PS3 and dvd authoring: image problems

[Guest]

I've got Sonic My Dvd installed and find it reliable, but often use a method
recommended in a posting last november, which also gives me excellent results
- or did, until recently!!!
I prepare a .wmv file at 1024x768 "for computer", then put it into Nero
Vision Express 3SE, which accepts a .wmv and makes a good dvd. But recently
every other project I carry out in this way ends up with a dvd where the
images race through in about 5 seconds, while the sound carries on correctly
to the end! This is whether running the dvd on my computer or my standalone
player. Yet the photo story has looked fine on the Nero preview, and both
its content and all Nero settings have been unchanged from the previous
succesful burn. Comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[John Inzer]

I've got Sonic My Dvd installed and find it reliable, but
often use a method recommended in a posting last
november, which also gives me excellent results - or did,
until recently!!!
I prepare a .wmv file at 1024x768 "for computer", then
put it into Nero Vision Express 3SE, which accepts a .wmv
and makes a good dvd. But recently every other project I
carry out in this way ends up with a dvd where the images
race through in about 5 seconds, while the sound carries
on correctly to the end! This is whether running the dvd
on my computer or my standalone player. Yet the photo
story has looked fine on the Nero preview, and both its
content and all Nero settings have been unchanged from
the previous succesful burn. Comments would be greatly
appreciated.

=======================================
Just a thought...but I wonder if the problem
could be your DVD burner?

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm

 

[Guest]

Hi,

I've been using Nero Vision Express 3 for quiet some time now (btw what is
the significance of this SE suffix) and without any problems for the moment.
At the beginning however I experienced similar difficulties, until I
discovered that one should give this rather complicated proces of
rendering/authoring/burning all the resources it needs. I have set my
"virtual memory" to 2GB and closed down any application that might perturb
the ongoing process such as screensavers, ...
Then I restart Windows XP and immediately afterwards the application, so it
can use (almost) all the available memory which is 512 MB in my case. I never
burn at maximum speed, but just below to be on the safe side.
Maybe you started "bigger jobs" after your first successes, and therefore
you run into trouble now because of that and a combination of the possible
error sources mentionned above. I usually generate an output file in PS3
using a custom profile for 1280x960 resolution (you can download it from
PapaJohn's website), so a "big job" can not be the only source of your
problem.
Please keep us informed of any new developments in this matter: we all learn
from the experiences of the others !!!

 

[Guest]

Hi Jeremy, it's me again
I am very interested in anybody's experience with Nero Vision Express, so
could you give me a link to this last november post that you mentioned. I
cannot find it here but is was maybe in another forum.

Thanks

John

 

[Guest]

--
Jeremy Fisher

=======================================
Just a thought...but I wonder if the problem
could be your DVD burner?

--

John Inzer
MS Picture It! MVP

Digital Image
Highlights and FAQs
http://tinyurl.com/aczzp

Making Good Newsgroup Posts
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm



Thanks for suggestion, John. I tried burning in Sonic My dvd and it worked without problems, so I'll do some more tests using Nero and then - go to Nero support, perhaps? Another problem (maybe related) has cropped up, namely that I can't burn anything at all that is longer than about 100 pix, and get a message about storage space and memory. Microsoft Support is helping me with this, I have to complete a number of not 100% straightforward steps and report back. I'll report back here, as well. Thanks again.

 

[Guest]

--
Jeremy Fisher

Hi,

I've been using Nero Vision Express 3 for quiet some time now (btw what is
the significance of this SE suffix) and without any problems for the moment.
At the beginning however I experienced similar difficulties, until I
discovered that one should give this rather complicated proces of
rendering/authoring/burning all the resources it needs. I have set my
"virtual memory" to 2GB and closed down any application that might perturb
the ongoing process such as screensavers, ...
Then I restart Windows XP and immediately afterwards the application, so it
can use (almost) all the available memory which is 512 MB in my case. I never
burn at maximum speed, but just below to be on the safe side.
Maybe you started "bigger jobs" after your first successes, and therefore
you run into trouble now because of that and a combination of the possible
error sources mentionned above. I usually generate an output file in PS3
using a custom profile for 1280x960 resolution (you can download it from
PapaJohn's website), so a "big job" can not be the only source of your
problem.
Please keep us informed of any new developments in this matter: we all learn
from the experiences of the others !!!

I checked my available memory before my last burning attempt and it was
over 600 MB. I seem to recall seeing in the PS3 help file something about a
maximum of 200 pix, but can't find the reference again. This job is just
under 200 pix. But I think you've got something, because now I'm getting a
message about "Not enough storage or memory" and "corrupt program files". I
sent an e-mail to Microsoft support and have just got a list of tests to
carry out and report back to them. I'll post the result ina day or two. Yes,
I also close everything down, and don't disturb the delicate process in any
way.

