Why Does Maestro Authored DVD freeze on PC?

[Barry Lyndon]

Hey good folks who know a lot of things about DVD authoring,

Please help. I am having issues with my Maestro authored DVD. my movie seems to freeze briefly in areas, especially areas mixed with video and still photos. This also only seems to happen on when viewed on the computer (my viewer is Power DVD).

I encoded with TMPG and viewed the m2v file with no problems. So I think the problem occurs during authoring.

I've tried bitrates of 6000 and 8000. Encoded from an uncompressed AVI. My movie is also only about 12 min long.

Any ideas?

Thanks I appreciate it!

[BubbaJones]

Where did you get a copy of Maestro, they haven't made it in years!

[freestyler]

99.999 % of DVD Maestro posts are warez, if you can't help the guy just don't respond

Your bitrate is probably too high. What type of audio are you using - PCM?

If you're using PCM, there's your problem - at that high of a bitrate you're flirting with death. Opt for the AC3 route, or drop your video bitrate a bit.

[Barry Lyndon]

Thanks Freestyler.

I started off creating an uncompressed PCM wav file, then transcoded it to AC3.

I've also done similar projects with 8000 bitrate about similar length, and have experienced no problems. That project was edited in AVID Express DV and encoded to M2v within AVID.

This problem project was edited in Premiere, output as uncompressed AVI and transcoded into m2v with TMPG (tried both 6000 and 8000 bitrates). The quality is so much better through TMPG, but I am getting pauses only after still frames (ie black titles).

Do you think its still a bit rate issue? Should I bring the bitrate down below 6000? Or is it an issue with TMPG's compatibility with Maestro.

Thanks again!

[Barry Lyndon]

I think when you combine Chili and a hot dog together they become one food because as an eating experience, you are now expecting to enjoy the taste of a chili dog. The combination of tastes is quite different than eating them seperately so, yes I think they become one food.

Good question.

[freestyler]

It's quite possibly just a TMPG issue. Since you mentioned that playback suffers during still frames, I'd try disabling "detect scene change" if it is in fact enabled.

Are you proofing your title from the hard disk, or from a burned disc?

The only other issue I can think of is your ROM drive not being able to read the disc fast enough, possibly, since from your post I am understanding that it plays fine in a set top player (?)

-Free

[Barry Lyndon]

Thanks FREE.

Detect Scene change was enabled. Does that typically cause problems?

I will try again with that feature disabled.

I am also in the process of converting a file with Variable Bitrate instead of Constant Bitrate. Is VBR better than CBR?

[Barry Lyndon]

I tried disabling the Scene detect. it didn't work.

However using VBR instead of CBR seems to have solved the problem.

Thanks Free.