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DVDA 5.2 Disc plays in player, not in computer
Here’s a problem I haven’t seen before:
I authored a fairly simple DVD and it plays in two different Sony players but will not play in any of my computers other than the one that burned the DVD.For sanity I burned an older project (same computer, DVDA settings, and same batch of discs) which played perfectly in all devices.
After a few more unsuccessful attempts (re-doing “Prepare”, turning off “Smart Prepare”) I gave up and started a new project, re-did the authoring using the same video files as before, and the burned DVDs now play properly in both computers and players.
It appears the DVDA project became corrupt but “sorta” worked.
–RandyConfig:
DVDA 5.2 (with Vegas Pro 10e).
Standard Widescreen NTSC menu-based template.
Windows XP computer. -
6 Replies
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Your choice of DVD Disc could also be responsible for that.
Steve Rhoden
(Cow Leader)
Film Maker
Filmex Creative Media.
1-876-832-4956 -
I have experienced this issue with DVD’s and Blu-ray discs created using DVDA. They play fine in players, but not the computer DVD/blu-ray drive.
I have not had this problem when I have used Nero to burn my discs.
I now have a player connected to my preview monitor (a 32″ HD TV) as well to check my output.
My system specs: Intel i7 970, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10e (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6
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Does your disc have both an audio ts folder and a video ts folder?
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Yes. I use DVDA to create the disc (but not burn it). I then use Nero’s DVD Video functionality to create a DVD.
I just copy whatever is in the VIDEO_TS folder of my DVDA output to the Nero VIDEO_TS compilation folder. I leave the audio folder alone. DVDA sometimes creates another file in the root folder of the DVD called (SPSS.SS or something similar, I am at work so I cannot check). I ignore that file.
I have found that some DVD’s/Blu-rays discs will not play audio in certain PC DVD readers/blu-ray readers. I put it down to hardware. Generally, I have found if the audio plays in DVDA preview, the disc will play audio on a clients player.
I have come across some clients with older DVD players that do not switch automatically between PCM and AC3 audio. Depending on how you encode your audio on your DVD, it may be a case of asking your clients to check their DVD player audio setup and set it manually to the format your encoded your DVD in: AC3 or PCM. Or kindly suggest that their 1999 vintage Pioneer DVD player is in need of updating 🙂
My system specs: Intel i7 970, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10e (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6
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Blu-ray drives/players should play DVDs. But do keep in mind, it’s not a required part of the Blu-ray spec. As with the CD and DVD formats, they’re kept as separate specs.
Sometimes the incompatibility is for CD-R/DVD-R or RW only. Some early DVD players, and in particular, computer drives, did the CD support on the cheap. They were built with just the red laser, which worked for regular CDs. But the organic dyes used in CD-R didn’t work.
I heard tell of some BD-R drives that tried the same game with DVD support, but I don’t know for a fact if these made it to market or not. My Philips BD-R drive has never had a problem with DVD or DVD-R.
And of course, the same issues can technically apply to any reader… PCs or STBs alike.
Of course, in the CD to DVD transition, many early DVD players had other, even stupider issues. There was a software bug in the early Philips reference platform, which got copied into a considerable number of DVD players, that affected DVD-RW and sometimes DVD-R, depending on how good or bad the player was. Normal DVDs have about 80% reflectance. DVD-R is supposed to be 40-50% or so, while DVD-RW is more like 25% maximum. But the inner layer on a DVD9 is also around 25% reflectance, maybe even a bit lower.
So anyway, this bug had the player just kick into double-layer mode if it was a low reflectance DVD. So it failed on DVD-RW, and possible DVD-R, for really stupid reasons. Though curiously, my *1998* Pioneer DVD player worked just dandy with DVD-R and RW. Pioneer was one of the early developers of DVD, and didn’t use the Philips reference code.
These days, of course, you can easily get a BD player that supports regular software updates. Convincing most CE companies to actually keep supporting something they’ve already shipped is another story.
-Dave
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Not to go off in the weeds here but I’ve burned 100’s of DVDs with DVDA 4, 4.5, and now 5 and hadn’t seen this type of problem. For this error the disc is not recognized in other computers, meaning no file structure appears. This is similar to when you burn a data disc and forget to “close” it — other computers can’t read it.
However, I was surprised when my DVD players played it, thus my comment on CC — just in case anyone else experiences a similar problem.
–r.e.
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