can't burn a dvd
March 15, 2010 3:02 PM Subscribe
I'm having trouble burning a DVD that works in DVD players.
My friend has a DVD mix of his home videos, and he asked me to make copies. The original DVD he gave me works fine in all my DVD players, but none of the copies I'm making on my Macbook Pro are working, so I guess I don't know how to do this properly.
I've tried a few different, but this is the latest attempt:
- I copied the DVD to my hard-drive, which looks like a 4.6 gig folder titled VIDEO_TS, full of 129 files with the extensions "VOB", "BUP", and "IFO".
- I put the VIDEO_TS folder into another folder, which I titled HOME MOVIES.
- I opened disk utility and selected NEW> DISK IMAGE FROM FOLDER. And selected DVD/CD MASTER for Image Format.
- This created a 4.6 gig HOME MOVIES.CDR file which I then burn to a DVD.
- This DVD doesn't work for shit on any DVD player or computer but my own laptop. And even on my laptop it doesn't open automatically like the original DVD.
What am I doing wrong, and how can I do this right?
My friend has a DVD mix of his home videos, and he asked me to make copies. The original DVD he gave me works fine in all my DVD players, but none of the copies I'm making on my Macbook Pro are working, so I guess I don't know how to do this properly.
I've tried a few different, but this is the latest attempt:
- I copied the DVD to my hard-drive, which looks like a 4.6 gig folder titled VIDEO_TS, full of 129 files with the extensions "VOB", "BUP", and "IFO".
- I put the VIDEO_TS folder into another folder, which I titled HOME MOVIES.
- I opened disk utility and selected NEW> DISK IMAGE FROM FOLDER. And selected DVD/CD MASTER for Image Format.
- This created a 4.6 gig HOME MOVIES.CDR file which I then burn to a DVD.
- This DVD doesn't work for shit on any DVD player or computer but my own laptop. And even on my laptop it doesn't open automatically like the original DVD.
What am I doing wrong, and how can I do this right?
Don't make a disc image.
Just copy the disc. The DVD player will only recognize the .vob, .ifo, and .bup files.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 3:13 PM on March 15, 2010
Just copy the disc. The DVD player will only recognize the .vob, .ifo, and .bup files.
posted by Benny Andajetz at 3:13 PM on March 15, 2010
What you're doing probably creates a disc formatted using the HFS+ file system. DVD video discs need to be burnt using UDF. You should either create a disc image of the original disc, or use Roxio's Toast software and point it your VIDEO_TS folder. To do the former, open Disk Utility, click on the original disc in the volumes column on the left and press the 'New Image' button and select 'DVD/CD Master' as the image format. Once it's done, you can use that to make copies.
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 3:16 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 3:16 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
You need to make a DVD Video disc, not just a regular DVD-ROM disc with the video files on it. Any disc burning app worth anything should have this option. I don't know Macs too well, but I don't think Disk Utility would be able to do it.
If you can make a disk image of the actual DVD and make a direct copy (which I'm pretty sure you can do in Disk Utility), that may work.
posted by neckro23 at 3:16 PM on March 15, 2010
If you can make a disk image of the actual DVD and make a direct copy (which I'm pretty sure you can do in Disk Utility), that may work.
posted by neckro23 at 3:16 PM on March 15, 2010
I often have problems with dvds created at high speeds. Burning at the lowest speed available (4x) works though.
posted by skintension at 3:40 PM on March 15, 2010
posted by skintension at 3:40 PM on March 15, 2010
Step 1: Download and install Burn.
Step 2: Open Burn, insert disc, hit "Copy".
posted by pompomtom at 3:46 PM on March 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
Step 2: Open Burn, insert disc, hit "Copy".
posted by pompomtom at 3:46 PM on March 15, 2010 [3 favorites]
Actually, a lot of players won't play a DVD-R, either. It really depends on the player. For example, my roommates' video game machines (a Playstation 3 and an XBox) won't play DVD-Rs. It really depends on the machine; this is an annoying thing about burning DVDs, but you have to get the right type for the right player.
