Macos Error -18768 With Mpeg Files: What Gives?

[toodrunktofuck]

hi,

first off, apologies for my stupid nick - I tried various variations of my usual screen nicks but they were rejected as being already taken, one and all, so in the end I got furious and tried something real wacky - well there you have it.

That being said, I keep having an annoying problem with Toast 7.0 through 7.0.2 and I believe it has been mentioned previously in the old forum, but those messages are apparently no longer accessible.

 

I try to author a video DVD from MPEG files. Each of these files plays perfectly well in Quicktime Player and VLC. Setting: Video -> DVD-Video. I drag the individual files on the file pane, shuffle them around some, then click on "Save as Disc Image". More often than not, before getting to the Writing... stage, Toast craps out on me giving me a Mac OS error code -18768.

I have tried various settings: reencode never, automatic, always. That setting doesn't seem to have much of an impact anyway because regardless of my choice, there is alyways an "Encoding .." step.

 

I suppose there is one or several MPEG files that Toast doesn't like. Is there any way for me to find out which one(s) and for what reasons? I mean other than staring on the progress bar and trying to capture the moment before crapping out? Log files? I tried Console but couldn't find anything meaningful.

 

Thanks in advance for any kind of hint. This is driving me up the wall.

Cheers,

-Disty

[tsantee]

That error appears when there is a defect - possibly dropped frames - in the MPEG file. I've seen this error at times with MPEGs I created using the ADS USB Instant DVD for Mac. What's odd is that Toast insists on re-encoding even when you choose Never. That suggests the MPEG is very much out of spec for use on a video DVD.

 

What I would do is select the MPEG(s) that's giving you this error and click Export. Then save it as a DV or other format. Assuming the export is successful you can use that file instead for making your video DVD.

[sjbowers1]

That error appears when there is a defect - possibly dropped frames - in the MPEG file. I've seen this error at times with MPEGs I created using the ADS USB Instant DVD for Mac. What's odd is that Toast insists on re-encoding even when you choose Never. That suggests the MPEG is very much out of spec for use on a video DVD.

 

What I would do is select the MPEG(s) that's giving you this error and click Export. Then save it as a DV or other format. Assuming the export is successful you can use that file instead for making your video DVD.

 

I am having similar problems my video source is from a "Formac, whatchandandgo pcmcia card" in my powerbook. The card receives digital mpeg 2 muxed tv which quicktime can play. When I put the files into toast if I have reencode turned to never it 1st multiplexes them and then reencodes them and then gives error 18768 although sometimes it works. With reencode to never it doesn't seem to be able to calculate how much it can fit on a disc. If I have reencoding turned to automatic it encodes straight away and seems to work but takes a long time. Sometimes when I drop a file in with reencode as never it just multiplexes and burns making it very quick and as good quality as original. Any other ideas would be very helpfull as I can't see any difference in the mpg files I use when they work and when they don't.

[sjbowers1]

I am having similar problems my video source is from a "Formac, whatchandandgo pcmcia card" in my powerbook. The card receives digital mpeg 2 muxed tv which quicktime can play. When I put the files into toast if I have reencode turned to never it 1st multiplexes them and then reencodes them and then gives error 18768 although sometimes it works. With reencode to never it doesn't seem to be able to calculate how much it can fit on a disc. If I have reencoding turned to automatic it encodes straight away and seems to work but takes a long time. Sometimes when I drop a file in with reencode as never it just multiplexes and burns making it very quick and as good quality as original. Any other ideas would be very helpfull as I can't see any difference in the mpg files I use when they work and when they don't.

 

I think I have now found a solution (it works for me anyway). Download MPEG Stream Clip (it's free) open preferences and tick the box that says "Fix streams with data breaks" then drop in the mpg file and then select convert to MPEG. You may need to change the name or save it in a different place. I just tried this on 3 files that didn't work and now they work fine. Toast is so much faster when you don't have to reencode and the quality is as good as the original.