My dvds that are made from iDVD will not play in a standard dvd player. Can anyone help me?*

Question

My dvds that are made from iDVD will not play in a standard dvd player. Can anyone help me?*

I am running iDVD v 7.1.2(1158). I used to be able to make dvds that would play in a standard dvd player. As of today I cannot. I do not know what has changed and I do not know what needs to be updated. Can someone assist me?

The dvds that I can make will play from a disk image and they can play perfectly fine in a computer but not in a standard dvd player. I am using an external dvd burner, (The same one have always used) to create the dvds. I am using iDVD to author them.

Here is a list of my hardware.

HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GSA-5120D:

Firmware Revision: A102

Interconnect: USB

Burn Support: Yes (Generic Drive Support)

Profile Path: None

Cache: 2048 KB

Reads DVD: Yes

CD-Write: -R, -RW

DVD-Write: -R, -RAM, -RW, +R, +R DL, +RW

Write Strategies: CD-TAO, CD-SAO, CD-Raw, DVD-DAO

Media: To show the available burn speeds, insert a disc and choose View > Refresh

iDVD:

Version: 7.1.2

Last Modified: 7/19/11 8:19 PM

Kind: Intel

64-Bit (Intel): No

Location: /Applications/iDVD.app

Can anyone help me? The dvds are not even detected

Mac mini, Mac OS X (10.7)

Posted on May 7, 2014 3:13 AM

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Answer 1

May 7, 2014 5:36 AM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

HI

The most common origins to this are:

• Brand of DVD used - Memorex, NoName etc cheap media usually do not work as Video-DVDs - I only use Verbatim

• Double Layer (DL)-DVDs usually creates more problems than SL-DVDs

• Type of DVD used - DVD+/-RW usually do not work. DVD+R works on Newer DVD-players. I only use DVD-R as they also plays on older DVD-players

• BURN SPEED - I use x2 (never more than x4)

• Free Space on Star-Up (Macintosh HD) - I never let this go less than 25Gb when using SD-Quality Video - if HD-material is used 4 - 5 times more would do OK.

• Cleaning DVD - I use one from time to time (NO Liquid - only the one with brushes)

• Video-Codec and Photo file format and Audio file format - matters too. I use

- StreamingDV .dv

- .jpg (only)

- .aiff 16bit 44.1kHz or 48kHz (ONLY - never .mp3 or directly from iTunes - all converted to .aiff first)

Good Luck

Yours Bengt W

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Answer 2

May 7, 2014 2:52 PM in response to Bengt Wärleby

I am using Sony DVD's, the same once I have always used. I will try burning the dvds at a slower speed and seeing if they work in a standard DVD player. THere is at least 150G of free space on the start up drive.

I just burned a new dvd with a very small project. The dvd played fine in the computer but it would not play in my external television based dvd player. The disc is not being detected. I also tested it by placing a stardard dvd in the dvd player. That dvd played just fine.

Is there a setting I am missing?

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Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

207,439 points

May 7, 2014 3:31 PM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

What DVD disk formate are you using and how old is the set top DVD Player. DVD+R disks won't play on DVD players earlier than 2004.

OT

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Answer 4

May 8, 2014 3:25 AM in response to Old Toad

The dvds are DVD-R. The player is sort of new but it plays my older idvd dvds just fine. The newers ones that I am making it does not play at all. It wont even reconize the disk as a playable dvd..

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Answer 5

May 8, 2014 3:43 AM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

and how about these

• BURN SPEED - I use x2 (never more than x4)

• Cleaning DVD - I use one from time to time (NO Liquid - only the one with brushes)

• Material used: Video-Codec and Photo file format and Audio file format - matters too. I use

- StreamingDV .dv

- .jpg (only)

- .aiff 16bit 44.1kHz or 48kHz (ONLY - never .mp3 or directly from iTunes - all converted to .aiff first)

Yours Bengt W

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Answer 6

May 8, 2014 5:26 AM in response to Bengt Wärleby

The burn speed was lowered from 8x to 1x - Still unable to have a dvd that can be read by a standard dvd player

The dvd is already clean. I can burn dvds that will play on the computer no problem. It can play standard dvds as as well.

Video-Codec is the default what every iDvd uses. The option for converting the codec is not available. I just have the standard options. iDvd handles the codec.

