Burning problems

[brianss Profile Private messageWebsite]

Hi,

I have just registered on this site.

I have had ProShow Gold for about a year now and really enjoyed using it. I originally had a few teething problems but they were quickly sorted out.

However, since updating to Version 5 (5.0 3222), I seem to be having many problems burning DVD's and I have lost a lot of confidence it it! Sometimes the program stops during burning, then if I have a successful burn the DVD stops when I play it on the TV.

The other day I successfully burnt a DVD but it stopped during playback on the TV, so I went to create another but this time it stopped during burning . . . . I have wasted loads of DVD's!

Naturally I have contacted Photodex via email and Jared answers. I have done everything he suggests even uninstalling the program and re-installing it. His latest suggestion is downloading "IMGBurn," then use another burning software such as Nero, Roxio, etc. I haven't done this as yet.

I find it annoying that after buying software that includes a burning function that I have to use another burning software because this one is so temperamental.

I now wish I still had my original version of ProShowGold.

Can anyone offer me any help please?

Brian

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Without knowing all the details, my first guess is you are not using good quality (compatible) media. Poor quality media will give all sorts of issues such as you describe including stopping during playback. Some good media works better with some burner/player combinations than other (while it has gotten better over the last few years, it is still somewhat hit-or-miss for some folks). As far as using a third party tool, I use Imgburn all the time - an excellent tool. Several things you can try - try different media (you don't say what brand you are using) and try burning slower than full speed. My preferred way to do a show is create an ISO file from Proshow (or Sony Vegas that I use for video) then use Imgburn to burn the ISO to disk (or as many disks as I want to create). Another neat feature Imgburn has is on the burn page, there is a checkbox to "verify" - after burning, it will go back and re-read the disk it just created to verify it can read it correctly. Imgburn is free ( http://www.imgburn.com/index.php?act=download ) although he does accept donations (I have donated in the past). Make sure you download Imgburn, not one of the other things on that page (it can get confusing) and give that a try. (to create the ISO file, from the burning menu, where you select which burner to use - one of the options in the pull down menu is "create iso file" or something like that). Another advantage to the ISO file is the fact that you can create as many identical copies of your disk as you want at any time from that file very easily.

mikey

[brianss Profile Private messageWebsite]

Thanks mikey - I use quality TDK discs.

I don't burn at MAX speed, I select the only other speed on offer - 16x.

[pilotdan63 Profile Private message]

Brian . . . I also use Imgburn to create all my DVD's and even though my discs are rated at 16x I always burn them at 8x

Dan

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

I don't know about the current crop of TDK disks, but some time ago, I had purchased a stack of "TDK data" disks (these were CD's). They were total garbage - the ID tool said that they were actually CMC magnetics disks and if you looked at the underside at the data layer, you could see problems. If I burned one (or tried to), they would make it to about 60% then fail a verify (and you could hear the reader slow down as it tried to read the disks). Give Imgburn a shot and check the verify box -- see how it handles the disks. My personal favorite is the Taiyo Yuden Premium disks, but others here have had good results with a number of other brands as well. If it fails the verify or if you hear it start speeding up and slowing down when doing the verify, be suspicious of the media.

mikey

[brianss Profile Private messageWebsite]

Thanks folks.

pilotdan63 - I can only select either MAX speed or 16x, there is not 8x to select!

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Use imgburn - you can select most any speed you want.

mikey

[pilotdan63 Profile Private message]

Brian . . . as Mikey says . . . use Imgburn to select a slower burning speed

Dan

[brianss Profile Private messageWebsite]

OK I will use Img burn . . . . . but does anybody know what is the problem with the burn function within ProShow Gold? They must know there is a problem with it. It has worked for my in the past with no problem.

Brian

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

Most people that burn direct don't have problems (there were more issues in the past), but at this point, we don't know if it is a burning issue, media issue or rendering issue you are seeing. That is why it is necessary to break the process down to steps that allow us to see what the problem is. When you create an ISO instead of burning direct, that tells us if it is a rendering issue if it hangs during the ISO build. If that builds correctly, then when you burn with Imgburn (or other utility if you want), that can tell us (with verify checked) if there is a problem burning (which may be a media issue, a burner getting old (that happens) or something else). Trying to render/burn/test media in one pass doesn't tell you where the problem actually is. Like saying "my car won't start" - that is too broad - we don't know if the battery is dead, it is out of gas or where to start looking.

mikey

[brianss Profile Private messageWebsite]

I downloaded “IMGBurn”, created an “ISO image file” then burned a DVD from this file with IMGBurn. The DVD created without a problem.

I set this DVD running on the TV and let it run, but I thought the transitions between the images were not as smooth as a show created with ProShow. When it came to an image that I had added zoom to, the action was noticeably jerky! This was particularly noticeable on the 20sec. sequence at the end where I listed all the music tracks. None of this happened when I used to burn a DVD within ProShow. I’m beginning to loose confidence with it and it’s a program I really like since I bought it about a year ago.

If Photodex have to suggest another program in order to overcome burning problems, I do wonder if it is a problem Photodex know about and I wonder if they are doing anything about it.

