Multiplexing error/iDVD 5.0.1

Went to burn a disk and got a "mutiplexing error".
The error is not listed in the "Help" function.
What happen ... how do I correct the problem?
Thanks,
John

I have been getting the same error message when trying to burn a recent project in iDVD. I have burned projects without any problem in iDVD 4. I switched to iDVD5 & Tiger in June and have had many problems since then. I create the slideshow in iMovie using still photos from iPhoto, music from iTunes, with transitions, titles, etc. It is about 7 minutes long. Click on "create iDVD" it renders, goes to iDVD. Select a theme, make a couple of font changes in the title, ie color, style. Click burn, goes all the way through encoding and spits out my disk during the burning phase with error message : unable to burn successfully due to "multiplexing error". Apple care had me do an Archive/Install of Tiger, re install of iLife 05, create a new user, repair permissions, etc. Nothing worked. I have been reading the discussions on this for a couple of months, so tried Len's suggestion regarding saving the project as a disk image and burning the disk using disk utility. First off, the quality of the project looks very bad. Tried burning it anyway because I figure maybe it will get better. Goes through all of its burning gyrations and the error message now is "Unable to burn" "Device failed to calibrate the laser power level for this media". I am using Apple's DVD-Rs 8xspeed. Now what? I have even been put through to the iLife 05 specialists at Apple care and they insist there is nothing wrong with the program. Is it me?

Similar Messages

IDVD multiplexing error or freezes

I am trying to burn 2 videos onto a DVD but I get an error code or else it just hangs and will not complete the burn. I imported the videos into iphoto and then clicked on SHARE and Send to iDVD. I used a theme and put in the picture in the drop area and then clicked on Burn. This has worked before. Then it appeared to be saving everything so I left it overnight to finish the burn.
It came up with a multiplexing error. The error said to check the encoding settings. It was already set on Best Performance and this has worked before, so I did not change it. The first video is just under 30 minutes and the second video is about 8 minutes long.
The second time that I tried to burn to iDVD it acted fine and said it was Done with multiplexing but said there was about 38 minutes remaining. It just hung or froze. I had to cancel it and again have no DVD. I am using iDVD version 7.1.2 and am using Snow Leopard v. 10.6.8 on a MacBook Pro with 5 GB of memory. How can I get iDVD to burn these videos? I am using Memorex DVD+R and have burned videos to a DVD successfully in the past. Thanks.

First follow this workflow to help ensure the best quality final product:
Once you have the project as you want it save it as a disk image via the File ➙ Save as Disk Image menu option. This will separate the encoding process from the burn process.
To check the encoding mount the disk image and launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding was good.
Then burn to disk with Disk Utility or Toast at the slowest speed available (2x-4x) to assure the best burn quality. Always use top quality media: Verbatim, Maxell or Taiyo Yuden DVD-R are the most recommended in these forums.
That being said read Bengt Wärleby's post in this topic: HT1645 I was burning a DVD and the following message showed up. multiplex error There was an error during formatting. What is a multiplex error and what do I need to do about it? It's the most comprehensive teatise on the subject that's been posted in the iDVD forum.
OT

Multiplexer error message when trying to burn DVD in iDVD

When I try to burn a DVD in iDVD, at the end of the burning process, I get a message that reads "Multiplexer Error" "There was an error during formatting".
Can anyone out there give me advice on how to remedy this?
Thanks!

When iDVD isn't functioning correctly, a basic maintenance procedure to try is:
1) Closing iDVD and trashing the file com.apple.iDVD.plist found in User/Library/Preferences.
2) Doing a permissions repair using the Disk Utilities app on your Mac.
Instead of burning directly from iDVD, try saving as a disk image (an option in the iDVD File menu). This will take a while as the encoding is redone. If you get a successful disk image, open it in your DVD Player app to check it out. If all O.K. burn it at a burn speed of 4x or less with Disk Utility to a DVD-R disk of good quality, like Verbatim or HP. On my computer, Disk Utility defaults to 4x burn speed, which is good.
See if any of the above helps.

IDVD '08 multiplexing error

I continue to have these multiplexing errors when I get to the burn/writing stage. Is there anything new about a resolution to this issue? Do I have to let iDVD complete the encoding before I go to "Burn"? The Apple experts have not been able to help me yet.
Thanks,
Rookie

A few questions:
1. which of the two Pioneer 112 S-Drives on your mac are you using to burn with?
2. have you tried burning to Verbatim dvd-r on BOTH S-drives? and if so, did you get the same results on both burners?
3. are you using the latest firmware? (if not, you'll need to update now before going any further). run apple's software updater if you haven't already.
4. Did you install the 2nd S-Drive yourself? or was it professionally installed for you?
5. Are both S-Drives on the very same bus? And if so, have you tried a test burn on the stock drive without the second drive attached? (simply disconnect the second drive from the bus while your mac is powered off /shut down and then power back up). Make certain you are grounded to avoid electric /static discharge / It's a good idea use a grounding strap when disconnecting the second drive or reconnecting. If you don't have one then simply touch the metal frame to the mac prior to working on it.
6. Have you been able to make a disc image to the desktop, and then burn from that image to Verbatim Dvd-R at 4x or slower?
7. Did you remember to select which drive you want to burn from within iDvd prior to burning a dvd?
Click Here
Click Here
8. Have you tried an alternate app to burn from (ie, Toast)?
Disclaimer: Apple does not necessarily endorse any suggestions, solutions, or third-party software / products that may be mentioned in this topic. Apple encourages you to first seek a solution at Apple Support. The following links are provided as is, with no guarantee of the effectiveness or reliability of the information. Apple does not guarantee that these links will be maintained or functional at any given time. Use the information above at your own discretion.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

Multiplexing error in iDVD

I've read some of the other posts about this, but none mentioned the same symptoms I'm having.
iDVD throws a multiplexing error if I have chapters in my video. If I remove the chapters in iMovie and then use iDVD to burn, it works great. But adding the chapters back into the movie (in iMovie), then burning using iDVD causes Multiplexing.
How do I resolve this? I need my movies to have chapters!

