PRE11 burning to DVD hangs at 99%

[Alison_Utting]

This has been a long saga starting in June so here is the short version. 

I filmed a school jubilee in March and wanted to edit and burn a DVD for the jubilee committee to sell. My initial attempt included all the clips from two days and came to 2 and a half hours so I needed to change to 2 DVD's to keep the quality.  I kept the original PREL file, saved it as Day 1 and Day 2, deleted the clips that weren't relevant and burned the 2 DVD's successfully using the PAL widescreen and Fit to the Available Space options.  Both DVD's are about 1 hour 15-20 minutes long now.

I then went back to the Day 1 DVD to add extra menu markers, add some photos as a short slideshow and tidy up some titles to match what I had done for DVD 2 and have been unable to burn the Day 1 DVD successfully since.  It encodes successfully, then starts the burning process and gets to 99% before it sticks there for a while and then the DVD tray opens.  I get no error messages.  I can burn to folder ok.  I have no stop marker.  My last clip is a mp4 2.39 mins long with a fade to black and constant gain transitions but I have also tried burning with no transitions.

I have tried a number of work arounds including exporting all the clips to m2t files and creating a new PREL file and starting completely over again with the original mp4 files to try and identify what change causes the burning to fail.  It seems that just adding in 4 more menu markers (9 to 13 in total) with no other changes makes the difference between burning successfully and not burning when using the original PREL, the m2t PREL and the starting over again PREL.

I am using MOV files shot on a Canon SX50 camera and then converted to mp4 using Freemake so they are 1920x1080 and 23 frames per second.  I am also using a small number of photo jpgs to make a slideshow for a gap where I didn't take any video and these have been resized to 1000x562.5 pixels.  I am using the free 18 Scene DVD template from Muvipix so I have one main menu page and one scene menu page.  I customised it initially when I could burn the 2 DVD's ok but I am using it as is now to remove a potential problem source.

All my jubilee files are stored on a WD 1GB external HDD with 405GB free.  I am currently using my HP Probook 4540s laptop with Intel Core i7-3612QM CPU and 8GB RAM, 750GB Toshiba HDD with 291GB free running Win7 Professional 64-bit.  I have also used my desktop (6 months old with i7 quad core CPU and 16GB RAM, 2x 1TB HDD - don't have other details as I am away on holiday) and have the same result when using it.  I am using TDK or Verbatim DVD-R's.

I would really appreciate some help on sorting this out as the amount on time I am spending on it is getting ridiculous.  Thanks in advance.

[Steve Grisetti]

A DVD transcoding that fails at 99% usually indicates an issue interfacing with your disc drive.

At you able to output an ISO to your hard driver instead of burning directly to a disc?

[Alison_Utting]

Hi Steve, I had thought about the laptop DVD burner being a problem but then decided it probably wasn't as I had the same issue with the burner in my desktop.  And I can burn PREL files without the additional scene markers ok on both computers as well.

Anyway, I hope this is what you meant me to do as I haven't used ISO files before.  First off, I opened my most recent PREL file where I had started completely from scratch again this week and using Publish and Share then Computer, I saved the whole timeline to a MPEG using the PAL DVD Widescreen option and saved the mpg file on the external HDD.  I then used IMGBurn and the mpg file to first create an image file saved to the external HDD and then wrote the ISO file to a DVD using the write image file to disc option with verification.  The DVD burned with no problems and I can play the mpg file saved on it.

I've then used the original mpg file to create a new PREL, set the 13 scene markers and used the 18 Scene menu template.  Once again the burning got to 99% and stalled and the DVD drive popped open.

I rebooted and changed to the Generic One menu template to see if a different menu template made a difference and the DVD has just completed burning so finally some success.  I will reinstall the 18 scene template from the zip file in the morning and try again with that. 

Any other suggestions as to what I can try??

[Steve Grisetti]

So are you saying that you can create an ISO of your DVD -- if you choose this option rather than burning directly to a disc?

[Alison_Utting]

Hi again Steve, sorry I am a bit lost with ISO files. 

