Subject: Possible solution to iDVD movie problem video stops but audio continues.
Hi all,
Well, I've used this forum bunches to ask questions and find answers. I now have some info that might be helpful, so I thought I'd "give back" to the group with something I've learned.
I have been transferring all of our 8mm Sony camcorder tapes to DVD via iMovie and iDVD (and an analog-to-digital converter, of course).
I've been trying to figure out for a long time why we sometimes had DVD's that burned for 12 hours only then to find out that part way through the finished disc/movie, the video part would drop out but the sound would continue. Or a chapter selection screen would be blank or screwed up.
I have finally figured something out (with the help of Ron Ross1 at the Apple.com discussion forum, by the way. Thanks Ron Ross1) and thought I would share the results.
The short story is... defects in an iDVD movie can be caused by a bad iMovie clip (aka asset). In my case, these defects are caused by turning on and off my camcorder (Sony 8mm, not a digital camcorder). That is, press the button to record, press to stop/pause, press again to record. That stop in the middle sometimes introduces an anomaly on the tape.
At times in the video I'd imported to iMovie, I would see a frame or 3 of static and or other pixilated garbage frames which appears between 2 shots on the camera. Those are the spots where I've either paused a record on the camera or stopped and started all together. Sort of like the camera wasn't "up to speed" or something when it started recording.
Also, these garbage frames are not always the beginning or end of a clip/asset after importing to iMovie. iMovie breaks the input video into 9 minutes chunks, but the anomalies appear between scenes from the camera, so they can appear anywhere in an asset, not just the beginning or end of a "clip".
So, by looking through my clips and removing just a dozen or so frames around each one of these anomalies, I no longer have any bad burns to DVD. Problem Solved! No more dead DVDs. Plus, what took 9 or 10 hours or more to encode and then be broken, took only 6 hours to encode. I'm guessing iDVD would go off on a long lark trying to encode this static between scenes but didn't know what to make of it (almost like it wasn't a 'complete' frame or something).
Now, I've had issues with Scene Selection (chapter menus) screens screwing up too and I'm guessing that these are also caused by my putting a clip into the theme which has one of these anomalies. But I haven't tested this yet to be sure.
So, to conclude my story
Apparently, iDVD is sensitive to irregularities in the video stream. If you have this issue with the movie quitting but the sound continuing, here's what you can try: Find the spot on the disc where the movie craps out. Then go back to iMovie and find that same spot. Look carefully for any static, blips, jumps, whatever in the frames around that spot in the movie. Cut out a few frames (or a few seconds?) before and after and re-send to iDVD and reburn your movie. It might just take care of the problem. Oh, and you might want to carefully check your entire movie for these before you burn, or iDVD will just crap out on the next glitch it finds after the one you fix.
I hope this helps someone with similar problems.
Good Luck all!
Hi all,
Well, I've used this forum bunches to ask questions and find answers. I now have some info that might be helpful, so I thought I'd "give back" to the group with something I've learned.
I have been transferring all of our 8mm Sony camcorder tapes to DVD via iMovie and iDVD (and an analog-to-digital converter, of course).
I've been trying to figure out for a long time why we sometimes had DVD's that burned for 12 hours only then to find out that part way through the finished disc/movie, the video part would drop out but the sound would continue. Or a chapter selection screen would be blank or screwed up.
I have finally figured something out (with the help of Ron Ross1 at the Apple.com discussion forum, by the way. Thanks Ron Ross1) and thought I would share the results.
The short story is... defects in an iDVD movie can be caused by a bad iMovie clip (aka asset). In my case, these defects are caused by turning on and off my camcorder (Sony 8mm, not a digital camcorder). That is, press the button to record, press to stop/pause, press again to record. That stop in the middle sometimes introduces an anomaly on the tape.
At times in the video I'd imported to iMovie, I would see a frame or 3 of static and or other pixilated garbage frames which appears between 2 shots on the camera. Those are the spots where I've either paused a record on the camera or stopped and started all together. Sort of like the camera wasn't "up to speed" or something when it started recording.
Also, these garbage frames are not always the beginning or end of a clip/asset after importing to iMovie. iMovie breaks the input video into 9 minutes chunks, but the anomalies appear between scenes from the camera, so they can appear anywhere in an asset, not just the beginning or end of a "clip".
So, by looking through my clips and removing just a dozen or so frames around each one of these anomalies, I no longer have any bad burns to DVD. Problem Solved! No more dead DVDs. Plus, what took 9 or 10 hours or more to encode and then be broken, took only 6 hours to encode. I'm guessing iDVD would go off on a long lark trying to encode this static between scenes but didn't know what to make of it (almost like it wasn't a 'complete' frame or something).
Now, I've had issues with Scene Selection (chapter menus) screens screwing up too and I'm guessing that these are also caused by my putting a clip into the theme which has one of these anomalies. But I haven't tested this yet to be sure.
So, to conclude my story
Apparently, iDVD is sensitive to irregularities in the video stream. If you have this issue with the movie quitting but the sound continuing, here's what you can try: Find the spot on the disc where the movie craps out. Then go back to iMovie and find that same spot. Look carefully for any static, blips, jumps, whatever in the frames around that spot in the movie. Cut out a few frames (or a few seconds?) before and after and re-send to iDVD and reburn your movie. It might just take care of the problem. Oh, and you might want to carefully check your entire movie for these before you burn, or iDVD will just crap out on the next glitch it finds after the one you fix.
I hope this helps someone with similar problems.
Good Luck all!