Backing up to Dual Layer DVDs

Hi All,
I hope this is the appropriate place for this post ...
I'm trying to figure out how to burn to a DL (Dual Layer) DVD as a storage device. I'm using Toast Titanium V6.0.7 and i'm using a Lacie external DVD burner with DL capability but Toast doesn't recognize the total capacity of the blank DL DVD disc.
Any ideas where to start? I don't know whether it might be the Lacie burner, Toast Titanium or some other issue i haven't thought of.
Any help on where to start would be greatly appreciated.
Paul

DaddyPaycheck,
Just after i posted my message i thought i'd pop in a DL DVD in the drive, open Toast and see again what Toast would do.
Lo and behold, i check disk capacity in Toast and it shows the full 8GB. So i'm currently copying a 6GB DV file to the DL DVD ... so far so good. I want to see if it completes the task this time without errors.
I'll know within 15 minutes whether it worked. Holding my breath ....
Paul

Similar Messages

Will iTunes recognize dual layer DVDs/drives for backing up purchases?

If I have a dual layer dvd in a drive that supports dual layer burning, will itunes be able to use it to its fullest capacity?

DaddyPaycheck,
Just after i posted my message i thought i'd pop in a DL DVD in the drive, open Toast and see again what Toast would do.
Lo and behold, i check disk capacity in Toast and it shows the full 8GB. So i'm currently copying a 6GB DV file to the DL DVD ... so far so good. I want to see if it completes the task this time without errors.
I'll know within 15 minutes whether it worked. Holding my breath ....
Paul

Does G5 1.8 GHz write to dual layer DVDs?

I have large picture library that's more than a normal DVD can hold, but will fit on a dual layer DVD. When I put the DL disk in, my Mac just spits it out. It won't even recognize it. G5, machine model PowerMac9,1, PowerPC g5 (3.0). Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-117D - all from System Profiler.
Thanks, Josh

The Pioneer DVR-117D is in reality a DVR-108 that Apple has modified (read: crippled) the firmware on. One of the features that was removed was the ability to burn DVD+R DL discs (it will not write to DVD-R DL discs).
If you want to bring back the DL write capability, you'll need to force flash the drive with the firmware for a DVR-108. See this post here on Discussions with instructions on how to do the flash. Make sure that you use the links from my post in that thread to the flashing program and to the firmware files. The original article that's linked to in that thread references outdated files.

Dual layer DVD will not play after iDVD burning

Hi All,
I am having some trouble making a useable DVD. I have a video that I recorded and imported into iMovie (2h33m long). I exported it to iDVD, which told me that I needed to use a dual layer DVD to make it fit. Here's where I noticed the first problem: iDVD has one option for a dual layer disc, stating that it has 7.7GB storage space, and my discs have 8.5GB. I set it to use the standard setting for the DL disc any ways, turned the quality down a bit to make it fit, and burned the DVD. After burning two discs, I still do not have one that works. It comes up as "supported disc not available" on my Mac, and as a blank disc on any other machine I put it in. It will run on my coworker's brand new iMac, but that is the only one. Am I doing something wrong? The only mistake that I have corrected since I have tried all this is changing the aspect ratio back from 4:3 to 16:9 in iMovie (I am not sure how that happened, as the video was originally recorded in 16:9). I am re-exporting the file to my desktop now in the proper ratio, and changed the quality to HD. I am waiting for the file to encode as we speak. Any help would be greatly appreciated, as this work is for my local school board and is very time sensitive.
I am running a 28" iMac, 2.66GHz Intel i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB hard drive on OSX 10.6.8.

