iDVD to DVD problem

[wolfwood87]

Hello everyone,

I am having some serious difficulties in taking my iDVD project to DVD. I began this project with the audio at 12 bit in iMovie, so everytime I burned the project the audio would quickly become out of synch. Even though the audio was off, the project could still burn. Anyway, I did some research about the sync issue and found out that I could export the movie back to my camera in 16-bit audio and then reimport it with the correct audio, and I did just that. From that point on, I have been trying and trying countless times to get the project to work. I use the iMovie footage and make chapter marks for iDVD, then I make a project in iDVD and do the encode but the burn always fails. So then I used the easter egg to make an image in iDVD to burn in Toast, but that has consistently not owrked as well. I recently got some Imation DVD-RW's because I was wasting so many DVD-R discs. I began with some Memorex DVD-R discs, but when they ran out I got some Ritek DVD-R's. Both of these types, plus the DVD-RW's won't burn the project. I am always geting burning errors, such as this one:

"The drive reported an error:
Sense Key = MEDIUM ERROR
Sense Code = 0x0C
WRITE ERROR"

I even tried to reimport the footage again and burn it, but that came up with the same results. I never expected to have this amount of trouble when doing this project, and right now I am out of ideas. I was thinking that it could be the drive that has an issue of some sort, but I just instaled iLife last week fine, and I burned an old DVD image fine as well. Any help would be truly appreciated.

Thank you,
Wolfwood87

[Frobozz]

If you were successful in creating the disk image with iDVD then you should be able to mount the disk image and play the movie with DVD Player. Does it play okay?

Assuming it plays fine from the hard drive, your only problem is burning it to a DVD-R. You apparently have a superdrive. Explain a little more about what Mac you're using, what system, what superdrive and what you've done to make sure you're system is trouble-free. Have you checked to see if Apple has a firmware update for your superdrive?

[wolfwood87]

Frobozz,

Thank you for our reply. Until you told me I could view it in DVD Player, I didn't know that I could do that. Yes, it does play in DVD Player perfectly. At least I know the image isn't the problem.

The Mac I am using is a 1 GHz G4 with a Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-105 Superdrive. I am currently using 10.3.3. I am not sure exactly how to check for a firmware update, but there is nothing like that listed when I check for Software Updates. The only way I know that my system is trouble free is that this drive has burned DVDs fine before this, and even some of the first out of sync DVDs I burned were fine. The DVD Drive completed the installation of iLife fine, and it burned an old image to a DVD-RW recently fine as well. Is there anything I should try out or check? Thank you for your help.

Wolfwood87

[Frobozz]

To begin with, Memorex is lousy DVD media so the failed burns on that media is not surprising.

Try repairing permissions (disk utility application in your utilities folder). Restart your Mac. Use the disc image option in Toast Copy to burn your iDVD image file. Instead of burning the disc, choose simulation mode and turn off the buffer underrun protection. If the simulation burn goes through okay, turn off the simulation mode and turn buffer underrun back on. If there is a failed burn now, it is the media that is at fault.

[icoty]

have you tried turning off your energy settings? i know that my mac has to be totally off when burning to iDVD. If I have screensaver effects, sleep, etc. turned on then i get burn errors.

Recording back to 16 bit mode should have solved the problem as I have done the same.

[wolfwood87]

I changed the energy settings so that they wouldn't affect the burn, and I repaired the permissions, but on the simulation burn I still get the same error. Any other ideas?

Thanks,
Wolfwood87

[Frobozz]

I'm running low on ideas. I presume you've tried setting the recording speed at 1X. I believe iDVD records at the fastest speed available with the media and drive, but Toast gives you the option to choose 1X speed.

I just remembered. iDVD doesn't write to anything but DVD-R media. So if you tried DVD-RW media with iDVD the burn will fail. The same, however, is not true for Toast.

I would get yet another brand of media such as the Apple DVD-R media. The firmware has an effect on what brands of media will work. I believe your drive's firmware version should be 1.33. You can check it in Apple System Profiler.

Another place to go for info is the iDVD forum at discussions.info.apple.com.

[wolfwood87]

I am burning at 1X normally, so that is not an issue. Also, I never tried to burn the project in iDVD with a DVD-RW, only a DVD-R. If it is necessary, I will buy some other media, but it is unfortunate to have the whole 25-pack I just bought of Ritek DVD-Rs go to waste.

Wolfwood87

[rorschach]

How much "free" disk space do you have? Apparently recommended that you have 20 GB free for the app to encode the files and burn properly. I just finished my 1st iDVD project chock full of video + transitions, etc. and the burn was 5.5 hours, but without a hitch (whew!)

Read the Unofficial iDVD FAQ page and go to Apple Discussions - iDVD for further hints.

Oh, and contrary to what other people claim, I CAN burn to DVD-RWs on my 1Ghz G4, Pioneer A-104 Superdrive. I was pleasantly surprised and use it to "test" the quality of the video playback...it helps debug the way the material is prepared.

[WiseWeasel]

That's strange. I've had very good luck with Ritek media, but maybe you got a bad batch or something. I'm pretty sure that error is specific to defective media, but if simulation mode did the same thing, then maybe there's another problem. I'd try burning directly from iDVD and seeing if that works.

[wolfwood87]

I freed up the disk until I had about 26 gigs open, then I did the iDVD conversion and bunred it, but the burn returned the same error as always and it did not finish. I will try anything else to get this to work. The drive is probably just busted, but any other ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Wolfwood87

[WiseWeasel]

Do you have the latest version of the firmware for that drive installed?

[cbkilner]

Wolfwood87

what does your error log say?

what version of iDVD? what hardware? what system and QT software?