Maybe I am not explaining this properly. The burning rom of iDvd works fine. It is when I attempt to play the dvd in a standard dvd player that I have a problem.

In side a standard dvd player, the disc is not detected. I can hear it spinning but I cannot get it to play.... unless I take it out an place it in a computer.. Then it will play just fine. Is there a software update that I need to apply or a software fix that is preventing me from making dvds that will play outside of my computer?

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Answer 7

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

May 8, 2014 5:54 AM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

How many stand-alone DVD players have you tried? Older ones sometimes don't like homemade DVDs.

A video DVD made with iDVD is in the standard DVD format of mpeg2 and should play anywhere.

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Answer 8

May 8, 2014 6:05 AM in response to Klaus1

I have tried this on 4 different dvd players including an older on at my church. Those are incremental at best. Now on the computer all the dvds work. When I browse I can see the dvd content files that are there.

If the older ones dont like idvd dvds what should I do. Do I need a new burning ROM, a new drive? How can I ensure that the vidoes that I am making will work.... ?????

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Answer 9

Klaus1

Level 9

52,749 points

May 8, 2014 6:13 AM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

I never had good results from Sony media. Most of us use Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R, with a 2x burn speed.

What external DVD burner are you using?

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Answer 10

May 8, 2014 6:20 AM in response to Klaus1

See the post at the begining of the thread. I have it listed there.

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Answer 11

May 8, 2014 10:30 AM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

• Material used: Video-Codec and Photo file format and Audio file format - matters too. I use

- Video - StreamingDV .dv or AIC

- Photos as .jpg (only)

- Audio as .aiff 16bit 44.1kHz or 48kHz (ONLY - never .mp3 or directly from iTunes - all converted to .aiff first)

With this I do not mean any setting in iDVD - BUT the raw material used in iMovie / FinalCut / Avid 100 / Adobe Premiere

As this usually matters - later in iDVD

How did You Export from Video-editing program used ? I prefer

• iMovie HD6 - just drop the movie project icon (NOT iMovie Icon - the PROJECT one) over into iDVD big menu window (avoiding - drop-zones as they are for other tasks)

• iMovie'08 to '11 - Share to MEDIA BROWSER - AND AS MEDIUM - not HD or other resolution as iDVD does a bad downscaling job.

• iMovie'13 (version 10.0.x) - Share as 480p - Import this into iDVD

• FinalCut (Pro or Express) - Export as QuickTime .mov - NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION - IMPORTANT

• Adobe Premiere - I don't know - not tested Yet

• Avid 100 - I don't know - not tested Yet

Cleaning the DVD-burner - If it Burns DVDs OK then that's may be not the problem - But if it only burns CDs OK then either the DVD-burning-laser is dirty or broken.

It is very easy to kill this DVD-laser as it over-heats if one burns several DVDs in a row. I only burn three at a time - then let it cool down for 30 minutes till next batch of three DVDs.

Yours Bengt W

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Answer 12

May 8, 2014 11:02 AM in response to Bengt Wärleby

I am exporting from FCE in Mpg format

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Answer 13

May 8, 2014 1:00 PM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

Yes ant that don't work for me either.

Export as Quicktime .mov - just straight of

NO - QUICKTIME CONVERSION - as this do not work either

Drop the .mov file into iDVD

Yours Bengt W

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Answer 14

May 9, 2014 7:08 AM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

When I exported in MPEG format and burned the dvd, I am getting the same result. The imaged disk works fine in my computer (PS, MAC, Linux) but it will not play in a standard DVD player.

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Answer 15

May 9, 2014 8:44 AM in response to IpOdToUcHneWbIe

Yes that's the way it works.

Most probably You've created a DATA-DVD - a DVD with a .mpeg movie file on it.

Plays well on Computer

Not on DVD-players (especially some years old)

They need a VIDEO-DVD

This needs to be burned via a DVD-authoring program to

• create the special VIDEO-DVD structure on the DVD disk (Video_TS and Audio_TS folders at root level)

• the special sort of .mpeg2 code that DVD-playerss can read. Ordinary .mpeg code usually do not work.

So from FinalCut Express or Pro

Export as QuickTime .mov ! - NO QUICKTIME CONVERSION

Import this file into a new iDVD project

Save as a DiskImage

Test this so that it is OK

Burn it via Disk Util tool (Speed set down to x2)

Now test this new DVD in Your DVD-player.

Mine works always.

Yours Bengt W

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