PCs won't play iDVD discs...

I have used iDVD to create projects, and they work beautifully in Macs and DVD players. However, lots of my friends and family and even myself (I have a PC as well) cannot play these on a PC. My PC has a Dual Format DVD Burner, so I know it's not the -R or +R issue, and my PC will play commercial DVDs just fine. Am I missing some settings in iDVD to make them more compatible?
P.S. -- I use Sony DVD-Rs, and although movies made by iDVD won't play, I can easily read Data DVDs made by my Mac in PCs.

First: Create a disk image, then burn a DVD.
Second: I recommend a disk image burned to Verbatim DVD-R at 4X or slower using Toast or Disk Utility.
David Pogue also recommends Verbatim on page 356 of his latest book:
iMovie HD & iDVD 6: The Missing Manual
Quoting David: "Cheaper brands don't use the same amount of organic dyes and are more likely to suffer premature deaths."
Suggest you create a disc image and then burn the DVD. File/Save as Disc Image...
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=164927
This will isolate any encoding/burning issues you may encounter. Once the disc image is created, double-click the .img and burn the virtual disc that should appear on your desktop, using Toast to burn the DVD. Disk Utility to burn the .img file. Usually, you can select a burning speed in Disk Utility.
There are variations to this process based on which OS X you are using...
Open Disk Utility (in Utilities folder in Applications folder), click on the virtual disc (maybe the .img) in the left-hand window. Click the Burn icon. A new window should drop down and your SuperDrive tray will open after clicking the Burn icon. Insert a recordable DVD. (Verbatim DVD-R preferred by me.) Click the Close button. Wait. Select a burn speed. If you hold your mouse cursor over the pop-up it says: "Select a slower speed to work around burn failures," so select 4x or slower for best results. Then click the Burn button.
-->If the virtual disk selection won't allow you to click the Burn icon, use the .img file instead. This may have changed in 10.3.9 and did change in Tiger.
Also, you can use DVD Player to play the virtual disk to check your iDVD project before burning to DVD. Launch DVD Player. File/Open VIDEO_TS (Open DVD Media... in Player 4.6). Find the VIDEO_TS folder and open that. (The audio folder is for DVD-Audio disks.)
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=93006

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BD won't play on disc player

I cannot play the BD created by Adobe Premiere Elements 9 on my Blu-Ray Disc Player BD270 (firmware BD.8.08.028.B). The BD is created with my Blu-Ray Disc Drive BH08LS20 (firmware BH08LS20_200(ew)) under Windows 7. I can play my BD on my BD disc drive BH08LS20, but my BD disc player BD270 just churns until it reports error.
Operating System *
Windows 7
Browser
Microsoft IE
Sound card / driver version
Type of network (server type and protocol for connection)
Video capture card / driver
Capture from Deck or Camcorder?
Has it ever worked? If so, what's changed? (provide comments in description field)
Same results with different file?
Same results with different computer?
Recent System Hardware or Software change?
Add attachments
Attachment 2
Attachment 3

Ted,
As you have observed, burn speed CAN have an impact on playability of the resultant BD, or DVD-Video. Probably a greater factor is the brand of blank media used, but burn speed is often a factor too.
Unfortunately, PrE goes with the fastest combo, based on the speed of the media, and on the speed of the burner, and chooses the fastest possible. I find that a short-coming, and use other burning utilities, so that I can adjust the burn speed down a bit. Within parameters, slower is better. I nearly always go with ~ 4x for BD and DVD-5's, and ~ 2.4x for DVD-9's. To date, I have never had one returned disc, and all test fine on about six different players here, plus two multi-drives on the workstation w/ DVD/BD software players. The difference in time to do a burn at 8x, or above, is more than offset vs say a 4x burn, if I have to do just one more burn. I also only use premium blank media, as saving a few ¢'s is false economy, if I get returns for playability issues.
Unfortunately, no BD, or DVD player is certified to play ANY burned disc - only commercially replicated discs, so one is never 100% certain that a client, or family member might not have a player that plays NO burned disc. Testing can verify that a wide range of players WILL play the disc, but there could well be some players out there, that just refuse to do so, or do so properly.
From reading of playability issues, it also seems that some of the higher-end players are more finicky regarding burned discs too, and that is one reason that I test on several, from a US$ 49 "bargain basement" older unit, up to an esoteric Marantz - though that obviously does not cover EVERY player - just a broad range of players.
As all multi-drives ARE certified to play a broad range of discs, including burned discs, so long as the viewer has adequate DVD/BD software players available, the discs should play on a computer.
I support your workflow completely, and have filed feature requests for PrE to allow for burn speed adjustment.
Thanks for the comment,
Hunt

