[George Wing]

I should have mentioned that the issue is with versions of DVDA through 4.0a (both Studio and Full versions).

I’ve read on the Sony Forums that Sony is aware of the issue, and will be issuing a patch for DVDA 4 (not sure about earlier versions of DVDA).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

You mentioned a couple of clients who could not even play the DVD. What were they using to play your dvd? There’s a known issue with all versions of DVD Architect (through DVDA 4a) with an invalid reference to an audio stream in the DVD IFO files.

Some DVD Recorder/Players cannot play these discs until you clean up that invalid reference (suggested workaround is PGCedit). It appears most players will still play the dvd, it’s just certain brands/models refuse to play them (LG DVD Recorder/Players often get mentioned as not being able to play them until the invalid audio reference is fixed).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Which version of DVD Architect are you running?

Is the “Stop” point the same with the bad discs (i.e. at the same time mark), or does the stop point vary from user to user?

Have any users complained that the DVD is not playable at all? NOTE: there is a current issue in all versions of DVD Architect that prevent burned DVD’s from playing in some dvd recorder/players (LG DVD Recorder/players is a brand that is often mentioned). Sony is aware of the issue, and has said they will eventually issue a patch for DVDA4 (current DVDA 4a does not include a fix).

Are you burning Single or Double layer discs, and are the problem discs Burned or Replicated?

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

If you ar eencoding a video that is already on your computer, then given today’s powerful machines, there are software encoders that can encode much faster than realtime (might depend on the codec of your source videos). I downloaded the CCE Basic Trial program, and it encoded a 3-minute DV .avi in a little over one minute (1-pass CBR 6000kbps). This was on an older P4 3.0ghz machine — so I can only imagine how fast it would run on a more recent machine…

If you are trying to encode from a video source in realtime, there are also software solutions that will capture/convert in realtime. Mainconcept’s mpeg encoder is one that comes to mind. They have a standalone encoder, but a few NLE’s use it as their mpeg encoding engine. Ulead for instance uses the Mainconcept mpeg encoder, and it will let you capture DV source to mpeg2 in realtime (needs a strong enough machine to keep up, but I think with today’s computers that it’s manageable).

One other alternative for realtime encoding from an analog source is a standalone dvd recorder. I often record things this way, and then just import the mpeg for use in my Authoring application (to add my own menus and chapters…).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

DVD LabPRO 2.x from mediachance.com

It even has a built-in “quiz” generator, and can display the number of correct answers. You will also be able to branch to a “Secret” menu if you want…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Since it is VBR, there might be a bitrate “spike” in certain areas of your video. Try running your video through a bitrate viewer to see if there are any “spikes” at the spots you see a glitch. Here’s a bitrate viewer you can try:
https://www.tecoltd.com/bitratev.htm

Also, what speed did you burn your DVD? Burners set to burn at high speeds can start burning at slower speeds, and then periodically throughout the burn they change the burning speed. What you might be seeing is a glitch at the point where your burner kicked into a different burning speed. Try burning at 4x or lower to see if that clears things up. It should only take about ~12 minutes to burn your DVD at 4x (given the time/bitrates you indicated).

btw, are you burning from an image file, or from DVD Folders? What burning software are you using? I would recommend burning from an IMAGE file.

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

On the PC, Sonic’s DVDiT Pro 6 comes with eDVD (for adding your web/file links). I recently saw an offer for 50% off (something like $199 for the entire bundle — which seems like a good deal considering it will include a full version of eDVD 4). I signed up on their mailing list about 2 months ago, and got the offer in an email (ymmv).

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Maintaining “Quality” will depend on your source videos — are they OLD VHS recordings, are they slow or fast moving (head-to-head interviews, or sports/action), etc…

Describe what you are working with, and we can give better estimates on what might work for you…

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

I just tried it with a Step Time: 00:00:00;01, and it worked fine here. What are all your settings for the different Time fields?

Regards,
George

[George Wing]

Insert/Time