From the Adobe forum I found

Disc burn failure     

When a disc burn operation is unsuccessful due to a hardware failure, Premiere Elements creates and saves an ISO image. You can then burn the ISO image to a disc, at a convenient time.

I am not getting ISO images when the disc burning gets to 99% and ejects the DVD. Is that what you meant??

As I said in my previous reply, I have burned a DVD successfully by saving the timeline as a mpg, then using IMGBurn to create an ISO and then using IMGBurn to write the ISO to a DVD.  I also burned a DVD by creating a PREL with that mpg file, adding 13 scene markers and then using the Generic One template from an earlier version of PRE I had.  So to me the DVD burner in my laptop is not the problem.

I then downloaded and unzipped your 18 Scene template to replace the files I had been using in case I had managed to corrupt them somehow.  I  really want to use that template with just the text and I have used it successfully in the past both as is and modifying the background.  I changed from the Generic One template to the 18 Scene widescreen one using the mpg file and the 13 scene markers and was once again unable to get past that 99% mark.  I uninstalled PRE11 and reinstalled it and no change.

But ... I then did some more searching and followed a link to your Muvipix post about finding and installing DVD Menu Templates and found that installing DVD templates in PRE11 was quite different to the PRE7 that I have used previously so I had been saving the 18 Scene template folder in the wrong place.  I hoped this would be the answer to my problem so I moved the 18 Scene folder to the correct folder under the General category and I also downloaded the Faux Widescreen template as another option to try.  I tried burning with both templates using the mpg file and 13 scene markers and the Faux Widescreen one burned ok but the 18 Scene one still stopped at 99% and ejected the DVD.

So now I am completely stumped and I really don't want to use any of the default PRE11 templates which will create more than one scene menu page and not be text-only.

[Steve Grisetti]

For now, let's stick with my troubleshooting rather than bringing in other solutions.

What happens if you select Publish & Share/Disc/DVD and set the option to burn to a folder on your hard drive rather than directly to a disc?

[Alison_Utting]

Thanks Steve.  I used Publish & Share/Disc/DVD/burn to folder and burned from 2 PREL - the one where I started from scratch again using the mp4 files and the one using the mpg I had then saved from the mp4 PREL.  Both burned ok to folders on my laptop hard drive.

What do you suggest I try next please.

[Steve Grisetti]

This indicates, as we suspected, that the problem is with the program's ability to interface with your disc drive.

Best first stop is your computer manufacturer's (Dell, HP, Acer, etc.) web site. Go to the support section of the site for your computer model and download their drivers -- particularly their driver for your disc drive. This fixes this issue the vast majority of the time.

[Alison_Utting]

Well, updating the driver has proved to be easier said than done.

Going through Device Manager, my laptop has an HP DVD-RAM UJ8B1 drive and it's current driver is version 6.1.7601.17514 from 21 June 2006. I tried updating the driver from the Properties/Driver screen using the Automatic search and it came back saying the driver is up to date.

I Googled HP UJ8B1 driver and got a link to Drivers & Software - HP Support Center for a Panasonic UJ8B1 H.04 drive from 2012.  I downloaded the file sp59638.exe and when I ran it, it came up with "error 973 please contact your vendor immediately."  I googled to find what this error code means and didn't find anything. 

From the homepage of the HP support website, I searched UJ8B1 and got no results.

I then went through the HP support page where I let it identify the laptop details and it comes up with the drivers for all sorts of things.  The only optical drive info it came up with for my laptop was under Firmware Updates where it listed TSST optical drive firmware version HH04 30 Sept 2012 and PLDS optical drive firmware version KH62 1 Sept 2012 but I can't find anything listed for a UJ8B1.  Link to the page is http://h20565.www2.hp.com/hpsc/swd/public/readIndex?sp4ts.oid=5229456&swLangOid=8&swEnvOid=4059

I am a bit reluctant to try downloading a UJ8B1 driver from a third party website unless there are some that you can recommend as being ok to use.

