Disk Freezing

[Frankie]

I've been having a lot of trouble lately trying to get a large file burned in Toast 7. I have a 10GB video file that I'm trying to save as a disk image and use Toast's fit to disk feature to put on a single layer DVD. However, once the disk image is created, at about the 29th chapter mark, the video freezes. On my mac, the DVD Player application crashes. On my XBOX360, I get a "searching for media" message. Does anyone know where this problem could be occuring. I am importing the file from iMovie due to the fact that I can create chapter markers. Any help would be appreciated.

[Frankie]

I've reviewed the earlier thread and sure wish you could find the money to get the Fast Coder with CaptyDVD 2. That would eliminate iMovie and allow you to make specific chapter markers without any re-encoding required.

 

A 35 GB DV video file is just under 3 hours long (as you noted). Dragging that project file to the Toast Video window (with DVD Video selected as the format) and choosing Save as Disc Image should have created a disc image file that was 5 or 6 GB in size. Something is wrong that you ended up with a 9+ GB file. Reset the Toast encoder to its default and try again. It then should work to use Toast's Fit-to-DVD feature in the Copy window to burn that image file to a single-layer disc.

 

iMovie can accept MPEG 4 video as well as DV video. MPEG 4 is much smaller in GBs, but takes much longer to create.

 

Through many hours (and days at this point) of troubleshooting I am slowly starting to figure out the problem. The reason for my picture quality loss is the conversion of the .VRO file to a DV video file. The original file is only 2.89 GB but the DV file is 35 GB. I'm wondering how this file is so much larger in size but at a worse quality??? Is there any way I can convert this file (in a lossless fashion) that would work in iMovie? Maybe that would eliminate the disk freezing at a certain point. I have used Toast to burn videos that were not converted and haven't had any problems. I would be willing to spend a bit more towards this...but I've already purchased quite a bit.

[tsantee]

Through many hours (and days at this point) of troubleshooting I am slowly starting to figure out the problem. The reason for my picture quality loss is the conversion of the .VRO file to a DV video file. The original file is only 2.89 GB but the DV file is 35 GB. I'm wondering how this file is so much larger in size but at a worse quality??? Is there any way I can convert this file (in a lossless fashion) that would work in iMovie? Maybe that would eliminate the disk freezing at a certain point. I have used Toast to burn videos that were not converted and haven't had any problems. I would be willing to spend a bit more towards this...but I've already purchased quite a bit.

Your Panasonic recorder only used 2.89 GB to record nearly 3 hours of video? You must have been using a 4-hour per disc setting. That isn't very good quality, although acceptable for most TV watching. Any re-encoding is going to reduce quality to some degree. The change to DV should have been only a small loss. The bigger loss would be when encoding back to DVD at a bit rate that fits 3 hours to a single-layer disc. You can't tell the picture quality on the Mac, though, unless you are watching in the 720x480 pixel size. DVD Player zooms the picture to fill the screen which makes it look blurry. Choose Normal View from DVD Player's menu to see it at actual size, or play the DVD on a TV.

 

The alternative I've suggested to you does not require any re-encoding so the picture quality will be identical to the source. You still need Toast to extract the MPEG videos from your DVD-RAM and can use Toast to burn a VIDEO_TS folder or disc image created by CaptyDVD 2.

 

If you weren't particular about where chapter markers are placed you could simply extract the video into Toast and have Toast create your DVD. No encoding takes place so the quality remains identical. But the only consumer-priced Mac software that lets you customize placement of chapter markers on an existing MPEG 2 file is CaptyDVD. If you do get this application send me a private message and I'll give you some tips on how it works.

[Frankie]

This is strange, so please pardon that I'm asking more questions while searching for a plausible reason for this. How large is the file size of the .toast disc image created from the iMovie file?

 

Try this: Select the disc image file using the Image File setting in the Copy window, and with Fit-to-DVD turned on choose Save as Disc Image again from the File menu. Then mount and test that disc image.

 

The .toast file is 9.14 Gigs. I have not tried what you suggested yet. However, I have tried to burn the disc image to a DVD (using the fit-to-DVD feature), and the result was the same.

[tsantee]

How long is the video? How did you bring it into Toast from iMovie? Approximately where (in time) does the 29th chapter mark appear? What format was the video in iMovie?