Hi
My collecting material on this. Unsorted and not 100% at all.
*Multiplexing Error*
Use of strange video/audio material eg .avi, .wmv, .mp3 etc.
I only use.
Video - StreamingDV (miniDV tape via FireWire) and
Audio = .aiff (as on audio-CDs) (else coverted to this .aiff 16-bit 48KHz)
*Using strange letters in video project name eg +,/; etc. keep to a-z and 0-9*
*strange letters in project name eg +*
as described by Donnyboy69. Does the title of your project have any symbols or decimal points in it. If so, that is why you are getting the error. I had a project that had a + sign which caused the same problem. I renamed it without the symbol and low and behold, it worked.
from Robert Modero.
"Multiplexing Error. Problem during initialization of tracks"
Simply remember to add subtitles to your Quicktime files and menu buttons.
Once I did that, I was back in business.
I always makes a DiskImage first and test this so that it runs OK
I use only - Verbatim DVDs
I use only - DVD-R
I burn at an as slow speed possibly eg x1
This gives good DVDs
Yours Bengt W

IDVD multiplexing error

I built a short sideshow (9 min) with music in iMovie5 and successfully imported into iDVD. When I try to burn the movie to DVD disc using my external LaCie d2 DVD+/- RW I get a multiplexing error. I have recreated the movie from iMovie5 and that doesn't help. Any suggestions? I contacted LaCie and they told me to try one of their recommended media (Verbatim) and that didn't work. Any comments would be appreciated.

I AM HAVING THIS SAME ISSUE and it's driving me insane.
I have tried every route. I can burn other things to the DVD-R or DVD-RW disk from the external LaCie burner, so I know it works...but now as far as iDVD being able to burn it just won't do it. I get about 3 seconds of my dvd movie menu and then it quits. I cannot even get them to play in the imac drive without having to go to the files and find the one that plays it on the computer.
This is really annoying as I have spent a lot of time trying to get this to burn correctly..even down to removing iDVD from the computer and then reinstalling it.
Arghhh....

Multiplexer Error message when using iDVD

I have been using iDVD successfully but now have a problem. I set up the program and everything is working fine then, just towards the end of the build, I get a 'multiplexer error' message and everything stops. It does NOT say 'not enough memory'. What could have gone wrong? (The particular .mov file, produced on Final Cut Express, I am attempting to burn has been successfully run on iDVD previously without menus; the only change has been to create chapters and setting iDVD to make a menu.)

Hi
From FCE/P I do
• Export out as QuickTime .mov file
• Not selfcontained (not important but saves time and space)
• NO QUICKTIME Converstion
This file I import into iDVD.
*Multiplexing Error*
PART One.
Use of strange video/audio material eg .avi, .wmv, .mp3 etc.
I only use.
Video - StreamingDV (miniDV tape via FireWire) and
Audio = .aiff (as on audio-CDs) (else coverted to this .aff 48KHz)
*Using strange letters in video project name* eg +,/; etc. keep to a-z and 0-9
strange letters in project name eg +
as described by Donnyboy69. Does the title of your project have any symbols or decimal points in it. If so, that is why you are getting the error. I had a project that had a + sign which caused the same problem. I renamed it without the symbol and low and behold, it worked.
PART Two.
from Robert Modero.
"Multiplexing Error. Problem during initialization of tracks"
Simply remember to add subtitles to your Quicktime files and menu buttons.
Once I did that, I was back in business.
from Boise Jim
Do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on grey background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
I always makes a DiskImage first and test this so that it runs OK
I use only - Verbatim DVDs
I use only - DVD-R
I burn at an as slow speed possibly eg x1
This gives good DVDs
PART Three.
Multiplex Error
Chuck, Chicago 2/7/2009.
Back again. Here is what I have found to work. I also have and use a LaCie DVD-R/RW DL external drive and a LaCie external hard drive as well. Since yesterday I have tried a few ways to burn a themed iDVD project having four 56 minute movies on it, amounting to 226 minutes onto a DVD DL disc, capacity 240 minutes. Apple tech support really didn't know what to do but gave me a very good tip. I had two options left. Apple tech support's tip was to try disc image. One of the replies on a thread with this subject said not to, but my experience today is good. Put your project onto "Burn to disc image," under "iDVD, file." Yesterday encoding took me 23 1/2 hours. Overnight for iDVD disc image, encoding took 21 1/2 hours (again) while I slept. This morning I tried to copy/burn disc image to a DVD with Roxio Toast 7, and it stopped near the end of the burn with some kind of "error" message. So then I tried Utilities> Disc Utility> Burn icon, and followed it through. Be sure to click the DVD DL drive in the window "Burn disc in:". I had one other problem though. At the end of a 46 minute copy, it started to verify, and at the end of verify it rejected the burn. So I tried again, and when "verify" appeared, I clicked on "Skip." The disc finished burning and is doing fine and well. A long and tortuous process, but at last something works. I made several additional copies using Disc Utility. Best wishes. Chuck, Chicago.
2. Disconnect any other external devices not absolutly needed.
eg external USB/USB2 hard disks, other FW hard disks etc.
3 Chapter marks in transitions - minimum 2 sec from
FROM Bev.
(Not a 'guy' but I will answer!)
First, I do not think that mixing widescreen and standard makes a difference in iDVD.
Second, you should use a better brand of DVD disk. Also, many of us have experienced fewer problems on playback with DVD-R disks. Recommended brands here are Verbatim, Maxell and Taio Yuden. Memorex and TDK are not consistent and may not give you a correct burn. They apparently have fewer layers in the composition of the disk. I have always used Verbatim DVD-R disks and have not had any burn problems.
Also, choose a slower burn speed, 4x or less.
Third, to determine if the iDVD project will burn properly, create a disk image file (from within iDVD, go File->Save as Disk Image) and test it. Mount the disk image and then open DVD Player (in Applications) and view your project. If it plays correctly, you can then burn the actual DVD disk from the disk image file using Disk Utility.
From: Boise, Idaho
I did everything I've seen suggested, but a friend (who used to be an Apple Genius) suggested that I do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on grey background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
It worked, and I got a clean burn from iDVD.
Hopefully this can help other people.
by dheb0422
Well, I finally got it, and it was odd enough to post here incase anyone looks this topic up again. Many things were tried, including burning the uneditited film, the edited film without titles and chapter markers, abbreviating the chapter markers in case length was the issue (remember the old iMovie used to truncate them when moving to iDVD?). In the process, I noticed that one, and only one, chapter marker was on the same line as the title marker. All the others were on the line above. The only way I seemed able to change that was to clip a few seconds of film. After that last clip, the offending marker took a place on the line above, as were all the others. That run published, compiled completely and burned. That's one for the books.
Yours Bengt W

