[sleepyduck]

Hi All

I'm having trouble burning a recording exported from EyeTV 2. The file exports fine to Toast (I'm using 7.1) and the progress bar goes all the way along during the "multiplexing" stage, but when it gets to the end I get the message that the operation can't be completed because of a Mac OS error code -50.

I'm using a MacBook with 2Gig of RAM, 10.4.7 and the most up to date versions of everything. I've tried restarting, repairing permissions, saving as a disk image, all with the same result. The odd thing is that I burned another recording a couple of days ago with no problems at all and I haven't changed a thing since then.

All suggestions welcome - and thanks in advance!

Paul

[John at Roxio]

Are you trying to burn a standard DVD?
What happens if you use a different source file (example: a movie trailer from apple.com)?

[sleepyduck]

frenchtoastwithjam, on Jul 24 2006, 08:50 AM, said:

Are you trying to burn a standard DVD?
What happens if you use a different source file (example: a movie trailer from apple.com)?

Yep, I'm trying to burn a standard video DVD from a file exported from EyeTV using the "Toast" button. Everything seems to work fine with avi files - and I've just noticed that the problem only seems to be occurring with content from one particular TV channel. Content from a sample of other channels is fine. is it possible that there's some kind of copy protection on the signal on that one channel?

[pepithomas]

sleepyduck, on Jul 24 2006, 11:16 AM, said:

Yep, I'm trying to burn a standard video DVD from a file exported from EyeTV using the "Toast" button. Everything seems to work fine with avi files - and I've just noticed that the problem only seems to be occurring with content from one particular TV channel. Content from a sample of other channels is fine. is it possible that there's some kind of copy protection on the signal on that one channel?

I am having exactely the same problem. Are we talking about filmfour?

[sleepyduck]

pepithomas, on Jul 24 2006, 12:47 PM, said:

I am having exactely the same problem. Are we talking about filmfour?

Yes we are. The more I think about it, the more the copy protection explanation makes sense.

[pepithomas]

sleepyduck, on Jul 24 2006, 12:57 PM, said:

Yes we are. The more I think about it, the more the copy protection explanation makes sense.

If that is the cause it's rather irritating. Was it lost in translation you had the error with? Hope someone comes up with a workaround.

Mike

[marmot]

I first came up against the -50 error yesterday when I tried to transfer my first FilmFour recording from EyeTV 2 to to DVD. I normally export from EyeTV as 'MPEG Program Stream' and then drop the mpg file into Toast. (Actually, I like to put two films onto one DVD disc, so I usually drop two mpg files into Toast and use 'Save As Disc Image', then use Toast or Popcorn to copy and compress the disc image onto one DVD.) Anyway, this is the first time I've had a problem, so I assume it's copy protection in FilmFour's signal .

My first work-around was to export from EyeTV as a 'QuickTime Movie' and then use Toast as normal. This avoids the -50 error but it takes forever to export the QuickTime movie - I mean it's an overnight job! So at this point I even began to consider dusting off my VCR.

In desperation, my second work-around was to export from EyeTV as 'MPEG Elementary Streams'. This creates two separate files: a video file (with .mpv extension) and an audio file (with .mpa extension). The export is fast, about the same as for 'MPEG Program Stream' except it seems to take a while to get started. I then dropped the video file and audio file into Toast and burned a DVD as normal (it took about 2 hours to burn the disc). I've no idea what Toast does when it burns the two separate files onto the disc . All I know is, when I put the disc in my DVD player and select the video file, it works fine - the video and sound are recombined and play together in sync.

I think the second work-around is better 'cos it's faster, tho it's still slower than my normal method. I'd like to find a quicker solution.

This post has been edited by marmot: 01 August 2006 - 02:22 AM

[ejstubbs]

I've just encountered the same problem. I recorded "Rome, Open City" off FilmFour with my EyeTV and tried to burn it with Toast 7 as installed from the distribution CD. The first DVD-RW seemed to play OK on my DVD recorder, but stopped about five minutes in. I also found that it wouldn't fast forward - very odd. It wouldn't play at all using the DVD player on the Mac.

