DVD-Video burning: frequently asked questions

DVD-Video burning: frequently asked questions

Here are answers to some common questions about DVD-Video burning in Windows DVD Maker. To learn more about how to burn a DVD using Windows DVD Maker, see Burn a DVD-Video disc with Windows DVD Maker.

 What devices can I use to play a DVD that I've burned in Windows DVD Maker?

You can play a DVD on a standard DVD player connected to your TV, or on your computer by using a media player (installed on your computer) that can play DVDs. To play the DVD on your computer, you must have DVD-playback software installed.

 What type of recordable DVDs should I use when burning a DVD using Windows DVD Maker?

The type of recordable DVD you should use depends on your DVD burner, as well as your DVD player. Some DVD burners can only burn to certain types of recordable DVDs. For example, with some DVD burners, you can only burn to DVD+R or DVD+RW discs, or to DVD-R or DVD-RW discs, while other DVD burners will let you burn to many different types of recordable DVDs.

Likewise, some DVD players and DVD-ROM drives play only certain kinds of recordable DVDs. To determine what types of DVDs your DVD player or DVD-ROM drive in your computer can play, check the documentation that came with your device or go to the manufacturer's website. In general, many standard DVD players can play DVD+R or DVD-R discs.

As long as your DVD burner supports burning to these types of discs, you can use Windows DVD Maker to burn a DVD using one of the following types of recordable or rewritable DVD discs: DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, or DVD-RW. These recordable or rewritable DVDs can be single or dual-layer (DL) DVDs.

The following table lists the estimated amount of video that can fit on a DVD when burning a DVD using Windows DVD Maker.

DVD media type	Average amount of video and audio
DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD+RW, or DVD-RW	150 minutes
DVD-R DL, DVD+R DL, DVD+RW DL, or DVD-RW DL	300 minutes

 What is the difference between rewritable (DVD+RW/-RW) and write-once recordable (DVD-R/+R) DVDs?

With rewritable DVDs, you can burn to the DVD more than once. When you burn video to a DVD+RW or DVD-RW disc that already has data on it, all existing data on the DVD is deleted, so make sure the DVD doesn't contain data that you want to keep.

With write-once DVD+R and DVD-R discs, you can only burn video to the disc one time.

 What determines how long it will take to burn the DVD?

The following factors determine how long it will take to burn a DVD:

• Available system resources on your computer. The speed of your computer processor, the amount of available hard disk space, your video card, and the amount of memory play a role in determining how long it will take to encode the video and burn it to a DVD.
• Speed of your DVD burner, as well as the type of recordable DVD media you are using. The speed of your DVD burner plays a role in how long it will take to burn the DVD, as does the speed of the recordable DVD discs you use. To learn more about choosing an appropriate burning speed, see Change Windows DVD Maker DVD-Video settings.
• Length of the video and/or slide show on the DVD. When you use Windows DVD Maker to create a DVD, a slide show and all the video and audio must first be converted into a video and audio file format that DVD players can play. During this process, the video is encoded into the MPEG-2 video format and the corresponding audio is converted into Dolby Digital audio. DVDs that have a large amount of video and audio take longer to burn.

 How are scenes created for my DVD?

Scenes are created for your DVD based on the type and number of files that you add to the DVD. You can have more control over how scenes appear on your DVD by understanding how scenes are created in Windows DVD Maker. A DVD can have up to 18 total scenes.

If you add more than one video file or a combination of video files and pictures, then one scene is created for each video file and the slide show.

If there's only one video file or only a slide show on the DVD, then:

• Multiple scenes are created based on time stamps so that video recorded around the same time is kept together (if the video file has time stamps in it).
  Time stamps are added by the DV camera when video is recorded. As a result, the time stamp information appears in the imported video file as well.
• Multiple scenes are created for the added video file by dividing the video into equal lengths and creating a scene for each video segment (if there is no time stamp information in the video file).
• Multiple scenes are created for the slide show by dividing the slide show into equal lengths and creating a scene for each part.

 What can I do if am having problems with video filters in Windows DVD Maker?

If you are having problems that could be associated with video and audio filters, you can try to turn video filters off.