dvd freezing in player

[natty]

Can anyone help me as i keep getting DVDs which i have burnt say about 4 movies on, freezing up half way through when playing in my dvd player. I have also tried another player same thing. I have even tried good blank DVD-R discs, I use convertX2DVD to join 4 avi movies which converts them to vob files and adds menu. and i use ashampoo to burn the movies to DVD. or maybe could it be my DVD burner needs replacing

can anyone here suggest a different program or similar one to convertX2DVD as dont want all the hassle of doing them all 2 times over just a simple convert program like convertX2DVD

Also can anyone suggest a good external dvd burner

[hech54]

Verbatim discs burned with ImgBurn. Anything else is just a waste of time and money.

[orsetto]

There could be several causes, but I think since you report these discs are all consistently freezing at roughly the halfway point, it is most likely due to an authoring error by your convertX2dvd software. In the process of assembling and converting these four AVI files into a standard-spec dvd, it might be creating a format glitch at the midpoint which confuses your dvd player, causing a freeze. Perhaps the second AVI in the queue might have a defect or corruption near its end that causes an error during final authoring, resulting in the mid-point disc freeze? Also, some AVI files that contain a a certain type of dark scene can convert poorly to DVD spec: the dvd conversion will stutter and freeze at certain random points of darkness. If you note your freeze always occurs during a specific dark scene or a fade, you could try editing those few seconds out of the AVI file before loading it into ConvertX2DVD. That often works for me.

You mention "joining" four AVI "movies" but you didn't specify exactly what kind of "movies" these are. If they are four relatively short clips, like 30 minute TV series episodes, that should be fine. But if the four AVIs really are "movies" with each running 90 minutes (or more) apiece, you may simply be pushing past the limit of what can be reliably authored with all-in-one DVD creation utilities. I have found they max out at roughly 270 to 300 minutes authored to a standard single-layer DVD-R, beyond that the software either fails during the process or tends to create a funky dvd with playback issues.

hech54's advice to use Verbatim blanks and burn them with ImgBburn should be followed: lesser-quality blanks can exaggerate formatting errors. Most blank disc brands today are poor-quality junk spewing from the same few dubious factories, that just slap different brand logos on each batch. Verbatim still has high standards, but be sure the package has an "AZO" trademark on it somewhere. Those are the premium quality discs, Verbatims without the "AZO" mark on the package are the same re-labeled junk sold under other brand names. ImgBurn is the most accurate burning utility you can use, usually better than any built-in burning feature of your DVD conversion software. I'd suggest downloading the older ImgBurn version 2.5.6.0 from the VideoHelp tools library, later versions have tricky installers that can put a lot of junkware on your PC.

The most popular and well-supported DVD conversion package among VideoHelp members is AVStoDVD, which can be downloaded from the VideoHelp tools section. It has a bit of a learning curve, but the developer is very active here and answers questions promptly. It is certainly worth a try to see if it handles your AVI files better than ConvertX2DVD. Another option is DVDflick, which I prefer, but it is very old, very buggy, and unsupported.

External DVD burners today are mostly flimsy laptop drives in a slim plastic case powered by USB. Sometimes they work great, often they don't: depends on your specific PC configuration and blind luck. I have done OK with the LG GP50, which is frequently found on sale for $25 (US). If you can find a standard-sized AC-powered burner, that would be preferable. And there are still a couple full-size BluRay/DVD burners available at reasonable cost: depends how much you want to spend.

Try different video source files, Verbatim AZO blank DVDs, AVStoDVD, and the ImgBurn utility BEFORE buying a new burner: if you are only having disc problems with this one project, odds are it isn't a burner issue.

[natty]

Hi many thanks to you both i will try avstodvd see if that helps would you suggest 4 avi movies on a dvd or maybe cut them down to 2 or 3 also i have getting Verbatim blank dvds with AZO but i cant seem to find imageburn version you said here

I'd suggest downloading the older ImgBurn version 2.5.6.0 from the VideoHelp tools library,

[hech54]

Hi many thanks to you both i will try avstodvd see if that helps would you suggest 4 avi movies on a dvd or maybe cut them down to 2 or 3 also i have getting Verbatim blank dvds with AZO but i cant seem to find imageburn version you said here

I'd suggest downloading the older ImgBurn version 2.5.6.0 from the VideoHelp tools library,

Stop putting so many movies on one DVD, look for old versions of ImgBurn using Google. Either READ what people write or stop wasting people's time.

[natty]

Hi many thanks to you both i will try avstodvd see if that helps would you suggest 4 avi movies on a dvd or maybe cut them down to 2 or 3 also i have getting Verbatim blank dvds with AZO but i cant seem to find imageburn version you said here

I'd suggest downloading the older ImgBurn version 2.5.6.0 from the VideoHelp tools library,

Stop putting so many movies on one DVD, look for old versions of ImgBurn using Google. Either READ what people write or stop wasting people's time.

