Arabesk won't accept disc

[Bonnie]

It looks like I breathed a sigh of relief too soon. I got the film added, but now when I attempt to burn the DVD Arabesk keeps asking for a blank DVD to be inserted after I have inserted one. The same dialogue box comes up even after I put a DVD in the tray and it closes. The hour glass works for a couple of minutes, then the dialogue box comes up and the tray opens. I have repeated it 4 times. Finally, the tray did not open so I could get the DVD out. The machine froze and I had to unplug it to turn it off. I checked the settings and they seem to be okay. I tried two different brands of DVD. I don't know what else to try. HELP. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

[CKNewman]

Remember that the Avio works very well, but it does have an older processor, and that means that its a bit slower than newer computers. You have to let the Avio take the time it needs to complete calculations and operations. I always use the Close disk drive door icon (rather than pushing it in by hand) and then give my Cassie time to recognize the disc. Then I start the burning procedure.

[Bonnie]

Thanks for your reply. I need to clarify. I did use the icon/button to close the tray rather than manually closing the tray. After the icon/button was clicked the tray closed, the hour glass came up and ran for a short time ( could hear it). Then the tray openned on its own and the box came up again asking for a DVD to be inserted. This happened 3 times and the fourth time the tray did not open and the hour glass froze and no additional commands could be done. I attempted to turn it off manually and that did not work either. That is when I had to unplug the machine to turn it off. Any ideas to would be greatly appreciated.

Could my machine/burner/hard drive be going? I have not done a distructive re-install of operating system. I didn't want to have to re-install all the other software. Maybe I would have been better off doing it. If it would solve the problem I would do it. There were a couple of times I got misplaced frames now that I think about it. Could that be effecting Arabesk? Open to any and all suggestions. Thanks.

[IanPearson]

Firstly, how long is the story board. It is possible that Arabesk will see this as within the limits of a DVD capacity and fully render the material, but the DVD writer considers there is too much material for the DVD and therefore rejects the disc.

If the story board is near 2 hours long, you may have to shorten it, or if you have opted for uncompressed audio, it can take the content over the DVD capacity. Try re-rendering with audio in compressed mode if not already so.

I seem to remember something similar in the dim and distant past, that turned out to be a DVD burner issue, where the disc would not run up to full speed and therefore kept rejecting the blank DVD. However, if you have successfully written other discs recently, this may be a red herring and my memory is not what it was.

Look at the capacity first and if this is not the problem, then someone may be able to remember the writer issue. Tim seems to remember everything, he might chip in.

Ian

[Bonnie]

Thanks Ian. It is only 58 minutes long but I can try compressing the audio. The burner hums and seems to be turning and then the sound dies down. Then it sounds like it is starting again - like when you reve an engine - dies down and repeats the process a couple of times before it kicks the tray open.

If it is the burner, I'm not sure that I want to put the money into that old a machine. I just use it for home use and family. Is it a big learning curve to learn Bogart? I am just starting a hugh project of editing all of my siblings 8mm films. So I want something that I can count on. Any suggestions on a replacement machine?

Thanks again for your response.

[LouBruno]

Bonnie. Here is a solution that works for me. Even with current ARABESKs.

Do NOT open ARABESK. Place the disc into the DVD drawer while in the main setting window or any window but NOT ARABESK. Let it "buzz" and "whirl" around until it stops.

NOW...open up ARABESK and proceed to burn the disc.

I am curious if this works with the AVIO.

[Bonnie]

Thanks, Lou. But no go. It seems to getting more nosiey - or maybe I;m just paying closer attention to it. As I listen to the burner it sounds like you're trying to start a car with a low battery. Only the reves are farther apart. I'm beginning to think more and more it is the burner. I even tried using another few clips in a different project to see if it made a difference. It was only a minute long. It still did the same thing.

Sooooooooooooo, I guess I'm going to be looking for another machine. Any suggestions for a home user only - might need to be able to expand in the future to HD. Thanks again for your response.

[IanPearson]

Bonnie
If Arabesk is going through the rendering process and we have ruled out the oversized project, then yes, it is beginning to look like a writer issue of some sort.

I think we can rule out a corrupt file as the culprit, since this usually manifests it’s self by starting to write and hangs up somewhere in the write process. Spitting out the disc before the process even starts does not to me suggest a file issue.

Your description of the disc running up to full speed, slowing down and then running up again is normal, but since I obviously cannot hear this, it is difficult to say if you have a problem in this area.

However, before you go down the road of looking for a new machine, you could check the burner firmware version, it is possible that this is an old version and updating might help. To check your firmware version go into “Arabesk” – click “settings”, which is in the miscellaneous section. In the lower box there will be the DVD burner version (e.g. Pioneer DVD-RW DVR-108) and the Firmware version (e.g. 1.20).

Hopefully someone will be able to say if that firmware version is the latest for the burner model.

I’m not sufficiently up on the technicalities in this area, but it may be worth a try, before making the next big step.

Ian

[sparks0335]

Bonnie
I had the very same thing happen to me with my Prestige. It was the pioneer dvr that was bad. I put a new one in, it's worked great since. There is a video on youtube on replacing the dvr in the Prestige. it might be close to the Avio. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N_QLh7cgGo I think this is the link.
JOhn

[LouBruno]

I am in agreement with John. I had the same intermittent noise in a prior unit I owned years back and it was the burner going bad on me.