Unfortunately I don't have access to a MacBook Pro, and don't know the software there, so I can't really suggest anything on the software front. But if DVD-Rs don't work, you should try a DVD+R.
posted by koeselitz at 3:50 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Unfortunately I don't have access to a MacBook Pro, and don't know the software there, so I can't really suggest anything on the software front. But if DVD-Rs don't work, you should try a DVD+R.
posted by koeselitz at 3:50 PM on March 15, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Don't make a disc image. Just copy the disc.
Copy it how?? I originally just burned the VIDEO_TS folder to a DVD-R, but that didn't work. Then I tried putting the VIDEO_TS folder into another folder and copying that to a DVD-R. That didn't work either.
What you're doing probably creates a disc formatted using the HFS+ file system. DVD video discs need to be burnt using UDF. You should either create a disc image of the original disc, or use Roxio's Toast software and point it your VIDEO_TS folder.
So are you saying that a functional DVD can't be made from the VIDEO_TS folder I copied from the original DVD? Because I no longer have the original.
But the VIDEO_TS file was the only file in the original disk.
posted by fucker at 3:54 PM on March 15, 2010
Copy it how?? I originally just burned the VIDEO_TS folder to a DVD-R, but that didn't work. Then I tried putting the VIDEO_TS folder into another folder and copying that to a DVD-R. That didn't work either.
What you're doing probably creates a disc formatted using the HFS+ file system. DVD video discs need to be burnt using UDF. You should either create a disc image of the original disc, or use Roxio's Toast software and point it your VIDEO_TS folder.
So are you saying that a functional DVD can't be made from the VIDEO_TS folder I copied from the original DVD? Because I no longer have the original.
But the VIDEO_TS file was the only file in the original disk.
posted by fucker at 3:54 PM on March 15, 2010
Try the disc on more dvd players you have access to.
Are you using the Burn button to burn the .cdr file to the blank DVD? Also, it appears that you can directly copy the DVD to a .cdr file, instead of the 2-step process of first copying the video_ts folder, then turning the video_ts folder to a .cdr file. Here's a tutorial - I haven't tried it, and it sounds substantively similar to what you are doing, so ymmv.
posted by jabberjaw at 4:03 PM on March 15, 2010
Are you using the Burn button to burn the .cdr file to the blank DVD? Also, it appears that you can directly copy the DVD to a .cdr file, instead of the 2-step process of first copying the video_ts folder, then turning the video_ts folder to a .cdr file. Here's a tutorial - I haven't tried it, and it sounds substantively similar to what you are doing, so ymmv.
posted by jabberjaw at 4:03 PM on March 15, 2010
pompomtom is correct. Just use the freeware software Burn. I've done this many many times on many different Mac models.
posted by mrbarrett.com at 4:03 PM on March 15, 2010
posted by mrbarrett.com at 4:03 PM on March 15, 2010
It can be, but it's not quite as simple as just burning it as a folder.
Think of it like a USB stick. Windows computers can't read Mac formatted drives without special software, and typically Macs can only read and not write to Windows formatted drives.
This hint shows you how to turn a VIDEO_TS folder into a burnable image file. I've never tried it, but there's no reason it shouldn't work. Also, I'll echo what some of the other commenters have said; it's best to burn to DVD-R rather than +R, and burn at 1x if you can — it makes for more reliable playback on finicky DVD players.
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 4:07 PM on March 15, 2010
Think of it like a USB stick. Windows computers can't read Mac formatted drives without special software, and typically Macs can only read and not write to Windows formatted drives.
This hint shows you how to turn a VIDEO_TS folder into a burnable image file. I've never tried it, but there's no reason it shouldn't work. Also, I'll echo what some of the other commenters have said; it's best to burn to DVD-R rather than +R, and burn at 1x if you can — it makes for more reliable playback on finicky DVD players.
posted by jaffacakerhubarb at 4:07 PM on March 15, 2010
You can make a video DVD from the VIDEO_TS file, as neckro23 mentioned upthread, you have to use the "Burn DVD Movie" option in your burning software, NOT DVD image. This will format the disk correctly.
posted by defcom1 at 4:21 PM on March 15, 2010
posted by defcom1 at 4:21 PM on March 15, 2010
The above people are correct: you need to make a DVD-Video disc, not a DVD-Data disc. Which is what most burning programs will default to when creating a disc from files on your hard drive. So you should do (something like) New > DVD Video from folder.
