iDVD Sound glitch

[kylek73]

First post, so be kind...

I have used Macs for years, but have just started burning DVD's to my new Lacie External DVD burner. Struggled getting it to work with iDVD until I installed Patchburn, which finally allowed me to burn my first project. Yay! Then tried to make another project, and the burn goes fine, but when I play the DVD on a player other than my Mac, there is a scratchy glitch every five seconds or so. Not so regular as a scratch on a record, but quite frequent. And LOUD. Louder than the audio track (which seems unaffected by the glitch.) I am suspicious that the glitch is actually in the video track somewhere, because there is some random pixelation that accompanies the sound.

A little more info: the DVD project started as photos in iPhoto that were imported into iMovie to add transitions and music, etc. Then from iMovie, I sent it to iDVD to add the theme and burn. This is exactly the same process I used with my first project that went fine, so that is why I am stumped. And as I said, when I play the disc on my Mac, the sound is perfect, but I tried it on my set-top DVD player as well as my PS2 with no luck.

All help is appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[lombarke]

did you use the same media as the first project (dvd-r, dvd+r)?

[rumplestiltskin]

At one time there was a problem using mp3's for the audio in iMovie. The resolution was converting the mp3 back to AIFF and using -that- file for the audio track.

However, your description of the problem makes it pretty clear that the problem is in the burning and not the encoding. First off, always "save as image file" rather than burning directly from iDVD. You'll be able to burn add'l copies at a later date and it really doesn't take any add'l time to do this step. It will also save you the trouble of repeating the whole process should the burn step fail. Secondly (and I think this is where your problem lies), switch to another brand of media. Try Riteks or even Memorex. Stay clear of Verbatim "printables". Other users may have their own media prefs but I usually use the 8X Ritek "+R" discs and burn them at 6x. I rarely get any bad burns.

[kylek73]

To reply to the helpful comments already posted, I used the same type of media (DVD-R) for both burns, but used different brands each time. I have used Maxell and RCA so far. I have a hard time believing the media is at fault, as I have used the Maxell successfully in the past (the RCA's are newer and I haven't tried a different project with them) and the DVD works great in my Mac, just not on a set-top player. This also, unfortunately eliminates the advantage of creating a Disk Image, as the project works great until I move it off my computer. The mystery continues...

[Stridder44]

Wow thats really odd because Im getting the same thing as you! Only I get movie glitches/dvd skips (and around every 5 seconds or so) using TDK DVD-R.