Can't Burn Video DVDs on my Mac
March 4, 2016 9:00 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to burn video DVDs from m4v files (exported from HandBrake). I've tried Burn, iDVD, and Toast Titanium, all joylessly. Help?
I'm trying to burn m4v files (each < 2GB and < 2 hour playing time) on a recent Macbook Air (latest OS) with an Apple USB superdrive, and good quality DVD-R stock. The m4v files all play well on my Mac using Quicktime Player. I'm trying to burn only one file per disk.
I tried using Burn, but it insists on converting each file to mpg, which is a very long process....plus I don't want to risk degrading video quality.
I tried using iDVD 7.1.2 (using "Best Performance" encoding), but it says my project "exceeds the maximum content duration". The "Project Info" window shows 6.4g of movie data, even though the m4v files are, again, under 2GB.
Toast Titanium 11.2 burns ultra-slowly (I've set it to 8x, and tried both enabling and disabling "enable buffer underrun protection"), and nearly always crashes before the burn has completed.
I'm trying to burn m4v files (each < 2GB and < 2 hour playing time) on a recent Macbook Air (latest OS) with an Apple USB superdrive, and good quality DVD-R stock. The m4v files all play well on my Mac using Quicktime Player. I'm trying to burn only one file per disk.
I tried using Burn, but it insists on converting each file to mpg, which is a very long process....plus I don't want to risk degrading video quality.
I tried using iDVD 7.1.2 (using "Best Performance" encoding), but it says my project "exceeds the maximum content duration". The "Project Info" window shows 6.4g of movie data, even though the m4v files are, again, under 2GB.
Toast Titanium 11.2 burns ultra-slowly (I've set it to 8x, and tried both enabling and disabling "enable buffer underrun protection"), and nearly always crashes before the burn has completed.
Best answer: Just to clarify:
Are you trying to burn a data DVD which won't play in regular DVD player, but will show up on a computer as a data disk?
Or are you trying to burn a video DVD, which will play in a regular DVD player? Because if you're going for a video DVD the file will have to be converted to MPEG (either by you manually or by an app in the background) as M4V/MPEG4 is a different compression format that doesn't meet the Dvd spec.
If you obtained these from a DVD-->Handbrake, you could just rip the files directly from the DVD and burn them without doing the lossy MPEG-->M4V-->MPEG step.
posted by bluecore at 9:17 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Are you trying to burn a data DVD which won't play in regular DVD player, but will show up on a computer as a data disk?
Or are you trying to burn a video DVD, which will play in a regular DVD player? Because if you're going for a video DVD the file will have to be converted to MPEG (either by you manually or by an app in the background) as M4V/MPEG4 is a different compression format that doesn't meet the Dvd spec.
If you obtained these from a DVD-->Handbrake, you could just rip the files directly from the DVD and burn them without doing the lossy MPEG-->M4V-->MPEG step.
posted by bluecore at 9:17 AM on March 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Macbook Air (1.7 GHz Intel Core i7 ) with 8gb ram.
Video DVD. I.e. for playing in a home DVD player.
The video files indeed came out of Handbrake. Please specify how to do the burning, in light of the problems I had with all three burn apps.
posted by Quisp Lover at 12:12 PM on March 4, 2016
Video DVD. I.e. for playing in a home DVD player.
The video files indeed came out of Handbrake. Please specify how to do the burning, in light of the problems I had with all three burn apps.
posted by Quisp Lover at 12:12 PM on March 4, 2016
If you originally ripped these files from a DVD with Handbrake, the best thing to do for a playable DVD-R as bluecore says above is to use the DVD files directly. I've found that on a Mac, the best way to do this is to rip the DVD files to your hard drive, remove any CSS copy protection, and burn the VIDEO_TS folder structure back to a DVD-R using Burn.
RipIt is an app that will rip DVD files and remove the CSS in one step. Burn is a fairly solid way to burn it back to a disc as a playable data disc (UDF 1.02, ISO9960 format). You may run into problems burning a dual-layer disc—I don't have any dual-layer data to test Burn with at the moment.