And yeah, DVD-R actually has the DVD logo on it. DVD+R does not. Most players can do either, but the -r is more compatible. And yeah, burn it as slow as possible for greatest compatibility and playability.
posted by gjc at 4:41 PM on March 15, 2010
And yeah, DVD-R actually has the DVD logo on it. DVD+R does not. Most players can do either, but the -r is more compatible. And yeah, burn it as slow as possible for greatest compatibility and playability.
posted by gjc at 4:41 PM on March 15, 2010
Copy it how?? I originally just burned the VIDEO_TS folder to a DVD-R, but that didn't work. Then I tried putting the VIDEO_TS folder into another folder and copying that to a DVD-R. That didn't work either.
Download and install Burn, then select Video (type DVD Video), and drag your VIDEO_TS folder onto the panel.
posted by pompomtom at 5:28 PM on March 15, 2010
Yeah, you need to burn a disk in DVD-Video format, not DVD-data. Amongst the differences are:
And I can confirm that the hint posted by jaffacakerhubarb works, at least on 10.4.x - I don't think the hdiutil in 10.2.x accepts the -udf parameter. mkisofs, as also suggested in that link, works fine too. I'd steer away from Toast, as like Nero it often wants to re-encode or re-compress perfectly valid files to fit its silly idea of what a DVD should be…
posted by Pinback at 6:21 PM on March 15, 2010
- Slightly different physical data structure on disk,
- Different filesystem (UDF for DVD-video vs ISO 9660 for DVD-data),
- Specific start sectors (i.e. physical location on disk) for VIDEO_TS.IFO and VIDEO_TS.BUP, and
- it should have both VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS folders in the root.
And I can confirm that the hint posted by jaffacakerhubarb works, at least on 10.4.x - I don't think the hdiutil in 10.2.x accepts the -udf parameter. mkisofs, as also suggested in that link, works fine too. I'd steer away from Toast, as like Nero it often wants to re-encode or re-compress perfectly valid files to fit its silly idea of what a DVD should be…
posted by Pinback at 6:21 PM on March 15, 2010
Another possible solution that would actually produce a very slick and jaw dropping DVD would be to open iDVD, select a theme and import the movies there. You can create a very cool launch page and categorize the videos as well. It does take a long time to encode (four to six hours in some cases) but the results are really pretty awesome. I've been remastering some business presentations this way and they never fail to elicit oohs and ahhs.
The only thing that might hang you up with this way is that iDVD is sometimes finicky about the kinds of files it can import.
posted by fenriq at 6:45 PM on March 15, 2010
The only thing that might hang you up with this way is that iDVD is sometimes finicky about the kinds of files it can import.
posted by fenriq at 6:45 PM on March 15, 2010
Instead of using Finder to copy the files from the DVD to your hard drive, open up Disk Utility (with the original DVD in the computer) . In Disk Utility, select the DVD volume and click "New Image." Make a new Image in "DVD/CD Master" format. Then, you can use Disk Utility to burn copies of that disk image, which should work.
posted by andrewraff at 8:00 AM on March 16, 2010
posted by andrewraff at 8:00 AM on March 16, 2010
All you have to do to burn it properly in Toast is choose the format DVD-ROM (UDF) (NOT DVD VIDEO) and then name your DVD (I usually just kept it the exact same name as the original) and just drag the VIDEO_TS folder inside that and click burn. I have burned 100's of discs this way and I've never had an issue due to not being able to play it. The only time I had issues is when friends DVD players don't play DVD-R's (usually higher end Sony, Panasonic dvd players). I have an old Pioneer dvd player (DV-333) from 10 years ago and my wife's really crappy RCA machine and either of these ALWAYS play them.
posted by boomcha76 at 9:54 AM on March 18, 2010
posted by boomcha76 at 9:54 AM on March 18, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 3:08 PM on March 15, 2010