I set it to use the standard setting for the DL disc any ways, turned the quality down a bit to make it fit, and burned the DVD.
That part I don't understand.
iDVD encoding settings:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1502?viewlocale=en_US
Short version:
Best Performance is for videos of up to 60 minutes
Best Quality is for videos of up to 120 minutes
Professional Quality is also for up to 120 minutes but even higher quality (and takes much longer)
That was for single-layer DVDs. Double these numbers for dual-layer DVDs.
Professional Quality: The Professional Quality option uses advanced two-pass technology to encode your video (The first pass determines which parts of the movie can be given greater compresson without quality loss and which parts can’t. The second pass then encodes those different parts accordingly) , resulting in the best quality of video possible on your burned DVD. You can select this option regardless of your project’s duration (up to 2 hours of video for a single-layer disc and 4 hours for a double-layer disc). Because Professional Quality encoding is time-consuming (requiring about twice as much time to encode a project as the High Quality option, for example) choose it only if you are not concerned about the time taken.
In both cases the maximum length includes titles, transitions and effects etc. Allow about 15 minutes for these.
You can use the amount of video in your project as a rough determination of which method to choose. If your project has an hour or less of video (for a single-layer disc), choose Best Performance. If it has between 1 and 2 hours of video (for a single-layer disc), choose High Quality. If you want the best possible encoding quality for projects that are up to 2 hours (for a single-layer disc), choose Professional Quality. This option takes about twice as long as the High Quality option, so select it only if time is not an issue for you.
Use the Capacity meter in the Project Info window (choose Project > Project Info) to determine how many minutes of video your project contains.
NOTE: With the Best Performance setting, you can turn background encoding off by choosing Advanced > “Encode in Background.” The checkmark is removed to show it’s no longer selected. Turning off background encoding can help performance if your system seems sluggish.
And whilst checking these settings in iDVD Preferences, make sure that the settings for NTSC/PAL and DV/DV Widescreen are also what you want.
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1502?viewlocale=en_US

Using Dual Layer DVD with iDVD

I have a 2 hour movie that I have imported into iDVD. I put in a dual layer DVD-R, but iDVD insists that my two hour movie can fit on a single layer DVD-R. Yes, I'm sure it can crunch the heck out of it, but I want the quality to be high--THAT is why I BOUGHT a dual layer support drive!
Is there any way I can tell iDVD to not crunch it down to 4.5 Gigs, but to just 9 Gigs?

Hey, you used the word "experiment" twice in the same forum which gets you twenty points but you lose 10 points since it was for the same experiment.
I get twenty (40-20) just for writing this response. Points are redeemable at the nearest refrigerator for hoppy beverages providing that you speak nicely to the member of the household that stocks said items, (or you can play back audio of yourself speaking compliments, but it must be recorded in 16 bit audio, as 12 bit audio will only buy you grief).

Dual Layer DVD Burners? (Best Choices)

What are people having the Best luck with Dual Layer DVD wise?
I have an older G4 (as seen on bottom of post)
I've been reading that the DVD+ format is the way to go as far as Dual Layer DVD is concerned..
Does that mean I wouldn't be able to play it back on my single layer SuperDrive?
Thanks,
Eric

Can't anyone give me a couple of good choices for Dual Layer DVD Burners for the G4?
I know that LaCie makes one, are they're any better choices?
Thanks Again,
Eric
Which model of LaCie, or others are recommended?
(or not recommended?)

Dual Layer DVD media help

Does anybody know what DVD +R or -R Dual Layer media is compatible with Macintosh (specifically, Dual 2.5 Ghz G5 running the Final Cut HD Studio.
I tried Fujifilm DVD+R DL and DVD Studio Pro 4 did not recognize the disc when I tried to build/burn the disc. The Apple Store does not sell any Dual Layer DVD media and Best Buy only had the aforementioned media available for sale.
What do the Hollywood studio use for their dual layer media?
Thanks!

