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DVD won’t play in one PC, no sound on other
I’ve created a DVD for a client. on 2 of my PCs here it worked great. I couriered it to the clietn and on 2 of the client’s PCs they say they had a black screen and it didn’t play, and on the other PC, they had video but no sound.
what could cause this? here’s more info:
1. DVD is 135 minutes long
2. rendered using mpg2 with VBR around 3800
3. Used DVD Architect to burn (12x – default)
4. I do realize (now that I’ve learned this on this forum) that I should create a separate AC3 audio stream. I didn’t. the audio was in the mpg2 file.I don’t want to keep reburning in millions of ways shooting in the dark so thanks for any info on this,
Gilles
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7 Replies
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“12x – default”
There’s your problem. Never, ever, ever burn a DVD at the fastest rate. (I am not aware of any DVD recordable media that will go to 12X anyway, so that may be a secondary issue – what is your blank media rated?)
I never burn faster than 4X, and in hundreds of DVD’s produced, I can count the number of coasters made using one hand. Not counting the thumb. Or pinkie finger.
Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com -
I agree with Steve. Keep the burns at 4x just to be safe but this is more for set-top DVD players than PC’s which have a greater tolerance.
2 of the client’s PCs they say they had a black screen and it didn’t play, and on the other PC, they had video but no sound.
What 3rd party software were they using to play the DVD? Windows cannot play DVD’s on it own. If the client is watching these on their PC and they don’t specifically have a software DVD Player installed from a 3rd party (e.g., WinDVD, PowerDVD, CyberLinkDVD, etc.) they will only get audio and no video because Windows does not come with an MPEG2 encoder. Since your DVD’s also have MPEG2 audio they won’t get audio either. If they are trying to play these with Windows Media Player without a 3rd party MPEG2 encoder, you found your problem.
I do realize (now that I’ve learned this on this forum) that I should create a separate AC3 audio stream. I didn’t. the audio was in the mpg2 file.
MPEG2 audio is not part of the DVD spec so you created a non-standard DVD that is not guaranteed to be played by all players and you’re seeing that now. I would go back and make the DVD properly with AC3 audio just to be safe. Never deliver a non-standard DVD to a client.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
Thanks so much David and John.
It sounds like you nailed it. I’ll re-render and reburn with all I’ve learned here and I’m confident I’ll have better results.
Thanks for the explanation, it all makes a lot of sense.
Gilles
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Is there a utility that will check the “integrity” or standards adherance of a DVD I create?
This would be hand to use BEFORE I get to the disc duplication facility only to discover the DVD is “invalid”.
Cheers,
Gilles -
Is there a utility that will check the “integrity” or standards adherance of a DVD I create?
No, but I can almost guarantee that when you start changing the templates you are going to wind up with something that is invalid unless you know what you’re doing.
The secret is to not change the templates. They actually work. Just use them as is and Vegas will make compliant discs.
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com -
John,
Is changing the VBR settings on a template considered “changing” the template? I need to in order to squeeze my video onto the DVD.
Gilles
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Is changing the VBR settings on a template considered “changing” the template? I need to in order to squeeze my video onto the DVD.
That’s a pretty safe one to change and one that gets changed often. That should not mess anything up with the template (unless you set it too high but it sounds like you are making it lower which is OK).
~jr
http://www.johnrofrano.com
http://www.vasst.com
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