Multiplexing error in iDVD

Ok. The disc image attempt failed, too. The error is "There was an error during muxing preparation (project conversion)." Any more ideas?

It's not media related. And it's not the burner, nor the lens.



This is pointing toward the iDvd project / software.




What's it say within map view? Any exclamation marks anywhere?





Did you already drag and drop the plist for iDvd to the trash yet?



Looks like this:




com.apple.iDvd.plist


If not, do so now, followed by a complete restart and then finally repair permissions from apple's disc utility (located in the applications folder > Utilities).



Actually I see above you disposed of the plist already .... Let's do it again regardless. And remind me again exactly how much available HD space is currently on your boot volume (your main hard drive where iDvd is loaded to). Is it over 25 GB's?



The last thing is to run apple's software updater again. See any recommended updates? if so please post them here prior to installing.





Message was edited by: SDMacuser

Just on spec, I tried a very small file, thinking "Why am I running all these tests with the full file I'm trying to record?" The small file work. The disc image was successful. So, the software is in the process of compiling a smaller version of the file that has been giving me difficulties. The file was large enough that, after I disposed of the preference files, and iDVD defaulted to "Best Performance", I got a size warning. Changing to Professional Quality appeared to be allowed, as the size warning in red changed to acceptable. Perhaps Snow Leopard has somehow interfered with those warnings. So, I started a compilation using a medium rather than a large file. Anyway, there's another hour and half to go on the compilation. I'll let you know later what transpires. The same file has been moved to my MacBook which has not been upgraded to Snow Leopard, and an attempt is being made in the large form, as opposed to the medium. We shall see.

BTW, I have already done a software update. There is nothing to download. I am running SL6.0.1 or whatever it's called, and iDVD 09. The files were created in iMovie 09 and published (several different times) to the media browser.

Curioser and curioser. The medium file produced the same error. The preferences have been removed, and a permissions correction done after a reboot. The interesting thing is that the same file burning in Leopard on the Macbook produced the same error. So, it's not Snow Leopard. The file has been removed from the media browswer and republished a couple of times. Hmmm. I had thought to remove iDVD and re-install it, but the failure on the MacBook suggests that ain't the problem. For my next trick, I'm going to try a different large file waiting to be burned. That may point to the media file itself. Although I don't know what I would do then. Well, yes I do. I would erase all of the original media, recapture the footage and try again. Your next trick would be....????

And still more curioser. I took a short clip (about 2 minutes) from the footage included in the offending file, published it and burned a disc image. No problem.
I have now trashed the offending files from the media browser. When the trash is emptied, I will redo the preferences, reboot, redo the permissions, republish and try again. One wonders if there is something in the transitions or titles. Seems odd, but then the entire mess is now very, very odd.

Not sure if you answered this in a prior post but are there any special characters in the title/s other than letters and numbers? Can't use any symbols (like the + sign) or decimal points in it. If so, that is why you are getting the error.




Message was edited by: SDMacuser

I'll check in the morning, but I think on-screen titles and chapter markers use only an apostrophe. The file title uses nothing but letters and numerals.

I'll look for your reply later in the AM.

Maybe. Just maybe. I found 3 chapter markers and 3 on-screen titles that used hyphens in age numbers, as Twenty-First Birthday. I have replace all 6 occurances with numerals as 21st birthday. The file is currently publishing, which will take about an hour, and then another 2.5 hours to burn. My fingers are crossed.

mine too. Good luck!

Sigh. No luck. I happened to be looking directly at my monitor when the burn crapped out. The video portion was complete. The muxing (whatever that is) error happened during the audio compilation. I'm rather out of ideas other than reloading the material and completely redoing the project, and that's not an attractive thought. I'm going to try a different project that's ready to burn. The project uses the same kind of media, collected in exactly the same way.

The second project burned perfectly. Therefore the problem must lie in the media of the offending project. I think I need to take each set of original clips and burn a disc image to find the offending clip. Maybe. If I don't find one, I guess I just trash the project and start again. Unless you've got any other suggestions?

BTW, the second project that burned, had a hyphen similar to those I removed this morning. I have to say that I didn't really like that theory, as iDVD itself uses hyphens in its scene selection menu. Still, it was worth a try.

Well, I finally got it, and it was odd enough to post here incase anyone looks this topic up again. Many things were tried, including burning the uneditited film, the edited film without titles and chapter markers, abbreviating the chapter markers in case length was the issue (remember the old iMovie used to truncate them when moving to iDVD?). In the process, I noticed that one, and only one, chapter marker was on the same line as the title marker. All the others were on the line above. The only way I seemed able to change that was to clip a few seconds of film. After that last clip, the offending marker took a place on the line above, as were all the others. That run published, compiled completely and burned. That's one for the books.