IDVD disc burns but won't play

I burned an iPhoto slideshow to iDVD from my G5.
It won't play back on the G5 (gives you've inserted an empty disc error)
It only plays on my MacBook Pro and the MacPro at work.
I need it to play on a standard DVD player and on PCs.
The media is Memorex DVD+R 16X
Did I miss a setting somewhere?

Good day, Klaus1!
I am getting the impression that Memorex discs are not good quality. Is this a longevity issue or that some burn and some don't, the end result being that you toss out as many as you keep? Just asking, because Staples has a sale at the end of the week for a spindle of 100 Memorex DVD's (both -R and +R) that normally sell for $70 US that will be on sale for $9.99 US.
Your opinion, please and thank you.
(By the way, iDVD is working fine after your days of help, thanks)

IDVD burned discs won't play on any dvd player

When I burn a dvd using Idvd they will not play on standard dvd players.
Is this a problem with anyone else?
I noticed it was a problem in the early 2000-2003 but apparently something got fixed, because I couldn't find an incident where this problem continued to occur.
I am new to the Mac world and I don't always understand the acronymns used when I read responses. However, here is my problem.
Burning dvd's using Idvd:
1. the burn seems to run and function normally
2. when I insert the burned dvd into a dvd player one of the following things occur:
a) loading takes a very long time, then I get a message saying "wrong disc"
b) loading occurs fast, reads the file as a dvd, the dvd begins playing the music and showing the main menu screen, after accessing a menu option the dvd begins to play the slideshow with the music then after a minute or two, it freezes, and is no longer readable when attempting to reload it, the message is "wrong disc"
3. I've tried using dvd-r, dvd+r, dvd+r dual layer, and changing the burn speed to 8x, then to 4x and then to 2x. Nothing seems to matter.
4. I have noticed that in Idvd the dvd type is for an older version of dvd's such as single layer 4.2 gb and double layer 7.7 gb. I'm wondering whether the Idvd software on my MacMini is up to date, even though when I check for updates under the apple it comes back saying my system is up to date.
I'm using a MacMini running Mac OSX v 10.6.8 with processor 2.26ghz, Intel core 2 duo, memory 2gb 1067 mhz ddr3, and my dvd drive is a pioneer dvd-rw dvrts08, firmware q81f.
I really need help to fix the problem with the IDVD software or to know that I need to purchase another DVD maker software for my Mac. The product below says my Mac is running OS X v 10.7.2 but it isn't it is running v 10.6.8 as I stated.
URGENT!!!!

My macmini is under 2 years old. I reviewed your list of affects and I am going down the list to determine possible cause and effect.
I did try the PRAM process. The DVD still won't play on my DVD player but it did play on my son's Sony blue ray. I burned it at 2x burn rate after the PRAM process completed.
I can assume that's progress. The audio did however skip a couple of times while playing. That is new.
I will continue down the list using different type of blank dvd's etc.
Question: As I was reading through some other issues I'm learning that Mac/Apple is discontinuing IDVD, is that correct?
Are you aware of some other software to purchase that will create dvd's on the mac? If so, I may as well go that route rather than wasting more time using a defunct product. What is your opinion?

Making a disc with iDVD on my Mac won't play on any other player why?

Making a disc with iDVD on my Mac won't play on any other player why?

