Burning a a DVD: an idiot's tale.

brent

User_007
what's relevant to success here? What do I need to pay attention to?
$ mediainfo TheParentTrap.mp4
General
Complete name : theparenttrap.mp4
Format : MPEG-4
Format profile : Base Media
Codec ID : isom (isom/iso2/avc1/mp41)
File size : 1.90 GiB
Duration : 2 h 9 min
Overall bit rate : 2 104 kb/s
Frame rate : 23.976 FPS
Movie name : The.Parent.Trap.1961.720p.BluRay.x264-x0r
Writing application : Lavf58.45.100

Video
ID : 1
Format : AVC
Format/Info : Advanced Video Codec
Format profile : High@L3.1
Format settings : CABAC / 4 Ref Frames
Format settings, CABAC : Yes
Format settings, Reference frames : 4 frames
Codec ID : avc1
Codec ID/Info : Advanced Video Coding
Duration : 2 h 9 min
Bit rate : 1 970 kb/s
Width : 1 280 pixels
Height : 720 pixels
Display aspect ratio : 16:9
Frame rate mode : Constant
Frame rate : 23.976 (24000/1001) FPS
Color space : YUV
Chroma subsampling : 4:2:0
Bit depth : 8 bits
Scan type : Progressive
Bits/(Pixel*Frame) : 0.089
Stream size : 1.78 GiB (94%)
Writing library : x264 core 161 r3048 b86ae3c
Encoding settings : cabac=1 / ref=3 / deblock=1:0:0 / analyse=0x3:0x113 / me=hex / subme=7 / psy=1 / psy_rd=1.00:0.00 / mixed_ref=1 / me_range=16 / chroma_me=1 / trellis=1 / 8x8dct=1 / cqm=0 / deadzone=21,11 / fast_pskip=1 / chroma_qp_offset=-2 / threads=6 / lookahead_threads=1 / sliced_threads=0 / nr=0 / decimate=1 / interlaced=0 / bluray_compat=0 / constrained_intra=0 / bframes=3 / b_pyramid=2 / b_adapt=1 / b_bias=0 / direct=1 / weightb=1 / open_gop=0 / weightp=2 / keyint=250 / keyint_min=23 / scenecut=40 / intra_refresh=0 / rc_lookahead=40 / rc=crf / mbtree=1 / crf=18.0 / qcomp=0.60 / qpmin=0 / qpmax=69 / qpstep=4 / ip_ratio=1.40 / aq=1:1.00
Language : English
Menus : 3
Codec configuration box : avcC

User_007

brent what's relevant to success here? What do I need to pay attention to?

The codec of your video is AVC/H.264 at 1280x720p (HD ready) and can't be played with dvd-players without transcoding first. AVC is the codec for high resolution, blu-rays use it. Trancoding you video to receive playback capability for dvd-players will result in recognizable quality loss. If you got a smart tv I would suggest to put the video files on a usb drive / stick and try to play it over the tv's mediaplayer. For some devices the filesystem needs to be FAT32.

Otherwise you need to transcode to MPEG2(H.262) and some dvd-player also support MPEG4(H.263). Further downscale to 720x404 (maintain 16:9 aspect ratio) is needed. It's also possible to downscale to 720x480 and encode the video anamorphic with the PAR of 32:27. The vertical resolution of 720 pixels will be stretched to 853 pixel during playback.

You can do this with handbrake, avidemux or ffmpeg but this is not an 1-click-procedure..

Whats the exactly model of you dvd-player? Build date und manufacturer?

alfisya

@brent If you want to use DVD as the live media for Linux distro, Solus recommends brasero as mentioned in the help center. Wonder if you have tried that.

Edit: You already tried that 😅

alfisya

Wait, when did you try brasero again? Because there was a bug that prevents it from detecting ISO file. It was fixed right after the sync already happened, so it was not included then but should be in stable now. Maybe try it again?

brent

alfisya Never worked before. Can try it again, I noticed it was updated today. graci--

brent

User_007 Whats the exactly model of you dvd-player? Build date und manufacturer?