Multiplexing errors in iDVD 08

i am receiving multiplexing errors each time I do the foowing:
1/ open idvd and choose one of the new '08 themes
2/ add 200 images from iPhoto '08 using the media panel
3/ add a track from iTunes
4/ finally choose "save as disc image" from the file menu
5/ after about 30 mins i get the error message- i have tried this 5 times now, inc restarts first.
There is lots of free hard disk space and no other apps are running at the time.
Any help would be great.

I would keep a slideshow under 100 images for starters:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302961

My markers/chapters created in FCP cause multiplexer error in iDVD

After two days of trying to figure out what causes this multiplexer error in iDVD - I have deduced that it is chapter markers in FCP. I can burn projects from quicktimes exported from FCP without chapters, but cannot burn ones with chapters.
Obviously I'd like chapters - has anyone run into this before and found any solutions?
Thanks.
Also, how do we let Apple know of these bugs so that they can fix them?

I regularly export from FCP to iDVD with chapter markers with no issues. Make sure you don't have a chapter marker too close to the beginning of the project; make sure the markers aren't too close together (like more than one second). I've heard of chapter marker issues if they are right on transitions tho I've never had that problem. Make sure nothing is selected in your timeline before you export
Obviously you want to export as Quicktime Movie, not Quicktime Conversion. Make sure you have iDVD set up to recognize chapter markers; sorry if these are obvious, just trying to think of everything.
Also, don't forget to mixdown your audio before exporting
The iDVD forum can also be helpful

Multiplexer error in iDvd 09 burn

How do you fix a multiplexer error that occurs during an iDvd burn process?

I "shared some slideshows from iPhoto 09 which included stills and some video.
I "shared" some movies from iMovie HD (version 06), and I tried "sharing" 2 movies from iMovie 09. After reading some of the previous posts, I tried a few other things, including:
1) Repair Permissions on hard disk utility after removing lots of extra, old files.
2)exporting the 09 movies as quicktime movies to the desktop, then dragging them back into the dvd. (After deleting project assets and starting fresh.)
3) Saving the dvd as a Disk Image and trying to play it - it wouldn't play.
4)removing the 2 09 movies altogether in case you can't mix HD and 09 imovie together on one dvd - still got the multiplexer message.
**Note: I don't have any chapter markers in anything, nor do I have any titles with characters.
5)I changed my burn speed to 1x, but didn't get that far!
What else is there???? Please help......

Burning in iDVD 08; Multiplexer error at end of burn?

Burning in iDVD 08 (vers. 7.1.2), came with new iMac, late June 2011.
This is a project with (3) iMovie projects, on (3) DVD-9 (i.e. Dual-Layer) disks, encoded to Professional Quality for replication.
Disk 1 burned fine, has 220 min of content, 8 video presentations. Tested OK on TV and PC.
Disk 3 also burned OK with 217 min of content, 8 video presentations. Tested OK on TV and PC.
Disk 2 gives repeated errors at end of burn (i.e. - after 3.5 hours of burning).
Multiplexer error; for more info, see XXXXX, which is totally irrelevant doc re: encoding.
Bengt W, have read through your excellent long list of possible problems in reference to burning problems, made a few changes, cannot find any thing else to change.
Here is what throws me.
1. Disk #1 and #3 burn without problems, with similar theme, drops, text and titles, longer content.
2. Disk #2 burns OK with only one of the video presentations. But gives multiplexer error with 4 video projects.
3. Am using Memorix DL disks, but worked fine with disk #1 and #3.
4. Tried 5 times (5 different disks) to burn; all failed at end he same way. Been working on problem for 3 days.
5. Cannot reach Apple Support. Express Lane not working. Feedback line not working -"server error; try again later" from apple.com. Phone service seems unavailable and they do not list hours for phone support. Quite frustrating. Have searched Apple Support Comminities for different descriptions of this problem, and also Google search, etc. without any success.
Other related into. Using new Intel iMac 21", Snow Leopard ( 10.6.8),
Most grateful for ideas into this problem and promise to bow down in respect to anyone who can help me solve this problem.
Thanks in advance,
Michael

Hi
• Memorix DL disks - Usually a problem maker - If You have a Verbatime - try this - else
a. Set down burn speed to x4
b. secure a minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-up (Mac OS) hard disk - others can't take this task
• There are three major things (as I get it) that give Multiplex errors
a. Use of strange material eg .avi, .wmv, .mp3 etc
b. Using other letters than A to Z and 0 to 9 - in titles and sub-titles eg / usually can give this
c. Turn on TV-Safe area in iDVD and secure that no button or object goes beyond this or even touching it.
My first thougts
Yours Bengt W

Why does iDVD keep giving me a multiplexing error and ejects my DVD?

