Prep with DVDA; burning with other software...

Sidecar wrote on 7/24/2004, 10:41 PM
Prepped Video_TS and Audio_TS folders with DVDA.

Burned them to a DVD with Roxio Easy CD Creator 5 Basic as a "data disk." Disk would not play in a DVD player because it was an "appendable" disk--it wasn't closed out.

I uninstalled the now-pretty-old Roxio Easy CD Creator and loaded the latest burning software that came with a new Pioneer DVR-A07 I just bought. It's by Ulead, called BurnNow.

BurnNow also burns appendable data DVDs, but looking around I saw a check box called "Close Disk." This will write the "lead out" and finalize the disk, allowing it to play in a set top DVD player.

I took a disk burned with Easy CD Creator 5 Basic (that I thought was a coaster) and checked the "close disk" box and clicked "burn" without adding any files to the disk. Amazingly, the disk was closed out and plays fine in my DVD player. This worked for two disks.

So even though I burned with one software incompletely, I was able to finalize with different software. Amazing.

This is good because for some reason my LG/Hitachi 4040 multiburner on another system won't finalize the DVD under DVDA 2.0b. I tried several times and 3 or 4 DVDs are useless unless...

...my guess is that I can finalize those failed burns with other software.

Comments

JaysonHolovacs wrote on 7/24/2004, 11:28 PM
This depends on whether the session is just "left open" or the disc is just corrupted. Corrupted discs are worthless. I have problems with DVD-A2 burning to my burner... sometimes the output is just bad. If I use Roxio, it seems to work fine.

The reason that you can close a disc with a different program is that the disc file format is standard. An "open" disc is not something specific to a particular piece of software; it is a valid condition for a disc to be in. Most PCs will deal fine with open discs, but some set top systems won't. For the most part, if you are creating video DVD-ROMs, I can't think of any reason you would need to leave them open, so you should probably just close them always. I don't know of any way to just "add" DVD-Video content to a disc. I don't think DVD-A2 will do anything like that; DVD-A2 will require you to re-prepare the entire disc and write it out fresh. Data DVDs are a different story; sometimes there may be a desire to continue adding content to a data DVD. But usually noone needs to play a data DVD in a set top player.

Of course, I don't mind closing all my discs because for everything except my final master, it's +RW, so closed or not, I can rewrite it.

-Jayson
Sidecar wrote on 7/25/2004, 10:44 AM
Not sure what you mean by "I don't know of any way to just 'add' DVD-Video content to a disc."

Here's what I mean:

DVDA prepares a set of standard files before it burns the DVD. The prepared files are are always in folders called "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS".

Their location defaults to "C:\Documents and Settings\User Name\Local Settings\Temp\My DVD\Project Name"

They stay there even after you close the project. As they are in a temp folder, I suppose they can be flushed, but there are several shows in my "My DVD" folder at the moment.

If you open disk burning software (like BurnNow, Roxio and probably others) and drag the "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS" folders (nothing else) into the file window and click "burn" and check the "close the disk" button, you will have a properly formatted DVD that will play in most set top players.

So, if you save those "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS" folders in an appropriately named folder so you can keep track of which show you're burning, you can reburn a DVD of any show at any time without opening DVDA or Vegas.

In this manner you can add DVD-Video content to a DVD. And if your burner is not getting along with DVDA, you can prepare-but-not-burn the files to that "My DVD" folder (or elsewhere), then burn them with software that does get along with your burner. The trick is to make sure the disk is closed.

Like I said, one of my Vegas/DVDA systems was supplied with an LG/Hitachi 4040 Multiburner. DVDA only partially burns the "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS" to the disk and apparently does not close (or finalize) the DVD. I can't play it in many set top boxes and our mass duper reports errors because it doesn't see a finalized DVD.

This is also how we burn reliable DVDs with Apple's DVD Studio Pro: prep with the authoring program, burn with Roxio (the burning program). Need another copy later? Find the "AUDIO_TS" and "VIDEO_TS" files and burn a closed disk with Roxio.
johnmeyer wrote on 7/25/2004, 2:57 PM
This may be of interest:

Nero to Burn DVD