disc on a -R, while you burn a disc on a +R.

If both +R discs work (with both of you using different machines and burning software), you'll know what blanks to buy for your home player use.

If both discs your friend burned work, you'll know it's your software and/or burner.

If all the discs work on your friends home player, you'll know the problem lies with your own.

rocket9244

im usin dvd +r 16x disks..seems no probs burning..but im havin probs with dvd shrink...ive tried almost every program out there..here is a link to a bunch of dvd burners/shrinkers/rippers...im still kinda new to this..but maybe you can find something here. http://www.tomdownload.com/dvd_software2.htm i have nero 7 and nero 6.email me and maybe i can help you out..hope this helps.