I have tried several times to create a simple movie with iMovie and iDVD. Both are from the iLife 6.0 series. Each time, the movie imports to iDVD okay, goes through all the asset encoding just fine, and when it get to multiplexing and burning, it stops with a message saying there was something wrong with the multiplexing or asset encoding and ejects the DVD. Help. I am at my wits end with this.
dennis

Hi
Multiplex Error - is one of the most complex error to run into - can be so much
see (especially new info at end of list)
MULTIPLEX ERROR !
Multiplexing error is a very complex problem due to many things (long long list following) - one common but not obvious reason is that material on the iDVD menu goes outside the TV-Safe area (or just touching it).
So first - turn on TV-Safe area and move any object well inside of this.
Wide screen stretched - usually (as I think) it is due to making a 4x3 movie in a 16x9 wide-screen project OR the other way around. This forces one to on flat-screen TV (or other) set the presenting view right - My has 4x3, wide-screen, zoom and auto-wide-screen and I have to switch this by my remote for some DVD I've made "wrong" way.
Now my long long list on Multiplex Error
LONG LONG LONG LIST
Multiplexing Error
PART One.
Use of strange video/audio material e.g. .avi, .wmv, .mp3 etc.
I only use.
Video - StreamingDV (miniDV tape via FireWire) and
Audio - .aiff (as on audio-CDs) (else converted to this .aiff 48KHz)
Photo - .jpg (.bmp known problematic)
Chapters !
A. Using strange letters in video project name e.g. +,/; etc. keep to a-z and 0-9 strange letters in project name e.g. +
as described by Donnyboy69. Does the title of your project have any symbols or decimal points in it. If so, that is why you are getting the error. I had a project that had a + sign which caused the same problem. I renamed it without the symbol and low and behold, it worked.
B. Location of Chapters
• Can’t be at start or end of movie (Skip first/start one - iDVD sets this by it self. At the End - no need)
• Not in a transition (or within 2-3 seconds from it)
Important when from iMovie HD6 or previous - Now also observed when using FCE 4
PART Two.
from Robert Modero.
"Multiplexing Error. Problem during initialization of tracks"
Simply remember to add subtitles to your Quicktime files and menu buttons.
Once I did that, I was back in business.
from Boise Jim
Do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
I always makes a DiskImage first and test this so that it runs OK
I use only - Verbatim DVDs
I use only - DVD-R
I burn at an as slow speed possibly e.g. x1
This gives good DVDs
PART Three.
Multiplex Error
Chuck, Chicago 2/7/2009.
Back again. Here is what I have found to work. I also have and use a LaCie DVD-R/RW DL external drive and a LaCie external hard drive as well. Since yesterday I have tried a few ways to burn a themed iDVD project having four 56 minute movies on it, amounting to 226 minutes onto a DVD DL disc, capacity 240 minutes. Apple tech support really didn't know what to do but gave me a very good tip. I had two options left. Apple tech support's tip was to try disc image. One of the replies on a thread with this subject said not to, but my experience today is good. Put your project onto "Burn to disc image," under "iDVD, file." Yesterday encoding took me 23 1/2 hours. Overnight for iDVD disc image, encoding took 21 1/2 hours (again) while I slept. This morning I tried to copy/burn disc image to a DVD with Roxio Toast 7, and it stopped near the end of the burn with some kind of "error" message. So then I tried Utilities> Disc Utility> Burn icon, and followed it through. Be sure to click the DVD DL drive in the window "Burn disc in.". I had one other problem though. At the end of a 46 minute copy, it started to verify, and at the end of verify it rejected the burn. So I tried again, and when "verify" appeared, I clicked on "Skip." The disc finished burning and is doing fine and well. A long and tortuous process, but at last something works. I made several additional copies using Disc Utility. Best wishes. Chuck, Chicago.
2. Disconnect any other external devices not absolutely needed.
e.g. external USB/USB2 hard disks, other FW hard disks etc.
3 Chapter marks in transitions - minimum 2 sec from
FROM Bev. (Not a 'guy' but I will answer!)
First, I do not think that mixing wide-screen and standard makes a difference in iDVD.
Second, you should use a better brand of DVD disk. Also, many of us have experienced fewer problems on playback with DVD-R disks. Recommended brands here are Verbatim, Maxell and Taiyo Yuden. Memorex and TDK are not consistent and may not give you a correct burn. They apparently have fewer layers in the composition of the disk. I have always used Verbatim DVD-R disks and have not had any burn problems.
Also, choose a slower burn speed, 4x or less.
Third, to determine if the iDVD project will burn properly, create a disk image file (from within iDVD, go File->Save as Disk Image) and test it. Mount the disk image and then open DVD Player (in Applications) and view your project. If it plays correctly, you can then burn the actual DVD disk from the disk image file using Disk Utility.
From. Boise, Idaho
I did everything I've seen suggested, but a friend (who used to be an Apple Genius) suggested that I do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
It worked, and I got a clean burn from iDVD.
Hopefully this can help other people.
by dheb0422
