Help! Ulead DVD Workshop crashes every time while compiling!

[CadeMcNown]

Damn this is frustrating! I spent about two weeks authoring a movie withUlead DVD Workshop 1.3, and everytime I go to compile it, it crashes on me. It always crashes on step 4/4 when it's building the navigation menus. I actually was able to compile two earlier versions of the same project, but I don't know how. Now it won't finish at all. I've tried compiling at different sdampling rates, I've tried chaning menu backgrounds, and nothing works. Im running Windows XP. Can someone help me out here? I know others have experienced this. Or maybe is there any way to import a DVD Workshop project into another authoring program? HELP!! Thanks!

[Specialist]

Try capturing a :10 second test file just to see if the software is installed properly or if - instead - there's a system-related issue.

1. Open Ulead DVD Workshop;

2. Click NEW PROJECT and name a new project;

3. Click the GLOBAL SETTINGS icon and click SELECT DEVICE CONTROL;

4. Choose MS11394 DEVICE CONTROL from the drop-down list;

5. Click the GLOBAL SETTINGS icon and then click DISC TEMPLATE MANAGER and choose the following settings:

MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: 8000 kbps (Constant)
LPCM Audio, 48 KHz, Stereo

6. Click the GLOBAL SETTINGS icon and click CHANGE CAPTURE PLUG-IN and select ULEAD DIRECT SHOW CAPTURE PLUG-IN;

7. Click the CAPTURE SETTINGS icon and uncheck SCENE DETECTION;

8. Click the CAPTURE VIDEO button;

9. Make certain the captured video properties are as follows:

NTSC drop frame (29.97 fps)
Microsoft AVI files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
Field Order A
DV Video Encoder -- type 1
DV Audio -- NTSC, 48.000 kHz, 16 Bit, Stereo

Are you able to get this far?

Also, if you are in a PAL country, then substitute PAL values for the NTSC values I provided in the steps above.

Next...

1. Advance to the EDIT stage;

2. Advance to the MENU stage and choose the MENU WIZARD;

3. Click the ADD ALL button and then click the NEXT button;

4. Click the FINISH button;

5. Then click the FINISH step button and test the software DVD player;

6. Click MAKE DISC and then click CUSTOMIZE and make certain your settings are as follows:

MPEG files
24 Bits, 720 x 480, 29.97 fps
(DVD-NTSC), 4:3
Video data rate: 8000 kbps (constant)
LPCM Audio, 48 KHz, Stereo

7. Check the RECORD TO DISC box and then click START.

If the :10 second test file burns to disc, then you know the fundamental functionality is intact.

If not, then there's likely a system-related problem.

Hope this helps,

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[CadeMcNown]

I don't have a capture card. I was just using some clips and pictures I had on my harddrive. Any other suggestions or work arounds? Other people have had to experience this too.

[Specialist]

Ulead DVD Workshop is picky about source files.

Source files from DV camcorders are great.

You've now explained your sources files consisted of "some clips and pictures on your harddrive."

When you right mouse click on the clips, what are the properties?

Yes - ruined source files are going to be a problem for Ulead DVD Workshop.

That's why you read such reports.

Clean source files work fine in Ulead DVD Workshop.

Jerry Jones
http://www.jonesgroup.net

[bloo]

where is your"workarea" sounds like you rea running out of space for the program to compile.check avialabel space on C drive

bloo

[CadeMcNown]

The source files are all clean & in DVD format. I converted each one before using them. Like I said before, I was actually able to compile a couple previous builds of my project, but about the only differences between projects were moving a button, changing text color, etc... Nothing big, all cosmetic. When I was successful compiling before, it never had to encode any video. I actually read something interesting that someone posted saying DVD Workshop gave them problems when trying to encode a prject with chapters under one minute apart. I have a lot of chapters that are about 30 seconds long. But if that's the problem, why did it encode before? It must be something different?

[Scheif]

Another thing to check is that you don't have any overlapping menu buttons. It's easy to miss this if your buttions have a lot of transparency.

[CadeMcNown]

I don't have any overlapping buttons. Interestingly enough, I tried copying the same project with DVD-Lab, which I had to do manually. But I have the same problem with DVD-Lab and that crashed at the same compile point as well! I noticed when I load the video files into DVD-Lab, only one of the three movies displays the movie length. The other two say 0:00 but the source and specs of the video are identical for all three movies. Do you think there's a problem with the video? If so, how can I make it compliant? I don't get any non-compliance errors, and I've already converted with Ulead Video Studio and Tmpegenc. I also heard that there is a limit to the number of chapters you can have on a DVD. My Main movie has 95, many of them around 30 seconds long. I'd say that was the problem, but I successfully converted earlier project builds. Help!