Blank spots during encoding

[Rich2]

Hi all I have been working with Roxio creator 2009 for some time now and have seen a lot of threads regarding blank spots in projects that have been created. I also have experienced this and never have received a good explanation of what is going on. I also never have received a fix or at least a work around for this issue.

 

So I will let everyone know what I have found for myself and maybe this will help others. I have managed to work it out to were I am able to create a project and burn it to a DVD without have the blank spot issue.

 

For most of the people that work with Roxio you probably have noticed that the blank spots actually will show up during the encoding process. Once I saw a blank spot in the encoding process I canceled the process because I knew that the blank spots would show up on my DVD.

 

I have since found out what is really going on with this (at least for me) and maybe what I have found will help others as well.

 

So from what I can tell the blank spots have everything to do with the size of each picture in relationship to your computers memory. I have 1 meg of memory on the PC that I am creating my projects on and have found that I can not have a photo of any kind that is over 3.5 meg in size. If any photo or picture is over this size I will see blank spots in the encoding process resulting in blank spots on my DVD.

 

So with my blank spot issue it was a direct relationship between the size of the photos that I used and the amount of memory on my PC.

 

So my suggestion would be that if you have less then 1 meg of memory on your PC then I would make sure that the pictures or photos that you are using are small enough so that your PC’s processor and memory constraints can handle the pictures and photos so there will be no blank spots in the encoding process. So in other words less memory on your PC means that your pictures or photo files have to be smaller in size. Larger memory on your PC the bigger the photo or picture file size can be per picture or photo.

 

I hope this helps some people.

 

[Jim_Hardin]

You got it right. What an amazing memory, Jim!

Got what right???

 

Hi all,

 

Sorry for the major typo error. My system has 1024 MB of memory. As far as my theory is concerned regarding the size of the photos or pictures in relationship to the amount of memory is concerned all I can say is that Yes it is true in my case and it worked for me. Just in case there is any more confusion the PC that I create my projects on is an off the shelf Compaq Presario SR5310F running Vista. Look up the details of this PC and you will see my whole PC configuration.

 

I was never able to create a project without blank spots until I reduce the file size of each picture or photo to less then 3.5 MB in size per photo or picture.

 

I have since created two projects that consisted of 70 frames and 173 frames that worked fine when I reduced the size of the photos to the above size.

 

So again sorry for the typo on the memory and I don’t know if this will work for everyone but I thought I would let everyone know what I found that worked for me in case someone else wanted to try this to see if it worked for them.

 

I think this is obviously worth considering and should really be taken in to account for the technical guys at Roxio.

Rich you are barking up the wrong Byte…

 

Your picture size has absolutely nothing to do with it!

 

More likely is that you are making modifications to those pictures with Adobe or some other editor and that is what is wrecking the pictures…

 

We have tested the Size Matters theory, making some obscene sizes up to 10MB and they feed through without a glitch.

 

My camera makes 3 to 5 MB pictures every time I go click and they make great slideshows.

 

[Rich2]

Well all I can say to the last comment regarding editing photos or pictures is that if there is any editing going on I would do this within Roxio and use Roxios picture/photo editing tool.

 

As far as photos are concerned all I do with them is scan them in with a scanner and if I do any editing to the scanned in photos I do it with in Roxio.

 

That being said for my case it dose not matter if I incorporate transitions or have no transitions I always will have blank spots in my projects unless I make sure that I made the pictures or photos file size smaller than 3.5 MB.

 

Also it looks like to me from just reading all the notes regarding this issue that no one knows for sure what the real issue is including the guys that work for Roxio.

 

It seems like to me that there is more effort put into dodging the issue instead of really looking into a definite answer or fix for this issue.

 

So as for my issue I can tell you that the only thing that has worked for me, and I have tried all suggestions that came from tech support from Roxio, is decreasing the file size of my photos and pictures. The assumption on my end would be that the processor and memory that I have on my PC is not large enough and fast enough to work well with the encoding process unless I decrease the size of the photos or pictures so that the encoding process will work well with my PC’s resources.

 

So I am going to keep on doing what I know works for me and maybe someone else out there that reads this will benefit from what I found that works for me.

 

[Jim_Hardin]

Then the next one is your Video Card and/or drivers!

 

Not trying to give you a hard time about this but you are passing along miss-information. Several of us tested the ‘size’ theory and it leads NOWHERE…

 

But we have confirmed the deleted picture, the Video Card/Drivers, Hardware Rendering instead of Software Rendering, just about everything but Size

[Rich2]

Ok Jim I will play along.