Well, I finally got it, and it was odd enough to post here incase anyone looks this topic up again. Many things were tried, including burning the unedited film, the edited film without titles and chapter markers, abbreviating the chapter markers in case length was the issue (remember the old iMovie used to truncate them when moving to iDVD?). In the process, I noticed that one, and only one, chapter marker was on the same line as the title marker. All the others were on the line above. The only way I seemed able to change that was to clip a few seconds of film. After that last clip, the offending marker took a place on the line above, as were all the others. That run published, compiled completely and burned. That's one for the books.
One user more writes
To add my experience with Multiplex Errors using iDVD (7.0.4), I recently created two iDVD projects
Video from both passed from FCE 4.01 with chapters
One project worked fine in creating disk image file
The other gave Multiplex Errors
I tried suggestions to remove special characters and no chapter marks at beginning, but nothing worked
Note that I've used iDVD for dozens of projects and this is first time I've run into Multiplex Errors
Anyway, for problem project, I tried an experiment where I removed all chapters in FCE and passed to new iDVD project
This time multiplex errors gone
So had something to do with chapters
So now I tried numerous experiments to remove individual chapters and try again creating disk image with new iDVD project
After numerous tries, I was able to narrow problem down to 1 "Bad" chapter mark
That is, when I left the "bad" chapter in my FCE project and passed to iDVD, iDVD gave multiplex error
When I removed "bad" chapter mark (and others in), no multiplex error
As a final experiment, I moved "bad" chapter mark about 5-10 sec's beyond original point and passed to iDVD, the multiplex errors now magically went away and I was able to finally create my disk image.
I have no idea why this worked, but thought I'd mention here in case someone else runs into similar problem.
Rich839
In addition to Bengt's fine advice, burning errors can occur if you have located any of your menu buttons wholly or partly outside of the safe TV viewing area. Go to your main project menu, then click on View/Show TV Safe Area, to check. Drag into the safe viewing area any buttons that are outside the safe viewing area.
Russ One - suggest this
Multiplex Error-There was an error during muxing preparation
One thing that worked for me was to export the video w/o chapter markers as a self contained movie (thereby not loosing the edits & etc). Then make a new FCE project and import that movie into a new sequence and add the chapter markers. I've used "-", "&" and "," with no problem in the chapter names. Removing the markers or exporting without them did solve the problem but renaming them with just numbers 1,2,3....5, did not solve the problem and since this problem seems to happen with with iMovie as well, it would suggest the problem is in the video or audio and in combination with the chapter markers iDVD just can't handle it. The only other possibility is that both iMovie and FCE share the same or similar chapter marker code that some how is corrupting the markers.
Summary - What to try
1. Chapters
• Only A to Z and 0 to 9 in chapter title
• No Chapter mark at very beginning of movie
• No Chapter mark in or within 2 seconds from any transition in movie
2. TV-safe area for buttons (no one outside this)
3. Safe re-boot
4. No other external devices connected - that are not needed
SDMacuser adds to this
• On #4 ... No ext. devices. Some think this applies mainly to ext. FW. Not the case. Also applies to ext. USB2 as well (not to mention flash drives too).
Do not leave 3rd party devices / camera / camcorder plugged in unless it is being used with iDvd's One Step process. Certain web cams can trigger this also (especially ones with added features like LED light/s that draw additional power from the FW or USB bus).
5. Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-up hard disk
6. Make a DiskImage first - reduces where problem originates
7. Trash iDVD pref. file
8. Make a new iDVD project
9. Movies in project with same aspect ratio e.g. 4x3 or 16x9
10. No other programs/applications running during iDVD process. e.g. Internet, screen & energy savers
Max Mccarty
Mar 29, 2013 7:55 PM
I've made literally hundreds of DVD's using iDVD and I occasionally get the dreaded "Multiplex Error". In the past changing the position of chapter markers has worked, but sometimes the only way I can get the DVD to burn is to remove all the chapter markers (not a great solution).
Recently, I've discovered a bug in iDVD that creates the "Muliplex Error" message and it may be the cause of some of my previous problems. Sometimes when you export a movie to iDVD with chapters, it will create chapter menus with incredibly long playing times. My most recent "Multiplex Error" project had two chapter menus. I have a 38 second audio clip that I use for my DVD menus and the first menu showed the correct time of 38 seconds (select View>Show Inspector). The second menu with the same audio clip showed 13 minutes and 42 seconds! When I went to the Project Info window (select Project>Project Info) it now showed the total size of my DVD as 4.8 GB, too big for iDVD to encode. So, I manually adjusted the time of the second menu to 38 seconds. This time without changing anything else, iDVD burned the disk perfectly.
The interesting thing is that when I began the burn, the project info showed under 4GB for my disk. So, from now on I'll check the playing times of each menu before I burn.
Yours Bengt W

