Unable to burn DVD movie

[LyndaHart]

Hi,

I have a new Dell computer with a Philips DVD Burner (Vista). I am trying to burn a movie file (.mpeg) as a DVD movie so I can watch it on my DVD player (non-DivX). However, when I try to burn the movie with Roxio, I get an error msg, "The file you are trying to use is unseekable, and has not been added."
I used a free software from the Internet, Prism. I tried 2 combinations. Initially, I converted the file to AVI. Burnt the movie on DVD. Got sound but no video. Next, I converted the movie as WMV but got video and no sound. I used the burning software "Express Burn" that was bundled with Prism.
Please help!!!!

Lynda.

[daamon]

Hi Lynda,

Welcome to the forums.

DVD movies have to comply with rules regarding a whole number of things, including (what's called) the "resolution" of the video itself. The resolution is how wide and how high the image is.

There's also rules on the files that make up DVD movies and how they are structured.

In short, you can't just burn any old MPEG file straight to disc and expect it to play on your DVD player.

Firstly, download the tool GSpot (free) so that you can check all the details of your MPEG file to see if it's compliant with DVD rules - see "What Is... DVD" for all the specifications (rules).

If it's compliant, you need to do what's called "author" the MPEG file - this isn't just burning the file to disc, it creates the correct directory structure containing all the files that the DVD rules require.

You'll find there's loads of useful info in the "How To" guides and in the forums themselves.

Good luck!