Urgent help needed - deadline - iDVD project suddenly gone corrupt?

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Level 1

9 points

Urgent help needed - deadline - iDVD project suddenly gone corrupt?

Ive literally finished and ironed out the problems Ive had with a big Dual Layer project Ive been working on for 2 weeks.

Yesterday I successfully burned a project to DVD - and I had not been having any problems.

Then suddenly I tried another burn later in the day - and after all the encoding - iDVD ejected the blank DVD (before burning it) and appeared to freeze. The burn status bar remained complete saying project status: done. However iDVD was frozen like this - and the DVD is blank. I had to force quit as it would not respond.
I calmly tried again - same thing happened - it ejects the blank CD after encoding and freezes.
I decided to open a slightly different version of the iDVD project file I had also saved - and had the same problem....

So I tried to save a disc image instead - this time when I came back iDVD was gone - it had crashed and disappeared leaving no disc image.

I did some searching in this forum and I made some drive space and trashed my .plist files and repaired disc permissions.

I did another test burn this morning....SAME ISSUE - IDVD FROZE AND EJECTED THE BLANK DISC AFTER ENCODING....help! I have no idea what happened or what made it start behaving like this - I cant think of anything that changed on my system...and after all this work this bug has happened at the last hurdle....

Thanks in advance...

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.9)

Posted on Feb 17, 2009 2:34 AM

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Answer 1

SWAN909808 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 17, 2009 8:20 AM in response to SWAN909808

Ok...so I created a brand new project basically the same as the original - but didnt spend time tweaking and perfecting - in order to see if it would burn successfully.

So this is a brand new project - and I just found that it also has ejected the disc (blank) and crashed after encoding....

So I cannot understand why iDVD has suddenly failed on me having been working flawlessly through-out the creation process...

Now I have a finished project I cannot burn - and need to get it to replicators before an advert is released in the press! If anyone has any ideas please let me know...

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

47,250 points

Feb 17, 2009 9:19 AM in response to SWAN909808

Do you have a burner capable of burning dual layer disks? Not all of them are.
To find out, go to Apple Menu/About this Mac/More info/ATA.

If you have been able to burn dual layer disks before, then that obviously isn't the problem.
In that event, here's a diagnostic link that might help you isolate the problem:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1583?viewlocale=en_US

You might also check to make sure that all of your menu buttons are contained completely within the 4:3 TV safe viewing area, even if it is a widescreen project. Buttons outside the safe viewing area can cause burn failures.

Also, make sure that you don't have too much material in your menus, like large movies dropped into button motion displays or into drop zones. There is a 15 minute limitation for standard single layer DVDs, but not sure what it is for dual layer. Look in your iDVD Project info to see if the content is highlighted in red, indicating too much material. Does your Project info show dual layer as the default disk?

Finally, how much running time is your project? Dual layer disks hold about 4 hours, including menus and effects. Perhaps your menus put you over the limit.

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Answer 3

SWAN909808 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 17, 2009 9:55 AM in response to Rich839

Hi Rich - thanks for you reply.

I have previously successfully burned a DL draft disc of this same project. For some reason this burn/encode error suddenly arrived at the final post and has crippled my progress.

I checked and my menu buttons are cool - within TV safe

I trimmed my menu section - its ok (also iDVD warns you/stops menus over 15 mins)

The run-time is long 200 minutes - but as I said it is within the DL capacity and project capacity is ok - in fact there is space under the settings Im using. Granteed I know it is ambitious! But it has been working previously.

I have just made a load of changes:

deleted plist again, repaired permissions. I suspected 2 external hard-drives - so moved all the assets to a stable internal drive. I remembered I moved a couple of UAD1 audio Units just before this problem - so I moved them out of my components file (suspicious)...

I trashed the previously encoded assets in the project. I am currently downloading the OSX updates to 10.4.11 (!!!) as a desperate measure.

Thanks for that link - it was useful

Then I will try again...(please please please!!!)

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Answer 4

Rich839

Level 8

47,250 points

Feb 17, 2009 3:14 PM in response to SWAN909808

Just to cover all bases, if yours is a widescreen project, your menus must total less than 7.5 minutes rather than 15 minutes.

Since you were able to burn this same project earlier, the problem is not likely content related or burner related. Also, you weren't able to create a disk image, and disk images don't require a burner, so the problem is not your burner.

You might try running a disk utility program to see if it is a problem with your hard drive or RAM, particularly if you are having trouble with other programs. If the drive is O.K. then possibly it is some software corruption or incompatibility, or versions needing updating. In that case perhaps reinstalling iDVD or removing any conflicting software or plug-ins or updating to compatible versions would cure it.

Have you tried starting over with a new iDVD project by dragging the icon of your iMovie project (the one with the star on it) into the window of the new iDVD project?

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Answer 5

SWAN909808 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 17, 2009 3:49 PM in response to SWAN909808

ok - so after all the above tinkering and OSX update, plist trashing and permission repairing as well as shifting assets to an internal drive - I set the iDVD project (which had previously burned ok) to burn again - and lo and behold - after the encoding - the same thing happened again...

The project encoded - and then right at the end - it just ejected the blank CD and stopped...

here is a picture of the resulting iDVD screen.

As you can see - it just says 'done'. And the CD is sitting ejected and blank. The media is a fresh disc Verbatim +R DL. If I close the player nothing happens.

If I press the 'cancel' button iDVD says 'cleaning up' and just sits there doing nothing. It does not register as 'not responding' in the 'force quit application menu' - but nothing happens.

This is a real mystery to me. So frustrating I have the project finished! Something weird has happened...

Hi Rich...this project is a regular 4:3 PAL format.

I did try making a new project similar to the one Im trying to burn - and got the same result. Ditto with older versions of the project...

I have just run the Disc 1 hardware test - 'no trouble' result.

I am re-installing 'bundled software' from disc 1. Then I need to sleep and try burning again tomorrow...

cheers

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Answer 6

SWAN909808 Author

Level 1

9 points

Feb 24, 2009 5:54 AM in response to SWAN909808

So anyways - despite all the above - I tried to burn the disc again and lo and behold - SAME PROBLEM!

OK so what next? I put all the assets onto an external drive and sent it to a friend who works in the film industry to burn on his Mac - because it was all finished just needed burning...

And guess what - I just heard from him this morning - HE HAS HAD THE SAME PROBLEM! Unbelievable - I think this project is cursed!

I just did a test burn in iDVD of one of the 4 movies on the main project - and it burned fine....

So something is happening related to this project...

Ive tried building the project from scratch and am currently test burning...

If anybody is able to offer any suggestions I'd be very grateful...The advert for this DVD has now gone to press and I dont have a master DVD for the replicators yet!!

Thanks
Steve

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Answer 7

Rich839

Level 8

47,250 points

Feb 24, 2009 7:24 AM in response to SWAN909808

Maybe you need to reset your chapter markers. Don't put one at the beginning of your movie, and make sure that no markers are within 2 seconds of a transition or the end of your movie.

What puzzles me is that you were able to get a successful burn initially. So there must have been some change that occurred since then. Did you add new music or make any edits? It would have to be internal to the project because your friend in the film industry was unable to get a successful burn on his Mac. That would seem to rule out sofeware conflicts or disk problems on your computer, or burner problems, unless one of those conflicts or problems permanently corrupted the project. The only common denominator between your computer and your friend's computer is the project itself. Right?

Fortunately, you were able to get a successful burn of one of the movies in your project. So, all I can think of is to keep burning the separate movies in your project one by one, or maybe in groups, until you can isolate where the problem is occurring.

Good luck with this. I can appreciate how frustrating it must be.

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