Can't get film to render in Arabesk

[Christopher6206]

Hello! After spending hours editing my film and then creating the disc in Arabesk with 24 chapter points and a chapter menu, Arabesk chews on the material for a few minutes and then says "There was an error burning the disc". Well that's not very helpful. I checked over modulation on the audio and a few other things and everything seems fine. I am using Render Booster and the RB comes up in the render film window when I try to burn the disc. (Though not initially) The preview of the disc works too. I decided after 3 failed attempts and changing out the disc each time to try rendering without Render Booster. So far so good on that but it won't be finished until tomorrow morning. If anyone has any suggestions please advise, thanks.

[CKNewman]

I don't know if this relates to your problem, but I have read that the Render Booster can get very hot and can actually stop working properly under the right conditions. I have read that one solution is not to use it when rendering DVDs and another is to aim a small fan at it to keep it running cooler. I think I have also read that some users unplug it when rendering DVDs.

[bethklinger]

Chris, I'm assuming you're trying to create an SD disc? If so, when you finish a project, make a scene of your storyboard then take it into a new (SD) project, split up your chapters there, put the scenes on that storyboard then UNPLUG the RB with the machine off, restart and create your disc in Arabesk from THAT project. Sounds like a lot of steps but really not. Also, I tell everyone to NOT leave the render booster plugged in all the time, as Craig said, when they get hot and do funky things.
Beth Klinger

[Christopher6206]

Thanks all. This is an HD project. I'm familiar with the precautions when using Render Booster. When using it I use a small fan to blow on it to keep it cool. It was my understanding that the Render Booster USB connector is only utilized when actively using the Render Booster program in Arabesk or in Backing up the storyboard. So I typically leave it plugged in all the time. I usually only use it when I'm burning an HD project in Arabesk whether I'm making an HD Blu Ray or an SD DVD. (Using Render Booster with back up storyboard options has not worked well for me) Either way the data has to be compressed and that is what Render Booster was designed to do, not only speed up Render times but also compressing the data in such a way that it would allow for more video to be encoded at a higher data compression, with no loss in quality, resulting in longer films to be put on a single layer Blu Ray disc or DVD. But yesterday the rendering was only active for a few minutes before I got the error. I don't think that would be long enough to cause a problem. The manual recommends using a fan to cool the unit only with long renders. Since I knew this would take around 2 hours to render I was using the fan.,

SO after 20 hours of rendering without the booster, Arabesk made a fine looking Blu Ray disc with all my chapters. Alas, the 1st chapter page was missing it's arrow for selecting the next page and the title on the main menu was off center, (that part I can live with). These arrows are usually added in automatically so I didn't think to check that before burning/rendering. The arrows were on all the other pages. SO I added the arrow in on the first chapter page and tried to burn another disc. I have complained about this in other posts, Arabesk is re rendering the entire film. I'll have to wait another 20 hours for the finished disc because I added an arrow in the chapter menu. Last time I moved some text that had gotten off center on one of the chapter thumbnails, and Arabesk proceeded to re render the entire film. Fortunately that time Render Booster was working properly so I only had to wait a few hours for the new disc. Still, I don't remember this happening in previous versions of Arabesk. If I made a disc and there was a typo or something on the chapter or main menu, I would just correct it and Arabesk would create the new menu and burn the disc. No need to re render the entire film. Also something missing in Arabesk 6 is the ability to render the film without clicking on burn disc. My S-4000 pro uses Arabesk 4.1g. I can render a film without burning it.

Once this burn is done, I'm going to try and re install Render Booster before making the SD version of the film. I will post the results.

[bethklinger]

I Still find the best precaution for render booster is to unplug it when not needed.
Beth Klinger

[Christopher6206]

I had typed this out in full but was interrupted and when I tried to submit it, the forum erased all my text after making me log in again so here it is in outline form.

Deleted Render Booster after shutting down machine and removing the Render Booster USB from the back
Attempted to re install Render Booster from the "All software disc" per instructions in the manual and on the macrosystem website
Render Booster was not found.
Downloaded latest copy of All Software disc, Render Booster not on that either
Joel Brooks says maybe Render Booster is on the OS disc, not "All software"
Decide to make DVD of HD material anyways without render booster

Made a DVD (SD) in Arabesk of an HD program with main and chapter menu of 24 chapters
My understanding was with Arabesk 6 you could save all menus and chapters, and change the output format and media type in order to make an SD DVD of an HD project. But it doesn't work. Menu fonts on DVDs are larger and throw off the entire design and functionality of the menu. I had to re do the entire 24 chapter thumbnails and titles. Thought Arabesk would be a time saver in this regard. Saving menu as a template doesn't work either as the saved template doesn't include the thumbnails or the titles underneath them. Also I had to add in all the arrows that move the chapter menu from page to page.
Downconversion went way faster.
8 hours later Arabesk said "There was an error burning the disc"
Shut down Karat, tried to re burn, disc works great

Both Blu Ray disc and DVD have the main title skewed left when it's supposed to be centered.

Did a soft re install of the OS, render booster shows up. Haven't tried using it yet.

Disappointing but at least I got it all to work finally. Am I asking too much of this program?

[JBrooks]

Sorry to hear about the hoops you went through but yes, render booster loads with the OS itself, not separately.

Joel

[Christopher6206]

So time to make a new film in Arabesk, after the OS is (softly) reinstalled and Render Booster reactivated. Everything worked fine. So I guess re installing the OS thereby re installing Render Booster did the trick. This time I had no chapter menu. After the burn and I check the disc, I see that I should have used "Underline" text for activating the film. (It was set to "highlight text" which makes the text unreadable). So I changed that and put in a new disc. To my delight, Arabesk did not re render the entire film. It only re created the menu which took about 2 minutes. So I Iearned something there. Changes to the main menu, not a problem. Changes to the chapter menu, no matter how small, Arabesk will re render everything.

[Brenda]

Good information re changes to menus. Thanks for sharing that. Sorry you had so much difficulty. I assume that a "soft" SW install is an update rather than a complete reinstall. I really recommend doing a complete reinstall when you can to get rid of any misplaced pixels.

[Brenda]

Good information re changes to menus. Thanks for sharing that. Sorry you had so much difficulty. I assume that a "soft" SW install is an update rather than a complete reinstall. I really recommend doing a complete reinstall when you can to get rid of any misplaced pixels.