 

[Guest]

--
Jeremy Fisher
No, it was in this forum, but I can't find it myself, now! It was posted on
29th November last if I recall rightly. It just said he set PS3 to make a
wmv file to watch on a PC, using 1024x768, but instead of letting Sonic burn
it he put it into Nero Vision Express 3SE which recognised the .wmv file,
then did the transcoding and burning in one continuous operation, giving a
better picture than Sonic. That's what I was doing with great success until
this problem cropped up (and now another, maybe related one - see above.)
The only snag I've found is that Nero seems oriented towards NTSC and every
time I press the "burn" button it tells me that although I've asked for PAL
most of my material is NTSC, so do I REALLY want it transcoded for PAL? Being
in Europe, the answer is Yes, please! and Nero obliges, it doesn't seem to
affect the picture quality which as I said is better than Sonic.

 

[Guest]

addendum! It was by "Horse Rider" (I don't know how to giveyou a link) in
this forum, yes, on 1/1/2005. He also said he sets burning in Nero for
"progressive scan" which I've tried and it didn't make any difference.

 

[Guest]

My guess is that you have not defined enough "virtual" memory for your system.
To be sure open task manager and select the tab page in the middle: here you
have a meter and a diagram to monitor both cpu and virtual memory activity.
Now start a typical PS3 job to generate the wmv file of a slideshow. You
will notice that in the 3rd part of the process memory usage goes up
drastically and will get in conflict with your limit that can be found in the
bottom let corner of this window.
I have set my virtual memory = 2GB and I have noticed afterwards that a
typical job in PS3 takes up to 1,5 GB, so I have a little margin left.

 

[Guest]

Concering your second problem: you probably have used a profile for PC where
the frame rate was left at the NTSC value of 30 fps (the standard profile of
PS3 or one downloaded from PapaJohn's website). This is not mentioned in its
description since the resulting file is intended for use on PC only and so it
doesn't matter !!!
But if you are asking Nero to use this file for making a PAL-DVD, of course
this is asking for trouble ....
I suggest you download another profile from the PapaJohn website (there must
be one for PAL-DVD with a 1280x960 resolution but 1024x768 I dont know) or
you start learning how to make your own profiles. This is not so very
complicated just read a post I published in another forum concerning these
matters:

http://www.windowsphotostory.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=264

John

 

[Guest]

--
Jeremy Fisher

Concering your second problem: you probably have used a profile for PC where
the frame rate was left at the NTSC value of 30 fps (the standard profile of
PS3 or one downloaded from PapaJohn's website). This is not mentioned in its
description since the resulting file is intended for use on PC only and so it
doesn't matter !!!
But if you are asking Nero to use this file for making a PAL-DVD, of course
this is asking for trouble ....
I suggest you download another profile from the PapaJohn website (there must
be one for PAL-DVD with a 1280x960 resolution but 1024x768 I dont know) or
you start learning how to make your own profiles. This is not so very
complicated just read a post I published in another forum concerning these
matters:

http://www.windowsphotostory.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=264

John

Very useful posting, John, sorry to delay answering but have been waiting to
hear again from Microsoft support - I've done all the tests they asked for,
which do not seem to have brought anything useful to light, and reported them
to the case manager.Yes, you were right! I am using 30 fps! I shall go to the PapaJohn web site
as soon as I have an hour or two, and follow your suggestion up. Also check
the virtual memory. BUT... Dvd authoring and burning's an Alice-in-Wonderland
world, it strikes me! I GOT TWO EXCELLENT RESULTS with Nero, before I even
realised that 30 fps would give it problems! (Nero did comment that most of
my material was NTSC, so did I really want it transcoded to PAL, and I just
said, yes, please, but couldn't understand what was NTSC about my wmv file.
Now you may have explained it, the 30 fps?) AND... still on this problem of
not enough memory, not enough storage space... I had the wp3 of my last
successful job still on the hard disk. So I used it to create another,
identical, wmv file, saving with a different name. No snags, 100% success!
Now this wp3 is almost the same size in MB, same number of images (all
jpeg's), same amount of mp3 sound, as the one which hits all these snags! I
feel this is a test I should have done first of all, and that it shows the
fault is somewhere in my wp3 file rather than in PS3 or memory
configurations? Isn't that a reasonable conclusion? But where could the fault
lie?Vision Express 3SE - you asked. I dunno! It just says across the top of the
page "Vision Express 3.SE" It came with a Nero 6 OEM. I'll keep you posted
when I hear from Microsoft again.
Jeremy