mac os error -39 on dvd burn

[illustratorDavid]

Hi

 

I when trying to burn dvd's i keep getting toast reporting a "... mac os error -39" just after it starts burning.

 

Is anyone else having this problem ? Any ideas please ?

 

I'm using Toast 8.0.1 and Tiger is updated on a 2.7Ghz G5 and the error has only happened recently after burning a batch of 10 and 11 onwards didn't work.

 

Thanks

David

[Hoggdoc]

I just tested with an EyeTV recording using OS 10.4.9 and Toast 8.0.1 has no problem with the EyeTV MPEG file.

 

Since you experienced this after 10.4.9 and because EyeTV has a USB interface, I suggest downloading and applying Apple's OS 10.4.9 combined system updater. That fixes issues that may happen to USB or Firewire communication after an incremental system update which might affect your EyeTV recordings.

 

I'm having all the issues mentioned in the posted here. I have Eyetv, Toast 7 and 8, two Intel Macs one dual core mini mac with 1 GB ram, 1 imac 2.0 gHZ core 2 dual. They both have not been able to transfer and burn Eyetv recorded shows. Both machines are using the latest OS X updates. My TV source is Miglia TV Mini HDTV Eyetv version 2.4.4.

 

Here's the issue, why do we pay good money for software that doesn't work as advertised. Why are we left out in the cold by said software mfg to find a fix or work-around in forums such as this. It's a darn shame that companies don't support what they sell anymore, and in a word we as consumers as stupid for putting up with it.

 

That being said is there a real fix for the error 39 thing. Shouldn't you be able to click on the Toast icon and transfer an appropriately encoded file to Toast and have Toast work with that file to create what ever type of media you have chosen from their menus?

[tsantee]

 

I'm having all the issues mentioned in the posted here. I have Eyetv, Toast 7 and 8, two Intel Macs one dual core mini mac with 1 GB ram, 1 imac 2.0 gHZ core 2 dual. They both have not been able to transfer and burn Eyetv recorded shows. Both machines are using the latest OS X updates. My TV source is Miglia TV Mini HDTV Eyetv version 2.4.4.

 

Here's the issue, why do we pay good money for software that doesn't work as advertised. Why are we left out in the cold by said software mfg to find a fix or work-around in forums such as this. It's a darn shame that companies don't support what they sell anymore, and in a word we as consumers as stupid for putting up with it.

 

That being said is there a real fix for the error 39 thing. Shouldn't you be able to click on the Toast icon and transfer an appropriately encoded file to Toast and have Toast work with that file to create what ever type of media you have chosen from their menus?

Naturally you should expect that. The -39 error typically appears when there is something wrong with that file. It could be dropped frames. I've encountered it with timecode breaks from a standalone DVD recorder. I don't know why you've seen this. Does it happen regardless of whether you are capturing a HD channel or a SD channel? Unfortunately I only have the EyeTV that does its own MPEG recording and those work great. I also don't have an Intel Mac so I'm of little help in troubleshooting this.

 

Please tell me what Toast reports the video and audio specs to be of the file you're trying to use.

[J-Bar]

If I might add on to this thread -- I experienced a similar -39 error this morning on my MBP (2.16g, 2gb ram, 10.4.9) using Toast 8.0.1. I "imported" my video file from EyeTV -- it comes over as an MPEG-2, 1280x720, 59.94fps file (57 minutes). After about 2 hours of encoding, Toast will either return a -39 error, or just quit.

 

Behavior doesn't seem to change if I'm going directly to a disc-image, or directly to DVD. Basically Toast shuts down somewhere between completion of encoding and loading the Ram Cache to start the write process.

 

I tried trashing the PLIST and PREF files...next step is to try this same operation on my PPC G5 with the same settings.

[tsantee]

If I might add on to this thread -- I experienced a similar -39 error this morning on my MBP (2.16g, 2gb ram, 10.4.9) using Toast 8.0.1. I "imported" my video file from EyeTV -- it comes over as an MPEG-2, 1280x720, 59.94fps file (57 minutes). After about 2 hours of encoding, Toast will either return a -39 error, or just quit.

