New To Emc8

[skics]

Hello all,

I am new to EMC 8. I have a Gateway 7330GZ notebook with a Mobile Intel® Pentium® 4 Processor 532 with HT Technology, Chipset Intel® 852GME

(1MB L2 Cache | 3.06GHz | 533MHz FSB), 80 GB HDD (4200 RPM), Intel® Extreme 2 Graphics

Dynamic Video Memory Technology (DVMT) supports up to 64 MB shared video memory,

512 MB DDR (1 × 512 MB), 333 MHz, DDR

Expandable to 1.5 GB

Write maximum: 8X DVD +/-R, 4x DVD +/- RW, 24x DVD+R DL, 24X CD-R and 10X CD-RW disks

(I am trying to give as much info as possible)

 

Do these specs appear to be sufficient to make DVD's from my DV tapes? (Made with Panasonic GS-200 camera)

 

I can import the movies fine, (long process in DV-AVI mode), but can not seem to make(Burn) the DVD's in

My DVD.

 

I made the Project and previewed it . All appeared fine. After the long encoding process I ended up with nothing but an error message of "menu was unable to encode". Should I save as an ISO file first? (I read that on this forum here). I am just trying to copy some vacation videos to DVD. I was hoping it wouldn't be to complicated.

 

Any advice on if I need to upgrade my notebook or if I just need more tips and tricks on using the software is appreciated. If any responders need additional info on the internals of the computer, I can get it from the notebook when I get home (At work now).

 

This seems like a great and helpful forum,

 

Thanks.

Andy

[latinangel_13@yahoo.com]

After the long encoding process I ended up with nothing but an error message of "menu was unable to encode". Should I save as an ISO file first? (I read that on this forum here).

Thanks.

Andy

 

No...you do not need to upgrade your notebook or anything like that. I'm not really sure on what is going on, but I had that same error that said MENU WAS UNABLE TO ENCODE. I took the DVD I burned and played it on my DVD Player and the movie was just fine, but the only problem there was, was that there was no menu, so if you don't mind having a menu, then that should not be a problem. But I seriously can tell you that this morning (5am) I woke up and tried burning the DVD again, and it burn perfectly fine. Even the menu burned! And the only difference I made was that instead of burning it to a DVD+RW I burned it to a DVD+R. Maybe if you tried a couple of more times, it may work. I don't know...I'm just saying this because that's what worked for me.

I,in return, also have a question. After you rendered your video in VideoWave, did you preview it? Did it look all pixelated and stuff or did it look as clear as it does on ur camcorder? What "compression"/rendering options did you use? thnx!

[ggrussell]

I am new to EMC 8. I have a Gateway 7330GZ notebook

 

I was hoping it wouldn't be to complicated.

 

I have the Gateway 7320GZ. The only upgrade I've added is another 512RAM. I have no problems. However, there have been several updates to the Intel Extreme Graphics 2 drivers. I just got the ones posted at Intel instead of through Gateway. Rendering is still set at 'software' , but it works.

 

Which burner do you have? See my listing below. I haven't needed a firmware update.

 

Well, we all were hoping it wouldn't be complicated when we first started. LOL Roxio has simplified it alot though.

[skics]

Thanks for the replies so far,

 

Latinangel,

As for previewing the video in videowave, I only took the files from Media import and put them in the areas (Menu, Movies) in the mydvd program. They previede fine in my opinion. I'll try the videowave later this evening if I get a chance. Also, I'll try to play the DVD as well. It's just that when I looked at it in My computer this a.m., it said blank disc.

 

ggrussell,

I am at work so I'll check which model of Burner I have when I get home. I just bought the laptop in late Nov, of '05 so I was hoping it wasn't too outdated! Looks like you have pretty much the same laptop. That's encouraging. I'll keep you updated on my progress.

 

Thanks to all again!

Andy

[skics]

Got home this evening and tried again......

 

This time I put the 2 DV, movies still saved on my hard drive using Media Import yesterday, (less than 1.5 hrs long total), into Videowave and saved them as a project.

 

Clicked on burn to DVD, Created a simple menu of a JPEG (a vacation picture)from my files,and a new Title

to go with it.

 

The program automatically gave me a 'button' with a preview(I turned the animation off ) on the menu display.

 

I did a brief preview and all seemed to work ok.(I didn't preview the whole movie as I will be happy just to get anything to print to DVD at this point).

 

Let the program run its course, about 4 hours, and againended up with an error message saying menu did not encode and again, a blank DVD.

 

Should I try and record it as an ISO and if so, where do I save it to and how would I recall it to burn to a DVD using the program?

 

I looked over the tutorials and they weren't much help. I seem to be doing everything right. I don't think the program is that difficult to navigate.

 

I really hope there are some simple steps or tricks I am overlooking as I would really like to use this sofware to store lots of home DV movies for our family. Did I see it correctly posted that there may be a 30 day money back guarantee? Hopefully I will not get so frustrated to have to return the software.

 

Any guidance will be appreciated.

 

Thanks again,

Andy

 

ggrussell......I have a Dual layer GWA-4082N DVD-RW drive to answer your question posted earlier.

 

Thanks

[skics]

Here's an update....

 

Went into MyDVD after the above posted failure last night.

 

Chose new DVD-no menu.

 

Selected the 2 movie files again, unedited. simply took them from the media recently imported section of Media Import and put them into the Movies area of MyDVD when clicking on Add Movies.

 

Sent to burn, also checked ISO copy.

 

Went to bed.

 

Woke this a.m. and it looked like I had a DVD! (some success).

 

I will try and play it when I get home tonight!

 

It will obviously have no menu though.

 

So here's the new questions.

 

Assuming it plays fine, can I edit this DVD and add a menu to it? It is a DVD-R. Or should I try and burn it to a DVD-RW and then add a menu? Could my EMC8 be 'corrupt', meaning , should I uninstall and reinstall it...maybe that will fix the 'no menu issues'? Or should I just try and burn a menu alone and see what happens?

 

Finally, once I get a good DVD burned, can I completely delete these movies from my hard drive? I checked the disk space used this a.m. and it showed I only have 17 GB left on a 80 GB hard drive (wow, what a memory user these movies are, I think the user manual states about 1GB for every 5 minutes). I guess an External Hard drive is in order for future use.

 

Thanks to all your patience,

 

Andy

[ggrussell]

DV AVI files use about 13gig per hour of video. If you get an external, make sure it is USB2 or firewire. Granted most these days are.

 

Once you get a good DVD burn, you can delete the files on the hard. I still advise keeping any digital tapes and store them properly. DVDs still may not last as long as tape.

 

As for editing menus after the fact, possible just not easy. Technically you would have to 'capture' the disc back to the hard drive and create an entirely new project. You can't just change the menu on a existing disc.