Windows 7 Any Known Issues with Windows DVD Maker?

[hawkeye62]

In creating a DVD with Windows DVD Maker, the burn process is hit or miss. Sometimes the DVD gets made, but many times the process stops at 99% with an error message. It does the same thing on two different DVD drives.

Any thoughts?

Thanks, Jim

 

[hawkeye62]

Hi

As I understand it a msdvd is a Windows DVD Maker project file that only contains the location and structure of the project, not the content it'self.

It is not a playable file in any DVD player, it can only be opened on the original computer and then saved to a playable format.

I've never used DVD Maker but I have used Windows Movie Maker and it should be able to save the file in WMV file format.

Yes, Windows Movie Maker outputs a wmv file. And a wmv file can be burned to a DVD. BUT, my wife uses features of Windows DVD Maker to "dress up" the movie. Stuff like fonts, colors, menus, etc. So, once she does that, she is locked into using Windows DVD Maker to burn the DVD. And that process only works some of the time.

Thanks, Jim

 

[hawkeye62]

Perhaps, the video made by Windows Movie Maker is too large ?
How many MB or GB is the wmv ?
How many minutes required to play the wmv ?

The DVD that she finally got completed after multiple attempts is 1.23 GB and it plays for about 20 minutes.

Thanks, Jim

 

[davidhk129]

I am now treading on uncharted waters as I do not have extensive knowledge in this subject matter.
As you might or might not know, usual DVD has about 4.7 GB and 120 minutes capacity.
If what you intend to burn exceeds that limits, it will fail to burn.
I understand there is a way around the limits but I don't know the details.
Good luck.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Does DVD Maker have a lot of Options that Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't?
It would seem like the new Movie Maker would be more up to date then DVD Maker.

I know that it can do a lot of title effects, transitions etc, and it can export in a zillion different formats.

Mike

 

[hawkeye62]

Hi

Does DVD Maker have a lot of Options that Windows Live Movie Maker doesn't?
It would seem like the new Movie Maker would be more up to date then DVD Maker.

I know that it can do a lot of title effects, transitions etc, and it can export in a zillion different formats.

Mike

That is what I would think. I will have to talk to my wife about it again. Or maybe I need to do some research on my own.

Thanks, Jim

 

[davidhk129]

Apple and Orange.

WMM makes videos in wmv file formats and can only be played in computers.

WDM makes videos in DVDs and can be played BOTH in computers and in portable DVD players.

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Just output it in MPG4 at 1080i and use Any Video Converter to write it to VOB for DVD.

http://filehippo.com/download_any_video_converter

I've used it for years, it works great and it's free.

Mike

 

[hawkeye62]

Apple and Orange.

WMM makes videos in wmv file formats and can only be played in computers.

WDM makes videos in DVDs and can be played BOTH in computers and in portable DVD players.

Yeah, the first thing Windows Movie Maker does when you select Burn DVD is make a wmv file of the movie. But there are also options to save the movie as an MP4 file of various sizes.

Hi

Just output it in MPG4 at 1080i and use Any Video Converter to write it to VOB for DVD.

http://filehippo.com/download_any_video_converter

I've used it for years, it works great and it's free.

Mike

Yeah, there are several apps out there that can convert file types and would allow wife to bypass Windows DVD Maker. BUT, DVD Maker has a feature called authoring. Authoring allows adding other features to a DVD movie. Stuff like a start menu with options to play the video or watch some scenes, add sub titles to some sections of the video, etc. DVD Maker is fairly simple but easy to use. There are other authoring programs available that I will probably get for wife that eliminates DVD Maker from the loop. Most also burn the DVD or she could use ImgBurn.

Regards, Jim

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

I'm sure that Windows Movie Maker will do most, it not all of what she wants.

I took a look at the new one, it has many more options then the old one I used at one time and it looks easy to use, mostly drag and drop.

I even loaded this video in and saved it as a project.
Then I output it in a different size and format and it worked without a hitch.



Mike

 

[hawkeye62]

Hi

I'm sure that Windows Movie Maker will do most, it not all of what she wants.

I took a look at the new one, it has many more options then the old one I used at one time and it looks easy to use, mostly drag and drop.

I even loaded this video in and saved it as a project.
Then I output it in a different size and format and it worked without a hitch.



Mike

But, I don't think it can do this.

Hi

I'm sure that Windows Movie Maker will do most, it not all of what she wants.

I took a look at the new one, it has many more options then the old one I used at one time and it looks easy to use, mostly drag and drop.

I even loaded this video in and saved it as a project.
Then I output it in a different size and format and it worked without a hitch.



Mike

I am pretty sure it can't do this.

Jim

 

[MikeHawthorne]

Hi

Well you can do that in Adobe Premiere Elements, you can do pretty much anything including one video running inside another video, and any configuration of title panels and windows.

But I have to admit that the learning curve is probably a lot steeper then DVD Maker.

It does have many standard title and theme setups that are pretty easy to use though, but I always do my own titles, and I haven't really used them, so I can't really say much about them.

But just messing with Windows Movie Maker for a few minutes, it does't seem to have these capabilities.
I couldn't find any way to superimpose one image inside another.

Which gets us back to the original problem.

One thing I would suggest it that you download and install Defraggler.

Link Removed

I have found in the past when processing large video files (that I'm creating from 3D graphics like Lucy), that defraging the file before creating the video can be the difference between it completing the process or not.

The advantage of Defraggler is that it will let you select files to be defragmented instead of having to do the entire drive every time.

This will take only a few minutes and could lower the overhead enough so that the process will complete without the error.

It may be that the process of creating a 20 minutes movie is just stressing her computer too much.

I don't have those problems any more but I remember when I had to generate video in pieces and then put them back together to get the process to complete, other wise it would just stop and throw an error.

Now with 32 Gigabytes of ram and a quad core 3.6 GHz processor it's not a problem anymore.

Otherwise I don't know what to suggest other then finding software that will do what you want.
Check this out.



This looks like it may do what you want and write to DVD.

Mike

 

[hawkeye62]

Thanks for the help Mike. Yeah, I think finding an alternative to DVD Maker may be the best bet. Something at least as powerful as DVD Maker but not much more complicated. I think her PC is powerful enough and the strange thing is that DVD Maker burns a DVD of the project sometimes but not at other times. She worked on the project for quite a while, adding stuff deleting stuff, etc. And each time she tried to burn a DVD it was a toss up whether it would burn or fail.

Regards, Jim