hi. i want to burn wedding receptions i have shot and edited to dvd. i edit with VEGAS 5. i started off burning with the bundled DVD ARCHITECT 2 (compatible with vegas). i really like working with VEGAS and DVDA was not hard to handle. but i have been getting complaints from clients about dvd's not working properly.

i imagine that the cause could be either: media, the process in which the dvd is made, or the dvd players the clients are using (or a combination of these).

since the dvd's have been played on different players with same results, my opinion is that this is not a player problem.

i use TDK or MEMOREX media, which as i understand, is good quality media. i have tried both -R and +R media with the same results.

so my main focus is the authoring and the burning process of the dvd. i use an LG +/-R internal burner.

could it be the DVD ARCHITECT software causing the problem. i read a bit about DVD authoring and discovered SONIC's SCENARIST. this, as i read, is a high-end professional DVD production program.

my questions are:
what is the difference between making a dvd using software such as DVDA and making a dvd using SCENARIST? could using a higher-end dvd authoring program such as SCENARIST solve the problem? or is DVDA good enough for the job and that the solution to my problem lies elsewhere? if so, where?

thank you for any help or advice you can give me. i have upset clients breathing down my neck and i would like to resolve this sticky situation as quickly and smoothly as possible!

2.

First, offer your clients a free vhs copy. This will insure that they can play something while you deal with the issue.

DVD compatibility is usually a media/player problem - not a software encoding problem. We have five different dvd players in the shop here. Some high end, some low end. When we burn a dvd, we play it on all five. Somtimes we get dvd's that won't play on high ends, but will play on low ends.

thanks for the quick reply richard!
so do you mean that i should try using a different brand of media to burn the dvd, and that should solve the problem (hopefully)?

i can't find ritek dvd media here in israel. not yet, anyway. any suggestions?

you don't want ritek... can you get maxell?

troubleshooting the problem would require more details on exactly what the failure mode is... for instance, is everyone having the exact same problem?

so far this has happened with 2 clients. i supplied them with 2 copies each (one +R and one -R), since i don't know which player they will be playing it on. at first all was ok. then after a while i got a complaint from one couple that they were getting sound glitches when playing the dvd. then it stopped playing all together. the dvd player displays: NO DISC.

the other couple also called me saying that the dvd will play only 1 of 5 times and that they are afraid that in the long run they won't be able to see it at all.

i have not had the oppurtunity to check the problem personally. it's all second hand information. so the description is kind of sketchy.

i will supply them with a vhs copy. but i'd much rather them showing friends and family the dvd copy and not a vhs.

i'm pretty sure i CAN get MAXELL. how about PIONEER and SAMSUNG media? someone told me that they are excellent.

thanks all for helping me out!

i've sold hundreds of maxell and taiyo-yuden, haven't tried the rest because there hasn't been a need to.

the symptoms you describe sound like a tough problem to me! i don't have a clue where to start on that.