How about some details on how you made the disc. What sort of media did the project contain? What brand and type of media did you use? What burn speed did you use?
Follow this workflow to help assure the best qualty video DVD:
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, launch DVD Player and play it. If it plays OK with DVD Player the encoding is 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.
OT

IDVD autoplay movie won't play in DVD player

My IDVD movie won't play in a DVD player when created in autoplay mode. It plays fine on my computer both in preview and on my computer's DVD player program and it works fine if I create a menu and button, just not if I create it in autoplay mode. I've tried it on my work compter and three DVD players and it won't play in any of them. Can anyone help, please?

Hi Sue
Thanks for responding.
I used a 16x Maxwell DVD-R. The same kind of disc worked fine with the movie when I had a menu.
I'm afraid I don't know what a Patchburn is.
Josef
Hi JosefK:
Welcome to discussions.
Did you use a Data DVD by chance?
It needs to be a DVD-R with iMovie 4.
Are you using an external with Patchburn?
Sue
Hi Sue
Thanks for responding.
I used a 16x DVD-R. The same kind of disc worked fine with the movie when I had a menu.
I'm afraid I don't know what a Patchburn is.
Josef

Burned DVD on iDVD. Won't play on DVD player

I burned a slide show on iDVD and when I put the disk in my DVD player or back in my computer it won't play.

Hi
My thoughts on this - this occures to me when
• Using Cheap brands of DVD e.g. Memorex and NoName are bad choice for Video-DVDs (might work as Data-DVDs)
I use Verbatim (only)
• DVD type used - I use now DVD-R as they also play on older DVD-players - NEVER +/-RW as they are known problem makers
• BURN SPEED - I now set down burn speed to x2 or x4 = Less burn errors = Plays on Mac that made the burn and so on PCs - Works so much better
Yours Bengt W

Downloaded from iTunes, won't play in iDVD

I have some mpeg4 files that I downloaded from the iTunes Library online. I am attempting to use them in an iDVD project, but some of them will not play. Some others will play. The ones that won't play in iDVD will still play in iTunes.
The files that don't work seem to have a little padlock in the upper left corner that I cannot get rid of.
Any suggestions?

Hello Curt,
The tracks that won't play in iDVD, were those tracks that you imported from a CD? Or did you purchase and download directly from iTunes?
If you can’t play a song purchased from the iTunes Store, you may have exceeded the number of computers on which you can play your purchases.
Unless the song is an iTunes Plus version, you can play an iTunes Store purchase on up to five authorized computers. After you authorize five computers (by playing purchases on those computers), you can’t play the songs on a sixth computer until you deauthorize one of the five authorized computers. (For instructions on deauthorizing a computer, click the first link below.)
If the song is available as an iTunes Plus download, you may ugrade the song at the iTunes Store.
If you're listening to a shared library or playlist, iTunes skips iTunes Store purchases if your computer hasn't been authorized to play them. To listen to a purchased song in a shared library or playlist, double-click the song. If your computer isn't authorized to play songs purchased by the person who is sharing the song, you'll need to enter that person's Apple or AOL account ID and password to hear the song.
You might be trying to play an AAC file that was not created using iTunes or downloaded from the iTunes Store. Songs you download from the iTunes Store or import into your library using the AAC encoder are encoded using the new MPEG-4 AAC format, and play in iTunes and on your iPod. Other AAC files that you find on the Internet or elsewhere won't play in iTunes.
If you’re trying to play a song on a CD that you burned using iTunes, make sure the equipment on which you're trying to play the CD is appropriate for the disc's format. For example, if you burned a CD-RW disc, you can play it only on your computer and some newer CD players. If you burned an MP3 disc, it should work in your computer and on special MP3 CD players, but not on standard consumer audio CD players. You can't play DVDs burned using iTunes on most consumer DVD players.
Carolyn

IDVD won't play last chapter

I just burned a DVD from iMovie 08 and it won't play the last chapter. It shows a red no entry symbol (circle with diagonal). The iMovie was about an hour 9 minutes long and at one point during the burn it said that it was too long. Is that the problem?