thrift store el cheapo, new in box: maganvox model MDV2100---thanks 007

brent

User_007 the Magnavox owner's manual for this model says:\If you cannot play back a disc which bears one of the marks above, check the following notes.
*1: This unit conforms to the NTSC color system. Discs recorded in other color systems such as PAL cannot be played back.
*2: Certain DVD-video do not operate as described in this manual due to the intentions of the disc’s producers.
*3: Discs recorded in the VR (Video Recording) format cannot be played back.
*4: Scratched or stained discs may not be played back.
*5: Some discs cannot be played back because of incompatible recording conditions, characteristics of the recorder or special properties of discs.
*6: You can play back discs which bear the marks above. If you use non-standardized discs, this unit may not play them back. Even if they are played back, the sound or video quality will be compromised.
*7: Only the discs recorded in the video format and finalized can be played back. Unfinalized discs cannot be played back. Depending on the recording status of a disc, the disc may not be played back at all. The picture or sound may not be smooth, etc.
*8: If the recorded portion of the disc is too small (smaller than 2-3/16 inches (55mm) across), it may not be played back.
*9: Do not glue paper or put stickers on to the disc. These may damage the disc, and the unit may not read it correctly.

#2 is cryptically weird...#3 have no idea what the "VR" format means...WTH does #5 mean? 'recording conditions?'....#7 all my discs were finalized..#6 my dvds all had those logos...#8 I have to get an GD tape measure?

Never mind...if you add all this vague gobbledygook up with a calculator it says "your burned DVD may or may not play."
Look at #7...."if it's recorded in a video format it can be played"---they are all video mp4's!

🤯

BuzzPCSOS

7 steps to an easier life.
1 obtain 8Gb or greater usb media stick
2 format stick to fat32 or exfat
3 copy some movies onto stick
4 plug stick into smart TV and see what movies will play directly.
5 try converting movies that won't play to MP4 using handbrake.
6 repeat steps 3 and 4 if required
7 throw writable DVDs in bin.
😄

BuzzPCSOS

brent At the risk of being called mean I must ask, have you tried playing a commercial DVD in it? Just to make sure that the fault really is with the burnt discs.

brent

BuzzPCSOS the risk of being called mean I must ask, have you tried playing a commercial DVD in it? Just to make sure that the fault really is with the burnt discs.

Nothing mean about it. I did watch a couple commercial DVDs right after I bought it (Bull Durham and something else) and just doublechecked again just so I could answer your question.

Switching brands worked although I can't prove it.

Also a factor that is maybe Lenovo, 13 years ago, but in a bottom-of-the-barrel optic drive. I think that could be very well.

You and 007 both mentioned the quality/encoding of any mp4 movie I've collected is a huge factor and 007 above said the movie output I showed him proved I had burn-unworthy mp4...which means it would never open anyway after burn.

You both also told me what Handbrake could do re: proper encoding. It would break my heart to use yet another program to get the DVD movie mp4 "worthy" so it could be used in another program to burn to disk.

Who the hell woulda thought burning an mp4 movie to DVD would be such a hassle? It wasn't when I was younger and I don't think I'm getting stupider, per se, maybe standards across the board were more uniform? Who knows 🙁.

So...variables:
old lenovo optic drive
el cheapo DVD player
not--worthy-to-burn-to-a-disk collection of mp4 movies...

I have to educate myself and learn to declare my collection crappy and needs fixin I guess. I really need to learn what 'not worthy' is by learining how to read my own output then I can learn how to make Handbrake (I'm good in Handbrake) make it 'worthy' for burning.

Once it becomes 'worthy' to be burned maybe the Verbatims and balance of DVD burners that fail me might actually work.

SIGH 🙂

EDIT: I like your 7-step program better

brent

plot thickens....

took dusty box from under bed...took out long-un-updated WIN10 SSD, plugged it in, downloaded DVDStyler...took the same movie from above ^ output, burned it.

SUCCESS---ps @BuzzPCSOS I used a Verbatim disc this time.

Burned at 4X, same config, same dvd settings....the only different is it insisted (I had not control over this) it was going to encode in 2-pass VBR.
It wasn't like that in Endeavour, where I can burn dvds.

Was 2-pass VBR the difference?
Or WIN libraries?
Who knows.
All I know is I'm not going back to WIN for anything.

