Omg Please Help Meeeeeeeee!!!!!!

Dear 'My guardian angel'

I reported a problem to Ulead after "several" attempts at writing my project to disc, in fact since I have bought the VS10+ I havent burned one successful disc in 6 months!!! The problem is concerning the poor quality of burning to DVD-R discs. They stutter and eventually freeze up on playback on my DVD player. The player does play back DVD-R discs and I havent had problems with other discs - only the Ulead burned ones. I have used two different manufacturers of DVD-R disc (Datawrite and TDK) with still no success. The project is fine, I have studied it in detail on the ULead programme and it runs there without any problems, but once burned it starts to go completely wrong on playback on both the standalone DVD player connected to the TV and the PC player. I have looked at the information tips on the Ulead website and followed the steps meticulously. Additionally I only get approx 1 hour and 18 minutes worth of footage on a standard DVD - is this normal??? So far Ulead hasnt been able to help...can any budding Sherlock help me PLEASE?

PC used: Advent T9201
DVD RW Drive: Lite-on DVDRW SOHW-832S
CPU: Pentium(R) 4 3.40GHz
Ram: 1GB
HD defragged regulary and not full.

Other notes: Used all the burning speeds (still no success)

Also as a "burn" time takes approximately 3-4 hours it isnt very easy to "try things out" but I am willing to do what it takes as I am fed up of not being able to burn anything at all.

PS Please explain in the MOST basic terms as I am a most basic sorta person Hahaha. If you need any more info to try to solve this question please write to me and I will try to furnish you with it.

Regards

Phill

Hi Phil,
To start with I am guessing your workflow is following the software layout and although it should work...well you know.
Anyway, when you have completed editing the masterpiece you go to the Share tab right? Then you choose to burn your DVD right? WRONG!!!
VideoStudio is like a roadie, it can lift heavy things but not real good at doing two things at once.
When you have fully completed your editing go to the Share tab and select "Create Video File." Select one of the DVD MPEG choices and let VS render to a new video file that is DVD compliant. Remember to remember where the file is saving to!
Once you have your new compliant MPEG 2 file go to "File" and select New Project." You are not really starting a new project, all you will do is clear the timeline of your existing project and this is very desirable for VS. The rule is NEVER burn with anything in the timeline. Now go straight to the Share Tab and select to Create Disc. When the new screen opens navigate to the MPEG2 file you created and add it. Do your menus and stuff and burn. Slow the burn down to about half the rated speed of the disc. So if the disc says it will burn at 8x drop the burn speed to 4x. See how that goes.
When you say it takes 3-4 hours to burn I can tell there is something wrong. It should take about 20mins, the rest of the time your are rendering your project to a video file over and over and over everytime you try a new burn! I have to admire your patience!
Anyhoo for the full procedure and all the tips and tricks go here:

http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=18318

Phil,
Lance has given you some excellent procedural advice.
I can only add that when you create your video file, press the Custom button and select Options, then set the following properties (assuming that you shot the video with a DV camcorder). These will give you DVD-compliant properties:

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps) (If your TV is PAL rather than NTSC, select PAL-DVD compression and 25 fps)
MPEG files
24 bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps (PAL frame is 720x576)
Lower Field First
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: Variable (Max. 8000 kbps)
Audio data rate: 256 kbps
Dolby Digital Audio, 48 KHz, 2/0(L,R)

Also, when you burn your DVD (selecting Share/Create Disc) be sure to look on the lower left to find a tiny gear-shaped icon. Press this and select Change Mpeg properties. Make sure that all properties match the above list. This will allow DVD burning to begin almost immediately.

Thanx chaps (or chapesses) I'll give them a go and let you (and anyone else interested) know how I got on. Keep your fingers and toes crossed for me. :)

Thanx JCHunter and Lance I tried the advice you gave me along with the website you pointed me to. At first sight I was very impressed and hopeful....until I came to capture the video! Oh dear! It seems that the sound is being captured ok but the pictures are not. All I see is a green screen.

