# I'm Having a Problem with DVD Flick



## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

I posted a thread a little while ago about viewing movies and TV shows that I have on my PC in ".AVI" or ".MPG" or most any other video format.

Vic2PC wrote a suggestion about using DVDFlick to create DVDs from video files and I have been using that freeware app ever since with very few problems. I think it is a magnificent app - given what it was designed to do and given the fact that it is essentially freeware. It does an awful lot for free. At the time of that previous thread, I did not understand why Vic was so enthusiastic about it. But I can understand that now. It is an incredibly delicious piece of freeware.

By the way, one of the options you are offered by DVD Flick, is to either create a DVD directly from a video file (or group of files) or to create an .ISO file which can then be used to create a DVD directly. I usually choose to create a single .ISO file because that leaves me the freedom to then create a DVD later or to create multiple DVDs at any later time of my choosing. I hardly ever create more than one DVD at a time, but it's very convenient to know that if I ever want to create multiple DVDs, I can create as many as I like directly from the .ISO file. It takes about 45 minutes to an hour to create an .ISO file but then only about 5 or 10 minutes to create a DVD from that .ISO file. So, imo, it's worth storing .ISO files for DVDs that you value.

Unfortunately, I've been having one problem using DVD Flick that seems to recur with certain files.

The problem is that DVD Flick runs most of the way through to completion but then halts and produces an error message. It says something about not being able to find a file or a group of files. But it's not clear just what file or files it cannot find.

Once DVD Flick produces that error message, it is very rare (only about 5% of the time) that it will then create a DVD or .ISO file successfully from the same source file or group of files. About 90 percent of the time it will not successfully run through to completion using the same input video file(s) - no matter how many times I try to run it again. Although in about 10 percent of the cases, it will run the next time with no problem. And so perhaps it is just some kind of crazy transient error?

I will save the error messages and files that it produces next time this happens. But when it happens, it produces a great deal of text but it is never clear as to what the problem is - at least not to me.

I'm hoping that Vic2PC or someone else who is familiar with DVD Flick may know what causes this problem and may be able to help me. I tried sending Vic2PC a private message. But he has disabled that capability.

Would anyone know what the cause of this error is? I have tried to run it through to completion many times with a given problem video file and although the source file(s) play flawlessly, I keep getting the same error message. I am stumped as to what the problem might be.

P.S. I forgot to say that at the time of writing the previous thread, my goal was to be able to take video files residing on my PC and play them on my TV. At the time, the consensus seemed to be that I should get a video card that supported HDMI and use that to play those files. I did get a DPMI video card and although it was a big improvement over my VGA and DVI video cards, it was not as good as being able to create a DVD.

However, after much experimentation, I found that is not the best solution (at least in my opinion) and it is much better to use the excellent freeware app "DVD Flick" to create a DVD and then play that using either a physical DVD player or some app that emulates a DVD player and contains the features I need. 

I am still learning, however, and I'm willing to consider any and all suggestions and perhaps learn some alternative methods.


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## Oddba11 (May 13, 2011)

I don't have your answer.

With that said, I considered that to be a HUGE waste of time. You can get a Divx certified DVD player, burn the files onto CD/DVD as data (ie: in the format you have them on your PC), and play them directly from disc. Then you don't waste time creating each disc.

As for your P.S., it sounds like a configuration issue. ALL file conversions reduce the video quality. So the best they can/will look is in their native format on your PC. If the video output from your PC to the TV looks worse than the DVD playback, you have a configuration issue. 

And your terms are incorrect. I assume by DPMI you mean HDMI? VGA is a video connector. DCI I have no idea what you mean, possibly DVI (a digital video connector).


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## fairnooks (Oct 1, 2007)

If you are playing a video file from your hard drive directly to a HDTV through a HDMI connection, the image quality should be much better than any DVD quality, provided the source video is high quality (hi def) of course.

We used to burn a lot of video to DVD using DVDFlick, never had the problem you're describing so don't have an answer there except to make sure you always have lots of disk room available for rendering and creating the .ISO file.

We've since moved on to a network media player that can stream NetFlix if desired (and paid for) and also any file from a shared media drive, through the media player via HDMI to a 65" HDTV and the quality isn't just a little bit better than DVD...its STUNNINGLY better; so we can't go back to DVD any more if we can help it. We save that for relatives who don't get to see it any other way. : )


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

Oddba11 said:


> I don't have your answer.
> 
> With that said, I considered that to be a HUGE waste of time. You can get a Divx certified DVD player, burn the files onto CD/DVD as data (ie: in the format you have them on your PC), and play them directly from disc. Then you don't waste time creating each disc.
> 
> ...


So sorry. You are correct. I meant HDMI and DVI.

I bought a DVD Player/Recorder but found there were many problems with it. I would be willing to buy another one (they cost about $300) if I knew how to do what you describe.