Hi David,
I authored a dual layer DVD a few months back and had no problems with Memorex DVD+R DL media. They came in 15 disc packs.
I'm in Miami, so I can't say what the Hollywood studios are using for one-offs, but the dual layer DVDs you rent
from BlockBuster or NetFlix aren't recordable DVD media discs. They're DVD-9 discs from a replication facility.
Cheers and happy authoring,
Jeff

Dual layer DVD-ROM in a SuperDrive

I have a dual layer DVD-ROM created on a Pioneer USB dual layer burner. The disc plays fine in the Pioneer, but does not mount in the SuperDrive of my PowerBook or G5 tower. Should the standard SuperDrive be able to read the disc? It can read a dual layer movie disc without problem.
All the best,
Tom

I might be in the wrong forum, but what the heck. I have a similar problem. I have a two week old 17" PowerBook G4 with the new Superdrive that writes in DVD-DL. Anyway, I backed up a ton on data from a variety of computers I had around here (20 Dual-layer DVDs) by copying and pasting data to the DVD-DLs using the finder in Tiger. They work fine on the PowerBook but will not play on a 1st generation 20" iMac G5 (1.8 GHz, 1GB SDRAM, running 10.3.9) with a Superdrive. It just spits them out. I thought that older Superdrives could play (but not write to) DL DVDs. Any suggestions on how I can get them to play on older Macs with Superdrives (i.e. 867MHz PowerMac G4 Quicksilver, Flat Panel iMac G4s, and 1st generation iMac G5s)?
Thanks

Dual layer DVD playback problems

Hi Everyone -
I am struggling to make a dual layer DVD that plays back properly. It is for a 76 minute film plus several bonus items.
Total disc space used is 6.4 gig
The film was compressed to a bitrate of 7.1 with a max of 8.3
Audio compressed to 492 kbps (or whatever the 400ish setting is)
Project compiled fine (although I did get a "video bitrate too high" error the first time, then lowered the bitrate.)
Set to
red laser
dual layer
OTP
layer switch set for chapter 12
I've done a few test dual layer discs in the past successfully. What I have done differently with this one is add a lot of bonus material, so there are some 20 or so small video files and a commentary track and two additional audio tracks.
I do not get any error messages while compiling or burning.
The second attempt played back on my mac, at least the main film did. It struggled playing a couple of bonus features and would play others at all.
It loaded on my Mintek portable player, but wouldn't play any video.
It did not load at all on my Cyber Home DVD player or my Panasonic Blu Ray player.
I am wondering if all of these additional small files (none over 2:30 minutes) have caused some clutter that causes the machines to struggle.
I am also wondering if this will be solved by replication, which I am going to do.
I will keep trying though.
If anyone has any advice, please let me know.
Thank you,
Joe Grisaffi
Houston TX

You may want to lower your bitrates and audio rates. They seem high, and I am not sure how much the extra material is that you have (in running time), it looks like about 40 to 50 minutes, so total time of about 2 hours or so? The rate may just be too high for the player to handle. Depending on the material (fast action vs seaking engagement for instance) you should be able to get this on a DVD 5.
Make sure you also use DVD+R DL discs, they are the most compatible. I burn a ton of them and do not have issues playing them back. Use them all the time for proofing and testing prior to going to replication.
As to it not starting properly, some players can get a little finicky. A good practice is to start the DVD with 3 -5 seconds of black, usually in VTS 1 (when you look at the video layout). Also, do you have each clip on seperate tracks or one long track.
As to DLTs, replicators are now accepting USB files also with a "Tape Image" layout on them

Dual layer DVD burner any time soon?

I have an old PowerBook 1.33ghz. I'm itching to replace it with a MacBookPro. I upgraded this PowerBook with a dual layer DVD burner, and I use it a lot. I moved to the US from the UK and send many DVD's back to family and friends in the UK. I can't live without the dual layer DVD writer, plus backing up requires less DVD's and hence less space on my shelves.
Anyone here know when Apple will release a model with a dual layer DVD writer? I refuse to buy an external.
This old G4 has better DVD support than Apples flagship portable computer, doesn't seem right does it. I keep thinking I can live without dual layer, but its just such a step back.
Anyone know of when this may change and MacBookPro will get a dual layer burner? I dont know how long I can wait to get my hands on the new MacBookPro . . .