If you have access to a Windows PC at all, this is all much easier on the Windows side. DVD Decrypter can rip most discs easily and remove CSS, DVDStyler is a free way to make a simple disc using pre-existing assets, and ImgBurn is what professional authoring houses use to burn playable DVD-Rs.
If you have a budget for this project, please consider MeMailing me. I've done similar work for other MeFites at a price point they've been happy with.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:31 PM on March 4, 2016
RipIt is an app that will rip DVD files and remove the CSS in one step. Burn is a fairly solid way to burn it back to a disc as a playable data disc (UDF 1.02, ISO9960 format). You may run into problems burning a dual-layer disc—I don't have any dual-layer data to test Burn with at the moment.
If you have access to a Windows PC at all, this is all much easier on the Windows side. DVD Decrypter can rip most discs easily and remove CSS, DVDStyler is a free way to make a simple disc using pre-existing assets, and ImgBurn is what professional authoring houses use to burn playable DVD-Rs.
If you have a budget for this project, please consider MeMailing me. I've done similar work for other MeFites at a price point they've been happy with.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:31 PM on March 4, 2016
Are the m4v container files encoded in anything other than MPEG-2? DVDs can only be written as MPEG-2, and have annoying restrictions. If they are some other format, they will have to be re-encoded.
posted by scruss at 12:33 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by scruss at 12:33 PM on March 4, 2016
Response by poster: scruss, I do believe that theyr'e MPEGs wrapped in m4v (so I don't understand why Burn insists on laboriously making them MPEG). Is there an authoritative way to determine this?
posted by Quisp Lover at 12:42 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by Quisp Lover at 12:42 PM on March 4, 2016
Response by poster: infinitewindow, I no longer have access to the original disks. They're long out of print, and I managed to borrow them only briefly. HandBrake's output is what I'm dealing with.
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:01 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:01 PM on March 4, 2016
Here's how to figure what kind of files they are:
If you have VLC installed open a video file and hit command + i (window>media information) and then click the middle tab.
If you have FFMPEG installed on the command line do something like this "ffmpeg -i myvideo.mpg". (To get FFMPEG installed first install brew then install ffmpeg by typing "brew install ffmpeg" in terminal.)
posted by gregr at 1:06 PM on March 4, 2016
If you have VLC installed open a video file and hit command + i (window>media information) and then click the middle tab.
If you have FFMPEG installed on the command line do something like this "ffmpeg -i myvideo.mpg". (To get FFMPEG installed first install brew then install ffmpeg by typing "brew install ffmpeg" in terminal.)
posted by gregr at 1:06 PM on March 4, 2016
Response by poster: Stream 0: Video stream H264 - MPEG-4 AVC 720x482
Stream 1: Audio stream MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
Stream 2: Audio stream A52 Audio (aka AC3)
Could those two audio streams account for the huge file size complained about by iDVD?
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:18 PM on March 4, 2016
Stream 1: Audio stream MPEG AAC Audio (mp4a)
Stream 2: Audio stream A52 Audio (aka AC3)
Could those two audio streams account for the huge file size complained about by iDVD?
posted by Quisp Lover at 1:18 PM on March 4, 2016
Best answer: It should say something like MPEG-2 rather than MPEG-4. So it looks like the video is MPEG-4.
I don't really burn DVDs very much, so I might be wrong, but I think you're going to have to convert the files to MPEG-2
Unless something really weird happened the audio streams should be pretty small compared to the video streams.
If you get FFMPEG installed you can use the very useful -target ntsc-dvd to convert basically any video file into something that a dvd burning tool should be able to use.
