DVD Flick still work under Windows 7?

[RavenHQ]

Ok, I'm having a strange problem with DVD Flick (perhaps it's even Windows 7 since it's the first time I'm trying since I upgraded)

I run DVD Flick, load video, set the settings, click to create a DVD, 35 minutes later, it says it's successful. Absolutely no errors. However, when I go into the folder with the output, it the files are there but they're "empty" only taking up a few kb of data. I've tried outputing to .iso and to the "dvd folders" and they keep making tiny empty files. I've tried it on the newest version and older versions all to the same result.

I used to have no problems in Windows XP, is this problem familiar to anyone?

[Baldrick]

You could try run in administrator mode, right click on the shortcut and choose run as adminstrator.

Or switch to avstodvd. DVD flick hasn't been updated in years now.

[jman98]

You can also trying running the program in XP compatibility mode, but my experience is that compatibility mode rarely works to solve problems with video or audio programs that don't like Win 7. Definitely try running it as administrator as sometimes that makes a difference in Win 7. Not all programs can run under Win 7 and Vista as both operating systems are a big change from XP. For example the old VCDeasy program has been abandoned by its author and the last update doesn't work at all under Vista or Win 7 but it works fine under XP.

[orsetto]

DVDflick still works for me running under the pre-loaded versions of Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit that came with my recent i3 and i5 Lenovo and Samsung laptops, as well as an old Toshiba running Vista. I have not tried it on a PC that has been updated from XP to Win 7 using the generic MS installer, nor have I tried it on Win 7 Professional or Win 7 32 Bit.

The only problems I've encountered are the same ones that popped up under XP: DVDflick chokes on some MP4 source files during the last few seconds of DVD authoring, at the "Generating Menus" stage where it dies with an "Error 54- File Not Found". I've never figured out what the heck gets screwed up at that point, but it results in a DVD folder full of scattered VOB files and text files. The strange thing is, when DVDflick doesn't choke it takes just ten seconds to execute the "Generating Menus" function and create a usable VIDEO_TS folder. If I re-order the source file queue, or change the DVD target size, or change a couple of the thumbnail frames (sometimes all three), and run DVDflick a second time, it usually will succeed in creating a finished VIDEO_TS folder.

Forgive me if this sounds obvious, but we all make silly mistakes from time to time even with programs we use every day: is it possible you're trying to access the wrong output folders? This could happen if you've upgraded your OS and resetting the way some programs work. DVDflick creates an odd default output folder structure:

Documents> dvd> dvd> VIDEO_TS

The first "dvd" folder contains a bunch of small files that I never use and always discard, AND a second nested "dvd" folder which contains the finished VIDEO_TS folder and usable VOB files. Sometimes when I reload or change software I use to access DVD files, I get thrown when their file navigation pane defaults to the outer DVDflick "dvd" folder, which of course does not display the VIDEO_TS folder. After a couple secs, I remember I need to drill down into the dvd folder within the dvd folder to reach the VIDEO_TS folder. I doubt this is your problem, RavenHQ, but you never know. DVDflick does have some obtuse interface glitches.

[RavenHQ]

I can confirm that I'm looking in the correct directory. I've already looked in alternate places including the strange "user info" directorys that newer Windows OS have. No luck. I'll keep trying with older version of DVDFlick.

And I just checked out the AVStoDVD and it doesn't have the option to "have no menu, autoplay and repeat" which I absolutely need.

[jman98]

RavenHQ - orsetto said something that got me thinking. Did you do a new install to get to Win 7 or did you upgrade? I do not personally recommend doing upgrades between different Windows releases. Too many weird problems where things don't quite work right. That might explain your problems.

[Bjs]

Check you haven't accidentally forgotten about av sandbox ... if the boarder of the app is red it will go through the motion and produce no output.

[orsetto]

And I just checked out the AVStoDVD and it doesn't have the option to "have no menu, autoplay and repeat" which I absolutely need.

Are you sure? I haven't used AVStoDVD since I replaced my old XP boxes, haven't gotten around to re-installing it, but I remember the whole menu authoring function was an entirely separate module: if you don't run that module, you don't get a menu. I might be worng regarding a more current version, though: I haven't updated AVStoDVD in more than a year because I so rarely use it (I can run DVDflick blindfolded at this point, but AVStoDVD always seems fussier).