"ERROR while Preparing a File"

earthrisers wrote on 8/6/2004, 9:15 AM
I'm consistently getting fatal errors during the PREPARATION phase of DVDA (DVDA 2a, to be specific). My project had been rendered to a DVDA-NTSC stream, plus AC3, from Vegas. This is a new one on me... I've successfully done quite a few projects in the past.
While Preparing the DVD files, DVDA produces this not-helpful message during the burning of the last object (i.e., object 4 of 4 in my project; the menu objects have already been prepared OK):
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Warning: An error occurred while writing a file.
The reason for the error could not be determined.
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DVDA did not give any error or warning messages when I started the Preparation process.
I tried preparing again, to a different hard disk, but DVDA gave me the same error.
This happened on my last TWO projects (over an hour long each, but the MPEG plus AC3 files don't come even close to exceeding 4+ gigabytes).
I completely re-rendered the first -project in Vegas, TWICE (a long, long waste of time), and it failed again in DVDA the first time but finally worked OK in DVDA the second time.
My second project is now stalled-out, unable to continue.
The file is one movie, with 13 chapters.

Comments

bStro wrote on 8/6/2004, 9:40 AM
How much space is on your drives? This includes: the drive your media is on, the drive you're preparing the files to, as well as the drive that the DVDA program resides on. Perhaps DVDA is running out of space somewhere, either where the permentent files reside or where it is trying to create temporary files.

Cleaned up the temp files on your drives lately?

Are the drives formatted as FAT32 or NTFS?

If everything above checks out, why not try re-rendering the problem file in Vegas? If it helped before, maybe it will help here, too.

Rob
earthrisers wrote on 8/6/2004, 11:21 AM
About 60 gigabytes available one one drive, 40 on the other. Both are NTFS.

Am about to re-render, as soon as I can afford to have my computer "unavailable to me" for a few hours.

-Ernie
earthrisers wrote on 8/7/2004, 11:51 AM
CROSS-POSTING THIS FROM THE VEGAS VIDEO FORUM, SINCE BOTH PRODUCTS ARE SOMEHOW INVOLVED.
I have reported the problem to Sony tech support.
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I finally got a "good" mpg file from Vegas 5.0b for my current project --- first two renders produced files that killed DVD-A; third try produced files that work OK in DVD-A. (The project has a number of transitions and multiple-track crossfades. So on the 3rd try, I rendered an AVI first, then rendered mpg/ac3 from that--a burdensome workaround. But also I should note that on my previous project I started with an AVI that had NO transitions or effects, and still ran into the bad-mpg problem until the 3rd render.)

BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE!... when I then BURNED the DVD for my latest project, I got the following results:
(1)Burned in DVD-A 2.a at 2x. Resulting disc plays OK on my computer and in my el-cheapo ($49) US Logic DVD player, but does NOT play on my (relatively) expensive Panasonic DVD player.
(2)Burned in DVD-A 2a at 1x. Results identical to the 2x burn.
(3)Burned in Nero -- the resulting disk plays perfectly in ALL my DVD players.
Kinda kludging together a workflow here...
earthrisers wrote on 8/8/2004, 5:05 PM
Update: Today I bought a new Sony DVD player (the $89, something-575 model), and it plays the DVDs that my Panasonic player had been unable to play. (I tested the Sony in the store before buying it.)

I'm now thinking my DVD-playing problem has to do with the combination of DVD player and burnable-media I use. Getting the Sony player solves the problem for me, but I'm very antsy now about burning DVDs for anyone else. I need to research the possible media-incompatibility problem much more...

Still no further insight into my "upstream" problem of DVD-A choking on some mpg/ac3 files produced by Vegas5.0b.
SonySDB wrote on 8/9/2004, 8:01 AM
earthrisers,

To investigate further, we'll need the project file (.dar) and media that causes the failure during prepare. I've sent you an email offline.
szablyasj wrote on 8/9/2004, 2:44 PM
I also have an older, expensive (at the time) Panasonic DVD player with identical provlems. This has been driving me nuts. My cheaper, but new panasonic, plays them fine, however I do occasionally get compatibility complaints. Please let me know what you find out because I really need to burn consistent perfect copies for my work.
Thanks!!
earthrisers wrote on 8/10/2004, 12:43 PM
szablyasj :

Another note re my Panasonic RV32 (now replaced by my Sony) DVD Player:
Another variable I discovered is that the "4x-Certified, inkjet-printable media I recently started using, are one factor in the equation. Panasonic player will not play them; the new Sony will. (I bought the blanks from Americal.com.)
All the DVDs I had earlier burned on Americal's "2x" inkjet-printable media* did work OK in the Panasonic.It looks like the Panasonic is incapable of playing DVDs burned on some of the newer media -- even if you burn the "4x" disc at only 2x!!
I have ordered some more of the 2x discs, and I'll try burning a DVD on one of those discs when I get them, and see whether it'll play on the Panasonic.
If it does, then I will definitely limit myself to using 2x discs in future, because not everyone I burn DVDs for has a brand-new DVD player.
And just to emphasize it again: it's not just a matter of BURNING at 2x rather than 4x -- discs burned at 2x on the "4x" media won't work in the Panasonic.
---
*I use inkjet-printable media because some DVD players also can't play discs that have paper labels attached to them.
earthrisers wrote on 8/12/2004, 11:18 AM
Updates:
(1)I just spent a couple of hours locating, downloading and installing a firmware upgrade for my Panasonic RV32. Alas, the machine is still incapable of reading discs that are burned on Americal's 4x media, regardless of whether the disc is in fact burned at 4x or 2x.

(2)I got another pack of the older 2x inkjet-printable discs from Americal. Burned a DVD-R on one, and it plays just fine on my Panasonic RV32 (which cannot play DVD-Rs burned with the 4x media). My lesson: I need to avoid the 4x media, because I don't know what player will be used by people for whom I burn discs.

-Ernie