I downloaded and installed Toast 7.1 and ever since then I've been getting these -50 errors. I've not tried to burn anything else yet. I'll try the workaround in the mean time.

Can anyone say for sure whether this is some kind of copy protection problem?

[intouchuk]

I am so glad to find it isn't just me having problems with FilmFour. It is a real pain if copy protection is the answer. I've tried burning Lost in Translation and The Motorcycle Diaries - neither of which worked. It is only EyeTV recordings from this channel that are affected for me. Does anyone know, was FilmFour always like this when it was a "paid for" channel or is it only now it is free?

Will try marmot's solutions and see if they work for me.

[ejstubbs]

I removed Toast 7.1 and put back 7.0.1 from the CD. I have now successfully burnt the EyeTV recording of "Rome, Open City" from FilmFour on to a DVD-R. I'm now going to try it with a DVD-RW.

So it's beginning to look like a Toast 7.1 bug, not a FilmFour copy protection issue.

[intouchuk]

ejstubbs, on Aug 8 2006, 09:46 AM, said:

I removed Toast 7.1 and put back 7.0.1 from the CD. I have now successfully burnt the EyeTV recording of "Rome, Open City" from FilmFour on to a DVD-R. I'm now going to try it with a DVD-RW.

So it's beginning to look like a Toast 7.1 bug, not a FilmFour copy protection issue.

Glad I came back and checked before trying the longer workaround. Have also just gone back to 7.0.1 and it seems to be working. Fingers crossed. Thanks. Glad FilmFour seems to be blameless - though why is it only their channel that appears to be causing problems? Thanks.

This post has been edited by intouchuk: 08 August 2006 - 01:29 PM

[ejstubbs]

OK, so I've now managed to burn the movie to DVD-R and to DVD-RW. I've also created a Toast disc image, and burned that to DVD-RW without problem. So it looks to me like the -50 error is definitely to do with Toast 7.1, not recordings from FilmFour per se (although it might be something to do with FilmFour that triggers the problem).

I have not yet managed to get any of the DVDs to play on my DVD recorder, but that's another issue. Only the one burned to DVD-R plays OK on the Mac; the ones burned to DVD-RW get "Supported disc not available" when I press play on the Mac DVD player. Similarly, DVD-RWs burned on the DVD recorder don't play on the Mac, although Toast does list the content. If, however, I mount the disc image created by Toast then the Mac DVD player plays that fine. Is it the case that the Mac DVD player just can't play DVD-RWs? (Edit: It appears that may be the case, see this article on the Apple support web site.)

This post has been edited by ejstubbs: 08 August 2006 - 03:17 PM

[ejstubbs]

intouchuk, on Aug 8 2006, 01:27 PM, said:

Glad I came back and checked before trying the longer workaround. Have also just gone back to 7.0.1 and it seems to be working. Fingers crossed. Thanks. Glad FilmFour seems to be blameless - though why is it only their channel that appears to be causing problems? Thanks.

Have you checked that you can play the DVDs yet? I've found that, although Toast doesn't give an error and seems to burn the disc successfully, the video won't play in my DVD recorder, or using VLC on the Mac. I get the menu, but when I select the video I get a few seconds of blank screen and then back to the menu. It's almost as if the video is zero length. (Elgato support have told me that they have seen the -50 error with zero length videos.)

I tried burning another short recording from Film 4. This time the videoplays from the top level menu on the DVD, but it skips and freezes (and crashes the playback window in VLC).

This does seem to be a problem only with Film 4. Elgato support said it might be due to signal dropout during the recording but it seems to play fine from the EyeTV playlist. I wonder if it's anythign to do with the edits I did to the recording before trying to burn it? But then I didn't make any edits to the second, shorter recording - but then the behaviour is different with that recording.

I'm beginning to resign myself to not being able to use Toast for Film 4 recordings (I tried the workaround suggested by marmot. It was still doing the burn when I left for work this morning so even if I do get a usable DVD, it will have taken a devil of a long time to get there.)

This post has been edited by ejstubbs: 10 August 2006 - 02:49 AM

[ejstubbs]

OK, here's an update on what I've found out about this issue.