Welcome to the forums!
Is that the problem?
Could be that you set the wrong encoding setting:
iDVD encoding settings:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=iDVD/7.0/en/11417.html
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)
Professional Quality: The Professional Quality option uses advanced technology to encode your video, 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 abo
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

DVDs made in iDVD won't play on same computer

Why is it that every DVD I make in iDVD burns fine but will not play on the computer?
They play fine on DVD players but not on the iMac that made them.
On the iMac it just says the disc is blank, but it is not and plays fine on a DVD player.

Thanks for the help. I looked into all these possible issues:
The drive itself works fine. Tested about 15 "homemade" discs and they all played normally.
I don't think it's the DVD brand. The at-fault dvds are Panasonic but my other Panasonic-burned dvds work okay. And they're all DVD-Rs.
I have 30g of hard disk space.
I checked the burn speed and it is set at the default ("Maximum Possible"). I've used this setting on my other DVDs which play fine, but maybe it could be the culprit?
The only other issue I could figure out is that the DVDs that won't play all have the same iDVD menu template. Perhaps there is a glitch with that menu?

DVDs made in iDVD won't play on a Mac

I've made a fair share of dvds from DVDSP and iDVD (version 7.0.4) but a few days ago I tried playing one that was created in iDVD on my computer (in the same drive that burned it) and it wouldn't recognize the disc. I tried several other dvds and they're spit back out too (all of them play fine on a standard dvd player). At this point, none of the dvds I've made from iDVD will play on my computer, while the dvds made from DVDSP seem to play just fine.
It seems odd that a dvd won't play on the very same drive that burned it. Does Apple do this intentionally? I need to copy one of the discs, but that won't happen until the computer recognizes it. Is there a workaround?

Thanks for the help. I looked into all these possible issues:
The drive itself works fine. Tested about 15 "homemade" discs and they all played normally.
I don't think it's the DVD brand. The at-fault dvds are Panasonic but my other Panasonic-burned dvds work okay. And they're all DVD-Rs.
I have 30g of hard disk space.
I checked the burn speed and it is set at the default ("Maximum Possible"). I've used this setting on my other DVDs which play fine, but maybe it could be the culprit?
The only other issue I could figure out is that the DVDs that won't play all have the same iDVD menu template. Perhaps there is a glitch with that menu?

IDVD disk won't play on the computer that created it.

I am running iM6.0.3 on a G5 MAC with OS X 10.3.9.
My problem is that after I create a movie with iMovie, and burn it to a DVD disk using iDVD, the G5 Mac that I created it on cannot then read the disk. It just ejects it. No disk icon ever appears on screen. However, the DVD disk plays fine on my consumer DVD player, even my Windows PC, and also on other Apple computers. Commercial DVD disks play fine on my G5. It just won't play the disks that I create on it.
One other factor: I am burning these disks to Hewlett-Packard DVD-R 16x disks. I have heard that there can be a problem burning to 16x disks on iDVD that is rated for 4x, but I have had no difficulties that I am aware of. I am wondering if perhaps my G5 cannot read the 16x disk on playback, and I should be using 4x. ( I just don't have any 4x disks handy at the moment.) But then, why would other apple computers and DVD players be able to play my 16x disks?
Any suggestions as to what might be the problem? Any comments would be much appreciated.
G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9)
G5 Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Hi Rich,
Just my comments:
DVD issues have plagued the Mac OS since 10.0. I have the same problem. DVD's I created on my machine are the same regardless of how they are created (data DVD or "Movie"). When it doesn't immediately eject them back out it will ask me what I want to do with the blank DVD I have inserted yet another machine plays them just fine. A DVD contains two "tracks" one is about 1 GB± and is unaccessible to users with consumer products (including most "pro" apps) and contains the information for the various types of DVD Players to know what to do with the data including the manufacturers info i.e. type of DVD (RAM, ROM, -R -RW etc) as well as read/write speeds. One very important piece of information is the time-code. DVD uses SMPTE time-codes and Mac OS X as you've experienced can write them but cannot seem to read them properly, that's why they work on the other machines and not the one that created them. Even if the Mac isn't writing them 100% the DVD playback SW in most set top boxes can compensate for this error as they are expecting data from all types of SW and burners. I am assuming the "other" macs are most likely G4's as this is my experience.
Write speeds should not be as much as a factor as they appear to be. Trying to burn 16X to a 4X disc would be a problem (most burning SW would prevent this anyway) but 4X to a 16X disk should not. I have tried every disc speed and setting and it is always the same.
This is what I know on this subject. It also appears to be the reason for the 60 min limitation as well. Apple's replacing DVD drives at an extremely high rate and many of them are most likely returning to service in another machine as there is nothing mechanically wrong with them. Apple care does not test the equipment the same way as the manufacturer/remanufacture and most Apple HW tests indicate they are in working order as well, however if they can duplicate the issue they replace the drive. You can have them replace the drive but the problem will most likely persist.
At this point my only hope is that Leopard resolves these issues but because they've persisted for so long I am not getting my hopes up.
I can't install 10.3.9 on this machine but I am curious if you went back to a QuickTime version prior to 7 if that makes any difference. You will lose some functionalities here as QT is actually part of the OS and updates have added functionality that was previously only available in 10.4 such as it allows the video apps to use the graphics card instead of the processor whenever possible so you will notice a slow down and possibly an elimination of "real time" editing in most apps and some of the Quartz video effects will no longer work.
Sorry I don't have any solution but am quite certain this is what the problem is.
Sweet Polly