HT1645 I am trying to burn an imovie I made. I keep getting the message multiplex error. The imovie will not burn to a idvd.

I am trying to burn an imovie to a DVD. I keep getting the message multiplex error. I do not know what to do. Please, can anyone help me.

Hi
Multiplexing error is a very complex problem due to many things (long long list following) - one common but not obvious reason is that material on the iDVD menu goes outside the TV-Safe area (or just touching it).
So first - turn on TV-Safe area and move any object well inside of this.
Wide screen stretched - usually (as I think) it is due to making a 4x3 movie in a 16x9 wide-screen project OR the other way around. This forces one to on flat-screen TV (or other) set the presenting view right - My has 4x3, wide-screen, zoom and auto-wide-screen and I have to switch this by my remote for some DVD I've made "wrong" way.
Now my long long list on Multiplex Error
LONG LONG LONG LIST
Multiplexing Error
PART One.
Use of strange video/audio material e.g. .avi, .wmv, .mp3 etc.
I only use.
Video - StreamingDV (miniDV tape via FireWire) and
Audio - .aiff (as on audio-CDs) (else converted to this .aiff 48KHz)
Photo - .jpg (.bmp known problematic)
Chapters !
A. Using strange letters in video project name e.g. +,/; etc. keep to a-z and 0-9 strange letters in project name e.g. +
as described by Donnyboy69. Does the title of your project have any symbols or decimal points in it. If so, that is why you are getting the error. I had a project that had a + sign which caused the same problem. I renamed it without the symbol and low and behold, it worked.
B. Location of Chapters
• Can’t be at start or end of movie (Skip first/start one - iDVD sets this by it self. At the End - no need)
• Not in a transition (or within 2-3 seconds from it)
Important when from iMovie HD6 or previous - Now also observed when using FCE 4
PART Two.
from Robert Modero.
"Multiplexing Error. Problem during initialization of tracks"
Simply remember to add subtitles to your Quicktime files and menu buttons.
Once I did that, I was back in business.
from Boise Jim
Do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
I always makes a DiskImage first and test this so that it runs OK
I use only - Verbatim DVDs
I use only - DVD-R
I burn at an as slow speed possibly e.g. x1
This gives good DVDs
PART Three.
Multiplex Error
Chuck, Chicago 2/7/2009.
Back again. Here is what I have found to work. I also have and use a LaCie DVD-R/RW DL external drive and a LaCie external hard drive as well. Since yesterday I have tried a few ways to burn a themed iDVD project having four 56 minute movies on it, amounting to 226 minutes onto a DVD DL disc, capacity 240 minutes. Apple tech support really didn't know what to do but gave me a very good tip. I had two options left. Apple tech support's tip was to try disc image. One of the replies on a thread with this subject said not to, but my experience today is good. Put your project onto "Burn to disc image," under "iDVD, file." Yesterday encoding took me 23 1/2 hours. Overnight for iDVD disc image, encoding took 21 1/2 hours (again) while I slept. This morning I tried to copy/burn disc image to a DVD with Roxio Toast 7, and it stopped near the end of the burn with some kind of "error" message. So then I tried Utilities> Disc Utility> Burn icon, and followed it through. Be sure to click the DVD DL drive in the window "Burn disc in.". I had one other problem though. At the end of a 46 minute copy, it started to verify, and at the end of verify it rejected the burn. So I tried again, and when "verify" appeared, I clicked on "Skip." The disc finished burning and is doing fine and well. A long and tortuous process, but at last something works. I made several additional copies using Disc Utility. Best wishes. Chuck, Chicago.
2. Disconnect any other external devices not absolutely needed.
e.g. external USB/USB2 hard disks, other FW hard disks etc.
3 Chapter marks in transitions - minimum 2 sec from
FROM Bev. (Not a 'guy' but I will answer!)
First, I do not think that mixing wide-screen and standard makes a difference in iDVD.
Second, you should use a better brand of DVD disk. Also, many of us have experienced fewer problems on playback with DVD-R disks. Recommended brands here are Verbatim, Maxell and Taiyo Yuden. Memorex and TDK are not consistent and may not give you a correct burn. They apparently have fewer layers in the composition of the disk. I have always used Verbatim DVD-R disks and have not had any burn problems.
Also, choose a slower burn speed, 4x or less.
Third, to determine if the iDVD project will burn properly, create a disk image file (from within iDVD, go File->Save as Disk Image) and test it. Mount the disk image and then open DVD Player (in Applications) and view your project. If it plays correctly, you can then burn the actual DVD disk from the disk image file using Disk Utility.
From. Boise, Idaho
I did everything I've seen suggested, but a friend (who used to be an Apple Genius) suggested that I do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
It worked, and I got a clean burn from iDVD.
Hopefully this can help other people.
by dheb0422
Well, I finally got it, and it was odd enough to post here incase anyone looks this topic up again. Many things were tried, including burning the unedited film, the edited film without titles and chapter markers, abbreviating the chapter markers in case length was the issue (remember the old iMovie used to truncate them when moving to iDVD?). In the process, I noticed that one, and only one, chapter marker was on the same line as the title marker. All the others were on the line above. The only way I seemed able to change that was to clip a few seconds of film. After that last clip, the offending marker took a place on the line above, as were all the others. That run published, compiled completely and burned. That's one for the books.
One user more writes
To add my experience with Multiplex Errors using iDVD (7.0.4), I recently created two iDVD projects
Video from both passed from FCE 4.01 with chapters
One project worked fine in creating disk image file
The other gave Multiplex Errors
I tried suggestions to remove special characters and no chapter marks at beginning, but nothing worked
Note that I've used iDVD for dozens of projects and this is first time I've run into Multiplex Errors
Anyway, for problem project, I tried an experiment where I removed all chapters in FCE and passed to new iDVD project
This time multiplex errors gone
So had something to do with chapters
So now I tried numerous experiments to remove individual chapters and try again creating disk image with new iDVD project
After numerous tries, I was able to narrow problem down to 1 "Bad" chapter mark
That is, when I left the "bad" chapter in my FCE project and passed to iDVD, iDVD gave multiplex error
When I removed "bad" chapter mark (and others in), no multiplex error
As a final experiment, I moved "bad" chapter mark about 5-10 sec's beyond original point and passed to iDVD, the multiplex errors now magically went away and I was able to finally create my disk image.
I have no idea why this worked, but thought I'd mention here in case someone else runs into similar problem.
Rich839
In addition to Bengt's fine advice, burning errors can occur if you have located any of your menu buttons wholly or partly outside of the safe TV viewing area. Go to your main project menu, then click on View/Show TV Safe Area, to check. Drag into the safe viewing area any buttons that are outside the safe viewing area.
Russ One - suggest this
Multiplex Error-There was an error during muxing preparation
One thing that worked for me was to export the video w/o chapter markers as a self contained movie (thereby not loosing the edits & etc). Then make a new FCE project and import that movie into a new sequence and add the chapter markers. I've used "-", "&" and "," with no problem in the chapter names. Removing the markers or exporting without them did solve the problem but renaming them with just numbers 1,2,3....5, did not solve the problem and since this problem seems to happen with with iMovie as well, it would suggest the problem is in the video or audio and in combination with the chapter markers iDVD just can't handle it. The only other possibility is that both iMovie and FCE share the same or similar chapter marker code that some how is corrupting the markers.
Summary - What to try
1. Chapters
• Only A to Z and 0 to 9 in chapter title
• No Chapter mark at very beginning of movie
• No Chapter mark in or within 2 seconds from any transition in movie
2. TV-safe area for buttons (no one outside this)
3. Safe re-boot
4. No other external devices connected - that are not needed
SDMacuser adds to this
• On #4 ... No ext. devices. Some think this applies mainly to ext. FW. Not the case. Also applies to ext. USB2 as well (not to mention flash drives too).
Do not leave 3rd party devices / camera / camcorder plugged in unless it is being used with iDvd's One Step process. Certain web cams can trigger this also (especially ones with added features like LED light/s that draw additional power from the FW or USB bus).
5. Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-up hard disk
6. Make a DiskImage first - reduces where problem originates
7. Trash iDVD pref. file
8. Make a new iDVD project
9. Movies in project with same aspect ratio e.g. 4x3 or 16x9
10. No other programs/applications running during iDVD process. e.g. Internet, screen & energy savers
Yours Bengt W

