miniDVD distorted on Philips DVD625 + Editing Advice Needed

[NeoMorph]

I've been trying to make a miniDVD that will play on my DVD625 but it just distorts/skips - The miniDVD plays fine in my DVD-ROM so it's not the authoring. Could it be the media or is my DVD player unable to play miniDVDs? Strange thing is that if I go to the system menu and then back it plays perfect for a couple of seconds and then starts stuttering again.

I've just converted it with TMPGenc 2.5 and made a SVCD that works fine in the DVD625 which has further confused me.

I wont be able to test burning DVDs as my DVD burner wont arrive until Monday or Tuesday... I've just been setting my home up for digital recording and was just making the miniDVDs to test with. I'm very much a noob here.

Anyone got any ideas?

Also can someone recommend a decent video editing package. I'm currently using WinDVR 3 to capture, TMPGenc DVD Authoring and Nero 6 to burn. I'm in the UK and use PAL if that helps. I can cut/edit the mpeg stuff but want to be able to put together things like music videos out of gaming demos.

John Hanton

[NeoMorph]

No matter... just found the miniDVD info here and apparently it's the players fault in not identifying it correctly.... 8)

[pixel]

The reason it will not work is because it is non-standard, even although people may say it plays it.

Your problem is that you are making miniDVDs on CDs and using such high bitrates (8000kbps) that the laser can't read it quick enough to keep up. The DVD laser reads DVD quicker and that is why they work at high bitrates. As you say it starts off fine but then skips is because it can read the first few seconds okay because it has buffered it, but then the high bitrate becomes too much for it to read.

Of course it will work on your cd-rom drive. It is made for reading CDs at high speeds, not to mention the fact that it was created in a CD burner (which you are probably playing it back on on your PC, and miniDVDs were originally created for PCs, for people that only had a CD burner but wanted high quality video.

My advice would be to use a low bitrate on the miniDVDs to see if your player can keep up. Failing that, use SVCDs. If these are miniDVDs you are making from home-recorded videos, SVCD is more than enough for true VHS or SVHS resolution.

[pixel]

Sorry, one last thing.

There is nothing wrong with your video editing software. I use TMPGEnc, and so do many others because it is one of the best video editing softwares around. (Others being CCE and a few more).

As I said, it is just the high bitrate, so lower it and try.

Also, there are no standards for miniDVD, so your encoding/authoring software will not matter.

[andydd]

I used to make miniDVDs a fe years back ..check out my (old) guide at www.area450.com . To be honest ..they just arnt worth making..they just dont work half the time....now DVD writers are so cheap there is no point in mkaing them anymore