 

Behavior doesn't seem to change if I'm going directly to a disc-image, or directly to DVD. Basically Toast shuts down somewhere between completion of encoding and loading the Ram Cache to start the write process.

 

I tried trashing the PLIST and PREF files...next step is to try this same operation on my PPC G5 with the same settings.

I also encountered the -39 error today with some MPEGs extracted from my Pioneer standalone DVD recorder. Mine didn't get far before the error appeared. What I was able to do is open them in MPEG Streamclip, run the Fix Time Code Breaks command and Convert to MPEG. The rewritten MPEGs were accepted by Toast although I still needed to choose Never Re-encode. Of course, your HD MPEGs must be re-encoded.

 

A possibility in your case is that the MPEG file is damaged at the point where the error occurs. If you knew where that is you could use EyeTV or Streamclip to cut that segment (but cut on an I-frame). On the other hand, did you do any trimming of that video before sending it to Toast? That may be what caused the file problem for Toast.

[gesplus]

Could the problem be another app interfering? Just looking through my system prefs under "other" (which seems a likely candidate area) I've got:

Application Enhancer

Deja Vu

DivX

Flip4Mac WMV

iAddressX

Macaroni

MacGizmo

OpenBase

Stuffit AVR

Wacom Tablet

 

I've also got Quicksilver and gmail notifier running, ah, and Timbuktu and Library Books are also sitting up there in the menu bar.

 

Gretchen

The easiest thing would be to temporarily disable them all. You can first try a Safe Boot, boot while holding the Shift key till you see the grey apple and spinny thing. Disables non-Apple extensions, Startup items, and does a few other things. Note that if you use Airport it probably won't work in Safe Boot. Apple's Support site explains all the particulars of Safe Boot in more detail. Or move all third party Preference Panes out of /Library/PreferencePanes and Users/you/Library/PreferencePanes.

 

If you still have the problem then also turn off Quicksilver, gmail, Timbuktu and Library Books.

 

This all will eliminate third party conflicts.

 

HTH

[gretchen]

Hi again,

 

Gesplus, no no, not disliking your suggestions, just trying one thing at a time in no particular order. I am about to try a safe boot however!

 

Tsantee, it did mostly work to grab a copy of the video from the EyeTV package, open that in MPEG Streamclip, fix the timecodes, export to MPEG, open that in Toast, save it as a disk image, and then burn it. I say mostly because every few seconds the image seems to shudder. The sound is fine, but the image has a tremor. It plays beautifully in Eyetv, so something is being lost somewhere in the process. In it's original eyetv format it's 5.66 GB, the MPEG is 5.42 GB, the Toast image file is 2.92 GB, as is the disk it burned. EyeTV can also export in a number of formats

 

ciao,

Gretchen

[gretchen]

Hi again,

 

Well, the safe boot wouldn't allow EyeTV to fully function so I restarted and tried a different approach. This time I exported to DV format, which resulted in a 10+GB file. Opened it in iMovie, put regular 5-minute interval chapters in, and exported it to iDVD, which scrunched it down to less than 2GB, and it plays just fine; sounds and looks good. I was even able to add a second EyeTV HD recording I had not been able to get working in Toast, and the two are now quite happily sharing a DVD.

 

So I'm glad this is working, but it sure is a very, very long way around the block! If anyone has come up with solutions within Toast, I would love to know about them.

 

Thanks,

Gretchen

[tsantee]

Video is MPEG-2,1280x720,59.94 fps Audio is Dolby Digital, 3/2/LFE, 48000Hz

 

I would think that if EyeTv and Toast say they work together that all these various audio & video types would have been tested.

 

Is there a way to test the video file from EyeTV for breaks or corruption? It plays fine if exported to the iPod 640x480 H264 format.

 

As for HD or SD capture my unit does not receive SD. All signals are digital.

I have used Toast to encode and burn video DVDs from files that are the same as your specs. So I am sure that Toast and EyeTV are supposed to work the way you expect them to. What application did you use to create the H264 iPod video? Was it Toast?

 

At what point does the -39 error occur? Is it the same with any of the EyeTV-captured files?