 

So if it is my video/drivers how come by simply decreasing the size of my photos/pictures it will work? changing the size of my photos/pictures does nothing to my video card or drivers right? My video card/drivers are a constent not a variable.

 

If changing the size of my pictures/photos does work better with my video/drivers and I am able to produce a project with no errors in the encoding process then for me with my set up changing the file size works.

 

So no matter if the problem is with my PC's memory or processing speed or if it is with my video/drivers that fact remains that decreasing the size of my picture/photos works.

 

So maybe since no one can really say for sure wether or not it is the Video/drivers or memory or processor speed or all of the above or whatever the case maybe all I wanted to convey in my blog is that this is something someone could try to see if it will fix their issue regarding blank spots.

 

Do you think this is a far statement?

[bimicher]

Ok Jim I will play along.

 

So if it is my video/drivers how come by simply decreasing the size of my photos/pictures it will work? changing the size of my photos/pictures does nothing to my video card or drivers right? My video card/drivers are a constent not a variable.

 

If changing the size of my pictures/photos does work better with my video/drivers and I am able to produce a project with no errors in the encoding process then for me with my set up changing the file size works.

 

So no matter if the problem is with my PC's memory or processing speed or if it is with my video/drivers that fact remains that decreasing the size of my picture/photos works.

 

So maybe since no one can really say for sure wether or not it is the Video/drivers or memory or processor speed or all of the above or whatever the case maybe all I wanted to convey in my blog is that this is something someone could try to see if it will fix their issue regarding blank spots.

 

Do you think this is a far statement?

 

How are you changing the picture sizes? What program are you using? What program did you use to scan the photos and into what format?

Actually there is not much point to scanning images to a "high-resolution" photo since they will all be reduced to 720x480 anyway when you create a DVD.

[Rich2]

Ok this is my procedure for scanning in photos/pictures. I have an epson perfection 1200U scanner. I will initially scan in all the pictures and photos that I want to use in my project into one folder on my PC. the epson comes with its own software for scanning in whatever you want. The software allows me to pic the file format that I want to save my pictures/phots in. So I usually pic jpeg format. Once I have all of my pictures/photos saved in my "project folder" for that particular project I then will open up Roxio and open up Vedio advanced to bring in the pictures/photos that I want to work with.

 

Now I add whatever music I want edit any photos/pictures that I want etc...

 

After I am done with vedio advanced then I save everything I have done in my project folder for that particular project.

 

Now I open up DVD advanced so I can do that portion (choose my menu style etc...). I will then pull in my movie and save all of that to a file in my project folder.

 

I then open back up that particular project that I just saved in DVD advanced and start the burn process. I start to see the encoding process start and if I notice a blank spot during the encoding I will then cancel the process.

 

I then go back to vedio advanced an open back up the original file that I saved in vedio advanced and go to that picture that was blank in the encoding process.

 

I will then look at the file size of that picture/photo and if the file is over 3.5 meg then I will do what I do to reduce the size of the picture/photo.

 

This is what I do to reduce the size. I take that particular photo and print it out on regular paper and I usualy will print the photo out to a small size say a 3 x 5 size picture/photo.

 

I then take that print out and scan it back into my PC and replace this one with the original.

 

Then in vedio advacnced I delet the original photo and bring in the newly smaller file sized picture/photo.

 

I then save that project one more time. I then go back into DVD advanced and bring in the newly saved movie that I just saved in vedio advanced.

 

This was the process that I always did to get rid of the blank spots in the encoding until just recently.

 

My new procedure is to make sure that all my photos/pictures and below 3.5 meg. before I do anything at all and since I have been doing that for the last two projects mentioned in an older blog I have not had any issues and I have not had to go back and forth canceling the encoding process etc...

 

Does this all make sense?

[bimicher]

Ok this is my procedure for scanning in photos/pictures. I have an epson perfection 1200U scanner. I will initially scan in all the pictures and photos that I want to use in my project into one folder on my PC. the epson comes with its own software for scanning in whatever you want. The software allows me to pic the file format that I want to save my pictures/phots in. So I usually pic jpeg format. Once I have all of my pictures/photos saved in my "project folder" for that particular project I then will open up Roxio and open up Vedio advanced to bring in the pictures/photos that I want to work with.

 

Now I add whatever music I want edit any photos/pictures that I want etc...

 

After I am done with vedio advanced then I save everything I have done in my project folder for that particular project.

 

Now I open up DVD advanced so I can do that portion (choose my menu style etc...). I will then pull in my movie and save all of that to a file in my project folder.

