Apex DVD players cannot function with TMPGEnc DVD Author

[c2p]

I have been noticing this and is really bugging me.

I can backup a dvd and it playback fine.

I can create my own menu and no matter what, I have tried 4 Apex dvd players and they all do this-

When the menu pops up, it will NOT let u navigate through the menu. A hand shows up meaning can't use button i guess.

Also, it's hell just to get to the next track on the disc with a menu.

I have tried this with 3 different discs, all 3 discs have more than one track.

Disc 1 had 3 tracks.
Disc 2 had 2 tracks.
Disc 3 had 3 tracks.

All discs, all files per disc were transcoded the exact same way as all other movies on disc.

There is just something about the menus TMPGEnc generates that Apex hates. Anybody else have this problem hopefully....Any info on how to fix?

I would try to not make a menu but have heard that using multiple tracks, i may have compatibility issues so i tend not to even go there, hehe.

[c2p]

Anyone have this problem?

I can't put no more than 1 track on a disc unless i want to experience this problem.

Apex is the ONLY dvd player so far that has a problem with menus... It's killin me.

[sarahjh69]

more likely to be your recording proggy than
the APEX player or DVD author.

Try recording with Sonic Recordnow, Nero is pooh
for mastering dvds.

[c2p]

If that would be the case, then why does the cds play in Cyberhome, Pioneer, Samsung, and Apex's as long as there is no menu and not more than 1 track?

I have been reading elsewhere that using the autochapter feature in tmpgenc dvd author tends to give apex dvd players problems on playback!

This may be the problem but havent checked yet

[Stryker-1]

I've done both auto-chapter and manual chapter creating with DVD Author and never had a problem. I've played these resulting DVDs in many players and never had a problem except once in an old Panasonic. I would manually create chapters and see if that fixes your problem.

[sarahjh69]

how did i know you were using Nero then??

[c2p]

i dont know.

I did some readin as the dvd author help guide says to burn dvd video as DVD-ROM UDF/ISO and force dvd-video compatiblity but from doing it and reading about it, there is no difference so that eliminates doin different things with nero.

I also was reading about people who have used nero and sonic recordnow max and it's like a 50/50 thing.

A lot of people cant use nero, yet a lot of people cant use recordnow max due to coasters as well.

I just dont understand, if lets say nero was the problem, that just a software prog as popular as nero could possibly do this.

I mean, it plays back freezin and skippin but only on apexs, hehe. If i do a normal backup of a movie, it will NEVER do it, and i mean NEVER. IT ALWAYS plays back fine. That's another point to add to the unknown, hehe.

IF i dont manually author a movie, its fine. If i author a movie due to more than 1 clip being on there, uh oh..... trouble, hehe.

I guess that's some more ideas to ponder in our heads.

As soon as i get time, i will do some tests for a few days until i cant think of anything else, hehe

[echooff]

I use tmpg dvdauthor and burn with nero and all of my dvds play perfect on my apex player. I do a lot of multiple episode tv series captures. I used to periodically have problems until I made it a practice to always get vts sectors with ifoedit. Since then no problems.

[sarahjh69]

there are 100 different versions of nero
those labelled v6.0.0.0 to v6.0.0.22
have major faults when mastering dvds

and generally movies burnt with Nero work
on far less standalones than movies burnt with recordnow.

[c2p]

i'm using 6.3.1.6

I will try sonic Recordnow Max here shortly to see what happens, :)

[disturbed1]

Which APEX players do you have problems with?

When I make a menu and multi track DVDs with TMPG DVD Author, they work on all of my Apex players. 500A, 500w, 5131, 1100w, 1110w, 7701. And family's 660 and 703.

I've always used the built in burning app, both the old PX engine based and the updated Gear ASPI based. Along with img tools classic to make an image and DVD Decrypter to burn.

[c2p]

IT is having problems on-
AD1200
AD1201
600A can't even read my discs(Piodata and Sonic)
and i have tried my piodatas and sonic on an 1100w and has played fine but have not tried that player with what problems i am having.

[disturbed1]

Originally posted by c2p
IT is having problems on-
AD1200
AD1201
600A can't even read my discs(Piodata and Sonic)
and i have tried my piodatas and sonic on an 1100w and has played fine but have not tried that player with what problems i am having.

You should try some higher quality media. Cheap media could be your problem. Apex doesn't exactly have the highest quality laser for read back. Menu structures are different to read compared to that of the video. Most programs encode still menus at 8.0mbs, it requires a high quality laser and a high quality disc to be able to produce data at that rate. Any problem I've ever had with cheap media occurs durning the menus, and the last 1/8 of the disc.

You can also try to reduce your write speed to get you through the current batch of media you have. Grab some RWs too for testing.

[c2p]

got em and ur gonan love the following as it makes no sense either-

I'm gonna be usin sonic for a while now as it plays in everything i own fine.

I have rws so i can do testing.

These sonic cds are rated for 4x but if u burn them at 2x, they will NOT play in anything! You must burn them at 4x!

I have never had a problem with cheap media. I've used these discs in other cheap priced players such as cyberhome and it loves it as well.

It's just apex dvd players. Sicne u did bring up the fact about menu possibly messed up when burning, i'm gonna try to make a cd w\o a menu as well and see what happens.

[c2p]

ok this is what i have came up with.

