PowerDirector 5 Alternative to Burning DVD?

[Bubba Magrew]

I've just completed a slide show of still images, music, titles and transition effects in PowerDirector 5. I was very impressed with the ease of the creation/editing process using this software. Unfortunately, when I tried to Burn to DVD, the problems began - and have resulted in three days of my banging my head against the wall. The app keeps crashing or hanging up - I've yet to successfully get beyond 20% progress in their "burning" process and most times it hangs after 2%.

I've contacted Cyberlink tech support four times this week on various issues, and haven't had a reply, so I would like to find a workaround, if possible. I'm a newbie to this DVD creation stuff, so please forgive my ignorance!

Besides direct burning to DVD, PowerDirector offers the option to Produce; save my project as a DivX, AVI, MPEG or MPEG2 file. I had problems with this function too, but was eventually able to create an MPEG2 file that looks great. My question for you experts is this - is there another application I can purchase/obtain that would allow me to convert an MPEG2 file to a format that I can burn to DVD and play on my home theater?

This file I created is a montage of family photos and I planned to give it to my mother for her 70th birthday. I've spent a bazillion hours creating it, and sure would like to be able to get it on a DVD that she can watch at home....

Another thing you should probably know - I read the awesome info provided by BB Mike regarding CRC errors. Using his instructions I checked my DMA settings. I have a primary IDE, but no secondary channel listed in Device Manager. DMA is listed as Ultra DMA 2 for both device O and 1 on the Advanced properties of the primary IDE channel. I performed the uninstall as BB Mike suggested. When I re-booted both devices were set to PIO. I reset them to Use DMA when available and re-booted again and both devices are listed with the Ultra DMA 2 again. Is there something wrong with my drive that I don't ever see the Ultra DMA 5 setting in BB Mike's message. FYI - I'm running Windows XP SP2 on a new Dell Precision 690 with Xeon processor and 3GB memory.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

[locoeng]

Have you checked to see that you are using current firmware for your burner?

[Bubba Magrew]

Thanks for your response. Yes I checked the firmware and I am using the latest version.

Since I posted my original message this morning, I've found a cool little application called SmartSoft DVD Creator Pro that allows me to take my MPEG file and convert it to DVD format.

I also spent some time on the phone with Dell tech support and my DVD burner is OK, so it's apparently an issue with the PowerDirector software - possibly not playing well with other apps or hardware on my machine.

[locoeng]

I'm not familiar with PowerDirector but I do know that some apps don't play well together...Roxio comes to mind.

[Bubba Magrew]

Hmmm. That is VERY good food for thought. Thanks. Dell installed Roxio at the factory. I'll see what happens if I uninstall it. Today I am unable to produce a file in PowerDirector OR burn to DVD so I'm stuck AGAIN.

[Chewy]

looks like that computer comes loaded for bear, even a dual cpu motherboard?

But you are running windows xp 64 bit, right?

[Bubba Magrew]

Yeah, it's a very sweet machine. No, I am not running XP 64-bit. I made that decision based upon the OS' my client's run - have had incompatibility issues with OS versions before, so I stuck with what most are using.

BTW - Uninstalled the Roxio stuff and it didn't make any difference. What is comical though, is that I re-installed it 'cause I wanted to burn a few CDs, and it locked up my entire computer - couldn't even boot to Windows! Spent an hour on the phone with Dell over that one, since they installed the software at the factory....

For my projects I ended up using the SmartSoft DVD Creator Pro software to convert my MPEG file to DVD compatible files and burn to DVD. The disks don't work on all home entertainment systems (the DVD player must have auto-run, 'cause there is no menu to initiate Play), but I also made a CD of the MPEG files so they can be watched on the computer, as well. It worked out and I had the disks ready for both my mom and dad's birthdays, but what a PITA!

I am still working with CyberLink to try to figure out what is wrong with PowerDirector vs. my PC. Over the past several weeks they have had me send them my hardware list, and have also had me uninstall their software and download a "trial" version. That performed even more poorly - crashed as soon as I tried to start a burn.

I have to admit that although CyberLink is sloooow with their responses to tech support questions, they've always answered, and given me new ideas to try - no-one has blown me off and told me that there is nothing that they can do, which is cool. I'm thinkin' that this PowerDirector software is probably pretty darned good overall, but maybe my file was too large or maybe it is a hardware or software incompatibility issue.

[Chewy]

without some sort of log file any software is crap, nero for all it's problems
has probably the best log system for troubleshooting issues like yours

to start we need a burn log showing your burner, it's firmware and the media
used and burn speed