Out of options- Why is project burning without sound?

Question

I filmed 6 projects in one week using the same equipment. All edited in final cut pro and exported to DV NTSC quicktime file. Projects were started on different computers and finished on the same one (except for project #3). First round of DVDs burned on different computers- problems with all. One skips, one had music track, but no voice, one had scratchy sound, one had no sound at all.
Project one- reburned on iMac (plenty of space @ 160gb) using iDVD 09. Works fine, made plenty of copies.
Project two- same, made a few copies.
Project three- previous issue- scratchy sound- figured I'd go back to the project and re-export after I burn the others.
Project four- previous issue- no sound. The sound is present in the idvd preview, but a separate dvd player I hear the menu sound, but no project sound. Figured I work out the problem before I move on to the others. So here's what I've tried:
1) Deleted encoded assets
2) permission repair
3) start a new idvd project
4) create a new user account
5) save as disc image and burn with disc utility (btw- the disc image plays in the iMac dvd player WITH sound)
6) bring mov file into MPEG and convert to DV file, bring mov file back to FCP -export sound to audacity- reimport into FCP- export to DV NTSC
7) export file back to tape and reimport into iMovie and share to idvd
8) burn at 1x instead of 4x
9) burn with different set of DVDs (for most of these I've been using Verbatim inkjet printable DVD-R up to 8x)
10) bring dvd to a friend's and check dvd in her player
11) burn dvds on a different computer
meanwhile I've tried burning older projects that I know work and yes, they worked.
The problem doesn't seem to be the dvds, idvd (oh, yea, also uninstalled and reinstalled iLife), the dvd player, the computer. The only thing I can think of is that the file is corrupt, but wouldn't exporting it to tape and reimporting it create a new file that wasn't corrupt- particularly if the sound is working everywhere except on the dvd? Unfortunately, I didn't save the original FCP project so my only other option is to re-edit which if I have to do, I have to do. But I still have three more projects and I'd hate to re-edit all of them.
I'm out of ideas. Has anyone had this problem? Is there something I've missed?
Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

Hi
Close to have done everything = me just thinking
• any strange fileformats used eg from iTunes, mp3 , .avi, .wmv etc ?
In iTunes I export out as an Audio-CD .aiff and use this in my movies
.mp3 always converted to .aiff 16-bit 48kHz to be used
• cleaning DVD to brush the laser lens ?
• Sure that Your movie or iDVD is in different formats NTSC/PAL (29.97/25 fps) ?
Else read my list on Quality may be You fins anything useful
*DVD quality*
1. iDVD 08 & 09 has three levels of qualities.
iDVD 6 has the two last ones
• Professional Quality (movies up to 120 min.) - BEST
• Best Performances (movies less than 60 min.) - High quality on final DVD
• High Quality (in iDVD08 or 09) / Best Quality (in iDVD6) (movies up to 120 min.) - slightly lower quality than above
2. From
• FCE/P - Export out as full quality QuickTime.mov (not selfcontaining, no conversion)
• iMovie x-6 - Don't use ”Share/Export to iDVD” = destructive even to movie project and especially so
when the movie includes photos. Instead just drop or import the iMovie movie project icon (with a Star on it) into iDVD theme window.
• iMovie’08 not meant to go to iDVD. Go via Media Browser or rather use iMovie HD 6 from start.
3. I use Roxio Toast™ to make an as slow burn as possibly eg x1 (in iDVD’08 or 09 this can also be set)
This can also be done with (Apple) Disk Util tool.
4. There has to be about or more than 25Gb free space on internal (start-up) hard disk. iDVD can't
use an external one as scratch disk (if it is not start-up disc).
5. Verbatim ( also recommended by many - Taiyo Yuden DVDs - I can’t get hold of it to test )
6. DVD-R (no +R or +/-RW)
7. Keep NTSC to NTSC - or - PAL to PAL when going from iMovie to iDVD
8. Don’t burn more than three DVD at a time - but let the laser cool off for a while befor next batch.
iDVD quality also depends on.
• HOW much free space is there on Your internal (start-up) hard disk. Go for approx 25Gb.
less than 5Gb and Your result will most probably not play.
• What kind of movie project You drop into it. MPEG4 seems to be a bad choice.
other strange formats are .avi, .wmv, .flash etc. Convert to streamingDV first
Also audio formats matters. I use only .aiff or from miniDV tape Camera 16-bit
strange formats often problematic are .avi, .wmv, audio from iTunes, .mp3 etc
Convert to .aiff first and use this in movie project
• What kind of standard - NTSC movie and NTSC DVD or PAL to PAL - no mix.
(If You need to change to do a NTSC DVD from PAL material let JESDeinterlacer3.2.2 do the conversion)
(Dropping a PAL movie into a NTSC iDVD project
(US) NTSC DVDs most often are playable in EU
(EU) PAL DVDs most often needs to be converted to play in US
UNLESS. They are plabacked by a Mac - then You need not to care
• What kind of DVDs You are using. I use Verbatim DVD-R (this brand AND no +R or +/-RW)
• How You encode and burn it. Two settings prior iDVD’08 or 09
Pro Quality (only in iDVD 08 & 09)
Best / High Quality (not always - most often not)
Best / High Performances (most often my choise)
1. go to iDVD pref. menu and select tab far right and set burn speed to x1 (less errors = plays better) - only in iDVD 08 & 09
2. Project info. Select Professional Encoding - only in iDVD 08 & 09.
Region codes.
iDVD - only burn Region = 0 - meaning - DVDs are playable everywhere
DVD Studio pro can set Region codes.
1 = US
2 = EU
Yours Bengt W