Need tech help... any computer people around?

[dzrose93]

I'm having trouble with my wedding DVDs. The guy who filmed my wedding and reception did all of the editing on his Mac computer. Then he burned one DVD for the wedding and another for the reception (both on his mac) and sent them to me.

The first time he mailed the DVDs to me, they were the DVD-R discs. They wouldn't work on my 2-year-old Philips DVD player, and they wouldn't work on my parents' brand new Pioneer DVD player that they got for Christmas. They'd start to play fine, then they'd start pixellating, and finally they'd freeze.

So, the guy burned the DVDs again, this time using DVD+R discs because the box that my parents' player came in said that it could read DVD+R. We thought that might have been the problem.

However, we tried the new DVD+R discs over the weekend on both DVD players and again, they don't work. Same exact problem as before -- at first, they work fine, then they start pixellating and finally they freeze up entirely.

The guy says that he doesn't know what's causing the problem, because the DVDs work fine on his DVD player. He also tried it on a couple of other players, and the DVDs were fine there, too. He doesn't know what else to do at this point.

Anyone have any idea what's going on? I think the problem might be that he edited on a mac computer instead of a pc. He burned the first DVD-R discs on his mac, and then burned the DVD+R discs on a PC. However, we get the same result from both sets of discs.

I'm open to any ideas. At this point, he's offering VHS tapes, but I really don't want them because the quality isn't as good and they don't last as long as DVDs. So any advice is much appreciated.

Thanks!

[Rudey]

The Mac thing should have no effect on it and, if anything, it should be more compatible than anything else because he probably used final cut pro/avis/shake or a couple other pro editing programs which are only available for macs. In Fact I don't know a single person who does video editing on pc's.

More likely it has to do with the fact that there is no standard for dvd creation so dvd-r's are not all compatible in different players. I brought over a movie on dvd to my friend and couldn't play it on his playstation.

-Rudey

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by Rudey
The Mac thing should have no effect on it and, if anything, it should be more compatible than anything else because he probably used final cut pro/avis/shake or a couple other pro editing programs which are only available for macs. In Fact I don't know a single person who does video editing on pc's.

More likely it has to do with the fact that there is no standard for dvd creation so dvd-r's are not all compatible in different players. I brought over a movie on dvd to my friend and couldn't play it on his playstation.

-Rudey

But if my parents' DVD player says that it's compatible with DVD+R discs, and that's what he sent us the second time around, shouldn't those work?

[DeltAlum]

Actually, I think Rudey is pretty much right on.

The problem with "inexpensive" video projects (meaning not "broadcast quality") is that each machine may be slightly different, and thus, while "compatible" in theory, they just don't quite work from machine to machine.

The only piece I don't understand is that you have the same symptom on two playback machines -- and the DVD sets were burned on different record machines.

It makes me wonder if the problem is somewhere in the editing process, which was "cloned" (copied) onto the final product. In other words, a problem was introduced before any of your copies were made. That's just a guess, though.

Remember, I'm used to working with much more expensive (and thus more precise) cameras, editors, etc., so I could be wrong.

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
It makes me wonder if the problem is somewhere in the editing process, which was "cloned" (copied) onto the final product. In other words, a problem was introduced before any of your copies were made. That's just a guess, though.

DeltAlum,

My videographer sent me the "master" DVD after we first had trouble with the DVD-R discs. I had the same problem with the "master" version that I did with the copies that he originally sent me. Does this indicate to you that the issue is most likely in the editing process?

The guy is an old high school and college buddy of mine, and he told me recently that he really hasn't done a whole lot of wedding DVDs -- he usually does just VHS tapes. So this makes me think that maybe you're right about the editing being the problem. Maybe he made an error since he's new to that type of DVD technology.

Do you have any idea what would cause a problem in the editing process? (I'm not technologically-savvy, so all this is over my head.)

[decadence]

I don't know much about DVDs but I did remember a FAQ I had seen so I looked it up in case it had anything to suggest. http://dvddemystified.com/ particularly FAQ sections [4.3.1] and [1.41]. Anyway...
dzrose93: -- What make of player (ie model) is it specifically (the ones you're trying to play the DVD on)?

[Rudey]

Originally posted by dzrose93
But if my parents' DVD player says that it's compatible with DVD+R discs, and that's what he sent us the second time around, shouldn't those work?

If it doesn't work, it doesn't. Be sure that is exactly what it says and isn't one of the other formats out there. See if it'll play on your computer so if you want it on dvd and they make a standard format in the future, you can transfer over. But the mac editing shouldn't have any effect - 99.9% of all movies in Hollywood are done on Mac systems.

When someone edits on a Mac for a video - unless they really have no experience, it's being "professionally done." Mac are industry standard when it comes to editing and are powerful enough to do high-end work like editing Lord of the Rings.

And generally if you see even a bit before it's pixelated, that means your player can view it. If it can't, then it doesn't even get to that stage so I don't know what the problem would be.

-Rudey

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by decadence
dzrose93: -- What make of player (ie model) is it specifically (the ones you're trying to play the DVD on)?

