Burning frustrations!!

[Mouseferatu]

I'm really hoping someone can give me some pointers before I either tear my hair out or take a sledgehammer to something expensive.

A little while ago, I purchased a Memorex DVD burner, which came with the Nero software bundle. I have been attempting, via the various programs, to burn DVDs from AVI files.

On almost every disc, at least one or two of the four files develops the same flaw. At some point during the playback, the image briefly pixilates, and from that point on, the sound is no longer in synch with the video. Sometimes this happens more than once. Sometimes the lag between video and sound is several full seconds.

Even more strangely, the problem doesn't appear to be in the burn process, but in the encoding process, as the AVIs are being converted to VOBs. (I learned this by "burning" a DVD to the hard drive, for later transfer to a disc, and then playing it back from there; the problem still cropped up.)

I have made sure that my computer has more than the minimum requirements. I have made sure I'm not running anything else at the time. I have increased the size of the cache. I have turned on extra "ultrabuffer" protection. I have assigned highest priority to the process. I have double-checked the original files, just to reassure myself the problem isn't innate to the AVIs.

Nothing works. I'm still getting the same problem!

Help me, ENWorld. You're my only hope. (And I'm so frustrated, I can't even tell you.)

 

[SteelDraco]

What kind of encoding are you using, and what program are you using to do the conversion? Nero?

 

[Mouseferatu]

What kind of encoding are you using, and what program are you using to do the conversion? Nero?

NeroVision Express 3.

You're going to have to be more specific with the question about what kind of encoding. I'm fairly tech-ignorant.

 

[trancejeremy]

I'm not exactly an expert on this, but in my experience, actual burning problems with dvds is very very rare. Even if the computer can't keep up, the end product is still readable even if it writes to it at variable speeds (unlike burning cds), like starting at 4x then dropping down to 2.2x and going back up. The only problems I've ever gotten from actually burning is when something gets on the blank dvd (like dust or hair)

So as you pretty much realized, it's almost certain an encoding problem.

Although I don't think I've ever done an AVI to DVD, I've had sort of the reverse problem. I have a dvd of 80s music videos, and I wanted to rip some of them to my PSP, but I had pretty much the problem you describe. I didn't really get distortion, but the video and sound were out of sync (which looks really silly in a music video).

There are probably options regarding sound quality, aspect and frame rate in the encoder in Nero. You might want to try different settings with those. You might also try using a different encoder, or convert the AVI to another movie format, then covert it to a VOB file with Nero.

You might also see if there is a Nero update. They update that a lot.

 

[XCorvis]

It's definitely an encoding problem. Video encoding is a huge, huge PITA. Just try a different program. DVDflick is free and pretty nice. It's also got a burner built in, or you can output an .iso file (CD/DVD image) which Nero can burn.

 

[Mouseferatu]

It's definitely an encoding problem. Video encoding is a huge, huge PITA. Just try a different program. DVDflick is free and pretty nice. It's also got a burner built in, or you can output an .iso file (CD/DVD image) which Nero can burn.

Oh, wow. Much better. Thank you.

But... Do you know of any program I could use to create a menu? That seems to be the one function DVDflick lacks.

 

[XCorvis]

I think it lets you do some of the basic menu functions, like multiple videos and chapters, but I'm not really sure. I've only used it a tiny bit. I don't do much in the way of DVD burning, so I don't know of other programs. I'm sure they're out there tho.