 

I then open back up that particular project that I just saved in DVD advanced and start the burn process. I start to see the encoding process start and if I notice a blank spot during the encoding I will then cancel the process.

 

I then go back to vedio advanced an open back up the original file that I saved in vedio advanced and go to that picture that was blank in the encoding process.

 

I will then look at the file size of that picture/photo and if the file is over 3.5 meg then I will do what I do to reduce the size of the picture/photo.

 

This is what I do to reduce the size. I take that particular photo and print it out on regular paper and I usualy will print the photo out to a small size say a 3 x 5 size picture/photo.

 

I then take that print out and scan it back into my PC and replace this one with the original.

 

Then in vedio advacnced I delet the original photo and bring in the newly smaller file sized picture/photo.

 

I then save that project one more time. I then go back into DVD advanced and bring in the newly saved movie that I just saved in vedio advanced.

 

This was the process that I always did to get rid of the blank spots in the encoding until just recently.

 

My new procedure is to make sure that all my photos/pictures and below 3.5 meg. before I do anything at all and since I have been doing that for the last two projects mentioned in an older blog I have not had any issues and I have not had to go back and forth canceling the encoding process etc...

 

Does this all make sense?

 

 

If you want to reduce the photo file size why don't you simply

1-pick a lower resolution when scanning. There is no point to scanning at that high resolution unless you want to print poster or blowup the pictures.

2-if you want to keep the high scan resolution image, then use PhotoSuite to reduce reduce the size and save it as a "new" image file.

 

Why scan, print and scan again? Seems like a waste of time and paper

 

BTW, I have no problem at all using image files larger then 4MB in any of my projects.

[Rich2]

Well I am sure there are many different and probably better ways to reduce the size of pictures/photos.

 

This however was not my concern. reducing the size of the pictures was the fix or work around for me and I simply wanted to share this with everyone so that this work around might help some other people out as well.

 

As far as your comment about not having issues with using file sizes larger then 4MB I would only point out that you are probably not using a PC that is comparable to mine in processor, memory or vedio card. So this in my view point is not comparing apples to apples.

 

 

[bimicher]

Well I am sure there are many different and probably better ways to reduce the size of pictures/photos.

 

This however was not my concern. reducing the size of the pictures was the fix or work around for me and I simply wanted to share this with everyone so that this work around might help some other people out as well.

 

As far as your comment about not having issues with using file sizes larger then 4MB I would only point out that you are probably not using a PC that is comparable to mine in processor, memory or vedio card. So this in my view point is not comparing apples to apples.

 

 

If you look at my specs you will see that I have a 2GHz Pentium 4, 784MB memory and no video card. My system is almost 7 years old. I would definitely agree that my system is propably not comparable to yours.

My suggestions on how to reduce the image size was a quicker work-around then what you are currently doing.

[Rich2]

Thanks for your suggestions and I hope that Roxio will be able really figure out what the issue is regarding blank spots that so many people are obviously having.

 

If Roxio does figure this out I hope that this will be emailed or posted in some form to all the current and future Roxio customers so we can all benifit from this.

[grandpabruce]

Thanks for your suggestions and I hope that Roxio will be able really figure out what the issue is regarding blank spots that so many people are obviously having.

 

If Roxio does figure this out I hope that this will be emailed or posted in some form to all the current and future Roxio customers so we can all benifit from this.

 

How would you suggest that Roxio fix user error?

 

[Jim_Hardin]

Rich: How about listing your PC specs like you see in most of our signature blocks???

 

Ironically, while we were discussing this yesterday I was running a project on 2 other PC’s here and ran into this blank picture problem! You must have put a hex on me

 

The PC listed in my sig does not produce it. It was only when I ran the project from my newer~faster~superior PC that I saw it! I could see it both in Preview as well as burned DVD…

 

Now here is the oddity to ponder… With one set of slides (36) are all but 2 are 3 to 4 MB in size The other 2 are below 1 mb in size.

 

Of those there is only 1 that is a blank…

 

The second set consists of 46 slides all of which are below 1.6 MB in size but there are many that do not show. (I did not count them)

 

That PC is a Dual 2.2 Ghz with 2 GB of RAM running Vista Business w/SP2.

 

Its’ weak link is that instead of a Video Card, it has an Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset…

 

Now that chipset passed the Roxio Hardware Render testing and runs video rendering in about 1/3 of the time as my listed PC. I tried both Software and Hardware render yesterday but it made no difference.