According to information on this thread on Digital Spy, Film 4 is broadcast using a non-standard GOP. If the GOP is over 15 then that contravenes the standard for PAL format DVDs. The guess is that it is this which is causing problems with Toast (failure to burn with 7.1, bad video with 7.0.1).

The solution would be to get Toast to re-encode the video before burning it to DVD. The workaround found by marmot makes this happen, by presenting Toast with separate video and audio streams which have to be re-encoded before they can be burned (that's why his disc burn took two hours). However, it looks like there is an easier way to do this which doesn't involve creating any intermediate files. Unfortunately I don't have the application in front of me right now, but from memory the procedure is:

• In the "Format" window, select "Custom" and click the "More" button.
  
• A window will appear over the top of the main window, offering you options to rename the disc etc.
  
• Select the other tab on that window (I think it's called "Encoding" or something like that).
  
• There's lots of options on that window but IIRC the one you want is called "Encoding". Select "Always" from the drop-down list, leave the other options as they are and click the "Done" button.

This should force Toast to re-encode the video stream with DVD-standard-compliant GOP.

The downside is that the re-encoding often results in a video which is too large to fit on a DVD. This is what happened with me when I tried it with my recording of "Rome, Open City". That's about an hour and forty minutes long. I'd normally expect that to fit on a DVD with a wee bit to spare. If I burned it direct from EyeTV it only half-filled the disc. This makes sense if it has a large, non-standard GOP (which reduces the bandwidth required to transmit the programme - apparently Film 4 is somewhat bandwidth-challenged and they do this in order to try to maintain picture quality). Re-encoding to meet the DVD standard increases the size of the recording, and in the case of this film it went over the DVD size limit. The answer to this, of course, is to tell Toast to save its DVD image to disc, and then use Toast to compress it to fit a normal DVD. This also is a time-consuming process, but you get there in the end.

So in summary: it's not Toast's fault, and there is a way to fix it which isn't too fiddly and which doesn't use huge amounts of extra disc (unless the initial DVD image is too big). It is, however, time-consuming.

If anyone knows a way to adjust Toast's burning parameters to fit the recording on the DVD in one pass, could they please pass it on? (I suspect the solution may lie with one or more of the other options on that "Encoding" window but I'd appreciate confirmation of that, otherwise I may have to waste even more time experimenting!)

[gaper1]

ejstubbs, very interesting information... you must like "Rome, Open City" a lot to go through all this trouble to burn it

[freshburn]

If you have EyeTV content that does not work, I suggest contacting Elgato and try to get them a test file.

[toodeep]

FWIW: I record Film4 streams with a Topfield PVR and also get the same fault when trying to author DVDs with Toast 7.1. My quick and easy solution has been to use Sizzle instead, which seems to work just fine.

[ejstubbs]

Interesting that you get the problem with streams recorded by the Toppy. That does seem to rule out EyeTV as the problem.

Sizzle is not a better option for me. For one thing, I've not found it to create usable DVDs very reliably and I got a lot of "coasters". Also, it's not much quicker, if at all: I still have to export the programme from EyeTV in mpeg format, which takes a while, then Sizzle takes a long time to do its thing. And finally, it has a nasty habit of crashing for no readily apparent reason half way through doing its thing. That's why I eventually bowed to what seemed to be inevitable and got Toast.

Using Toast, I have found that if I adjust the Maximum Bit Rate in the Encoding options, I can get a burn which fits on a single DVD-RW without having to go via a disc image. The coloured quadrant round the burn button on the main Toast window tells you whether the burn options have selected will fit on the available media. An MBR of around 5.5Mbps seems to fit a 2-hour movie on to one disc OK.

This post has been edited by ejstubbs: 22 August 2006 - 10:21 AM

[me2]

This post has been edited by me2: 25 August 2006 - 05:52 AM

[George Bate]

I have followed this discussion with great interest and, having replaced Toast 7.1 with 7.0.2, have not encountered the Mac OS Error -50 again. However, I am now finding that many films finish up in the disc image with no sound track. Has anyone else got this problem? It did happen once with 7.1. I am not interested in playing DVDs other than with the Mac DVD Player.