DVD Architect and Pioneer 103 DVD-R Compatability

pgoble wrote on 9/1/2003, 5:13 PM
I just got Vegas 4.0d and DVD Architect 1.0c installed on Saturday and began using them on my somewhat antiquated and underpowered equipment (see list at bottom of mail). I have a Pioneer 103 and have been able to successfuly capture and edit my video in Vegas, then render it for Architect. I did a simple test on 20 minutes just to see that I could create a DVD. I am able to create a DVD using Pioneer DVD-RW media, but I get a 'SFMMCX'-(17)' failure when I attempt to write to TDK 2x media.

I am on firmware version 2.00 with my Pioneer. I am still reading various posts, but it looked like this was a bug that Sonic Foundry has a fix for. On the other hand, DVD-R media is not shown as compatible with DVD Architect and the Pioneer 103 drive. Should I be able to create a DVD-R successfully or not? I have Roxio CD Creator 5 installed and saw that it was causing problems with some other software, could it also be causing problems with DVD Architect? Am I going to have to create a master and copy it using other means?

Any help would be appreciated. Great forum and take it easy on me, this is my first effort and I am still reviewing forum posts, I am just getting a little anxious to create a DVD-R version of the video from the sofware.



System
Dell Workstation 420 Dual 800 CPU
512MB memory
73GB SCSI
2 Maxtor 200GB Firewire drives
Pioneer 103 DVD

Comments

jetdv wrote on 9/1/2003, 9:01 PM
It works with my A03. Try searching for SFMMCX to find other posts related to this error and possible solutions.
pgoble wrote on 9/2/2003, 12:38 PM
I just talked to support. They indicated that -R is not supported on the Pioneer drive. This seems very strange when a fix was created to address the SFMMCX problem (according to the forum) some time ago.

Not an impressive response on my first contact with support.

Thanks to jetdv for his response that DVD-R works on his machine. There must be some workaround for this. Anyone have any suggestions.
jetdv wrote on 9/2/2003, 12:57 PM
I have the A03 drive in a firewire enclosure and burn to DVD-R discs all the time. (In fact, that's all I use). DVDA works fine with the A03. I would look at other software you have installed (such as Veritas?) and verify your A03 BIOS is up to date.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/3/2003, 4:53 AM
It works fine with my A03 but I’m at firmware 1.90. Perhaps there is a problem with the 2.0 firmware? I burn DVD-R’s all the time without any problems. I’m using XP Home. You might want to just make a disk image with DVD Architect and then burn with whatever burning software came with your drive. That is guaranteed to work.

~jr
pgoble wrote on 9/3/2003, 11:27 PM
I removed PrimoDVD, hoping that the removal of this Veritas/Prassi product would be of benefit. I successfully burned one TDK 2x DVD-R after that from the one project I have built. I was able to read that disc from my PC, Yamaha DVD-S2300 and Denon DVD-2800. After celebrating I attempted my second DVD-R and burned a platter (another SFMMCX error).

I have now removed Roxio CD Creator from my system and loaded Nero 6 Ultra Edition, as I read that I could use the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders in DVD Architect and then burn them from Nero.

When I attempted to use Nero with the DVD-Video template I got the “DVD- Video files reallocation failed” message and went ahead and ignored it, as people in the Sonic Foundry forums indicated the disc should be usable anyway. I also got some message about it having problems reading a part of the file. I burned the disc, which completed successfully. It will play in my PC but won’t read in the Yamaha DVD-S2300 or Denon DVD-2800.

I also attempted to use the DVD-ROM(UDF) version to burn a disc. When I copied my AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS folders in it warned me that my attempt to create a DVD Video disk would fail. I created the disc, but it wouldn't read. Other options to select from the Nero menu are DVD-ROM(ISO) and DVD-ROM (UDF/ISO). Should I choose one of them instead? I had read that the ability to create UDF 1.02 would actually improve the compatibility of my discs on older DVD players, which I actually saw as a benefit.

Thanks to jetdv and JohnnyRoy for responding. Any additional help from those in the forum would be appreciated.
jetdv wrote on 9/4/2003, 8:26 AM
Reinstall Prassi and use it to burn the Video_TS and Audio_TS folders to the DVD. I've done this several times and it works well.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 9/4/2003, 12:40 PM
I use Prassi too but I think I had to apply a patch to their PX Engine get it to work properly.

~jr
pgoblew wrote on 9/4/2003, 5:06 PM
I had PrimoDVD (that came with the player) installed and used it to burn data DVD's. I looked through the options and have to admit I couldn't figure out exactly what to do to use it to burn the AUDIO_TS and VIDEO_TS stuff to get a DVD Video that would play on home player. Could either jetdv or JohnnyRoy walk me through the options to do this. Thanks for your help. You've been great.

By the way, I agree with the new post on the board that DVD Architect should do it all and I shouldn't have to exist to another application to finish.


