6 replies to this topic

[lehill]

I purchased a Best Buy Insignia IS-DVD100121 DVD/VCR combo deck this weekend and am in the process of dubbing some old VHS tapes of the kids to DVD. The deck works well if you're willing to put up with a few operating quirks. No AV sync problems so far even with a 2hr video. It's also cheap since people can't figure out the quirks and return them frequently.

Importing these DVDs using Media Import 8 is not working for me. The common symptom is that Media Import will start importing, sit for awhile and then announce "100% complete". The resulting mpeg file is exactly 1 minute long. The discs play fine on computer and other DVD players.

I've used finalized Verbatim DVD+RWs and DVD-Rs. The disc file structure looks complete with VIDEO_TS, VOBs, IFOs, BUPs, etc. I've also tried using the "Autochapter" function of the deck (it puts chapter marks every 5, 10, or 15 minutes) and stopping/restarting dubbing every 1/2 hour or so. I tried VOB2MPG software and renaming the VOBs to mpg without success (1st VOB has all codec & video frame info, the rest don't).

I also note that my EMC7.5 disc capture option has disappeared. I see that others have discovered this too.

Anyone have any workarounds or alternatives? Can I get my old EMC7.5 Disc Capture back?

Lance
*****

Edited by lehill, 02 May 2006 - 09:14 AM.

[ggrussell]

lehill, on May 2 2006, 01:12 PM, said:

Can I get my old EMC7.5 Disc Capture back?

Yes, just uninstall V7.5 and reinstall. This should not affect EMC8 and you should get the disc capture.  On my laptop to be on the safe side, I unstalled both versions.  Installed EMC8 and then EMC7.5.  Thta worked for me and I got disc capture again.

The disc capture in Media Import does work for me, but it is sooooooo slow compared to 7.5. I have a LiteOn set top DVD recorder.

--
PS Check the website for Insignia. There could be firmware and software updates for the DVD recorder.  There was one for my LiteON.

Edited by ggrussell, 02 May 2006 - 09:32 AM.

[johnalexander]

I have the EXACT same problem - 1 minute, then nothing.  I've tried different DVD sources, different physical DVD drives, tried ripping to different hard drives, and so far the results are consistent.

This problem is relatively new - I was able to capture DVD video before.  Is there something that was released in last month's Microsoft "Critical Updates" or something that may be impacting the way EMC8 Media Import works?

Unfortunately, I don't have the 7.5 option.  I skipped .5 and went from EMC7 to EMC8.  I think I bought the wrong upgrade.  I hope Roxio puts out a patch soon to fix all these bugs.

I found one other thing interesting in your post ...  You mentioned the IS-DVD100121.  I am using a Sony VRD-VC20 as a stand-alone to record directly from another source (either my VCR or my Tivo via S-Video and RCA audio jacks).  Like you mention, the DVD's play great in my computer and in all my DVD players.  I just can't import them using EMC8.  Is there something odd about the encoding used by these DVD decks that confuses EMC8?

Edited by johnalexander, 03 May 2006 - 06:34 PM.

[lehill]

johnalexander, on May 3 2006, 07:30 PM, said:

I have the EXACT same problem - 1 minute, then nothing.  I've tried different DVD sources, different physical DVD drives, tried ripping to different hard drives, and so far the results are consistent.

This problem is relatively new - I was able to capture DVD video before.  Is there something that was released in last month's Microsoft "Critical Updates" or something that may be impacting the way EMC8 Media Import works?

Unfortunately, I don't have the 7.5 option.  I skipped .5 and went from EMC7 to EMC8.  I think I bought the wrong upgrade.  I hope Roxio puts out a patch soon to fix all these bugs.

I found one other thing interesting in your post ...  You mentioned the IS-DVD100121.  I am using a Sony VRD-VC20 as a stand-alone to record directly from another source (either my VCR or my Tivo via S-Video and RCA audio jacks).  Like you mention, the DVD's play great in my computer and in all my DVD players.  I just can't import them using EMC8.  Is there something odd about the encoding used by these DVD decks that confuses EMC8?

Well...I don't know. My DVD/VCR combo deck produces DVDs with "SONATA_VOLUME" as the volume name. This seems to be related to some Sony products. I can tell you that EMC7.5 does capture the DVD to mpegs as expected. EMC7 would probably work too.

But don't go off willy-nilly uninstalling EMC8 and reinstalling EMC7. I just spent two days getting everything back to normal - and I expected problems and knew where to find the answers.

More on my adventures later, it's getting late for me.

Lance
*****

[jimbo206]

What is the audio format used when these discs are made?  Do you get an option for audio when you make them and if so what are they? I have had a similar problem inputing a homemade dvd disc and it ended up my computer used "aac" and the audio on the disc was something else and not compatable.  After one minute I would get the "completed" signal with no errors.  I changed the audio format, remade the dvd and now it works.  Maybe this will help maybe it won't.

[lehill]

jimbo206, on May 4 2006, 03:05 AM, said:

What is the audio format used when these discs are made?  Do you get an option for audio when you make them and if so what are they? I have had a similar problem inputing a homemade dvd disc and it ended up my computer used "aac" and the audio on the disc was something else and not compatable.  After one minute I would get the "completed" signal with no errors.  I changed the audio format, remade the dvd and now it works.  Maybe this will help maybe it won't.

That's a really good question. My choices on the combo deck for disc recording are PCM or bitstream. I've set it up for PCM which I believe is correct and GSpot says the captured mpeg files use AC3 audio codec (which I have downloaded and installed). I'll give bitstream a try in the future just to see what happens.

I've uninstalled EMC8 and am currently working with EMC7.5 - EMC7.5 is working as expected and I can capture directly from the recorded DVD. On a 1.7GB mpeg file I guesstimate the AV sync is off by about a couple tenths of a second - it's noticeable, but tolerable - I think that's pretty good.

My plans are to reformat/reinstall my operating system in the near future (it's been over 3 years). At that time I'll try installing EMC8 first then EMC7.5.

Lance
*****

[lehill]

lehill, on May 4 2006, 08:57 PM, said:

That's a really good question. My choices on the combo deck for disc recording are PCM or bitstream. I've set it up for PCM which I believe is correct and GSpot says the captured mpeg files use AC3 audio codec (which I have downloaded and installed). I'll give bitstream a try in the future just to see what happens.

This may be OT for this group, but I tried the bitstream setting last night and captured using EMC7.5. The mpeg file played fine.

Lance
*****