Try something like this:
ffmpeg -i input.mpg -target ntsc-dvd output.mpg
If you want to test to see if it will work correctly before converting the whole dvd try something like this, which will just encode the first minute of video (or maybe try -t 00:10:00 to convert 10 minutes):
ffmpeg -i input.mpg -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:01:00 -target ntsc-dvd output.mpg
posted by gregr at 1:29 PM on March 4, 2016
I don't really burn DVDs very much, so I might be wrong, but I think you're going to have to convert the files to MPEG-2
Unless something really weird happened the audio streams should be pretty small compared to the video streams.
If you get FFMPEG installed you can use the very useful -target ntsc-dvd to convert basically any video file into something that a dvd burning tool should be able to use.
Try something like this:
ffmpeg -i input.mpg -target ntsc-dvd output.mpg
If you want to test to see if it will work correctly before converting the whole dvd try something like this, which will just encode the first minute of video (or maybe try -t 00:10:00 to convert 10 minutes):
ffmpeg -i input.mpg -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:01:00 -target ntsc-dvd output.mpg
posted by gregr at 1:29 PM on March 4, 2016
Response by poster: Thanks, gregr, that helps a lot. I own iFFmpeg, a graphical front end to ffmpeg (great app, btw....very highly recommended, great support, frequent updates, etc).
I don't mind running the conversions (give the computer something to do while I sleep!), but I hate to lose video quality. Any suggestion out there for settings to ensure best quality?
posted by Quisp Lover at 2:10 PM on March 4, 2016
I don't mind running the conversions (give the computer something to do while I sleep!), but I hate to lose video quality. Any suggestion out there for settings to ensure best quality?
posted by Quisp Lover at 2:10 PM on March 4, 2016
Best answer: There may be some way to tweak the quality of the conversion, but since -target ntsc-dvd is a preset, I'm not sure what you'd have to do to change the preset. In any case, I doubt you'll lose much quality.
I would though try doing 10 minutes before you do the whole thing to make sure it's good enough quality, and that you can actually burn it to a DVD and have it work.
posted by gregr at 2:18 PM on March 4, 2016
I would though try doing 10 minutes before you do the whole thing to make sure it's good enough quality, and that you can actually burn it to a DVD and have it work.
posted by gregr at 2:18 PM on March 4, 2016
Response by poster: Makes sense. Many thanks!
Anyone have an idea about the two audio streams? I used Quicktime Pro to extract both, and one is silent.
posted by Quisp Lover at 2:21 PM on March 4, 2016
Anyone have an idea about the two audio streams? I used Quicktime Pro to extract both, and one is silent.
posted by Quisp Lover at 2:21 PM on March 4, 2016
QuickTime Pro and AC3 don't play together very well. I would use a different program to demux--try MPEG Streamclip. MediaInfo is good for looking at the exact specifications of a stream in a container. VLC can reliably play back two-channel AC3 streams but not streams with more than those channels.
You will need to do a lot of work on these Handbrake files. For instance, your AAC audio stream will need to be converted to PCM, MPEG Layer 1, or AC3 audio to be within the DVD spec, and there are other limitations on bit rate, sample rate, bit size and other things. ffmpeg will also not handle standards conversion very well, so if your source DVD was PAL and you want to make an NTSC dvd, you are going to run into issues very quickly.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:39 PM on March 4, 2016
You will need to do a lot of work on these Handbrake files. For instance, your AAC audio stream will need to be converted to PCM, MPEG Layer 1, or AC3 audio to be within the DVD spec, and there are other limitations on bit rate, sample rate, bit size and other things. ffmpeg will also not handle standards conversion very well, so if your source DVD was PAL and you want to make an NTSC dvd, you are going to run into issues very quickly.
posted by infinitewindow at 2:39 PM on March 4, 2016
Response by poster: ffmpeg -i input.mpg -ss 00:00:00 -t 00:01:00 -target ntsc-dvd output.mpg
I get:
At least one output file must be specified
posted by Quisp Lover at 2:39 PM on March 4, 2016
I get:
At least one output file must be specified
posted by Quisp Lover at 2:39 PM on March 4, 2016
Seems to work for me on Windows. You running from the command line or somewhere else?
posted by gregr at 5:16 PM on March 4, 2016
posted by gregr at 5:16 PM on March 4, 2016
The "Project Info" window shows 6.4g of movie data, even though the m4v files are, again, under 2GB.
