VV3 DVD Complete and Pioneer a03

jonasmckee wrote on 7/21/2002, 7:17 PM
I just purchsased DVD complete per this boards recomendation...
I have never done dvd burning but have done alot of vv to dv tape stuff-
here is my problems
1 I have rendered to avi using the dvd default and dvd complete can't import it (using the import wizard)

2 Rendered using the MC Mpeg2 dvd template and get horiz lines and shakes, but dvd complete imorts it and splits it into audio and video files and plays great in the preview mode (except the bad quality I mentioned..

3 For some reason dvd complete doesn't see my dvd burner now, which leads me to a few ?s Win 2000 didn't ask me for a driver and used it's own, is this good? Also when I went to the pioneer site it had downloads, for Firmware... do I need these?

Any help would be greatlyt appreciated
BTW my specs are
vv3 latest download
P4 2 ghz
512 ram
seperate harddrive for audio/video

Thanks

Comments

Cheesehole wrote on 7/22/2002, 12:00 AM
>>>1 I have rendered to avi using the dvd default and dvd complete can't import it (using the import wizard)

DVDs don't use AVI files, so you may have selected the 'DV' default...

>>>2 Rendered using the MC Mpeg2 dvd template and get horiz lines and shakes, but dvd complete imorts it and splits it into audio and video files and plays great in the preview mode (except the bad quality I mentioned..

where do you see the quality problem, on your computer screen or on a TV? what playback device is being used, Windows Media Player or a DVD player like PowerDVD?
if it was Media Player then the quality will be bad. you can't judge quality unless you are viewing the file the way it will be viewed by your audience. if you intend people to watch this in their DVD players on a TV, make sure you do testing on a similar set up. I recommend at least using PowerDVD on your PC so you can preview them before burning the disc (cheapest easiest way to preview your mpeg-2 files at high quality). you could also buy an mpeg-2 card that will play files on your screen or out to a TV. I hear they're pretty cheap.

>>>3 For some reason dvd complete doesn't see my dvd burner now, which leads me to a few ?s Win 2000 didn't ask me for a driver and used it's own, is this good? Also when I went to the pioneer site it had downloads, for Firmware... do I need these?

I'm not sure why your burner isn't being recognized... as for the firmware, check the website and see if there are any fixes in the firmware that would be relevant to your situation. if there aren't then don't worry about upgrading as it probably won't make a difference. sometimes firmware will fix major bugs but maybe someone with an a-03 can chime in...
jonasmckee wrote on 7/22/2002, 11:52 AM
Thanks!
>>>DVDs don't use AVI files, so you may have selected the 'DV' default...

I understood that some users (here in the forum) perfer to render to avi and use the mpg2 encoder in DVD Complete as opposed to using the MC mpeg2

>>>where do you see the quality problem, on your computer screen or on a TV? what playback device is being used, Windows Media Player or a DVD player like PowerDVD?

While previewing in DVD Complete... I will try burning to harddrive and then use Power DVD 4... as far as trying it on a settop.. I will as soon as I can actually burn to dvd

I really appreciate your help!! This forum is one the many reasons Sonic Foundry rocks.
Summersond wrote on 7/22/2002, 12:45 PM
I also have the problem of DVD Complete not being able to import AVI files from VV3. It will import other AVI's though, so I don't know what is going on either. I have an A04, but that shouldnt be an issue. Maybe SF is doing something special to their avi's that DVD Complete doesnt like... If not, Maybe we need to contact DVD Complete to see what is going on. I really wish that it would import directly from VV3, as it would save me LOTS of time rerendering to Mpeg2 again...
SF, do you add anything to your avi's to make them different than a generic avi?

thanks!
dave
Supernaut wrote on 7/22/2002, 3:20 PM
I ran into the same problem with DVD Complete. It suddenly lost track of my Pioneer A04 Firewire burner and I couldn't get it back. I ran an update for the Prassi engine it uses to burn DVDs and the problem was solved. I haven't run into the import problem though, everything I've imported from VV3c has worked so far.

Here's a link to the Dazzle Knowledge Base article with the update:

http://scmmicro.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/scmmicro.cfg/php/enduser/popup_adp.php?p_sid=OeCIEOkg&p_lva=1028&p_li=&p_faqid=1188&p_created=1020697997

Good luck!
John

earthrisers wrote on 7/22/2002, 7:00 PM
When I do my render to DVD-avi format in Vegas, I then go to DVD Complete and use one of the DVD-creation wizards and choose "Add Movie > from file", then point it to my Vegas-produced avi file. DVD Complete then encodes the avi file for me into the required mv2 format. I find this a more direct route than using the "import movie" function.
I burn with a Pioneer a04 -- it hasn't disappeared on me yet (fingers crossed...).
One expensive glitch I've had two or three times with DVD Complete, though, is: I build a DVD image and choose the option of saving the image so I can burn another DVD with it when the first copy is done. Then when I do the subsequent burn, it tells me it's burning the DVD, but after only a couple of minutes it claims to have successfully completed the burn. Then I discover that it only burned the MENU to the DVD, nothing else! The result, of course, is an expensive coaster. That problem is sporadic, and I haven't yet been able to isolate any specific set of circumstances for predicting when it'll happen. Usually, burning several DVDs from the same image file works the way it's supposed to.