I'm getting multiplexing error in iDVD when trying to burn.

Trying to finish an iDVD within 4 hours. I'm getting a multiplexing error when burning. It's a slide show with 429 pictures, background music and no movies.

Hi
You are aware of that - SlideShow function in iDVD has some limitations.
• 99 Photos per SlideShow (and You can have 99 of these)
• one audio tune (but You can make a special audio file/track including several Music parts - but as one track)
on MultiPlex Error - I've made a long long list - as this is a very complex error
Multiplexing Error
Multiplexing error is a very complex problem due to many things (long long list following) - one common but not obvious reason is that material on the iDVD menu goes outside the TV-Safe area (or just touching it).
So first - turn on TV-Safe area and move any object well inside of this.
Wide screen stretched - usually (as I think) it is due to making a 4x3 movie in a 16x9 wide-screen project OR the other way around. This forces one to on flat-screen TV (or other) set the presenting view right - My has 4x3, wide-screen, zoom and auto-wide-screen and I have to switch this by my remote for some DVD I've made "wrong" way.
Now my long long list on Multiplex Error
LONG LONG LONG LIST
Multiplexing Error
PART One.
Use of strange video/audio material e.g. .avi, .wmv, .mp3 etc.
I only use.
Video - StreamingDV (miniDV tape via FireWire) and
Audio - .aiff (as on audio-CDs) (else converted to this .aiff 48KHz)
Photo - .jpg (.bmp known problematic)
Chapters !
A. Using strange letters in video project name e.g. +,/; etc. keep to a-z and 0-9 strange letters in project name e.g. +
as described by Donnyboy69. Does the title of your project have any symbols or decimal points in it. If so, that is why you are getting the error. I had a project that had a + sign which caused the same problem. I renamed it without the symbol and low and behold, it worked.
B. Location of Chapters
• Can’t be at start or end of movie (Skip first/start one - iDVD sets this by it self. At the End - no need)
• Not in a transition (or within 2-3 seconds from it)
Important when from iMovie HD6 or previous - Now also observed when using FCE 4
PART Two.
from Robert Modero.
"Multiplexing Error. Problem during initialization of tracks"
Simply remember to add subtitles to your Quicktime files and menu buttons.
Once I did that, I was back in business.
from Boise Jim
Do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
I always makes a DiskImage first and test this so that it runs OK
I use only - Verbatim DVDs
I use only - DVD-R
I burn at an as slow speed possibly e.g. x1
This gives good DVDs
PART Three.
Multiplex Error
Chuck, Chicago 2/7/2009.
Back again. Here is what I have found to work. I also have and use a LaCie DVD-R/RW DL external drive and a LaCie external hard drive as well. Since yesterday I have tried a few ways to burn a themed iDVD project having four 56 minute movies on it, amounting to 226 minutes onto a DVD DL disc, capacity 240 minutes. Apple tech support really didn't know what to do but gave me a very good tip. I had two options left. Apple tech support's tip was to try disc image. One of the replies on a thread with this subject said not to, but my experience today is good. Put your project onto "Burn to disc image," under "iDVD, file." Yesterday encoding took me 23 1/2 hours. Overnight for iDVD disc image, encoding took 21 1/2 hours (again) while I slept. This morning I tried to copy/burn disc image to a DVD with Roxio Toast 7, and it stopped near the end of the burn with some kind of "error" message. So then I tried Utilities> Disc Utility> Burn icon, and followed it through. Be sure to click the DVD DL drive in the window "Burn disc in.". I had one other problem though. At the end of a 46 minute copy, it started to verify, and at the end of verify it rejected the burn. So I tried again, and when "verify" appeared, I clicked on "Skip." The disc finished burning and is doing fine and well. A long and tortuous process, but at last something works. I made several additional copies using Disc Utility. Best wishes. Chuck, Chicago.
2. Disconnect any other external devices not absolutely needed.
e.g. external USB/USB2 hard disks, other FW hard disks etc.
3 Chapter marks in transitions - minimum 2 sec from
FROM Bev.
(Not a 'guy' but I will answer!)
First, I do not think that mixing wide-screen and standard makes a difference in iDVD.
Second, you should use a better brand of DVD disk. Also, many of us have experienced fewer problems on playback with DVD-R disks. Recommended brands here are Verbatim, Maxell and Taiyo Yuden. Memorex and TDK are not consistent and may not give you a correct burn. They apparently have fewer layers in the composition of the disk. I have always used Verbatim DVD-R disks and have not had any burn problems.
Also, choose a slower burn speed, 4x or less.
Third, to determine if the iDVD project will burn properly, create a disk image file (from within iDVD, go File->Save as Disk Image) and test it. Mount the disk image and then open DVD Player (in Applications) and view your project. If it plays correctly, you can then burn the actual DVD disk from the disk image file using Disk Utility.
From. Boise, Idaho
I did everything I've seen suggested, but a friend (who used to be an Apple Genius) suggested that I do a safe reboot (by holding down the shift key until you see the spinning gear on gray background, then release, then restart when your start-up screen appears).
It worked, and I got a clean burn from iDVD.
Hopefully this can help other people.
by dheb0422
