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At 4/19/10 10:52 PM, OneWhoListens wrote: Okay, this might sound stupid...but I'm pretty sure most dvd burning software (including encore) has a setting for choosing between making a dvd computer compatible and dvd player compatible.

It doesn't sound stupid at all. I've actually exported this thing (prior to me adding more to it and it exceeding the 4.7gb limit of normal discs) without problems before, but there could be something I'm missing (which is why I'm asking about all of this).

I think maybe tomorrow I'll just create a simple DVD with one video clip in it or something like that, and try putting it on one of these discs. If it's a problem with the disc size, that should show it up, otherwise I'm missing something with the DVD compilation itself.

Also, encore doesn't automatically region-code, does it? That could affect things, if your software is USA-based.

It defaults to all-region in Encore, I think, but that's not been an issue before. Thanks for these tips, though (and I do mean that) - I could be overlooking something really simple and sometimes the most helpful thing is for someone to proverbially yell, "LOOK BEHIND YOU."

At 4/19/10 10:50 PM, BaronVonBadGuy wrote: Oh, that's one of my favorite part about these programs. When I was reformatting the subtitles of an Anime to convert from MKV to DVD format properly, it was great waiting nearly an hour each time only to find out it still wasn't compatible with regular DVD players.

Yeah, talk about kicking you when you're down.... You have to wait all that time for it to compile and then no joy. Hehe.

At 4/20/10 02:49 AM, Chronamut wrote: get a blu-ray player aand get with the times jim :P

If you'd read my posts, you'd have realised that I HAVE a blu-ray player (the PS3 will play them). That is not the point, this is to go out to family and friends and I'm not about to go out and buy a hundred of them just so that they can all watch this one DVD.

At 4/20/10 03:30 AM, Jon4life wrote: Sounds like you're using a DVD+R DL, correct me if I'm wrong.

That's correct, are there known issues with this I'm overlooking?

At 4/20/10 03:38 AM, citricsquid wrote: I doubt it's ideal and it's probably something you've tried, but have you tried creating different file sizes (5GB, 6GB) and trying to narrow down where the problem starts?

I'm going to create a very simple DVD this afternoon that's just a few MB and see if the problem is with the discs themselves.

I'm not sure what order you're trying them in, but is it possible your DVD player is somehow breaking the disc?

No, I took a fresh copy (never before played) round to the neighbour's. Didn't work there, but I brought it back, but it in the 360 and it played fine.

At 4/20/10 03:39 AM, yurgenburgen wrote: It might just be that certain players are shit when it comes to dual layer discs that people have produced themselves.

I've a feeling that's what might be the case. Once again, I'm using Adobe Encore to create the discs and haven't had issues with this in the past (although, I haven't used this type of disc before, i.e. bigger than the standard 4.7Gb).

At 4/20/10 03:43 AM, Casualty wrote: don't know if this is possible, but couldn't you try to compress the photos, or something alike?

Yeah, they're already compressed. None of them are bigger than around 100Kb.

At 4/20/10 03:49 AM, yurgenburgen wrote: Another point; how long is the entire video? If it's less than two hours, you can fit it onto a 4.7GB disc. You just have to ask yourself if you really need the menus at the beginning. In my experience, user menus take up a fair bit of space, so I just use The Film Machine to create a menu-free image of the disc, and then IMGBurn to create the DVDs.

Yeah, you could be right. There are five (I think) videos, that total around 60 minutes play time. If I'm honest, I'm not really sure where all this extra filesize is coming from, it could be the menus, or it could be the transition effects I've got going on between each of the slides (cross dissolve) and accompanying audio with them.

Encore's a bit of a pain when it comes to transcoding, though. I got a big manual with the the software and that's pretty cryptic as well - like you have to jump from section to section to find what you're actually looking for.

I really do need the menus - they're integral for getting from one set of photos to another. A quick breakdown of the DVD is this:

Videos
Montage (contains all the "best bits" of the wedding)
Father of the Bride Speech
Groom speech
Best Man Speech
After Ceremony Party

Photos
There are 12 sets of these, each containing up to 99 slides and transition to audio I've included.

So the menus are kind of important, since I'd imagine most people wouldn't want to have to sit through and skip through everything until they get to the part they hadn't seen before, or wanted to show someone.

At 4/20/10 10:54 AM, Warrickneff wrote: Shtuff.

Yeah, that had crossed my mind. We'll put your theory to test a little later on when I create a menu-less DVD on one of these discs a little later. :)

At 4/20/10 11:09 AM, SJLifeisgood wrote: What if u like, put it on youtube? the whole dvd i mean, in like little pieces, so then u wouldnt have to fuck around with burning shitloads of dvds? I know its a 100MB limit, but surley its easier than this dvd stuff.

That's not really an option - a lot of the people these discs are to go to are elderly and are only just coming to terms with using a DVD player, nevermind using computers or the internet. In other words, this needs to be as user-friendly and accessible to all as possible.

Grrrrrrrr, brrrrrrrrrrr, blaaaaaaaaaaah.

Tried burning a disc at 2x speed, with just one video clip on it, with one menu with a simple button on it. Same outcome. I guess the issue here is with the dual layer DVD + R DL format.

Oh well, I WILL SPLIT IT IN TWO.

Thank you to all of those who offered help, I appreciate it.