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

fairnooks said:


> If you are playing a video file from your hard drive directly to a HDTV through a HDMI connection, the image quality should be much better than any DVD quality, provided the source video is high quality (hi def) of course.
> 
> We used to burn a lot of video to DVD using DVDFlick, never had the problem you're describing so don't have an answer there except to make sure you always have lots of disk room available for rendering and creating the .ISO file.
> 
> We've since moved on to a network media player that can stream NetFlix if desired (and paid for) and also any file from a shared media drive, through the media player via HDMI to a 65" HDTV and the quality isn't just a little bit better than DVD...its STUNNINGLY better; so we can't go back to DVD any more if we can help it. We save that for relatives who don't get to see it any other way. : )


Very interesting. Thanks very much for the info. I will look into this.


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

Oddba11 said:


> I don't have your answer.
> 
> With that said, I considered that to be a HUGE waste of time. You can get a Divx certified DVD player, burn the files onto CD/DVD as data (ie: in the format you have them on your PC), and play them directly from disc. Then you don't waste time creating each disc.
> 
> ...


I thank you very much for your info. I assume you are correct and that it would be to my advantage to get a Divx certified DVD player and proceed as you have outlined.

I have purchased ordinary DVD players in the past. They are very inexpensive now. I have also purchased a DVD Recorder/Player for about $300. My main concern is that the cable companies are now making most of their programming impossible to record - even by my $300 expensive DVD recording/reading players. So, I'm worried that any money I spend on a DVD player might be a waste if I can't record the new programming onto DVDs as "data" as you suggest. Any ideas about that?

Are the Divx certified DVD players to which you referred much more expensive than the ordinary inexpensive DVD players? Can you give me a rough idea how much one would cost me?

Thanks very much.


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## fairnooks (Oct 1, 2007)

They're as cheap as regular DVD players. We have a couple of them; like I said, they don't get much use anymore. One thing is ours has a USB port so one can actually play a file through the DIVX DVD player on a flash drive. Ours was only USB 1.1 so the video stream could not be too hi-res.


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## Rzurass (Mar 22, 2012)

We used to burn a lot of video to DVD using DVDFlick, never had the problem you're describing so don't have an answer there except to make sure you always have lots of disk room available for rendering and creating the .ISO file.


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

Rzurass said:


> We used to burn a lot of video to DVD using DVDFlick, never had the problem you're describing so don't have an answer there except to make sure you always have lots of disk room available for rendering and creating the .ISO file.


That may well be the problem.

When adding files to a DVD, I can never tell exactly when I've added too many.

There is a long vertical bar that shows a percentage sign of approx how full the DVD is.

When you exceed the capacity, that bar turns red and it seems to give a warning that you have added too many files and if you burn the DVD, it would exceed the capacity. But it is very difficult to tell with any precision exactly how much space your DVD requires.

It is unlike Nero that gives you an exact figure as to how much space your DVD will require. I find the entire issue of capacity using DVD Flick to be very nebulous - very difficult to tell.

So, it would be no wonder to me if the capacity figure was exceeded and that could well be the cause of the problem.

The only problem with that is that often, when I get this error, I just re-run the DVD burn using the exact same files and it works the second time I run it. So, I'm guessing this doesn't really explain the problem.

In any event, I believe that Oddball is correct and it would be much more efficient to purchase a DIvx certified DVD player and burn data files directly to DVDS.

The only difficulty there arises if I want to give a home-made DVD to a friend. The will expect the DVD to come in the same format as the ones they buy in the store and are likely unable to handle any other format and I don't really want to take the time and trouble to explain to them about Divx certivied DVD players. But that only arises rarely.

I'm still investigating and not sure what I will do at this time I sure would love to hear any other ideas.

Very sorry Oddball. I have been attributing your remarks to Fairnooks when they were actually your remarks and you are the one I want to thank for telling me about Divx DVD players.

Actually, I want to thank both of you for that information and I need to figure out now what to do with my DPMI video card and the $20 DVI cable I bought so that my monitor would work.

This was a very confusing transormation for me and I'm very grateful to a numer of people who have helped me get everything working.


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

When you say "ALL file conversions reduce the video quality" ... Have you heard of "lossless" files? I know they have been developed for audio files but am not sure if they also exist for video files. There is a technique that enables people to convert audio files to a new kind of format that is a little larger than mp3 files but can be decoded back to their exact original state.

In other words, you don't lose any of the sound quality. This can be done by recognizing certain anomolies in the files like a specific note that plays without change for a specific time period. In this way the original tune can be reproduced without any loss of the sound quality.

It's a very nifty technique and if it also applies to video files, it may just be something that would appeal to you.


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## Oddba11 (May 13, 2011)

You could also get a device such as the WD Live > http://www.wdc.com/en/products/homeentertainment/mediaplayers/


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## Wallenberg (Jan 23, 2006)

Thanks for the tip. I'll take a good look at it.


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