Well, I finally got it, and it was odd enough to post here incase anyone looks this topic up again. Many things were tried, including burning the unedited film, the edited film without titles and chapter markers, abbreviating the chapter markers in case length was the issue (remember the old iMovie used to truncate them when moving to iDVD?). In the process, I noticed that one, and only one, chapter marker was on the same line as the title marker. All the others were on the line above. The only way I seemed able to change that was to clip a few seconds of film. After that last clip, the offending marker took a place on the line above, as were all the others. That run published, compiled completely and burned. That's one for the books.
One user more writes
To add my experience with Multiplex Errors using iDVD (7.0.4), I recently created two iDVD projects
Video from both passed from FCE 4.01 with chapters
One project worked fine in creating disk image file
The other gave Multiplex Errors
I tried suggestions to remove special characters and no chapter marks at beginning, but nothing worked
Note that I've used iDVD for dozens of projects and this is first time I've run into Multiplex Errors
Anyway, for problem project, I tried an experiment where I removed all chapters in FCE and passed to new iDVD project
This time multiplex errors gone
So had something to do with chapters
So now I tried numerous experiments to remove individual chapters and try again creating disk image with new iDVD project
After numerous tries, I was able to narrow problem down to 1 "Bad" chapter mark
That is, when I left the "bad" chapter in my FCE project and passed to iDVD, iDVD gave multiplex error
When I removed "bad" chapter mark (and others in), no multiplex error
As a final experiment, I moved "bad" chapter mark about 5-10 sec's beyond original point and passed to iDVD, the multiplex errors now magically went away and I was able to finally create my disk image.
I have no idea why this worked, but thought I'd mention here in case someone else runs into similar problem.
Rich839
In addition to Bengt's fine advice, burning errors can occur if you have located any of your menu buttons wholly or partly outside of the safe TV viewing area. Go to your main project menu, then click on View/Show TV Safe Area, to check. Drag into the safe viewing area any buttons that are outside the safe viewing area.
Russ One - suggest this
Multiplex Error-There was an error during muxing preparation
One thing that worked for me was to export the video w/o chapter markers as a self contained movie (thereby not loosing the edits & etc). Then make a new FCE project and import that movie into a new sequence and add the chapter markers. I've used "-", "&" and "," with no problem in the chapter names. Removing the markers or exporting without them did solve the problem but renaming them with just numbers 1,2,3....5, did not solve the problem and since this problem seems to happen with with iMovie as well, it would suggest the problem is in the video or audio and in combination with the chapter markers iDVD just can't handle it. The only other possibility is that both iMovie and FCE share the same or similar chapter marker code that some how is corrupting the markers.
Summary - What to try
1. Chapters
• Only A to Z and 0 to 9 in chapter title
• No Chapter mark at very beginning of movie
• No Chapter mark in or within 2 seconds from any transition in movie
2. TV-safe area for buttons (no one outside this)
3. Safe re-boot
4. No other external devices connected - that are not needed
SDMacuser adds to this
• On #4 ... No ext. devices. Some think this applies mainly to ext. FW. Not the case. Also applies to ext. USB2 as well (not to mention flash drives too).
Do not leave 3rd party devices / camera / camcorder plugged in unless it is being used with iDvd's One Step process. Certain web cams can trigger this also (especially ones with added features like LED light/s that draw additional power from the FW or USB bus).
5. Minimum of 25Gb free space on Start-up hard disk
6. Make a DiskImage first - reduces where problem originates
7. Trash iDVD pref. file
8. Make a new iDVD project
9. Movies in project with same aspect ratio e.g. 4x3 or 16x9
10. No other programs/applications running during iDVD process. e.g. Internet, screen & energy savers
Yours Bengt W

Multiplexer error when burning from IDVD

I am getting a Multiplexer error after rendering a movie from IDVD. The project is 7GB in the "project info" screen. When I open the folder in "documents" it says its size it 92 KB. "Project info" says I have over 60 GB available. ? Do I need an external hard drive? Am I out of memory? Thank you!!

I am also having a multiplexing error using IDVD and I movie 09. I like to think I can solve these types of problems on my own but I am running out of good ideas. I have spent the last 10 days trying to burn the same project. I have pages of notes of things I have tried. I have been using I DVD for several years and this is the first serious problem I have encountered. I believe that this issue needs to be resolved by Apple.
I don't believe that size is an issue. My project is 240 min long and is created using 2 seperate IMovie Projects. The first one burned just fine but the second one gives a Multiplexer error at the end of Processing the Movies. I was able to isolate the part of the movie that causes the error by using QT to split the original movie into parts. Once I was able to isolate the parts of the video that will consistently fail I tried to re produce the original source clips and replace them in the original project (also tried twice to re create the project from scratch). Unfortunately the same error happens.
I am willing to try any other suggestions so please share if you know what is going on. I am getting desperate as this Movie is for a customer and I need to deliver.

Multiplexing error/iDVD 5.0.1

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