 

MPEG Streamclip can open those files and check for timecode breaks. If it repairs timecode breaks you need to choose Convert to MPEG from the File menu to save the corrected MPEG file. This does not re-encode it in any way.

[tsantee]

What settings are you using and what kind of content? Are you saying you were wanting to burn more than 10 copies and when Toast started the 11th you got the error? Did you enter the number of copies in the Recorder Settings window or were you clicking the burn button for each new copy?

 

When burning multiple copies I first create a disc image (Save as disc image) and burn using the Image File setting in the Copy window.

 

Shutting down the Mac and waiting a few minutes before restarting will reset the disc drive.

[illustratorDavid]

What settings are you using and what kind of content? Are you saying you were wanting to burn more than 10 copies and when Toast started the 11th you got the error? Did you enter the number of copies in the Recorder Settings window or were you clicking the burn button for each new copy?

 

When burning multiple copies I first create a disc image (Save as disc image) and burn using the Image File setting in the Copy window.

 

Shutting down the Mac and waiting a few minutes before restarting will reset the disc drive.

 

Hi Tsantee

 

I was burning a .mov file as a dvd-video. Doesn't seem to be relevant that i was burning more than 10 copies as i've just tried to burn a single dvd-video of video_ts files and the same error has come up.

 

Shutting down and restarting doesn't make any difference.

 

Thanks

David

[illustratorDavid]

Just tried it with an external Lacie DVD recorder and i get the same error :/

[tsantee]

Hi Tsantee

 

I was burning a .mov file as a dvd-video. Doesn't seem to be relevant that i was burning more than 10 copies as i've just tried to burn a single dvd-video of video_ts files and the same error has come up.

 

Shutting down and restarting doesn't make any difference.

 

Thanks

David

Try Save as Disc Image and then burn that using the Image File setting in the copy window. Do you still get the -39 error?

 

This error should occur before disc burning begins. I'm wondering if the drive is reporting the wrong error message. You might try a different brand of media.

[cwhite]

I also have encountered the error -39 when trying to burn a single file to DVD. Sometimes I get the error -39, sometimes I return hours later and the status bar is gone, the main toast window has returned and no DVD. Then I've also tried to create a disk image and I've gotten the -39 error as well. Haven't been able to burn a single EyeTV file or create any disk images since upgrading to 8.0.1, beware. I'm running 10.4.9 on a Dual Processor G5 with the standard Apple DVD drive.

[gesplus]

Shutting down the Mac and waiting a few minutes before restarting will reset the disc drive.

Shutting down can I see, but waiting few minutes? Exactly what does that do? Can you explain? I know my electronics and can see no benefit in waiting a few minutes. Are we waiting for a capacitor to discharge or something? How would that affect a -39, end of file, error?

 

I just hate the amount of misinformation on the web is all.

[gretchen]

Hello again, Gretchen.

 

You likely encountered the -39 error with the EyeTV recording in Toast. This means Toast found a problem with that file and can't continue to multiplexing or re-encoding from that point.

 

Tell me about which EyeTV you are using and what settings you are using. How does Toast describe the video and audio in the File when it appears in the Video window?

 

I don't believe this is due to a conflict with other applications, although nobody in this thread has figured out what is causing the problem with those MPEGs.

 

Hi Tsantee,

 

I've not yet tried the safe-boot, but I did shut down for a few minutes, then restart, try again to make a disk image of an eyetv recording, and once again got -39 error. My device is a Miglia HDTVmini, I've got the current version of EyeTV software, and the recording is 53:20 minutes, MPEG-2, 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps. The audio is Dolby Digital, 3/2/LFE, 48000 Hz. It was an HD recording, and the EyeTV archive size in the finder is 5.66 GB. (recent Nature show on the very amazing cephalopods!). Ah, the settings are lossless, and set by the broadcaster, as with someone else above. I've got a live buffer size of 2000 MB.

 

All suggestions welcome!

