Slow motion FX hangs DVD players

[Canopus Smoker]

I used the slow motion effect from Windows Movie Maker on a video in AVI, then encoded it to MPEG2. When I burned the sequence with Ulead Video Studio SE 9 and play the disc, on my $30 DVD player the video hangs for a second or two as the slow motion sequence starts. I put this sequence on two different discs and it hangs the same on both, so its not the burn. The DVD-ROM drive on my PC doesn't hang but has a split second of visible trouble reading it. It reads fine on my Sony standalone DVD player, though.

Any idea what's causing the hang and how I can get rid of it? If it only happens on cheap DVD players should I even care? Would creating a disc image first and then burning a DVD at a slower speed, 4x instead of 8x, help?

Also, when I encoded the slow motion sequence to MPEG2 on my PC it looked fine, but after it's burned to DVD it comes across very blocky. The "don't re-encode video that is DVD standard" box is checked in my authoring program, but it looks like it still re-encodes it and it comes out funny looking. How can I get around this?

Thanks for taking the time to read and respond.

[guns1inger]

It is something you have done in the encoding. At a guess, the bitrate spikes too high for the players to handle. PCs don't have the same restrictions that standalone players do.

[Canopus Smoker]

Thanks for replying.

I think I may have set the quality/speed dial to 100%. Do you think if I moved it down to 70% that could help?

* EDIT: I see where the bit rate is set at "Variable 6000 kbps." Should I lower that to 5500 or 5000? This is VHS video I'm using.

[guns1inger]

DVD allows for up to 9800 kbps for video, and combined with audio up to 10800 kbps. However some players struggle with higher bitrates, so high 8000's is usually safer.

I would use a bitrate viewer to check the bitrate of your video for spikes at the point where it has problems. 6000 should not give you any problems.

[Canopus Smoker]

I'm wondering if it isn't because the video goes from black to a flash of white before the slow motion starts, and it's adjusting from no info to a lot of info quickly? Maybe if I used a lighter black so the jump in bitrate wasn't so dramatic?

[guns1inger]

A balck to white flash is the type of change that can produce a bitrate spike. Again, check the bitrates.