Also, how long is your project? (56m-1hr has many problem reports) going from 12-bit to 16 bit may have pushed your project size into the "danger zone".

and do you have any imported sound effects? (these as well as non-standard photo sizes have screwed a few of my projects).

also, check here for ideas:
http://www.kentidwell.com/idvd4/#faq_03

[wolfwood87]

Hi,

How can I go about checking my error log?

I am using OS 10.3.3 on an eMac G4 1 GHz with Superdrive. I have Quicktime 6.5 Pro. I am using iDVD 4.0.1

The video I am working with currently is about 1 hr 7 mins.

I am using one 12 second imported MP3 clip in my project. This could be an issue, but it is no longer considered imported after it has been exported to my camera and reimported in 16-bit. If this could still cause an issue, please let me know. I am using no pictures.

How do I check the firmware version? I can see my drive listed in the Apple System Profiler but I don't see the firmware version listed.

Thanks for all the help!
Wolfwood87

[cbkilner]

to check you logs, click the apple menu and choose "About This Mac" and then choose the "More Info..." button to open the System Profiler app. Click on the logs item in the left-hand side bar.

As a first matter, I would clean your DVD-burner drive.

[wolfwood87]

My console.log says:

Size: 1390 bytes
Last Modified: 4/1/04 6:52 PM
Location: /Library/Logs/Console/dave/console.log
Contents: Mac OS X Version 10.3.3 (Build 7F44)
2004-04-01 18:52:26 -0800
2004-04-01 18:52:47.459 SystemUIServer[338] CPSLaunchAppWithData (/Applications/iTunes.app, ..)

And my system.log says:

Size: 20.37 KB
Last Modified: 4/1/04 8:20 PM
Location: /var/log/system.log
Contents:

I'm not sure if this is the info that you needed, but this is all I could find when I followed your directions. As for cleaning, I have used 2 cd lends cleaner products and I am still having the same error come up.

Thanks,
Wolfwood87

[cbkilner]

Well - it looks likes your logs were cleaned out by the periodic UNIX maintenance scripts or by restarting your machine. You need to look at the scripts after a failed burn to get any useful information, so run another simulation burn.

It seems like you have been very thorough in your troubleshooting - and since even your simulation burns fail, I don't think you have a busted drive or bad media.

When all else fails, I've found that these types of problems can be caused by bad RAM. iDVD stresses your memory more than usual. Check versiontracker for a memory checker (you might have to boot into OS 9 to do this since when I had a problem a year ago, there were no freeware OS X memory-checking utilities).

Another issue I've had in the past, also with iMovie/iDVD was a bad IDE controller (it was a souped-up Rev. 1 G3) that resulted in currupted data reads/writes.

If you have access to another Superdrive Mac, try booting your mac into FW target-disk mode and burning the project on the other Mac. This will take your RAM and your iLife install out of the equation. If it works, boot off of your drive (still in target disk mode), and burn using your iLife install. If it works, you've isolated the problem as your RAM, since your IDE controller and software show that they work.

Good Luck!

[coaster maker]

I am also having problems with burning from iDVD. I am using 10.2.8 with Toast 6 a formac external drive with NEC mechanism from a 12" powerbook 867Gig with 640Meg memory.

I have created a project in iDVD the easter egg will not burn to the NEC formac drive so I created an image and tried to get toast to burn it. This works, creates a DVD which will work on the Apple DVD player but does not work in a domestic DVD player, Sony in this case.

Toast will burn a dvd which works on the sony dvd player using its own menu system which is a bit too basic for what I need,

I am using Apple DVD-R media and have tried using disk copy to change image type to DVD-CD master, Toast then turned this into a coaster which crashes Apple DVD player.

Anyone any ideas where to go from here?

TIA

[WiseWeasel]

I would suggest putting the DVD you made from iDVD in your Mac's DVD drive, and just copy the VIDEO_TS folder to your hard drive in the Finder. Alternatively, you could just mount the iDVD image, and skip the copying to hard drive bit. Then, launch Toast, put it in Data mode, and select DVD-ROM (UDF) in the advanced options on the left side column. Then, hit the 'New Disc' button, and name it to a descriptive name all in capital letters, with underscore for spaces. Then, make a new folder on the disc, and name it "AUDIO_TS". Then, drag the VIDEO_TS folder you saved to your hard drive (or mounted from the iDVD image) to this disc. You should end up with a disc with the DVD's title, containing two folders: "AUDIO_TS" (empty), and "VIDEO_TS" (contains all the DVD files). Then, stick in a blank DVD-R disc, and record the DVD. See if that works on the Sony player.

[wolfwood87]

On Sunday night I successfully burned a copy of my DVD image with a friend's drive that I believe was identical to mine on a Mac. Anyway, I guess my drive is busted, so I will probably just have to get it fixed. Thanks to everyone for their help!!

Wolfwood87

[cbkilner]

I guess my drive is busted

Are you sure it isn't your RAM? Bad memory usually crops up when dealing with big files (like DVD images).

[wolfwood87]

The RAM has been checked by TechTool and it didnt seem like there were any problems.

Wolfwood87

[cbkilner]

Well, with RAM prices going up, a new Pioneer DVR-107 can be had for the price of a 512MB stick.

If you can boot into OS9, do that and run a continuous RAM test overnight. My RAM checked out fine with Apple's Hardware Test CD, but after an hour with an OS9 memory tester, I got consistent errors with 1 of the 4 sticks of RAM in my PowerMac.

[pixeljammedia]

This may sound strange, but I was having problems burning one image I made in iDVD. I was desperate, so I mounted the image and ripped it with MacTheRipper. For some reason THAT VIDEO_TS burned perfectly in Toast. Not sure why, I don't know what happened or whether the Gremlins were chewing on the wires in my Mac, but it worked.