 

ciao,

Gretchen

[tsantee]

Hi Tsantee,

 

I've not yet tried the safe-boot, but I did shut down for a few minutes, then restart, try again to make a disk image of an eyetv recording, and once again got -39 error. My device is a Miglia HDTVmini, I've got the current version of EyeTV software, and the recording is 53:20 minutes, MPEG-2, 1920 x 1080, 29.97 fps. The audio is Dolby Digital, 3/2/LFE, 48000 Hz. It was an HD recording, and the EyeTV archive size in the finder is 5.66 GB. (recent Nature show on the very amazing cephalopods!). Ah, the settings are lossless, and set by the broadcaster, as with someone else above. I've got a live buffer size of 2000 MB.

 

All suggestions welcome!

 

ciao,

Gretchen

I don't have that device and cannot capture the HD program streams. So I don't have any way to experiment with those files. I have used Toast to make DVDs from similar HD MPEG2 files captured via Firewire from my cable company's PVR, but not with EyeTV or Miglia. If EyeTV lets you export the MPEG as a file then I suggest opening it in Streamclip and choosing Streamclip's Fix time code breaks command. When that is done choose Convert to MPEG and then use that saved MPEG in Toast. Toast will have to re-encode it because a video DVD is not HD resolution. The audio will remain unchanged throughout these steps.

 

Your video file is damaged in some way. If fixing time code breaks doesn't do it then the best option is to watch for when that program repeats and try capturing it again. Read the advice at ElGato and Miglia's sites (or their documentation) to learn what you can do to minimize the chance of file transfer problems.

[tsantee]

I also have encountered the error -39 when trying to burn a single file to DVD. Sometimes I get the error -39, sometimes I return hours later and the status bar is gone, the main toast window has returned and no DVD.

I've seen the same.

Then I've also tried to create a disk image and I've gotten the -39 error as well.

Again, the same.

Haven't been able to burn a single EyeTV file or create any disk images since upgrading to 8.0.1, beware. I'm running 10.4.9 on a Dual Processor G5 with the standard Apple DVD drive.

We differ here. I'm not having any problem with MPEGs encoded by my EyeTV250. I'm using the standard 120 minute setting in EyeTV and the videos are edited to delete commercials. I haven't recorded any EyeTV programs since updating to 8.0.1 or 10.4.9 so I'll give that a go to see if there is any change in the EyeTV recordings.

[gesplus]

All suggestions welcome!

 

ciao,

Gretchen

I take it you don't like my suggestions.

[tsantee]

Shutting down can I see, but waiting few minutes? Exactly what does that do? Can you explain? I know my electronics and can see no benefit in waiting a few minutes. Are we waiting for a capacitor to discharge or something? How would that affect a -39, end of file, error?

 

I just hate the amount of misinformation on the web is all.

I think misinformation isn't the right term. When troubleshooting an issue that doesn't have a known fix there can be a lot of trials that don't affect the outcome. However, trying them does narrow the possibilities and can provide clues about where to focus attention.

 

As I read it, the OP burned 10 discs from the same file before suddenly getting the -39 error. This suggested to me that the problem could be a drive malfunction. Resetting the drive requires shutting down and not just restarting the Mac. As for waiting a few minutes, I've read and received this advice for various electronic equipment (not just computer gear). I'm not an electronics engineer but your guess that it may be do to discharging capacitors sounds reasonable. Or it may be unnecessary. But it's just a few minutes. I'm not interested in researching whether or not it is necessary. If you find that I'm mistaken, please let me know and I'll stop suggesting it.

 

As for a -39 error, this should be a problem with the file and not any kind of hardware problem. But drives sometimes give the wrong error message. It is very odd that a -39 error would happen after several successful burns from a file. It shouldn't have worked for the first one. An example that leads to a -39 error is when using Toast's Fit-to-DVD function and the source VIDEO_TS folder is missing something that was in the original VIDEO_TS folder. Toast reads the IFO and delivers the -39 error when a file the IFO is pointing to is missing.

 

Meanwhile, I acknowledge I sometimes post misinformation. A lot of troubleshooting is guesswork and there are times when I'm just plain wrong. I wish more people would take an interest in contributing their expertise to these forums because I learn a lot from reading their posts.

[tsantee]

I just tested with an EyeTV recording using OS 10.4.9 and Toast 8.0.1 has no problem with the EyeTV MPEG file.

