Simple DVD Question

[GregTomkins]

I have been working on a slide show using PTE for the last couple of months, it's unbelievably great...

But today I am trying to burn it to a DVD eg. that I can play in a DVD player. So I do 'Create DVD Video', get up 'Video Builder', it's got my project selected, I click 'Next', and I get an hourglass that never goes away. This is on a very short test, 10 slides with 1 image each, and one 3 minute MP3. This test plays normally in PTE.

Also am I correct that I should switch the format to NTSC? I'm in Canada.

Any advice appreciated, many thanks.

[davegee]

With Create ISO Image the ONLY one ticked you only need to tell it where to save it and give it a name (Project name).

It will save the ISO file wherever you tell it to and once that is done you use your own Burning Software to burn to DVD.

I just double click on the ISO and the correct module within ROXIO opens up to do it.

DG

P.S. did you edit while I was writing? I'm sure that I was answering a different question which contained a reference to ISO Image!!!!

Yes - Use NTSC - (if you have a modern DVD player it SHOULD play both PAL and NTSC).

Your edited post tends to suggest that you might have HDD problems - insufficient disc space.

[GregTomkins]

With Create ISO Image the ONLY one ticked you only need to tell it where to save it and give it a name (Project name).

It will save the ISO file wherever you tell it to and once that is done you use your own Burning Software to burn to DVD.

I just double click on the ISO and the correct module within ROXIO opens up to do it.

DG

P.S. did you edit while I was writing? I'm sure that I was answering a different question which contained a reference to ISO Image!!!!

Yes - Use NTSC - (if you have a modern DVD player it SHOULD play both PAL and NTSC).

Your edited post tends to suggest that you might have HDD problems - insufficient disc space.

Hi Dave, thanks for the reply.

Yes, I did edit the original post, I found the 'Next' button.

Sorry about that, it said '0 Views' so I thought I was safe

Anyway this is a nearly new HDD with 487 GB (not MB) free, so I don't think that's the hourglass problem.

I have tried it 3x, rebooting between, etc.

Any other thoughts?

Cheers and thanks

[GregTomkins]

Hmm, after reading this forum for half an hour, I think it might be wise to give up. There is a lot of insinuation here that burning DVD's is an extremely touchy business at the best of times, and I only have a few hours left to finish this up.

I am totally burned out on slide shows now and probably won't be back here for a while. Just want to say: with the apparent exception of Video Builder, PTE is a truly wonderful product!, I tried several and none of them came close to the polish and functionality of PTE. Highly, highly recommended! As long as you don't want a DVD, that is

[Guest Yachtsman1]

GREG, IT'S YOUR C DRIVE that needs the space, having 400+GB 0n your HD means nothing if you haven't sufficient space on your C drive, minimum 5GB for a small show.

Yachtsman1

[Lin Evans]

Hi Eric,

I think he is talking about his C drive (hdd - hard disk drive).

Best regards,

Lin

GREG, IT'S YOUR C DRIVE that needs the space, having 400+GB 0n your HD means nothing if you haven't sufficient space on your C drive, minimum 5GB for a small show.

Yachtsman1

[Lin Evans]

Hi Greg,

It's not PTE's Video Builder which is problematic, it's the entire DVD industry. These type problems exist with nearly every software I've used to burn DVD's at one time or another and with one system or another.

There are a tremendous amount of variables including media, drivers, different country codes (on older hardware), premature burn-out on DVD burners and a host of other glitches which make it a nightmare for trying to get a system which works "every time" and for "everyone." Even the two major software developers (Nero and Roxio) are not compatible with each other. If you have formerly used Roxio, there is a good chance that Nero won't work correctly until every vestige of Roxio has been removed from the Registry. If you have formerly used Nero and are trying to use Roxio - likewise.

Developers of other than straight DVD or HDVD burning software generally use licenses for what are called "libraries." Libraries are code based functions which are licensed for developers of other software to drop in and include in their own software to allow features which these developers didn't write themselves. Sometimes these core "libraries" are modified to suit the individual software they are included in, but the seller of the "library" may have also licensed part of their own code from some major player such as Nero or Roxio. This means that there are myriad possibilities for error and for incompatibilities with both existing and latent code languishing in the Windows Registry. To add to this issue, there are numerous hardware drivers, media issues and such which are problematic with one or the other software approaches. This makes the entire issue of finding complete compatibility a very large "crap shoot."

If one has the good fortune to not have these issues then Video Builder works like a miracle and the user generally can't understand why other may be having fits trying to do something which works perfectly well on their own system. On of the major competing presentation slideshow software companies have even publicly recommended that people using their products not try to burn DVD's directly if they are having issues, but rather buy commercial products made specifically for this purpose. Some of these products have registry cleaners which seek out "alien" code and remove it. That work fine when one has, for example, switched from Nero to Roxio or vice versa, but could be a "big" problem for a developer using a library. The developer who uses a library can't automatically assume that the system his code will be installed on doesn't have one of these major software packages installed. It wouldn't look so good if installing PTE or some similar product disabled some other major software the user depended on. Better that Video Builder or other similar library based product fail than inadvertently disable something the user depends on. Unlike a major change from Roxio to Nero (few would want both on their systems) it's quite possible a user would want PTE "and" Nero or PTE "and" Roxio, etc.

The bottom line is that ferreting out these incompatibilities is a major pain even for those who really know what they are doing. For the rest of us, it's sometimes overwhelming.

Best regards,

Lin

Hmm, after reading this forum for half an hour, I think it might be wise to give up. There is a lot of insinuation here that burning DVD's is an extremely touchy business at the best of times, and I only have a few hours left to finish this up.

I am totally burned out on slide shows now and probably won't be back here for a while. Just want to say: with the apparent exception of Video Builder, PTE is a truly wonderful product!, I tried several and none of them came close to the polish and functionality of PTE. Highly, highly recommended! As long as you don't want a DVD, that is