 

So 2 PC’s that are similar in RAM & CPC but far apart in Video Card, yield completely different results… You can see why I have been so adamant in proclaiming that no matter how many 'pixies' you pictures have, it will make no difference… But I will give that a try today just to see what happens. And I will see if there are any updated drivers for my chipset video.

 

[Rich2]

Jim I am glad that you are seeing the exact problem that I have been seeing. Below are my complete specs of my PC. The only extra piece of hardware that I have added myself is a Sound Blaster Xtreme Fidelity PCI card which I use instead of the on baord sound card.

 

This has been a very frustrating issue but one that I was willing to put up with and use long enough to come up with a work around for myself becuase I really do like this software. However if you can really come up with what the real problem is and come up with a real fix instead of me just using this work around I would be very appreciative.

 

If you really are going to look into this I will be as cooperative as you need me to be to get this issue worked out. If you need me to try different vedio uppdates or what ever I will be more then happy to try what you think needs to happen.

 

Again I am very glad that you are seeing exactly what I am seeing and I am going to keep up with your replies until you come up with a fix.

 

Processor

• Type Intel Pentium Dual Core E2140 / 1.6 GHz

• Multi-Core processor technology Dual-Core

• 64-bit processor Yes

• Installed Qty 1.0

• Max processors supported 1.0

Cache Memory

• Type L2 cache

• Installed Size 1.0 MB

• Cache Per Processor 1 MB

Mainboard

• Chipset type Intel 945GC Express

• Data bus speed 800.0 MHz

RAM

• Installed Size 1.0 GB / 2.0 GB (max)

• Technology DDR2 SDRAM

• Memory speed 667.0 MHz

• Memory specification compliance PC2-5300

• RAM form factor DIMM 240-pin

Storage Controller

• Type 1.0 x Serial ATA - Integrated

Storage

• Floppy drive type None

• Hard Drive 1.0 x 250.0 GB - Standard - Serial ATA-300 - 7200.0 rpm

• Hard Drive (2nd) None

Optical Storage

• Type DVD±RW (±R DL) / DVD-RAM - Serial ATA

• CD / DVD read speed 40x (CD) / 16x (DVD)

• CD / DVD write speed 40x (CD) / 16x (DVD±R) / 8x (DVD±R DL)

• CD / DVD rewrite speed 32x (CD) / 6x (DVD-RW) / 8x (DVD+RW) / 12x (DVD-RAM)

• Disc Labeling Technology LightScribe Technology

Optical Storage (2nd)

• Type None

Storage Removable

• Type None

Monitor

• Monitor Type None.

Graphics Controller

• Type Integrated

• Graphics Processor / Vendor Intel GMA 950 Dynamic Video Memory Technology 3.0

Audio Output

• Type Sound card - Integrated

• Sound output mode 5.1 channel surround

• Audio output compliant standards High Definition Audio

• Speaker(s) None

Input Device

• Type Keyboard , Mouse

Keyboard

• Keyboard interface PS/2

Mouse

• Mouse technology Ball

• Mouse interface PS/2

Audio Input

• Type None

Telecom

• Modem Fax / modem

• Max transfer rate 56.0 Kbps

Networking

• Networking Network adapter - Integrated

• Data Link Protocol Ethernet , Fast Ethernet

Printer

• Type None

Expansion / Connectivity

• Expansion Bays Total (Free) 3.0 ( 1.0 ) x 5.25" x 1/2H , 2.0 ( 2.0 ) x 3.5" x 1/3H

• Expansion Slots Total (Free) 2.0 ( 1.0 ) x Processor - DIMM 240-pin , 1.0 ( 0.0 ) x Memory , 1.0 ( 1.0 ) x PCI Express x1 , 1.0 ( 1.0 ) x PCI , 2.0 PCI Express x16

• Interfaces 1.0 x Mouse - DVI-Analog/Digital - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) ( 2 in front ) , 1.0 x IEEE 1394 (FireWire) - Line-in - 6 pin mini-DIN (PS/2 style) , 1.0 x Audio - SPDIF output - 15 pin HD D-Sub (HD-15) , 1.0 x Network - Line-out - Mini-phone 3.5 mm , 1.0 x Audio - Input - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm , 3.0 x Keyboard - VGA - Mini-phone 3.5 mm , 6.0 x Hi-Speed USB - Generic - 29 pin combined DVI , 1.0 x Display / video - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX - Mini-phone stereo 3.5 mm , 1.0 x Microphone - Generic - RJ-45 , 1.0 x Audio - S-video output - 4 pin USB Type A , 1.0 x Display / video - Output - RCA , 1.0 x Display / video - Composite video output , 1.0 x Display / video , 1.0 x Audio

Power

• Power device type Power supply

Operating System / Software

• OS Provided Microsoft Windows Vista , Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium

 

[malatekid]

Its' weak link is that instead of a Video Card, it has an Intel G33/G31 Express Chipset…

This post indicated that the user, using EMC 9, has the same chipset but got a "does not meet the minimum requirement" message.