BuzzPCSOS

brent This sounds much more like what I was expecting to happen on most of your previous attempts. In fairness my days of burning DVDs certainly go back to my time with Windows but I am pretty sure that I mostly just selected a movie, converted it to DVD format and burnt it to a disc. Failures were mostly due to excessive recording speed, specs of dust on the optical surface, the drive getting jogged during the burn process or just general bad luck.
Some of the software I used allowed me to write the VIDEO_TS folder directly to my hard drive. This meant that I could check the conversion worked by playing back the media in them using VLC. It also meant that if the burn failed for any reason I would not need to convert again but could just write VIDEO_TS folder to a fresh DVD as data.
Just thinking. Many of the DVD writing programs would have a feature that allowed reducing video quality so that the chosen movie would fit on a 4.7GB DVD. Failure to select this could result in failure to write or just failure to play. Error messages tended to be technically incomprehensible or non-existent so being able to physically check the size of the VIDEO_TS folder duplicated on my hard drive was an easy way to check this.
I might have to try writing a movie to a DVD using Brasero just to see if I can succeed. I will be using one of the many blank DVDs that I still own but are definitely on their way towards the bin. I've only kept them to burn ISOs onto but there are less and less of those that will fit anymore. Certainly burning a straight Windows disc is no longer viable.

Axios

brent Burning a dvd one to one you should have no problems.
(when I mean dvd talking movie)
Its when its a converted movie to some other format that raises all the issues.
Specs on Dvd player should say what other formats it plays and that varies wildly
between dvd player manufactures.

I took all my DVD movies ripped them one to one into an iso file so I have the original.
and threw the DVDs away.. (Talking original DVD not converted)

So I can rip to any format I want from that so you dont run into conversion issues
the biggest being degraded quality.

Video can be a headache if not properly thought through.

brent

BuzzPCSOS . In fairness my days of burning DVDs certainly go back to my time with Windows but I am pretty sure that I mostly just selected a movie, converted it to DVD format and burnt it to a disc.

that's how I remember it too, WIN days

BuzzPCSOS Failures were mostly due to excessive recording speed, specs of dust on the optical surface, the drive getting jogged during the burn process or just general bad luck.

that is my experience now 🙂

I'm 100% certain once I have a consistent method I will be successful...hopefully not at the expense of another 20 dvd's!

brent

Axios I took all my DVD movies ripped them one to one into an iso file so I have the original.
and threw the DVDs away.. (Talking original DVD not converted)

I tried to make isos.
When I tried to burn them all the burning programs say "not a bootable image...."

Axios Its when its a converted movie to some other format that raises all the issues.

yep

BuzzPCSOS

It should be pointed out that nowadays DVD media, especially single sided recordable discs (where the recording is limited to 4.7gb) have a noticeable reduction in picture quality compared with streaming or current movie files. A decent quality full length movie just won't fit.
The loss of quality is particularly noticeable on larger screens which goes a long way to explain why so many of the later DVD players featured an upscale option which was at best a compromise on quality.
Blu-ray improved quality but we're also too expensive for general adoption.
Generally any DVD with a burnt movie on it will be of an even lower quality than it's commercially available alternative and more prone to skips, corruption and simply not playing on many players. I had forgotten why my blank DVD stock mostly sits in the cupboard unused but this was the reason.

brent

BuzzPCSOS Generally any DVD with a burnt movie on it will be of an even lower quality than it's commercially available alternative and more prone to skips, corruption and simply not playing on many players. I had forgotten why my blank DVD stock mostly sits in the cupboard unused but this was the reason.

I have learned an awful lot from everyone here.
This is an idiot's tale because I was expecting EASY--oh how wrong I was!

I got done what I needed to get done, next time I will approach this differently being mindful of getting the best source quality.
My lesson: garbage in, garbage out.
😃
SOLVED

qsl

My take on it is it usually comes down to the software used (if nothing else, the presets and checkboxes guide you to an acceptable result). I have recorded optical media from the turn of the millennium that is still going strong. I have nothing computer related that has lasted as long (except a 4GB Samsung HD from the early days that simply refuses to die and has been in use since.).

I've never had a re-recordable disk last more than 5 years without corruption. It is probably cheaper overall just to buy a spindle and accept there will be some coasters while you workout the foreplay of what combination of hardware and software settings works for you (I mean a 50 pack of DVDs is under $20. A 100 pack is not much more). You always wanted to build a solar reflector anyway.

Dig through the warz discussions to see what was king for its day. I have old boxes simply because it is the only way to run some software I favor (and my experiences with VM has been less than satisfactory). Good software is hard to come by.

And keep an eye out for M Disk sales.

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