The players are:

Phillips DVD/VCR combo; model# DVD 750VR
Pioneer DV-341

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by Rudey
If it doesn't work, it doesn't. Be sure that is exactly what it says and isn't one of the other formats out there. See if it'll play on your computer so if you want it on dvd and they make a standard format in the future, you can transfer over. But the mac editing shouldn't have any effect - 99.9% of all movies in Hollywood are done on Mac systems.

When someone edits on a Mac for a video - unless they really have no experience, it's being "professionally done." Mac are industry standard when it comes to editing and are powerful enough to do high-end work like editing Lord of the Rings.

And generally if you see even a bit before it's pixelated, that means your player can view it. If it can't, then it doesn't even get to that stage so I don't know what the problem would be.

-Rudey

Rudey,

It wouldn't work on my computer or my parents' computer either... We tried that as a last resort after the discs wouldn't work on our DVD players. It was really weird -- the wedding DVD would play almost to the end with no problem before pixellating and freezing. And the reception DVD would play about halfway through before having problems. (Oh, I forgot to add that the discs wouldn't work on my brother's DVD player either.)

[decadence]

Originally by dzrose93: The players are: Phillips DVD/VCR combo; model# DVD 750VR & Pioneer DV-341

Well, my reseach on the Internet hasn't turned up any particularly good news for you.

The Pioneer DV-341 is allegedly compatible - that is according to every list with - DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW DVD+R. It seems to be regarded as definitely one of the better models out there. The Memorex/HP official tests for example. DVD-R it appears is the more widely compatible format (the older Phillips model doesn't have widely reported compatibility problems either).

Apparently, the same burner image will play differently on different players to the extent mosaic glitching will not happen at the same points in different players. It isn't surprising the master disc didn't work as copies of that are just copies of a disc which didn't work for you. It's hard to suggest a solution, the problem is caused by him... whether down to the encoding of the data by the software he used, the speed/quality is it burned at etc. The manufacturers of his burning software (e.g Nero or something much more sophisticated?) might well be able to offer some clear specific assistance in response to his asking them a question of X is happening on N player with a branded CD of Y format burnt with on a ABC PC with configuration PQ using your software version x.xx and software settings abcdefg.

Beyond suggesting that, which isn't much I know I'm not sure what else to suggest. A quick read of sites showed that DVD compatibility is a major problem but that your parents' Pioneer player (was more on that as it's a newer model) is one of the more compatible models.

eta: re playing on your computer, DVD-ROM drives (on PCs) often have firmware updates which might (or might not) make a difference).

[dzrose93]

Originally posted by decadence
Well, my reseach on the Internet hasn't turned up any particularly good news for you.

The Pioneer DV-341 is allegedly compatible - that is according to every list with - DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW DVD+R. It seems to be regarded as definitely one of the better models out there. The Memorex/HP official tests for example. DVD-R it appears is the more widely compatible format (the older Phillips model doesn't have widely reported compatibility problems either).

Apparently, the same burner image will play differently on different players to the extent mosaic glitching will not happen at the same points in different players. It isn't surprising the master disc didn't work as copies of that are just copies of a disc which didn't work for you. It's hard to suggest a solution, the problem is caused by him... whether down to the encoding of the data by the software he used, the speed/quality is it burned at etc. The manufacturers of his burning software (e.g Nero or something much more sophisticated?) might well be able to offer some clear specific assistance in response to his asking them a question of X is happening on N player with a branded CD of Y format burnt with on a ABC PC with configuration PQ using your software version x.xx and software settings abcdefg.

Beyond suggesting that, which isn't much I know I'm not sure what else to suggest. A quick read of sites showed that DVD compatibility is a major problem but that your parents' Pioneer player (was more on that as it's a newer model) is one of the more compatible models.

eta: re playing on your computer, DVD-ROM drives (on PCs) often have firmware updates which might (or might not) make a difference).

Thanks for the info, decadence. It sounds like the problem lies with the encoding/editing process. Since my friend doesn't know what else to do, I may have him send everything to me and then see if I can find someone who can re-do the DVDs for me. I hate to have to do that, though.

[DeltAlum]

Originally posted by dzrose93
Does this indicate to you that the issue is most likely in the editing process?

Since most of the other variables have been addressed, that's about all I can think of.

Rudey is right about the movies (Although most are using what is called AVID software on the MACS), the software and systems are much more high end than the standard Final Cut Pro and other stuff being used in the lower end video business today.

We're talking about $100K to $200K difference.

Again though, only an educated guess.

[Rudey]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
Since most of the other variables have been addressed, that's about all I can think of.

Rudey is right about the movies (Although most are using what is called AVID software on the MACS), the software and systems are much more high end than the standard Final Cut Pro and other stuff being used in the lower end video business today.

We're talking about $100K to $200K difference.

Again though, only an educated guess.

Avid and programs like Final Cut are slightly different and might have different uses (along with shake and smoke). And there is some ridiculous amount of avid versions out there (12 maybe I think?). Aside from multicam and network pipeline differences, I've never seen anything to warrant's spending 50K+ on avid.

-Rudey

[DeltAlum]

My department at a former job had twelve AVIDS for offline production.

I really don't like the company much.

I call it AVOID.

Those units were in the $120K each range.