At this point, I think I am stuck until I get home again later next week where I will check if the drivers on my 6 month old desktop are up to date, then see if I have better luck using that.  I'll keep you updated and thanks for the help so far, I do appreciate it.

[Steve Grisetti]

You are wise not to download a driver from a third-party web site. But I think you are still making this harder than it needs to be.

Go to the HP site and look up your computer's model number. Not the model number for the disc drive -- your computer's model. Then just click on the Support option and you'll get to a page of factory drivers for all of your computer's hardware.

HP is very good about this. I've looked up some pretty old computer model numbers and I've always found a support page for each.

[Alison_Utting]

Steve, I must be missing something as when I look at the drivers available for my laptop from the HP support site, I don't see any that fit a DVD burner.  I've inserted a screen grab with the titles so can you please suggest which section a DVD driver should be in and I'll look further.  Thanks again.

[Steve Grisetti]

What's under Firmware?

[Alison_Utting]

Screen grab below.  I have downloaded both the optical drive firmware updates and tried running them and get optical drive model not supported.

[Steve Grisetti]

I'm not sure what's up then. Do you have a refurbished computer? It appears you don't have the original model's disc drive.

[Alison_Utting]

I'm glad it's not just me that can't work it out!!  We bought the laptop new and we have a second one at home as well so I'll check that out when I get back.  I'm in New Zealand so maybe we had a different spec here for some reason but I would have thought that the HP support site would have picked that up with the serial number etc.

Anyway, looks like that's it for me until I get home so thanks again for your help to date and I'll get back to you when I have more to report.

[Steve Grisetti]

One other thing you can try is this driver updater. Although some people say to never use a driver updater, this one has been very good to me -- so it's up to you.

The free version should do everything you need.

Download Driver Booster - Free Windows 10 Drivers, Update PC Drivers

[Alison_Utting]

I ran Driver Booster and it said the DVD driver was up to date so go figure!!!!  Interesting program though so thanks for the suggestion.

[Steve Grisetti]

Well, something is up with your configuration, Alison. I just don't know what it is.

Meantime, as long as you can save your DVDs as ISO files, you can use a program like Nero or the great, free ImgBurn to output DVDs or BluRays from those ISOs. For a number of reasons that I detail in my books, this is my preferred workflow anyway.

[Alison_Utting]

Hi again Steve, update now I am back home.

My second HP4540s laptop has a different model number and wouldn't you know it a different DVD burner which is not either of the ones listed in the Firmware section I looked at earlier but it uses the same driver as my first laptop.

So I'm now back on my desktop which is a Win7 Professional 64 bit with an Intel Core i7-6700 CPU 3.40Ghz (quad core), 16GB RAM and 2 LG DVD drives - HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NSD1 and the driver as my laptop - 6.1.7601.17514 dated 21 June 2006.

I moved the DVD templates into the correct folder on my hard drive then went back to the PREL files I had generated on my laptop using the mpg file of the whole timeline with 13 scene markers and tried different PAL widescreen menu templates.as follows

1.  Generic One - burned to DVD ok

2.  18 Scene - got to 99% and the DVD was ejected

3.  Faux Widescreen - burned to DVD ok

On my laptop, I had burned the 18 Scene PREL to folder successfully so on my desktop I tried burning the folder to DVD using Nero and the DVD-Video mode and got a DVD-Video file reallocation failed message.

I installed IMGBurn and Googled how to burn the folder to a DVD with it.  I selected Write files/folders to disc and browsed to select the 18 Scene folder as the source.  I clicked on the calculator to check that there was enough space and got these messages.

I tried to burn it and got a similar message saying that the IFO is not valid.

I reburned the 18 Scene PREL to folder using my desktop this time and tried to burn it to DVD using IMGBurn and got the same result when I pressed the Calculator button.

I then went back to the Faux Widescreen PREL which I had successfully burned directly to a DVD on both the laptop and the desktop.  On my desktop I saved the PREL to a folder this time and then used IMGBurn to burn the folder to a DVD.  This is the burn log for that attempt.

