DVDA .dar file save

dukerss wrote on 11/28/2004, 6:43 PM

In dvda I have created a short menu based movie that I can burn onto a dvd perfectly. This is a sample I would like to give to customers and make more of in the future. Well.. I render-prepare-burn etc but want to keep the file on my system permenantley for future use. When I save the file and/or render it, the file only saves as a .dar (even after render-prepare) and it seems when I clear out my temp files etc, my created sample is gone. Only a 785kb .dar file is left that doesnt open up anymore.
Is there a way to save my .dar file permanently? or make it into a mpg?
I want to save it so I can easily just open the file up and burn a few copies whenever I want... I hope there's a way. Thanks, James
ps..
My file is 255MB but it saves as a .dar at less than 1 MB. Where is the 255mb file at?

Comments

ScottW wrote on 11/29/2004, 7:02 AM

The dar file basically just contains information about your project, it doesn't actually contain the contents of the project (movies, audio, etc).

If your goal is to be able to just produce the same DVD again and again, then save the the contents of the directory that you told DVDA to prepare into - this directory will contain 2 folders: AUDIO_TS (which will be empty) and VIDEO_TS (which will contain IFO and VOB files).

Then when you need another copy, on the "Make a DVD" wizard, click "burn" rather than "prepare" or "prepare and burn" - the wizard will prompt for a location - specify the directory that you saved, and you'll get another copy of the DVD.

If your goal is to be able to update the DVD from time to time, then in addition to the DAR file, you'll need to save all of the MPEG and AC3 files that you referenced when you created the project.

--Scott