I took a cd where the menu was non-navigationable and elt me explain whats on the disc and in what order-

DVD menu with a total of 6 tracks-
Track 1 - MPEG 2 352x480
Track 2 - MPEG 2 720x480
Track 3 - MPEG 2 352x480
Track 4 - MPEG 2 352x480
Track 5 - MPEG 1 352x240
Track 6 - MPEG 1 352x240

All tracks are 29.97 fps.
Track 2 has 37 chapters in it.
Track 4 has 2 video clips in it but both encoded the same.

I have found out that in order to navigate on the menu now, u must hit the shift button on the remote control to be able to choose whatever. Weird!! Anyways, onto playback-

Tracks 1, 5, and 6 have stuttering problems. They will play for 5 sec, freeze for 1 sec then continue to play. The audio doesn't cut out.

This is what i have done so far-

I took this disc, put it in my pioneer, everything is fine, navigation is fine and all 6 tracks play fine, no stuttering.

I then copy the disc to a DVD-RW to test to see if the media is at fault. I burned it, stuck the dvd-rw in the apex, same problem duplicated so its not the media.

Next, i am going to take track 1 that has a stuttering problem, run it through tmpgenc dvd author and output a new vob for it without a menu, just the clip and see if it still stutters or not. If it does, i will try the other 2 tracks and see if they do.

[c2p]

OK, this is official what all i have just done and came up with-

Apex model - AD1201

Remember, Track 1, 5, and 6 are stuttering-

I copied only track 1 with no menu and it still stuttered-

MPEG-2 352x480 4:3 NTSC 29.97 stamped bitrate at 3,500 kbps

Next, since even without a menu it still stuttered, i then made a menu with track 3 and track 6.

Track 3 had no problem so i took a good track and a bad one and put them on a disc(each on their on track)

The menu again requires the shift button to be pressed to navigate so it must be the limitations of the dvd player reading custom menus.

I go to play track 3, track 3 plays fine.
Also again, it will NOT let me hit next track, i get the "hand" which means cant use button.

Now, i go to track 6 from the menu. Track 6 stutters!!

Here is the info on all 6 tracks to determine if someone can give me some info, maybe Apex has a limit on the stamped bitrate and res used, i dont know but here it is anyway-

I already gave ya track 1 so here is 2-6

Track 2 - MPEG-2 720x480 4:3 NTSC 29.97 8800 kbps (plays fine)
Track 3 - MPEG-2 352x480 4:3 NTSC 29.97 3000 kbps (plays fine)
Track 4 - MPEG-2 352x480 4:3 NTSC 29.97 2000 kbps (plays fine)
Track 5 - MPEG-1 352x240 4:3 NTSC 29.97 0 kbps (stutters)
Track 6 - MPEG-1 352x240 4:3 NTSC 29.97 0 kbps (stutters)

I do not know why track 5 and 6 are stamped at 0 but i do know that both of those were encoded with tmpgenc with min bitrate at 0 and max around 750 or so using CQ.

The only thing i can figure is if it does have to do with the bitrate transfer on the dvd player, that would mean for 720x480, it can handle that high bitrate but as well, it cant handle dips as low as near 0 either if thats problem, any suggestions?

[disturbed1]

Your problem doesn't really have anything to do with TMPG DVD author, but your source files and your Apex player. You could blame TDA for allowing the files to pass though.

Hitting the shift button on the remote is a function limitation of the remote. There are a couple of other Apex remotes that operate the same way.

There is a know limitation with Apex players and MPEG1 files authored on DVD. In order for Apex (some of mine anyways ;) ) to play MPEG1 authored to DVD correctly, they should to be encoded at 1150kbs with constrained parameter enabled.

Load your MPEG1 into Scenarist or Reel DVD, if they reject it, it won't play correctly.

Though TMPG does do some compliancy checks on the source files (resolution/FPS to system type check, GOP sequence header check), just because it accepts the file, you can not gaurentee 100% compliant projects. That's a reason why the 2 Sonic products listed above cost so much more money. The DVDit! series is also kind of strict, but not nearly as much as the Daikin coded products.

You can forget using any Spruce Product (Maestro, Spruce Up, Fusion) to author MPEG1 projects. It doesn't handle it correctly for all set tops either.

If you stick to 352x480 or 720x480 MPEG2 files encoded within the DVD Specs, you should have almost 0 problems with any TMPG DVD Author project and set top players.

My advice would be to re-encode the problematic source files to either 352x480 or 720x480 mpeg2. There will be some quality loss, but at least it will play.

Also again, it will NOT let me hit next track, i get the "hand" which means cant use button.


This again is a limitation of the DVD Player. Most DVD players will go to the next track, but since TDA doesn't offer the ability to define "end actions", the DVD player doesn't know what to do next. Other DVD players have the default action programed into the firmware, but not all. If you upgrade to a more advance authoring package that allows you to define your connections, it will solve this problem. DVDLab is a cost effective solution, may contain other "problems" that TDA doesn't.

You can also pair DVDRemake with TDA to add in Pre Commands, Post Commands, and Cell Commands. This would make a perfect bundle, as will also allow you to define the button colors, and button actions, which are both a sevre limitation with TDA.

[c2p]

now i think the dvd player completely sucks!

Here is why i say that-

I made 6 files using CQ min 1100 with different max bitrates with padding enabled.
Max bitrates are-
3000,3100,3200,3300,3400,3500

It stuttered on all of em.

Next, i made 2 more files-

One CQ - min 1000 max 1500 padding enabled
The other- CBR at 2000

It stuttered on both of them!!

Yet, it can play backup dvds fine?!?!

I give up now.

[c2p]

Just got done testing MPEG-1 at 1150 kbps, it stuttered?!?!

Strange thing is i have made other video clips before and it played fine, now it just wants to stutter on everything.