 

Since you experienced this after 10.4.9 and because EyeTV has a USB interface, I suggest downloading and applying Apple's OS 10.4.9 combined system updater. That fixes issues that may happen to USB or Firewire communication after an incremental system update which might affect your EyeTV recordings.

[illustratorDavid]

ahhh.. excellent!! Did the disc image, loaded in the video files, went through the toast process. Now instead of error - 39 my computer freezes and i end up holding down the power button to reboot.

 

Think i'll reinstall toast and see if that makes any difference.

 

Thanks

David

[illustratorDavid]

mmm... feeling silly - looks like i should have selected the video_ts option. java script:emoticon('',%20'smid_8')

 

Thanks for all your help - not sure why it came up with the other dvd but its working now

 

David

[GWH]

I had problems with Toast 8.0.1 so I just removed it and reinstalled 8.0 and have gone about my merry way without problems.

 

So if the file was "bad" (or maybe not) 8.0.1 gave me an error and stopped - 8.0 does not.

 

8.0 seems not to dislke the DVD blanks I use - whereas some will say you are using lousy media and that is the problem.

 

Others may say that the dvd burner in your Mac is subpar and get an external one.

 

What all of these solutions have in common is that Toast is not causing the problem - it is external to Toast. That may be true.

 

But I found my solution was to revert to Toast 8.0 - maybe when I have a bunch of down time I will mess around with 8.0.1 and the work arounds to get it to perform as advertised.

 

Good luck to all - remember, "they" just might be correct - so, play all the options.

 

Geo

[J-Bar]

I also encountered the -39 error today with some MPEGs extracted from my Pioneer standalone DVD recorder. Mine didn't get far before the error appeared. What I was able to do is open them in MPEG Streamclip, run the Fix Time Code Breaks command and Convert to MPEG. The rewritten MPEGs were accepted by Toast although I still needed to choose Never Re-encode. Of course, your HD MPEGs must be re-encoded.

 

A possibility in your case is that the MPEG file is damaged at the point where the error occurs. If you knew where that is you could use EyeTV or Streamclip to cut that segment (but cut on an I-frame). On the other hand, did you do any trimming of that video before sending it to Toast? That may be what caused the file problem for Toast.

 

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction. The behavior seems consistent that the application will fail in different ways - sometimes the -39 error, sometimes it just stops -- nothing in the logs, no messages. I downloaded Streamclip, and ran the Fix Time Code Breaks command - it found 6 problems.. Given that there are no issues burning from a .DV file I'm going with the theory for now that any MPEG file that has a timecode discrepancy will probably cause Toast to fail.

 

Thanks again for your help - seems like a solid explanation.

[gretchen]

. . .

Since you experienced this after 10.4.9 and because EyeTV has a USB interface, I suggest downloading and applying Apple's OS 10.4.9 combined system updater. That fixes issues that may happen to USB or Firewire communication after an incremental system update which might affect your EyeTV recordings.

 

Hi Tsante et all,

 

I did, as you suggested in another thread, upgrade to this version of Toast to be able to get the correct sound track on EyeTV recordings. I can't at the moment remember whether it has only been since the 10.4.9 update, but I've been having the same problems described above. I just ran the 10.4.9 Combo updater and then tried to made a disk image of an HD eyetv recording, and it started happily, put a video, but not an audio, file into the Roxio Converted Items folder, then at some point just stopped. When I returned to the Mac, Toast was back to the main window with no sign of having tried to make the disc image, and MPEG Streamclip can't play that .m2v video file.

 

Could the problem be another app interfering? Just looking through my system prefs under "other" (which seems a likely candidate area) I've got:

Application Enhancer

Deja Vu

DivX

Flip4Mac WMV

iAddressX

Macaroni

MacGizmo

OpenBase

Stuffit AVR

Wacom Tablet

 

I've also got Quicksilver and gmail notifier running, ah, and Timbuktu and Library Books are also sitting up there in the menu bar.

 

Anyone else with this same problem have some of these, and/or Tsantee which do you not have? I've got to figure out something to get this working because my drives are almost full!

 

ciao,

Gretchen