DVD burning bug? Can anyone confirm?

[Nermal]

Hi,

I have some m4v files that I'm trying to burn to DVD. As some of you may know, there's an issue with the Xbox 360 software where it won't play m4v files directly unless you first rename them to avi. So here's what I've done:

1. Inserted a blank DVD.
2. Dragged the m4v files onto the DVD.
3. Renamed the files (on the "temporary DVD") to .avi. I did not get the usual prompt that asks you to confirm the extension change, so I opened up Get Info and confirmed that they had changed. They had.
4. Dragged the DVD icon to the Burn icon (Trash) so that it would burn.

After the burn was complete, I opened up the new DVD and found that all the files were named .avi.m4v

Can anyone else confirm this issue, or is it specific to my system? I'm running 10.6.5.

Thanks

 

[Hellhammer]

I don't think you can simply change the extension. In order to change the format, you have to encode it with HandBrake for example.

 

[Nermal]

You can change the extension; I've done it before (and again just now by renaming the files before dragging them onto the DVD). I'm asking for someone to confirm the burning bug (when you rename the files after dragging them to the temporary DVD area), not the video playback.

 

[calderone]

When you drag those files into the burn folder, you are creating an alias.

So, it doesn't matter if you change the extension on the alias, you are pointing to the source file as referenced when you get info on the alias (Original), so you will always get the extension that exists on the source file.

There is no issue with your machine, nor is there a bug. The aliases are working as they should.

You would need to change the extensions on the originals to get your desired result. You could easily write a script to handle much of the dirty work.

 

[Nermal]

I think it's a bit silly that you're able to change the extensions if they're just going to be reverted anyway. You'd think that any changes you make in the "staging area" (is there an official name for it?) would actually persist onto the resulting DVD. Apple prides itself on UI design and personally I think that this falls short, but I may be alone in this opinion.

Thanks for your advice anyway; I'm only doing a few files so it was trivial to rename them by hand, burn a new DVD, then rename the originals back.

 

[calderone]

Well, you aren't really changing the extension. You are really just changing the name of the alias. Or in reality, the name of the file as it appears on the DVD.

This is exactly what one would expect. The ability to change the name of files, but not their underlying type (extension). This doesn't betray UI design, Apple generally tries to hide file extensions from the user for this very reason.

To have it work the way you desire would betray established file system behavior.

The "Staging Area" is simply a Burn Folder.

 

[Nermal]

In that case I believe that the alias should not show the original extension in the first place as the behaviour is inconsistent. However that's just my opinion and I'm not trying to argue about it (much)

 

[calderone]

Maybe. The alias is following the same convention as the file. If the original file had the extension hidden, then the alias would do the same.

Remember, the alias is just that, an alias. A reference to some file. It does not necessarily have to have the same name as the original. When you change the name of the alias, you are changing the name of the alias, or the name by which you reference an original and not changing the original.

It wouldn't make sense to change the behavior of aliases to account for some obscure behavior when burning DVDs. Not arguing, just saying.

Maybe what this boils down to is that aliases may not be the best to way to handle Burn Folders. However, Apple just wants to provide basic burning capabilities that serve the typical use case: Burning files as they are to a disc.

This plays into what you mentioned about UI. The UI for burning DVDs through Finder would become far more cumbersome and less user friendly if the user is bogged down with keeping track of Source filenames and New filenames on the destination.

If this is the kind of functionality a user wants, then 3rd party software is the best route. It wouldn't be a good UI decision to over-complicate a generally simple process. As when kept simple it will cover the needs of a significant portion of the user base.