IMovie DVD freezes in DVD player. Why?

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IMovie DVD freezes in DVD player. Why?

So I've been making life-in-photos dvds for friends and family for years. Never had a problem with the old version. Had to get new version and bought UDEMY course to learn it.

With a 2015 IMac, and IMovie, I did a dvd of my daughter's life so far, and it worked fine on the computer and super drive. I made up about 15 copies for family and some of them were fine, some of them froze. So I got some better Verbatim discs and redid them, and most were good; even think there was one or two I had to redo there. So it wasn't the discs.

I have been working on one for my late son for almost 2 years. I finished it in June, ran off the copies, all of them froze at 14.11. Not on the computer or super drive , but people's DVD players.

So, now I have a 2019 IMac, a new IMovie app, a new Toast 19, and I redid his life in photos. Same thing. This time tho, I was able to rewind a bit and then it would move thru that point, and work. First disc did it 3 times. Second disc I burned and tried; did it once.

Please tell me what I'm doing wrong. Old, old questions here looks like it does this on DVD players. One said a slower burn time??? Any help gratefully received. I need to get the answer to this and get it done and KNOW that they are going to play. I've thought of doing this for the families of deceased individuals, but I can't do it if they are going to mess up and I can't count on their professional appearance and play. thanks

iMac 21.5″, macOS 10.14

Posted on Dec 5, 2020 3:54 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Dec 5, 2020 10:51 PM in response to Pamela Powers

Hi, Pamela,

So, the project renders fine, the DVD burns fine and plays on your superdrive, but some of the discs freeze when played on other people's DVD players. Your Verbatim discs are not defective.

Sometimes DVD players can be less forgiving of small errors than superdrives. Try burning at 4x speed and see if that helps.

Also, to confirm that the rendering process completed without errors, save the DVD project from Toast to a disc image on your desktop. Play the disc image all the way through to make sure there is no freezing. If there is freezing then the problem is with the rendering and you might want to try a different DVD authoring program other than Toast. One that has been recommended by others on this board is made by Peng GUIPING and is called DVD Creator and is available in the app store for $14.99.

On the other hand, if the disc image plays all the way through without issues, then you know that your Toast authoring program is working properly. You can then burn your DVD from the disk image by control-clicking on its icon and selecting Burn Disc from the drop down menu. (The burn option won't show unless you have a disk inserted into an internal or external burner.) You will then get a dialogue box with burn options. Burn at 4x speed and select disc verification. Then click on burn. See if your DVD will play on a standalone DVD player.

A handy thing about making a disc image is that you can burn an infinite number of DVD discs from the disc image without having to go through the rendering process each time. Saves tons of time and avoids errors that may occur with multiple rendering.

-- Rich

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Answer 2

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Feb 17, 2021 12:27 PM in response to Pamela Powers

Since it worked on DVD Creator and not with Toast, I would say that the problem is with Toast.

iMovie would not be the problem since it has nothing to do with creating a DVD. iMovie will create a standalone Mp4 movie that you can then import into whatever DVD authoring program that you are using. Mp4 is pretty much universally compatible. In your case iMovie rendered a successful standalone movie that burned with DVD Creator.

Your DVD burner burned it successfully, so the DVD burner is not the issue either.

-- Rich

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Answer 3

Rich839

Level 8

48,156 points

Jan 12, 2021 12:25 PM in response to Pamela Powers

Hi, Pamela,

I don't know what DVD authoring program that you are using. With the old iDVD program if you edited a project after loading it into iDVD that would cause burn problems. Since it aborts at the 2/3 mark every time, it does look like there is some corruption at that point. The best approach might be to start from scratch.

Otherwise, I don't have any more suggestions other than those in my previous responses on this thread.

-- Rich

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Answer 4

Jan 12, 2021 12:14 PM in response to Rich839

Thanks. I thought I had the answer. I noticed that the dvd froze when the music changed. So I took two songs off of it, Huey Lewis', and put other songs on, and burned it, and voila! It worked! Then I burned 15 of them. With Christmas et al, I just got back to the project, and figured I needed to play them all to make sure. and they ALL freeze 2/3rds of the way through...and not at any music break. I am so disheartened. Making a dvd of my late son's photos was heartening for awhile, now it's getting to be torture. I'll go ahead and get the other DVD burner, - after I spent nearly $75 to upgrade the Toast, and see if that helps. I could never get the disc image to work. Any other ideas gratefully received.

PS When I finished redoing the project I was over the 4Gigs so I had to take some photos out.....yet when I burned it it wasn't quite 2 gigs. Why wouldn't it be accurate? I bought Premiere Elements over a year ago, I hate the idea of having to learn that and do the whole project over. I love IMovie; I just don't know why there's all these issues now when it worked so well the way it was.

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Answer 5

Jan 28, 2021 12:19 PM in response to Rich839

Actually, when I was using the old IMovie and IDVD I never had any problems. Now, with the latest IMovie and doing it all from one program, I do. Each time I had a freeze, they were in different spots. It was just the last time that I got one that worked after I changed music, and then when I made 12 of them, they all froze at the same point. And yes, I did start from scratch and did it entirely over before the last issue. I shall get the DVD burner program you mentioned and try one last time. I thought to put it up on Youtube and take the music off, but I have ATT and 6mbps so it would take hours for a 25 min iMovie. Thanks.

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Answer 6

logic79

Level 1

125 points

Jan 28, 2021 12:51 PM in response to Pamela Powers

Like a million other users I have been down this path but in my case I have had a successful outcome.

A couple of questions if I may.

On your 2015iMac what OS are you running and what version of iMovie and what disc burner and app.

On your 2019 iMac what OS and version of iMovie, burner and app.

There may be a work around for this.

David.

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Answer 7

Feb 17, 2021 12:04 PM in response to logic79

Hi David....Just saw this. I uploaded IMovie so many times and tried to stay with the OS before Catalina....what was the last? High Sierra? On 2019 I had upgraded to the latest OS and version of IMovie. I did buy the $14.99 burner,( after getting the latest Toast earlier for $75,) I did get a good copy. I don't think the video was quite as good as Toast, but at this point I just want it done. So I ran all 16 copies on my DVD player and none froze. I have just given them to their recipients, so we shall see what the feedback is. I was going to make a little side business of doing birthday or memorial dvds, but after all this, now that I've completed this one for my late son, I think I'm done.

I will say tho that when I was using IMovie with IDVD I never had the problem. It was only with the integration with IMOvie , so what would the issue be? With IMovie? or with Toast? or a combo of the two???? thanks everyone!

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IMovie DVD freezes in DVD player. Why?

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