I've run into a problem burning video DVDs to DVD +R discs, that I have been unable to solve. I was able to sucessfully burn video DVDs using MyDVD Express in May of 2007, to DVD +R's from the same pack of discs; I'm pretty sure that I was using EMC 9 Deluxe Suite, but it may have been EMC 7 instead.

In MyDVD Express, I select DVD Without Menus, Add New Movie, then let Roxio determine the quality by selecting Fit To Disc. It then displays that, on a DVD 4.7GB, it will use 4625.8MB, leaving 74.2MB Free. I select Create Disc, check Burn to disc, set the speed at 4.0 X (the advertised speed of the discs), and select Burn. Prior to selecting Burn, the interface displays Capacity of current disc: 4700.4 Mb, Estimated size of project 4625.8 Mb. Once I select Burn, it will encode my movie, then when it tries to begin the burning process, it will report "Destination drive doesn't have enough space. Error while Burning Image." If I select the Details button, it will display the previous message, then add "80004003 Error while Aborting."

As some other threads have suggested, I tried creating an image first, then using Disc Copier to burn the image to DVD. The image creates properly on the C: drive, I again set the write speed to 4x, make sure the DVD +R is selected for Disc Size, then select the Copy Now button. I immediately get the message "Please insert a disc in this drive with at least this amount of free space: 2,342,512blocks (520:33:37 MSF / 4.5GB). (Possible disc types are: DVD-R Dual Layer, DVD+R Double Layer)."

I'm running Windows XP Pro SP3 on a Dell Optiplex G270. Following some suggestions in previous threads, I've performed the Clean Install of Roxio, updated to the pxengine4_10_28a.exe, updated to the latest version of DirectX, updated the Intel video card from Dell, updated the DVD burner firmware, and removed Drag to Disc from Windows Startup. I've also tried a different brand of DVD+R disc, and none of this has helped. There is currently 50.8GB of free space on my C: drive, and it should be defragmented as I've just gone through a complete system reinstall to try to resolve this issue.

I'm fairly inexperienced when it comes to burning DVDs, so first thing I don't understand is why I can't get 4.7GB out of a 4.7GB DVD. Roxio's Disc Information reports the disc size as 4.4GB; Roxio DVDInfoPro reports "Free Blocks 405405696", and "Free Capacity 4.38GB(4.70GB)".

Any help and/or insights on this would be greatly appreciated.

85Gator,

At 4625 MB your image is too large. A "4.7GB" disc will hold 4483 MBs, or around 4,707,319,808 bytes, which is about 4.3 GB.

The confusion arises because a group in the industry have ignored the digital 'standard' that
a Kilobyte is 1024 bytes,
a Megabyte is 1024 x 1024 [1,048,576] bytes, and
a Gigabyte is 1024 x 1024 x 1024 bytes [1,073,741,824 bytes]

Instead they are calling 1000 bytes a KB,
1,000,000 bytes a MB, and
1,000,000,000 bytes a GB.

The confusion spreads because even in Windows XP you need to get out your calculator to work out what sort of KBs and MBs they're using.

Hope this explains things a little.

Your video should burn to a regular (4.7GB) disc, with no problem, if the length of time is an hour, or up to 1.5 hours.

In Disc Copier, after you get that message, in the dropdown box, for Disc size, change it to DVD-R DL, and see if it will let you burn, even though you don't have a DL disc in the drive. My guess is, that it will tell you to insert the proper disc.

If that happens, change back to DVD-R/DVD+R, and try to burn again.
In

Are you saying that a standard single-layer DVD will hold 4625.8 MB Bruce, or are you telling the user to compress the video with Disc Copier?

That's what Disc Copier does. It will compress it to fit.

The problem is the games one has to play, sometimes, with the disc size, with Disc Copier, and in later versions, Video Copy and Convert.

I never experienced the problem with Disc Copier, but others have.

Brendon,

Thanks for the refresher; your input is much appreciated. I fall into that group that has forgotten that a Kilobyte is 1024 bytes, etc., etc.; too many years on the brain ...

So this being the case and for my own edification, with the settings that I use for MyDVD Express, I don't understand why it tries to burn something to DVD that it should know won't fit? I know that MyDVD has pre-set quality levels, but can I manually set something (like a bit-rate maybe) that will reduce the file size enough to fit onto the DVD?




grandpabruce,

Thanks for the advice! I'll try this in the morning and report back the results.

grandpabruce,

Tried your suggestion. As you anticipated, Disc Copier ejected my DVD+R, told me to put in a DVD of the right type (DVD-R DL), and then forced me to cancel the operation. I reinserted my DVD+R and changed the disc type back to DVD-R/DVD+R, but the Burn button did not become available again. On a whim, I tried the Video Compilation tab, and burned the video from there. It did actually burn, but the resulting DVD had a series of pauses in it, where the DVD player acted like it was trying to recover from an error on disc. I tried the burn again with another DVD+R from a different manufacturer, and got the same pause behavior in the same locations, indicating that it must be a problem with the burn process.

After searching around a little in MyDVD Express, I found that I could custom-set a bit rate and, through trial and error, found a setting that would produce a file smaller than the 4483 MB that Brendon supplied. Burned the DVD successfully, and there was much rejoicing!

Thanks go to both grandpabruce and Brendon for the advice and information!

You're welcome 85Gator, but I agree - it shouldn't be this difficult.

You're welcome, and Brendon is correct. It should not be that difficult.