As soon as the industry can make one (so thin). I'll be buying one to replace it on my MBP. Might be Blu-ray

Dual-layer DVD problem

I checked my settings and my MacBook Pro can burn dual-layer DVDs. I created a video in iMovie and burned it with iDVD on a Memorex dual-layer DVD. It appeared to burn with no problems. I attempted to play it in a relatively new DVD player. It spit out the disc and said "Disc Error." I attempted to play it on my Windows-based laptop. It recognized it as a DVD but couldn't play it.
I then tried again with a Verbatim dual-layer DVD. Again, it appeared to burn with no problems, but refused to play. I even put it back in my Mac, and the menu came up, but it wouldn't play the video. I've checked and my firmware is updated for my Mac, which is a month old. I'm not sure what else to try.

There may be a limited number of places to put a break point depending on the amount of material.
Anyway you need to build the disc without formating. Then format the build - it is at that point in the Dialog you will see Black/Gray. The following movie shows where (note there is no break point shown in the movie, it jut s to point out where to look) Proper break points will be black the others which cannot be set as a breakk point will be grey
http://dvdstepbystep.com/markers.mov
This thread also can help
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6546274&#6546274

Dual layer DVD in iDVD questions

Hi,
For now, I have a PB 12" with a single layer DVD burner. I plan to buy soon an iMac 24" which have a dual layer DVD burner.
My questions have to do with dual layer thing.
Every year I film a theater play that last for about 2h30m. So, with my single layer DVD burner, I have to split the movie in half, and burn it on 2 DVDs.
Does a dual layer DVD would permit me to burn all the theater play on one DVD-DL so that I will be able to save the burning of the second DVD?
In my actual configuration, I cannot choose in the project information a dual layer DVD to burn an image to. Is there a way of doing so, so that I'll be able to burn my theater play on my iMac later?
Thanks for any help.

Hi Steve@Mac
Does a dual layer DVD would permit me to burn all the theater play on one DVD-DL so that I will be able to save the burning of the second DVD?
Read over the following link and then post back if you still can't select Dual layer for your project. And yes you will be able to put the entire play on one DL DVD-R.
http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=3974158#3974158
Also to create a disc image:
1. Choose File > Save As Disc Image.
2. Type a name for the disc image.
3. Choose where you want to store the disc image.
4. Click Save.
You can use Disk Utility in Mac OS X (or Roxio Toast) to burn the disc image to a DVD when you are ready. Use 4x or slower (slower is better).
Click Here
Here's some pricing info on DL Verbatim DVD-R (pretty reasonable I think).
Good luck!
SDMacuser

Recommendations on Dual Layer DVD Burner Purchase

Anyone have any recommendations on a Dual Layer DVD burner to purchase to replace the old superdrive?

Nope - both formats are for both platforms, but there was a spate of +R players and discs made available on PCs when Apple were only using -R. However, I have two or three PC burners that were -R only (and are now sitting on a shelf somewhere) from those days. The capacity of both is so close as to not be an issue, although +R does hold slightly more data. The gross capacity of a DVD-R is 4.7GB, which is in fact 4.372GB when used in a computer. For DVD+R the gross is 4.73GB which converts to 4.377GB on your computer. I guess for some folk that additional capacity might be necessary, but it isn't really worth worrying too much about, IMO.
Using dual format drives is a good idea, as you can then use either type of disc... however if you read into the background of the formats you'll see that -R is slightly ahead of +R in the compatibility stakes, although more and more players are able to deal with both equally well.
When it comes to burning a DVD in your superdrive, the slower you burn the better the compatibility is likely to be, however some folk report 100% success with fast burns every time (I've had my share of problems with faster burners). As long as you get an Apple compatible drive you should be OK, if faster burning is what you want to do.
Layer break points - on a dual layer disc there comes a point when the laser in the player has to switch from the first to the second layer in order to access the data written there. The point at which this happens is controllable by the DVD author and is called the layer break point. However, on some media (specifically dual layer DVD-R) there is no point in setting this up as the first layer will get written until full, no matter what. There will then be an automatically set break point. When this occurs the change over is flagged as 'seamless' which is intended to make a smooth switch over but there are some players which cannot handle this kind of switch and it needs to be flagged as non-seamless. Other types of media (DVD+R DL) will allow you to set the break point where you want it and will allow you to set it as non-seamless. This helps increase the compatibility of your disc when playing back in set top players.
In DVDSP this means it is probably better to use DVD+R DL media when creating a DL sized project.

