I managed to obtain a number of "double layer" (dual layer) blank DVD+R's and, since I was so behind on converting our MiniDV tapes to DVD's, I thought I would give the larger discs a try. I mean, I could fit, after editing, nearly 3 hours of video on a disc.. that would save me a lot of time.

So, after prepping everything and creating the elementary streams for the video and the ac3 audio as I have done many times in the past, I was ready. I used DVDlab Pro to build the menus, getting fancy as usual by making motion menus with a subtle background audio track. After a fair bit of effort (as that part consumes the largest amount of effort), I was ready to burn.

I compiled the DVD, and, since I didn't have a DVD+RW DL (do they even make those?!), the only way I could truly test the resulting dvd was to use PowerDVD in Hard Disc mode. Everything looked good, so I burned the disc using Nero 7.0.1.2. It burned at 2.4x (I thought my NEC would burn it faster, but I didn't really care) and out popped a disc.

I tried it in the player, and viola! It came up.

Unfortunately, to my demise, I could not select anything on the menu. Nothing would highlight, the arrow buttons wouldn't move the cursor.. nothing. Grr. I tried another player, and it had the same problem.

I went back to DVDLab Pro and checked out the main menu, and all that's on there are two links: Play Movie and Chapters.

Stumped, I trimmed the movie down to ~5mins, gave it the same number of chapters that the original 3hr movie had, and swapped it with the original main movie. This gave me a test disc I could burn to a DVD-RW, which I did.

I then took that same disc over to the same players and it worked fine on both of them. Argh!

I went back to DVDLab Pro and tweaked the main menu again, burned a full Double Layer/Dual Layer disc, and tried it again. No go.

I did manage to play and test the entire movie on the disc if I hit stop a couple of times on the DVD player, then hit "Play".. it oddly began playing the movie rather than going to the menu (first play and title are set to bring you to the menu). So, I was able to confirm that all of the video made it to the disc. It's just that the menu isn't working as it should.

Any ideas what might be going on here? Is there some "known" issue that I am not aware of (I've searched via google and via the forums here)? Should I just abandon using an 8.5 GB disc? I cannot keep burning coasters with these things, either since I do have a limited supply. Talk about frustrating!

Thanks!