Won't Burn DVD

skorman wrote on 3/7/2005, 10:14 PM
Just upgraded from Screenblast to Vegas, and attempted to burn my first DVD. Just used a previously created mpg file. The prep went fine, but the burn choked each and every time I tried it. Was using a DVD+RW. I have a Dell 8300 which as an NEC DVD +RW ND 2100AD. Here's the wacky thing, I've been using Sonic's My DVD V5.2 which still works. I decided to use DVDA which came with the upgrade.

Here's the crux of the error message, any ideas?

Sony DVD Writer

'SFMMCX'-(17)
'atapi'-(1)
-'_NEC DVD+RW ND-2100AD 103D'-(1)
Module sfmmcx.cpp Line 1207
An illegal request was received.
An option was selected in the parameter list that is not supported by this drive.

Comments

ScottW wrote on 3/8/2005, 4:41 AM
Make sure you have downloaded the latest build of DVDA. Then if still having problems, give up on DVDA for burning and use something else.

The single most frequently reported problem in this forum is DVDA burning issues. DVDA simply doesn't cut it in the burning areana and there's no indication that anything will ever be done about it (you'd think if they were going to try and fix some of these, that we'd have seen a new build by now that tried to address some of the reports both here in this forum and those that people have formally reported).

--Scott
skorman wrote on 3/8/2005, 7:28 AM
Which programs would you recommend. Should upgrade my DVD or look at some of the others out there?
ScottW wrote on 3/8/2005, 7:46 AM
You mean in tems of burners? It's a roll of the dice with DVDA no matter what. Some burners seem to do fine if they are connected via the IDE, the same burner connected via USB may have problems. Sometimes DVDA will work fine with +R media but not -R (or vice-versa).

I have used both Nero and CopyToDVD without problems. Nero is more general purpose, more bells and whistles and more expensive. CopyToDVD is more limited than Nero, but cheaper.

Other folks may have some other suggestions.

--Scott
chayman wrote on 3/8/2005, 2:47 PM
I had nothing but problems burning, as well as compatibility. Prepare with DVDA2, burn with Nero. Your problems will be over. Well at least your burning problems.
brownbag wrote on 3/9/2005, 9:11 AM
This is the solution I stumbled across. DVDA2 would report a successful burn to my Pioneer 108, but it wouldn't play in the desktop set. A visual inspection of the disc revealed that the app burnt less info than say, MyDVD, whose output worked fine. I really like the DVDA authoring tools though...so the Nero/DVDA solution is the one for me!
biggles wrote on 3/9/2005, 1:55 PM
I agree. I had a Pioneer A05 and DVDA2 worked fine - upgraded to the Pioneer 109 and DVDA stopped dead in its tracks (when it came to burning).

I now author with DVDA, render and prep with DVDA but burn with Nero. I haven't had one dud DVD since using this combination - well, apart from a couple where I did stupid things elsewhere in my workflow :o)
BillyBoy wrote on 3/9/2005, 8:26 PM
I detect sour grapes...

"The single most frequently reported problem in this forum is DVDA burning issues. DVDA simply doesn't cut it in the burning areana and there's no indication that anything will ever be done about it (you'd think if they were going to try and fix some of these, that we'd have seen a new build by now that tried to address some of the reports both here in this forum and those that people have formally reported)."

Hmm... I guess my successfully burning hundreds of DVD's using DVDA must be just blind luck then. Hint: You can't fix what isn't broken. For what its worth you can find similar stories about other CD/DVD authoring software and burners and brands of media "not working right" while they work fine for others. When it was first starting to support DVD's, before there was a DVDA, I tried both Nero and then Easy CD Creator. I had problems with both, getting similar cryptic error messages, yet others did not.
johnmeyer wrote on 3/9/2005, 9:08 PM
I guess my successfully burning hundreds of DVD's using DVDA must be just blind luck then.

I never had any problem burning with DVDA either, although it always seemed very rough around the edges (lousy estimates of time to completion; no easy option for multiple copies; won't burn if you try to add other folder besides VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS; and completely bogus size estimates: I regularly get told my project is 103% of what a disk will hold, and then when I burn in Nero, it correctly tells me that it is 95%).

However, having said that I haven't had problems actually doing the burn, I would have to agree that the complaints in this forum about DVDA's burning have been pretty consistent since DVDA was introduced. While some of the problems can be chalked up to cockpit error, bad media, etc., there does seem to be a common thread that certain burners just are not supported as well as others. I suppose you could say that some of these burners are just junk, but many of the reports have been about Sony DVD burners, and as far as I know, Sony's drives are OK.

However, as frustrated as I get at Sony's glacial development pace (compared to what I'm used to, anyway), they have tended to keep after problems and eventually fix them.