If you're having problems with dvd-rw then it sounds like you'er using OS9. That's why I swapped over to OSX for both video work & dvd burning. So much more reliable & faster. Which OS version are you using??

I believe some of the mac G4's had Sony burners or was that the early G5's. I have absolutely no issue with dvd-rw's. Even the OS can erase a dvd-rw.

Verbatim disks are dirt cheap nowadays at JB-Hi Fi ... $2.50 for dvd-rw & dvd-r even cheaper. BUT ... it would be worth having a close look at your LG player manual or website support section to find out what disks it prefers. My brother bought a player which cost 3 times mine & boasted it could play anything ... not so it turns out. Some of the better known brands of players are in fact limited to the brands of dvd-r media they can play. Which really sucks ... excuse the language. Not worth paying big money thinking you're getting what you're not. Anyway back to the topic .. research your player to find what is recommended for it.

I'd be interested to find out why you're having difficulties using dvd-rw.

Lord of the Rings!
I have only used a dvd-rw once. I always have plenty of dvd-R's around and don't think to get a RW so the main reason for not using them. However as I said before you can't just insert the RW in the drive like you can with -R's.
I'm running 10.3.8 and have the G4 just before the G5 came out.
I don't know that we have a JB hi fi here, certainly not in my shopping area. I am in Adelaide. However I have used verbatin and will get a batch of those next time, I have never been confindent that it is the fault of the disk. I have been blaming the dvd player. Like your brother when we bought this LG Combo we thought it would play everything. I even took photo cd's made in iphoto as well as home video dvd's made in both idvd and toast to play in the unit we decided to purchase. They all played !!! I felt really confindent that I had purchased the right player, but no I definitely did not. Do you use mactheripper and dvd2oneX to do dvd copying? Can we discuss this on this forum?
Merelyn

I use DVD Backup or yade X (I do have mactheripper but I'm happy with the other 2) for extractions & dvd2oneX. If I only want a part of a movie then I'll use bbDEMUX to separate the audio & video, or/& Mpeg Streamclip to demux, edit & export to QT. I also use mACdec for audio & mpeg2decX for video for various purposes.

Yeah JB HiFi is a Melb co. but I thought they were nationwide.

As for your dvd-rw issue, I am aware that was an issue but can't remember off-hand how to do it. I can find out .. I used to be on the DVD Studio Pro forum. I thought this was overcome with OSX update but perhaps I'm wrong. Have you tried recently?

Quote from DSP forum: "SP2 will burn to a DVD-RW just fine. (I'm using a SuperDrive). You can Format to an -RW with no hitch. If you want to use the simple "Burn" command you need to insert the DVD-RW first, then choose "Ignore" when the Finder gives you a message about what to do with the uninitialized disc. Then hit "Burn" & you're gold."

To erase a DVD-RW, use Disk Utility. It's MUCH faster than Toast (2 minutes to erase a full DVD-RW on "Quick Erase" as opposed to 20-30 minutes in Toast). (BTW you can also quick-erase a disk using Toast!)

AND

""Everything is built and burns fine. The Audio_TS, Video_TS and DVD.img are burned on the DVD disc."

This might be part of the problem. An .img file is useful if you're going to burn a DVD in Toast using the DATA tab. Your entire DVD is in the .img file and that's all you need.

If you burn a DVD from the Video_TS & Audio_TS files, that's all you want -- don't use the image file. Everything you need for the DVD is in the Video_TS folder. The Audio_TS folder will be empty, but some DVD players expect it to be there. Also, if you're burning with Toast, open your Video_TS folder & delete the files 'project'.layout & VOB_Data.lay. These are used in DVD-SP but are not needed with Toast. In earlier versions of Toast, burn from the DATA tab & select DVD-ROM UDF. In the latest version, you can burn under the DVD-Video from Video_TS tab.

Hope this makes sense."


As for CD-Text, once you have the text entered then just tick the option under advanced in Toast. As for how to get the names ... iTunes does a great job under the advanced menu: Get Track Names (can't seem to get that function to work in Toast.)

Don't know if the images below help at all. Actually when I insert a blank dvd-rw nothing happens. But use the above advice ...

Lord of the Rings,
I haven't heard of some of the programs you mentioned. How would you go about copying a 21/2 hour dvd? I sent you a message, but am not sure if you will get it, so let me know please, I'll post it if you didn't.
Merelyn

Lord of the Rings,

Which of the YadeX would I download
YadeX US v 0.99b ?

Thanks Merelyn

DVDxDV sounds very suspect to me. If it causes sound to separate in timing to the movie & as much as a minute then it's a poor piece of softw. I've done fine with either dvd backup or yade x.

dvd2onex then does fine squashing it down in size. For music videos it does seem to have more difficulty. Sometimes with dvd2onex, you need to set the size manually. And for some (particularly with long music videos) you need to set the target size much smaller for it to get down to 4.37 GB (eg: target 3.5 GB in extreme cases.)

I use yade X us 0.99b & save as a dmg (if not dvdbackup.) Then mount that using disk copy when wanting to use dvd2onex. http://www.videohelp.com/tools?tool=YadeX This is where I got it.

I coincidentally found this but I use alternative softw's to them: http://www.tcnj.edu/~liloia3/imm/proj/dvdreauthor/ But this shouldn't be necessary except in particular situations.

Lord of the Rings.

I went to download the US version of YadeX and read the "read" and it was in French. Is that the way it is for you also ?
Thanks Merelyn

No ... you'll notice the 1st on the list says FR which means France. lol :D See http://www.macetvideo.com/dl_center/dl_center.html

User defined is what you can select here (hope I didn't ramble too much in my pm ... haven't had breaky yet.) lol

Lord of the Rings
YadeX I looked in the US and the writing was all in french, I went to the FR Read me and it too was in french, I figured that it is only in french even though it says US. Maybe I will down load the US version anyway and the readme might be in English with the download !!!
Thanks Merelyn