H.264, which is what your videos are currently encoded with, is a much more effective compression standard than MPEG-2, which is the best encoding accepted by standard DVD players. Your video is also currently encoded at 720x472, while a standard DVD player is going to need 720x480 (for an NTSC-compatible DVD) or 720x576 (for PAL-compatible). So you will indeed need a transcoding step, which will be lengthy and somewhat lossy.
As well as restrictions on encoder and resolution, standard video DVDs have a bunch of weird file length, naming and positioning restrictions that make preparing stuff to go on them difficult with general purpose conversion tools like ffmpeg. What you're after is "DVD authoring" software.
I have used and can recommend the Windows version of DVDStyler and have no reason to believe that the Mac version would not be similarly capable.
If the original DVD that this rip came from was on dual-layer media, the result of the necessary transcoding is quite likely not to fit on a standard single layer DVD-R or DVD+R; 6.4GB is a completely plausible size for the finished ISO file. DVDStyler will let you set an estimated size for the final output file before doing the transcoding step, and reduce video quality as required to make it fit. In my experience it generally reduces quality more than necessary; unless your original movie is wall-to-wall action scenes, telling DVDStyler to make a 5.5GB output file will usually get you one that fits under the 4.7GB limit for a single layer DVD.
posted by flabdablet at 4:32 AM on March 5, 2016
H.264, which is what your videos are currently encoded with, is a much more effective compression standard than MPEG-2, which is the best encoding accepted by standard DVD players. Your video is also currently encoded at 720x472, while a standard DVD player is going to need 720x480 (for an NTSC-compatible DVD) or 720x576 (for PAL-compatible). So you will indeed need a transcoding step, which will be lengthy and somewhat lossy.
As well as restrictions on encoder and resolution, standard video DVDs have a bunch of weird file length, naming and positioning restrictions that make preparing stuff to go on them difficult with general purpose conversion tools like ffmpeg. What you're after is "DVD authoring" software.
I have used and can recommend the Windows version of DVDStyler and have no reason to believe that the Mac version would not be similarly capable.
If the original DVD that this rip came from was on dual-layer media, the result of the necessary transcoding is quite likely not to fit on a standard single layer DVD-R or DVD+R; 6.4GB is a completely plausible size for the finished ISO file. DVDStyler will let you set an estimated size for the final output file before doing the transcoding step, and reduce video quality as required to make it fit. In my experience it generally reduces quality more than necessary; unless your original movie is wall-to-wall action scenes, telling DVDStyler to make a 5.5GB output file will usually get you one that fits under the 4.7GB limit for a single layer DVD.
posted by flabdablet at 4:32 AM on March 5, 2016
gregr: There may be some way to tweak the quality of the conversion, but since -target ntsc-dvd is a preset, I'm not sure what you'd have to do to change the preset. In any case, I doubt you'll lose much quality.
You can manually set parameters, which then override the corresponding values in the preset.
e.g. ffmpeg -i input.mpg -target ntsc-dvd -b:v 4500k -maxrate 4700k -b:a 192k -flags +cgop -sc_threshold 1000000000 output.mpg
(the above is assuming a 2 hour video to be burnt to a single-layer DVD)
posted by Gyan at 6:29 AM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
You can manually set parameters, which then override the corresponding values in the preset.
e.g. ffmpeg -i input.mpg -target ntsc-dvd -b:v 4500k -maxrate 4700k -b:a 192k -flags +cgop -sc_threshold 1000000000 output.mpg
(the above is assuming a 2 hour video to be burnt to a single-layer DVD)
posted by Gyan at 6:29 AM on March 8, 2016 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ChurchHatesTucker at 9:11 AM on March 4, 2016