All I want to do is to be able to burn a DVD using ProShow's burning facility, like I have done in the past (pre Version 5) without a problem. My shows are around 400 images with a resolution straight from the camera of 300dpi, they lasts about 60 minutes, with 15 music tracks but this is well within the capacity of a DVD. Also, I always attempt burning with nothing else running on the computer.

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

OK, lets look at what you have come up with so far. First, the DVD created by the ISO route should be the same as one created by burning direct as far as the data on the disk goes. An ISO file is not an "intermediate" type file where you render to that format then again render to the final DVD. An ISO file is simply a container for the file system that gets put on the disk (in fact, if you have a program like winrar etc on your machine, you can look inside the ISO file just like it was a zip file and see exactly the same files as you would if you look at a dvd burned direct on your computer.

As far as having a dedicated program for burning the DVD, most people that burn direct don't have problems. Imgburn is indeed a dedicated program but trying to put all of it's functionality in Proshow is not reasonable for most people (then you could use the argument that if they put all that in Proshow, why not put a complete audio editor, video editor and photo retouch (like Photoshop) as well in there). I got in the habit of using Imgburn years ago (back in Proshow version 2.x time frame) where most people were having issues burning. Since there are many advantages to going the ISO route, I still use it (even if I am creating a disk in Sony Vegas which can also burn direct - I still go the ISO route).

One thing I forgot to suggest is to note on the imgburn listing when it was doing the verify, what speed was it showing for reading the disk ? That will give us an indication of if there is a problem reading data back from the disk - I assume it passed the verify? (you had to check that checkbox as I indicated earlier).

As for the "resolution", the 300 dpi term is mostly meaningless in terms of an image - it only really applies when you are printing. What is important (although you are probably OK here) is the dimensions of the images in pixels. DPI in the camera would refer to the image on the sensor - even with a full size sensor (24 * 36 mm), that would only be 300 * 450 pixels, however, that is probably not the case here. If you are cropping an image to 300 dpi in something like Photoshop, note that that number applies at the dimensions in inches/mm you are cropping to (again,this is a printing issue when you finally put it down on a print). This is an issue that a lot of people have run into and it has caused them problems (Google "dpi" and you will find all sorts of information along these lines). Be aware that the resolution of the image on the TV (actually in the DVD) is limited to the DVD standard for SD disks. I don't remember exactly what it is for PAL, but for NTSC, it is 720 * 480. I generally don't pre-scale my images down (that is another area of debate, and I don't know all the details on that) although I do run them through Photoshop to set levels, straighten and crop them a bit and sharpen them a bit (most digital camera images require a bit of sharpening straight out of the camera).

For the jerkiness you are seeing, that can be either something happening in Proshow or a problem reading the data from the disk. The fact that changing which way you burned the disk significantly changed how it played tells me we are probably on the edge with those disks. If the jerks or other unwanted features are at exactly the same point each time, then it is most likely a rendering issue. If they move around a bit and are not exactly the same each time then we are looking at a data read rate from the disk - the player is having problems reading the disk fast enough to keep up with the TV.

From your ISO, burn another disk at a slow speed (like 2x) with verify checked. Note the speed of the read during the verify operation. Let us know how that goes.

mikey

[brianss Profile Private messageWebsite]

Hi Mikey - I wish you lived next door, you sound very knowledgeable!

My images are around 5MB in size (3900mm x 2500mm), Nikon D300s. I also put all my images through Photoshop CS4 and haven't downsized my images for ProShow.

When you say, "tells me we are probably on the edge with those disks." Do you mean the disks I use are not good quality? I use TDK+R disks. Oh, Oh . . . . I read you have had problems with TDK disks! Having said that I never had problems burning until I upgraded to Version 5 - could be a coincidence though.

The jirkiness - All I can say is that I noticed it on every image transition (slightly) but on all the images where I have added a zoom effect (8secs.) it is very noticeable.

I will try again and see what the speed was.

Brian
http://www.bswalesphotography.co.uk/

[gpsmikey Profile Private message]

The problem I had with TDK disks was several years ago and was with their "data CD" - I have not used the TDK DVD media although I thought I remembered someone else here having issues. Things have gotten better in the last couple of years as far as the media goes (at least for the good stuff), however, there are still some players/burners/etc that prefer +R over -R or the reverse and sometimes one brand works best in your hardware, but a different brand works best in someone else's hardware. This is why we need to get it down to just where the problem is before we can solve it (there are a number of things that give the same effect visually, but are different actual causes.

The D300s is a great camera. That is my main camera - I love it (even though it and my eyes don't always agree on what it should be focused on ) I recently got the 105mm Nikon Macro lens for it. Great lens (although naturally, when the eagle flew over yesterday with the crows bothering it, that was the lens I had on and not my regular 70-300mm zoom. Sigh - still managed to get a few decent shots though)

Sounds like you are fine on the image size (in px)

mikey

[brianss Profile Private messageWebsite]

Mikey - It looks as though we've cracked it!!!

I burned another DVD successfully @speed 4x and it has played successfully with no jirkiness

Brian