Again, thanks
jetdv wrote on 9/4/2003, 9:37 PM
Start PrimoDVD, Select DATA disc, Add the Video_TS and Audio_TS folders, Burn.
SonyEPM wrote on 9/5/2003, 9:24 AM
If you cannot burn on a 103, it is because some 3rd party burning app has messed up DVDA's burn engine. I use this drive almost every day and have since the earliest DVDA internal betas. 2k, XP, no prob. Even old firmware works, including 155, 165, 168...

The only time the 103 did not burn properly was when I:

a) had a bad piece of DVD-r media (happened once- the media that came with the drive oddly enough)

or

b) installed some junky 3rd party DVD burning app- especially of the freeware/bundleware ilk... the type that doesn't offer any tech support beyond a useless-at-best web FAQ.

I have yet to hear of a legit commercial DVD authoring app (Ulead, Reel DVD, etc) breaking DVDA's burning capability.

Further: I personally guarantee that installing DVDA will not break other DVD burning apps in any way. If you have found the installing DVDA does break another authoring app in any way, please email me with a step by step repro and we will address the problem asap. I challenge any of these bundleware DVD burning app developers to offer such a guarantee.

Last (really!): Getting rid of some of the 3rd party burn stuff can be frustrating, and time consuming. I have spent much time chasing this and often a clean reinstall of the OS is the only way to be sure you are rid of the nefarious components these things install.

pgoble wrote on 9/9/2003, 11:23 PM
I wanted to provide everyone with an update on my burning experience using DVD-A and my Pioneer A03 in the hope this information might be useful to someone, since people in this forum were kind enough to offer some advice when I originally posted asking for help.

I have to admit that although I have owned my Pioneer A03 for years, I had only used it to burn data files for back-up until very recently. Other than a box of five Memorex DVD-RW (big mistake), I used Pioneer DVD-RW (mostly) and Pioneer DVD-R media (the rest of the time) without any problems.

My first attempt to burn DVD Video was with the Pioneer A03 using DVD-A about two weeks ago. Since I wanted to maximize compatibility with home DVD players I decided to use DVD-R media. I thought I had no blank Pioneer DVD-R’s left and no one in town stocked the Pioneer brand. Since I was in a hurry, I did some research in an attempt to find a decent brand someone locally stocked. I chose TDK 2x DVD-R’s. I had flashed the Pioneer to the 2.0 firmware months ago and after installing Vegas and DVD-A upgraded them to the most recent releases.

My first attempt using DVD-A and the TDK media resulted in the 'SFMMCX'-(17)' error. Since I had done some reading prior to burning, I recognized the error and thought the DVD-A 1.0c release had fixed this problem. I decided to contact Sonic Foundry (Sony) support.

My first contact with Sonic Foundry (Sony) support via the phone was unsatisfying. I was informed that as the web site indicated, only DVD-RW was supported on the Pioneer drive (the web site has subsequently been updated). I assumed I was not talking with someone that could help me, so I sought help elsewhere. I sent email to Sonic Foundry technical support describing the problem and received an email response indicating that I should be able to do what I wanted. Sonic Foundry technical support suggested that there could be conflicts with other programs running on my machine or that the media could be the problem.

While I was waiting for this response (being in a hurry) I did some reading and purchased Nero thinking that it might be able to burn the project built by DVD-A. I wasn’t able to burn a DVD Video that would play from Nero either. It indicated incompatibility with the files from DVD-A. I then posted asking for help with this. A variety of responses were suggested.

I removed a number of media player and other software from my machine (as was suggested), causing my machine to be unable to load a DVD movie without freezing. Several days were spent trying to get the missing component reinstalled. Another fun story better saved for another post.

Got another message from Sonic Foundry with more specific media information (via a link) suggesting several reliable media (Pioneer (not Piodata), Apple, Maxell (not including fakes) being a few). About the same time I got this message I found a blank Pioneer disc and tried burning to it using DVD-A. It worked without problem. Went out at lunch today and found a 5 pack of Maxell. Just burned 5 DVD Video via DVD-A without problem.

Current Status

Can burn data files from Nero to TDK DVD-R 2x, Pioneer DVD-RW, Pioneer DVD-R media without problems.
Can burn DVD Video to Pioneer (I’m 1 for 1, hopefully this will continue since I ordered a dozen more) using DVD-A
Can burn DVD Video to Maxell DVD-R using DVD-A

While removal of some applications may have contributed to my recent success using DVD-A, I still can’t burn DVD Video to the TDK-R 2x media, while I can to Pioneer and Maxell media.

While it would be nice to use something cheaper (I paid about $3.50 a disk – could do better buying in quantity or using some web options), I don’t plan on burning a large number of DVD Video so I am sticking with what works. Sticking with what works is not new advice but it is still good advice. My problem was that I didn’t know what worked until I spent a fair amount of money experimenting.

Thanks to those in the forum and Sonic Foundry support for their suggested solutions. I hope someone finds this information useful.