Videos I burnt to disc on my pc won't play on my macbook, when I insert the disc into the macbook it says it's blank but plays fine on the pc

Videos I burnt to disc on my pc won't play on my macbook, when I insert the disc into the macbook it says it's blank but plays fine on the pc, does anyone know how to fix this? The photo's I burnt on the exact same type of disc work fine in both pc and macbook but the videos will only play on the pc.

If you are trying to play these on quicktime then what video format are those videos?
Wmp's? You need to install Flip4Mac.
Most other formats? Install Perian.
Or just use vlc instead. It's a much better, more powerful, and more general video player.

DVD SP burned disc won't play on DVD player

I recently compiled a FCP HD project into Standard Defintion 16:9 and imported it into DVD SP 4. I build, format and burned a DVD-R disc without any problems. However the disc won't play on any of the DVD players in my house (1 philips and 1 Pioneer). I checked all settings and can't find anything wrong! Remarkably, just before this I burned an older (SD 4:3) project on the same brand/type disc and that one worked flawless.
What am I missing, pleas help!
Evert

Double check to make sure you did not make an HD DVD (take a look to see what is on the disc, are the folders VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS or other name? It can happen where you think you made an SD but it is HD ) Also did you set a first play? Did you somehow make an NTSC (or PAL) and playing it on a machine that is not NTSC/PAL as applicable?
What brand media did you use? Some brands can be inconsistent...

Disc won't play in DVD player

I just burned a project with iDVD 6 and while it works fine on my Mac, It won't play on my regular DVD player. I know that my main DVD player plays DVD-R because it has played every DVD that I've recorded from my spindle. I test them all on this player. I burned 2 copies of this project and neither would play on my main DVD player... but they would play on my bedroom DVD player. What could this be?

What could this be?
It could be one of several things (or a combination thereof). A dirty lens on the set top dvd player for example. When is the last time you used a quality Maxell or 3M dvd lens cleaner kit? Avoid cheapy kits since they can cause more issues than they resolve.
It could be the media itself.
It could be that you need to lower the burn speed to make the media more readable to this particular set top DVD Player.
It could be that your set top player is a bit dated and refuses to play newer media/s.
Best to take your finished iDvd to a store that sells these DVD Players and try it out on several machines. See if it still happens on other players as well.
Btw, please tell me you are not using Memorex or TDK. I recommend Verbatim or Maxell (your choice) while troubleshooting on this iDvd Forum.
Message was edited by: SDMacuser

PCs won't play iDVD discs...

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