Oh by the way did I tell you that I was transferring my old home movies from VHS tape to DVD via a "Dazzle" lead from my VCR through to my computer?

During set up the ULead system recognises the Dazzle hardware so I think thats ok and I have followed the instructions for 'analogue' media to the letter too. Any ideas?

For capturing analog video from VHS tape, use the properties that I posted above but change the Field Order property to Upper Field First and you can drop the video bitrate to 4000 Kbps. You can capture directly to Mpeg2 if your capture device will do it.

However, I have never used a Dazzle device and can't help you here. You might look this up on http://www.videohelp.com/ This site has a good deal of information about an unbelievable number of video products.

Did your Dazzle device come with it's own capture software? If so you should use that to capture, then import those files into VS for editing.

Thanx for the advice guys

The Dazzle came with Pinnacle software and I have looked in the appropriate files and nothing is in there.

Incidently I called Ulead again and they told me that I would need 2gig of RAM (at least) whereas I have 1gig at the moment!!! Does this sound right to you??

Ok Phil,
Lets get all this back to basic here because it is getting rather confusing.

First, your original post was regarding burning a disc that would play successfully on your stand alone DVD player as well as your computer. Now the answer to that was most likely that you were trying to burn the disc from the timeline. That means you probably loaded up the project and it appeared in the timeline, you had no more editing to do and what you wanted to do is burn a disc. So, you went to "Share" "Create Disc" and went through the steps to burn and ended up with a dodgy disc...right? The original advice was to load up the project with no more editing to do, go to "Share" "CREATE VIDEO FILE" (Not create disc) and render your project to a DVD Compliant Video file. You can just use either the PAL or NTSC DVD template from the drop down menu. This file would be an MPEG2 file. THEN, you select "New Project" from the "File" menu top right of the screen. Select "New Project." Now the purpose of that is merely to CLEAR THE TIMELINE of you existing project. After that you go to "Share" "Create Disc." When that dialogue box opens you add the MPEG2 video file you rendered of your project and go from there through the steps of burning.

Second: We are now, per your last post, in the area of capturing. So, just because VS recognises the capture device does not mean you will be able to successfully use it. Most of these devices that are designed for analogue to digital capture come with their own software and it is nearly always prefereable to use that software for the capture process.
If the device came with Pinnacle software then use that to capture to your hard drive then you can use VS for editing etc. The key question here is whether that device is allowing you to capture to DV AVI or to MPEG2. Please post back the exact details of the device so I can take a look at it.
Also you say the hard drive is defragged but not full...how "not full" is not full?
Don't worry about the Ulead thing regarding 2 GIG of RAM unless you are running Vista.

I am not a Video Studio user, however I have been lost along the path of troubles transferring VHS to DVD using Dazzle USB as well as other USB devices for a longer period of time than I had to.

Hear this.... I FOUGHT AND FOUGHT WITH THE CONCEPT that if the device is sold is should work. So, I tortured myself and tortured myself until someone like me wrote a letter like this telling me to FORGET IT.


Finally, I went to Home Depot, bought the biggest sledgehammer I could buy, and crushed all my USB video conveters to dust. DUST I say ...

Buy either a Canopus 110, 300, or if you want to save a little, buy a PYRO firewire based EXTERNAL converter.

I bought the Canopus 300 which offers some neat extras like timebase correction and color, sharpness, contrast, brightness adjustments of the analog signal PRIOR to its conversion which is done through the devices HARDWARE to dv-avi.

DV-AVI hardware conversion is what you want. Forget on the fly mpeg conversions. They are better done once the video converter captures to your hard drive by the program of your choice.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815255020

http://canopus.com/products/ADVC110/index.php

END OF TROUBLE. Honestly, do your self the favor. :) This is a very sensitive subject for me. Hearing the words DAZZLE USB is like Abbot and Costello hearing Niagara Falls. :D