jrazz, just so we're on the same page, I'm on the Render As page. In the Save As Type box, what do you suggest ( AC3 because the video stream doesn't include audio? )? And then under that the DVDA Video Stream?

For Video:

Render as:

File Name: Whatever you want to call it.mpg
Save as type: MainConcept MPEG-2 (*.mpg)
Template: DVD Architect NTSC video stream
(as for the custom button- I don't know what you project entails, but usually the bigger the bit rate the better- maybe try CBR at 8,000,000.)

For Audio:

Render as:

Filename: Same as the mpg.ac3
Save as type: Dolby Digital AC-3 (*.ac3) (if you don't have ac3- if you using movie studio- use pcm or wav)
Template: Stereo DVD

I don't know if I understood the question you posed, but hopefully the above will expound on what I was saying.

j razz

I had a similar problem with renders locking up or my machine completely restarting. After trying several solutions it came down to an issue with the CPU getting too hot. Renders appear to be very processor intensive, and my P4 was getting to 170F+. Installed a new Arctic Cooling CPU fan and have had few problems since.

You might want to download a CPU monitor and see where your CPU temperature is during your render.

Just a thought, good luck.

Does it give you a dialog reporting an exception or error? Or does it just keep displaying the normal dialog as if it was still rendering, while in fact the CPU is down to idle and no file is being written to the drive?

Check the task manager, and see how much memory V6 is using (RAM + virtual memory). Also, in the task manager you can go to the "View" menu and select columns for display. Make sure Virtual Memory Size is selected, and you can also add Peak Memory Size.

I'm back . . .

Just tried it again and it locked up at 35%.

I tried doing just video with DVDA NTSC video stream. No audio.

No error messages at all. All I get is the countdown and timer count-up like everything's still going, but it's not.

It's running right at 399-400K K. Is there any way to up the K for a certain process, or does this come automatically? The commit charge was ( I think ) was 700M / 3428M.

So you can render video and audio separately? For me, that would be new. If it's the same filename, is the audio included automatically when you pull up the info to make the menu?

You should seriously take into consideration the previous reply stating that you need to check the heat being output from your machine. I would start with getting a can of air and cleaning out the inside of the computer. This will remove dust and dirt and stuff that got sucked in that impede the airflow. Be carefull with the can of air as not to let liquid out and make sure your computer is unplugged and press the on button after unpluggin just to release any charge that was built up.
Really clean good the heat sync area and every place there is an opening from the outside as well as the fans and the power supply unit. Once you get it cleaned out, try the render again.

As for your other question about audio and video being seperate- as long as you save them in the same folder and open up the video stream in DVDA the audio will be synced up with it automatically- just make sure they are saved with the same name.

j razz

Sounds like you aren't having an out of memory problem. Unless the virtual memory column in task manager is showing something really high, which it evidently isn't..

There is nothing automatic about putting the audio and video together in DVDA. You should probably look through the manual and/or read some online tutorials. In DVDA you have tracks for a movie, with separate audio and video tracks. You'll put each of the two media files (the video-only mpg2 and the audio-only ac3 file) on their respective tracks. (The audio and video will be sync'd as the other post suggests, but they still must be explicitly added to your DVDA project timeline. I never had an issue about filenames. If having them with the same filename makes the audio automagically appear on the timeline when you drop in the video-only file, then I guess I am learning something I didn't know about DVDA)

Success!!

I checked all the fans and heatsinks to make sure everything was flowing and it looked good. One other thing I did was I opened up the Task Manager, right-clicked on Sony, and put the priority on Real Time. I don't know, but hey, it worked.

Now to make a menu. . . .