 

Your situation is very unusual and more info might help figure out a solution to the problem.

[tsantee]

The .toast file is 9.14 Gigs. I have not tried what you suggested yet. However, I have tried to burn the disc image to a DVD (using the fit-to-DVD feature), and the result was the same.

That's too big for even a dual-layer disc. I'm trying to figure out why Toast made such a large disc image from less than three hours of video. Doesn't make sense unless the encoder settings were changed.

 

Do you still have your iMovie Project? If so, place it in the Toast Video window and select video DVD as the format. Click the More button at the bottom of the left window. In the window that appears click Reset Defaults. Now click the Encoding button in the window and then choose Custom. The only setting I suggest you change is checking the Half-Pel box.

 

Now set up the menu the way you want and Save as Disc Image. The resulting image file should be about 6 GB in size and the additional compression needed to fit a single-layer disc should be at very good to excellent quality.

[Frankie]

That's too big for even a dual-layer disc. I'm trying to figure out why Toast made such a large disc image from less than three hours of video. Doesn't make sense unless the encoder settings were changed.

 

Do you still have your iMovie Project? If so, place it in the Toast Video window and select video DVD as the format. Click the More button at the bottom of the left window. In the window that appears click Reset Defaults. Now click the Encoding button in the window and then choose Custom. The only setting I suggest you change is checking the Half-Pel box.

 

Now set up the menu the way you want and Save as Disc Image. The resulting image file should be about 6 GB in size and the additional compression needed to fit a single-layer disc should be at very good to excellent quality.

 

In the last thread that I started, you told me that exporting the video as a DV file and importing it into iMovie would be the best choice for quality. This is where the problem starts due to the fact that the DV file is around 35 gigs. Is there any other option for exporting this video as a different file type? I really don't want to lose too much quality. I've already noticed that the video gets very choppy the way I have been doing things. Is there anything else you could recommend?

[Frankie]

How long is the video? How did you bring it into Toast from iMovie? Approximately where (in time) does the 29th chapter mark appear? What format was the video in iMovie?

 

Your situation is very unusual and more info might help figure out a solution to the problem.

 

The video is just under 3 hours. This problem seems to be happening at around the 2 1/2 hour mark. I dragged the iMovie file straight into Toast under the video section. I save the disk image at this point and that seems to be where the problem is occuring. The file before being converted is a DV file (thanks to your previous help ) It seems like the problem is occuring with the burn to disk feature. There is no corruption in the DV file.

[tsantee]

In the last thread that I started, you told me that exporting the video as a DV file and importing it into iMovie would be the best choice for quality. This is where the problem starts due to the fact that the DV file is around 35 gigs. Is there any other option for exporting this video as a different file type? I really don't want to lose too much quality. I've already noticed that the video gets very choppy the way I have been doing things. Is there anything else you could recommend?

I've reviewed the earlier thread and sure wish you could find the money to get the Fast Coder with CaptyDVD 2. That would eliminate iMovie and allow you to make specific chapter markers without any re-encoding required.

 

A 35 GB DV video file is just under 3 hours long (as you noted). Dragging that project file to the Toast Video window (with DVD Video selected as the format) and choosing Save as Disc Image should have created a disc image file that was 5 or 6 GB in size. Something is wrong that you ended up with a 9+ GB file. Reset the Toast encoder to its default and try again. It then should work to use Toast's Fit-to-DVD feature in the Copy window to burn that image file to a single-layer disc.

 

iMovie can accept MPEG 4 video as well as DV video. MPEG 4 is much smaller in GBs, but takes much longer to create.

[tsantee]

The video is just under 3 hours. This problem seems to be happening at around the 2 1/2 hour mark. I dragged the iMovie file straight into Toast under the video section. I save the disk image at this point and that seems to be where the problem is occuring. The file before being converted is a DV file (thanks to your previous help ) It seems like the problem is occuring with the burn to disk feature. There is no corruption in the DV file.

This is strange, so please pardon that I'm asking more questions while searching for a plausible reason for this. How large is the file size of the .toast disc image created from the iMovie file?

 

Try this: Select the disc image file using the Image File setting in the Copy window, and with Fit-to-DVD turned on choose Save as Disc Image again from the File menu. Then mount and test that disc image.