How am i wasting peoples time, I never asked you to reply, so cant see where i have wasted peoples time,

have a nice day

[hech54]

How am i wasting peoples time

Cross posting/double posting for one:
https://forum.videohelp.com/threads/371465-avstodvd

[natty]

Ok point taken but i made a mistake there

[orsetto]

Hi many thanks to you both i will try avstodvd see if that helps would you suggest 4 avi movies on a dvd or maybe cut them down to 2 or 3 also i have getting Verbatim blank dvds with AZO but i cant seem to find imageburn version you said here

I'd suggest downloading the older ImgBurn version 2.5.6.0 from the VideoHelp tools library,

You need to understand, these all-in-one DVD converters are not high-level professional tools. They perform a basic, quick-n-dirty conversion from PC video files to the convoluted DVD video disc format. Certain video files and/or certain scenes convert to MPEG/VOB much worse than others. Many glitches and quality hits can occur during this process, so you want to lower your risk as much as possible.

When converting TV series files to DVD format, I try not to go beyond 180 mins (3 one-hour eps or 6 half-hour eps). I'll fudge this now and then if I think I can get away with it: after some experience you develop a feel for which videos will tolerate the added compression (some TV series look fine up to 4 hours per DVD conversion, others can't go above 2 hours per).

If by "AVI movies" you mean live-action Hollywood features, these are a much bigger challenge to quick-convert than typical TV series because the photography is much more varied and there is more movement. My rule of thumb for movie conversions is ONE per DVD, I'll do two only if they are very short (80 mins or less, old, B&W, not a lot of action). Your desire to cram four entire feature movies onto a DVD will result in conversion issues (like your freezes) and poor video quality: perhaps you don't see it right now because you're still viewing on an older smaller CRT television, but if you ever replace it with an LCD flatscreen it will be ugly.

With blank DVDs so small and cheap, there's no good reason to overfill them. If you are THAT tight on storage space, you shouldn't use DVDs at all: just dump all your video files into a small hard-drive-based media player connected to your TV (no conversion necessary, much more efficient use of file space). Or get a BluRay player which will play most PC video files directly off a data DVD (no conversion necessary, preserves HD quality if the file is HD, fits many more videos per disc than doing conversions). My videos are stored three ways: original AVIs-MP4s-MKVs on HDD, also backed up to data DVDs, and some converted to standard video DVDs for convenience (lending, etc).

Regarding ImgBurn, it seems there was a recent change to how VideoHelp archives older versions (last time I looked, there was literally a link labeled "Download Older Versions"). When I checked just now, there is this direct link available to v2.5.7.0, claimed to be the last one without annoying adware in the installer. Try that, but be sure to disable installation of any suggested crap like "Ask Browser Toolbar" if it pops up.

[natty]

Hi many thanks to you both i will try avstodvd see if that helps would you suggest 4 avi movies on a dvd or maybe cut them down to 2 or 3 also i have getting Verbatim blank dvds with AZO but i cant seem to find imageburn version you said here

I'd suggest downloading the older ImgBurn version 2.5.6.0 from the VideoHelp tools library,

You need to understand, these all-in-one DVD converters are not high-level professional tools. They perform a basic, quick-n-dirty conversion from PC video files to the convoluted DVD video disc format. Certain video files and/or certain scenes convert to MPEG/VOB much worse than others. Many glitches and quality hits can occur during this process, so you want to lower your risk as much as possible.

When converting TV series files to DVD format, I try not to go beyond 180 mins (3 one-hour eps or 6 half-hour eps). I'll fudge this now and then if I think I can get away with it: after some experience you develop a feel for which videos will tolerate the added compression (some TV series look fine up to 4 hours per DVD conversion, others can't go above 2 hours per).

If by "AVI movies" you mean live-action Hollywood features, these are a much bigger challenge to quick-convert than typical TV series because the photography is much more varied and there is more movement. My rule of thumb for movie conversions is ONE per DVD, I'll do two only if they are very short (80 mins or less, old, B&W, not a lot of action). Your desire to cram four entire feature movies onto a DVD will result in conversion issues (like your freezes) and poor video quality: perhaps you don't see it right now because you're still viewing on an older smaller CRT television, but if you ever replace it with an LCD flatscreen it will be ugly.

With blank DVDs so small and cheap, there's no good reason to overfill them. If you are THAT tight on storage space, you shouldn't use DVDs at all: just dump all your video files into a small hard-drive-based media player connected to your TV (no conversion necessary, much more efficient use of file space). Or get a BluRay player which will play most PC video files directly off a data DVD (no conversion necessary, preserves HD quality if the file is HD, fits many more videos per disc than doing conversions). My videos are stored three ways: original AVIs-MP4s-MKVs on HDD, also backed up to data DVDs, and some converted to standard video DVDs for convenience (lending, etc).

Regarding ImgBurn, it seems there was a recent change to how VideoHelp archives older versions (last time I looked, there was literally a link labeled "Download Older Versions"). When I checked just now, there is this direct link available to v2.5.7.0, claimed to be the last one without annoying adware in the installer. Try that, but be sure to disable installation of any suggested crap like "Ask Browser Toolbar" if it pops up.

thank you so so much for all your help its been most invaluable. I will of course from now on only burn 2 movies to a disc. I have ordered Verbatim blank dvds now I always use DVD-R I dont know whats difference in DVD+R discs