So why can PRE11 save one PREL to a folder with a valid VIDEO_TS.IFO file and not another one that is identical except for the DVD template used???  Once again I would be most grateful for some suggestions to try next otherwise I think I will abandon ship and just use the original PREL from way back without all the scene markers and titles that I did manage to burn to a DVD.

Just a thought as well, I think this is the first project I have tried using PRE11 with the 18 scene template.  I have used the template (as is and modified) successfully with PRE7 in the past so I may reinstall that and use the mpg file to see where that takes me.

[Steve Grisetti]

I don't know, Alison. With all of the experimenting you're doing, I've kind of lost track of what you're doing.

Maybe someone else on this forum can help you figure this out.

[Alison_Utting]

Hi again Steve, I was trying to show that I got the same results with what worked or didn't work on my desktop as I did with the laptop, plus that the 18 scene PREL that I burned to folder and then tried to burn to DVD with either Nero or IMGBurn didn't work either.  I'm an analytical chemist by profession so sorry, troubleshooting is part of my job and I used that in trying to work out what is going on here and obviously have ended up by confusing you with all the detail, which was not my intention at all.

However, I just had one last shot on Google and found this 2013 entry on ATR935's blogspot - I assume it is the same AT Romano who posts on this forum - which I think holds the clue to solving this.  What I found interesting was that success with burning when using over 11 scene markers depended on the preset used.  My problems with this DVD all started when I added in more scene markers to a PREL that I had already been able to burn to DVD using a modified version of the 18 scene menu template.

Link is here ATR Premiere Elements Troubleshooting: PE: One Page 14 Scene Buttons DVD Menu

Introduction

The question came up "How can I make a one page DVD widescreen menu with 14 scene buttons from the existing Premiere Elements 10 DVD Template named Family Memories for use for Premiere Elements authored DVD-VIDEO Widescreen on DVD disc?". There is no problem customizing the existing main menu or scene menu for this purpose or creating the main menu from scratch with Photoshop CS or later; however, a problem exists in being able to author to DVD-VIDEO widescreen from a project using a menu with more than 11 scene buttons per page. This situation occurs for Premiere Elements 10 burn to DVD or burn to folder followed by the burn to DVD with ImgBurn.

But, there are some interesting twists and turns to this story. Success or failure to author the DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc using a 14 scene buttons widescreen menu was dependent on the choice of preset:

Under Share/Disc/DVD/Disc (authoring to DVD-VIDEO on DVD disc with menu)

(a) NTSC_Widescreen_Dolby DVD. Does not work - burn fails.

(b) NTSC_Dolby DVD. Works - burn succeeds.

Under Share/Disc/Blu-ray/ (authoring to Blu-ray disc format on Blu-ray disc with menu)

(a) H.264 1920 x 1080i NTSC Dolby. Works - burn succeeds.

Under Share/webDVD (which is export to a flash file with menu)

(a) HD NTSC. Works - export success.

(b) SD High Quality NTSC. Works - export success.

and in the Solution section

This type of problem is not unique to Premiere Elements 10. It can be seen back to at least 2010 and Premiere Elements 8.0/8.0.1.

Which could explain why I was pretty sure I had been able to use the 18 scene template in PRE7 in the past with no problems.

So I have tried 2 more variations still using the mpg file and the 18 scene menu and Share/DIsc/DVD/Disc

1.  reduced the number of scene markers to 11 - DVD burned ok

2.  kept the number of scene markers at 13 and changed the preset from PAL_Widescreen_Dolby DVD to PAL-Dolby DVD - DVD burned ok

Success at last and it seems that the preset I used and the number of scene markers has been my problem.  Hopefully one final question though - what is the difference between using the PAL_Dolby vs PAL_Widescreen_Dolby preset for viewing the final DVD on a TV?

Next to try is modifying the 18 Scene template and seeing how that goes and then hopefully I am done.

Thanks for all the assistance and for hanging in there with me.  I've learnt a lot of new stuff along the way and I'll be really glad when I can move on to a new project!!  Cheers Alison.