[Jim_Hardin]

I am actually tickled that I have a system that can reproduce it!!! It is very frustrating for all when 2 or more people cannot reproduce something…

 

One thing we have in common that jumps out, is the mutual lack of a Video Card!

 

I know there are more and more of these PC’s out there since they are cheap! Hopefully we can find a few workarounds to allow them to be used.

 

[Rich2]

Hi Jim,

 

this sounds great at least we have a starting point. I am most happy that you can now recreate the issue. I will check back frequently to see any updates that you or anyone else has.

 

Thanks again for looking into this.

[malatekid]

So from what I can tell the blank spots have everything to do with the size of each picture in relationship to your computers memory. I have 1 meg of memory on the PC that I am creating my projects on and have found that I can not have a photo of any kind that is over 3.5 meg in size. If any photo or picture is over this size I will see blank spots in the encoding process resulting in blank spots on my DVD.

Are you sure that your system has only 1 meg of memory?

[bimicher]

Hi all I have been working with Roxio creator 2009 for some time now and have seen a lot of threads regarding blank spots in projects that have been created. I also have experienced this and never have received a good explanation of what is going on. I also never have received a fix or at least a work around for this issue.

 

So I will let everyone know what I have found for myself and maybe this will help others. I have managed to work it out to were I am able to create a project and burn it to a DVD without have the blank spot issue.

 

For most of the people that work with Roxio you probably have noticed that the blank spots actually will show up during the encoding process. Once I saw a blank spot in the encoding process I canceled the process because I knew that the blank spots would show up on my DVD.

 

I have since found out what is really going on with this (at least for me) and maybe what I have found will help others as well.

 

So from what I can tell the blank spots have everything to do with the size of each picture in relationship to your computers memory. I have 1 meg of memory on the PC that I am creating my projects on and have found that I can not have a photo of any kind that is over 3.5 meg in size. If any photo or picture is over this size I will see blank spots in the encoding process resulting in blank spots on my DVD.

 

So with my blank spot issue it was a direct relationship between the size of the photos that I used and the amount of memory on my PC.

 

So my suggestion would be that if you have less then 1 meg of memory on your PC then I would make sure that the pictures or photos that you are using are small enough so that your PC's processor and memory constraints can handle the pictures and photos so there will be no blank spots in the encoding process. So in other words less memory on your PC means that your pictures or photo files have to be smaller in size. Larger memory on your PC the bigger the photo or picture file size can be per picture or photo.

 

I hope this helps some people.

 

 

I doubt very much that you have only 1mb of memory . Most likely its 1GB of memory which throws your whole theory out the window.

[Jim_Hardin]

We have heard this theory before and tested it out.

 

Nope, not true!

 

I even ran one PC on 512 MB for a time as a test.

 

I sure would like to nail down this issue though!!! It would be so nice to be able to say, 'Oh, just do this and it will go away...'

 

I think one of the better reasons that Jess(???) found was that pictures are deleted in edits but the transitions are not deleted… Thus a blank shows while the transition plays.

 

[Rich2]

Are you sure that your system has only 1 meg of memory?

 

 

Hi all,

 

Sorry for the major typo error. My system has 1024 MB of memory. As far as my theory is concerned regarding the size of the photos or pictures in relationship to the amount of memory is concerned all I can say is that Yes it is true in my case and it worked for me. Just in case there is any more confusion the PC that I create my projects on is an off the shelf Compaq Presario SR5310F running Vista. Look up the details of this PC and you will see my whole PC configuration.

 

I was never able to create a project without blank spots until I reduce the file size of each picture or photo to less then 3.5 MB in size per photo or picture.

 

I have since created two projects that consisted of 70 frames and 173 frames that worked fine when I reduced the size of the photos to the above size.

 

So again sorry for the typo on the memory and I don’t know if this will work for everyone but I thought I would let everyone know what I found that worked for me in case someone else wanted to try this to see if it worked for them.

 

I think this is obviously worth considering and should really be taken in to account for the technical guys at Roxio.

[malatekid]

I think one of the better reasons that Jess(???) found was that pictures are deleted in edits but the transitions are not deleted… Thus a blank shows while the transition plays.

You got it right. What an amazing memory, Jim!