How to burn a MPEG-2 file.

March 3, 2006 11:12 AM

How do a I burn a MPEG-2 file to a DVD-R with my Windows XP Pro (SP2) and Lite-On DVD R/RW drive? When I burn files to a CD-R in the same Lite-On drive, all I need to do is drag the files to the DVD R/RW drive and Windows XP does is wizardly magic. However, with a MPEG-2 file onto a DVD-R, I get some generic error that this action won't happen. Winamp can't burn video files, so that's right out the window.
posted by NoMich to computers & internet (16 comments total)

Use the trial version of Nero.
posted by cellphone at 12:05 PM on March 3, 2006

DVDAuthor.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 12:47 PM on March 3, 2006

PP: does DVDAuthor burn the file as an MPEG-2, or does it change it to something else? The video that I want burned MUST remain as a MPEG-2.
posted by NoMich at 12:50 PM on March 3, 2006

All vido DVDs are multiplexed MPEG2s turned into a VOB (Video Object).

If you want to put an MPEG-2 File on a DVD it is not a DVD Video (it's just a data disk with an MPEG-2 file).

Some (few) nonstandard DVD players (my phillips 642) can play, well, pretty much anything (WMV, DivX, etc).

So, any way you burn a CD, is the same way you'd burn a DVD data disk.
posted by filmgeek at 12:56 PM on March 3, 2006

So, any way you burn a CD, is the same way you'd burn a DVD data disk.

But that ain't working for me, so I assume that my DVD R/RW drive could be the problem.

I found an old Soundgarden VHS from 1989/90 (Louder than Live) and I want to burn it to a DVD-R. I have a decent VCR hooked up to my computer via a ATI capture card to "rip" the video to my hard drive. That's when it becomes a MPEG-2 file.
I then open DVD-lab and do all the magic that it does in there to convert it and burn it to DVD-R. However, the DVD-Rs keep skipping and artifacting at the 20-21 minute mark. Two DVD-Rs have done this to me.
A friend of mine wants take a gander at the MPEG-2 file on his computer for whatever reasons. So, that's what I'm attempting to do here.
Does that background story make things a bit clearer?
posted by NoMich at 1:13 PM on March 3, 2006

So, the file plays on your computer, but not the disk?

Why are you using DVD-Lab? Do you have Nero or Easy CD creator?

You don't want to create a DVD, merely a data disk.

Have you tried putting the DVD in windows and letting windows burn the MPEG-2 there (like you would for a CD?)
posted by filmgeek at 1:47 PM on March 3, 2006

So, the file plays on your computer, but not the disk?
The MPEG-2 file plays flawlessly through Windows Media Player on my computer. The DVD-R that I created using DVD-lab messes up at the 20/21 minute mark on my home DVD player and on my computer.

Why are you using DVD-Lab? Do you have Nero or Easy CD creator?
I use DVD-lab because that is what I have installed. I do not have Nero or Easy CD Creator. (not trying to be bitchy here, just want to be short and to the point)

You don't want to create a DVD, merely a data disk.
Exactly, I only want to create a data disk.

Have you tried putting the DVD in windows and letting windows burn the MPEG-2 there (like you would for a CD?)
Yes. When I burn files to a CD-R in my Lite-On DVD R/RW drive, all I need to do is drag the files to the DVD R/RW drive and Windows XP does is wizardly magic. However, with a MPEG-2 file onto a DVD-R, I get some error that this action won't happen. Below is the exact error:

Problem Copying
Windows encountered a problem when trying to copy this file. What do you want Windows to do?
"Retry" button and "Cancel" button appear.
to the left of the buttons is this:
Soundgarden_Louder_than_Live.mpg
Type: Winamp media file
Size: 1.42GB

However, I just now tried to burn a simple jpg file to a DVD-R with the same result. It won't happen. When I try to burn the same jpg onto a CD-R in the same, exact DVD R/RW drive, Windows has no problem burning it.
posted by NoMich at 2:44 PM on March 3, 2006

download the trial version of nero
posted by gregariousrecluse at 5:09 PM on March 3, 2006

What exact drive model do you have? Some Lite-On drives can only burn to DVD+R or DVD+RW and can only read DVD-R.
posted by roboto at 6:59 PM on March 3, 2006

Lite-On DVDRW SOHW-812S
posted by NoMich at 9:24 PM on March 3, 2006

Well, I took a gander over at liteon's site:
ATAPI / E-IDE Half-Height internal DVD+R / DVD+RW / DVD-R / DVD-RW / DVD-ROM / CD-R / CD-RW / CD-ROM combination drive

It clearly should burn DVD's properly.

But I'm going with, it burns CD's okay...but not DVDs. I'm guessing that the mechanism works well for CDs (whose tolerance is less).

I don't think you can burn anything onto a DVD with your drive.

The JPG sealed it. Of course, I hope I"m wrong.
posted by filmgeek at 10:27 PM on March 3, 2006

Assuming that the files you successfully burnt to CD-R aren't the same as the one that's failing to burn to DVD (because you mention it's a VHS cap of a live concert) :

Data DVDs use the ISO-9660 filesystem, which has a maximum file size of 2GB. How big is your file?

I know at least one version of Nero (the one on my PC) will let you burn bigger files - but they won't be readable. I think the WinXP built-in burning code just spits it back at you.

As for the stuttering problem when creating a video DVD: funny, because DVDLab is one of the better (cheap) DVD authoring apps. I'd bet that there's something nonstandard about it - peak A/V bitrate greater than 9Mbps, audio is not 48k sample rate, incorrect audio type for DVD (MP2 or PCM for PAL-land; AC3 or PCM for NTSC), weird GOP size/structure, etc, etc.

Seeing as DVDLab warns you of most of these, I'd plump for the problem being that the A/V bitrate peaks over 9Mbps at around the 20~21 minute mark...
posted by Pinback at 12:18 AM on March 4, 2006

Here is a tutorial with some detailed troubleshooting for mpeg2 capture with ATI cards.
posted by roboto at 12:33 AM on March 4, 2006

(sorry, didn't see you said the file was 1.42GB...)

Another thought: the generic error message isn't "Path is too deep", is it? Try turning off the stupid Windows Explorer file preview (just closing the preview pane is NOT enough!). It causes problems, particularly when the file is large & the preview pane can't load it all into memory...
posted by Pinback at 12:43 AM on March 4, 2006

OK, I got a couple of links to check out here. Thanks for your input guys/gals.
posted by NoMich at 8:39 AM on March 4, 2006

Oh yeah, the error isn't "Path is too deep". It's this:

Problem Copying
Windows encountered a problem when trying to copy this file. What do you want Windows to do?
"Retry" button and "Cancel" button appear.
to the left of the buttons is this:
Soundgarden_Louder_than_Live.mpg
Type: Winamp media file
Size: 1.42GB
posted by NoMich at 8:45 AM on March 4, 2006