How do I burn a dual layer DVD video with Premiere Elements?

I am trying to burn a video from Premiere Elements to a dual layer DVD. I choose "DVD" -- and it seems to recognize my disc -- then I "fit to disk" (the video is one hour -- then I attempt to burn -- and nothing happens. I have tried it on my internal DVD and on my external BluRay --neither seems to work

rross43
If you insert a DVD double layer single sided disc in the burner tray, Premiere Elements recognizes that as such with Publish+Share/Disc/DVD disc. If you insert a DVD standard in the burner tray, Premiere Elements recognizes that for what it is.
The only time you see a distinction for double layer vs standard disc is in the burn to folder.
Both DVD disc types use the same max bitrate 8.00 Mbps. But, the DVD standard capacity is 4.38 GB not really 4.7 GB, and the DVD double layer single sided is 7.95 GB not really 8.5 GB. That has to do with the disc capacity labeling and not Premiere Elements.
Good job with the burn to folder. In a time crunch, you can take the VIDEO_TS Folder from the saved folder and take it to DVD-VIDEO on DVD double layer single sided disc using the ImgBurn program.
But, back to burn to disc....the successful burn to folder is pointing to the burner or the disc itself. What brand disc are you using?
What is the mode of failure for your burn to disc....you say nothing happens. Does that mean you hit the burner button and nothing happens?
We could look at deleting the Adobe Premiere Elements Prefs file or do a program uninstall, free ccleaner run through, reinstall with antivirus and firewall(s) disabled. But, let us review the burner and discs situation first.
Thanks.
ATR

Can't burn dual layer DVD's

Now that full retail copies of Leopard seem to be rarer than hens teeth I thought it about time I made a back up copy of mine to see my G5 imac through.
I've created a new disk image, popped in a dual layer DVD and on clicking burn get the message "The disc inserted does not have enough free space" despite it being only about 6.5 gb, and using a dual 2.4ghz iMac.
I've tried several types of DL disk, confirmed that system profiler gives DVD dl write status, and have no problem burning cds or single layer dvds.
Anyone come across this, and if so, did you cure it. Thanks

This is a genuine problem. I bet that if you tried to read a burned (that is, not manufactured) Dual Layer disc (either +R DL or -R DL) you would not be able to do that either; my iMac simply refuses to read the disc, which has to be force-ejected at startup.
I work in the CD/DVD manufacturing industry (and have for nearly 10 years) and we are getting complaints from customers that they cannot read our DL burned media, either +R DL or -R DL. However, only people with Macs have this problem. I have confirmed the DVDs play on every PC in our office, and also several set-top units, but none of our three Macs work. To dispel the whole "your media is junk" theory, I have tried several brands, including verbatim, ritek, and CMC magnetics (Hotan). I have also also tested the burned media in our $5,500 CD/DVD analyzer and it conforms to respective book standards and does not have any POFs and very low if any PIFs.
As a last resort, I hooked up an external IDE Pioneer 118 via a FireWire bridgeboard (a drive actually removed from a PC that played the DVDs just fine) to an office iMac. Unlike the internal Matsushita drive, this drive will read the Discs, but MacOS refuses to mount them!
This has to be some kind of problem with MacOS or the hardware. Either Apple has engineered it to not work with non-manufactured Dual Layer discs, or there is some big mistake here. Searching google and these forums reveals all sorts of similar issues.
Come on Apple respond to this post!!!!

Backing up to Dual Layer DVDs

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