Burning to Blu-Ray

Operaman wrote on 1/23/2018, 3:54 PM

I've been away from MEP (Plus) since MEP MX Plus; and because I'm currently constrained by 32 bit hardware, I have just upgraded to MEP2014. I have an external Blu-Ray drive (ASUS SBC-06D2X-U), and I am able to select that device in the burn dialog. After about 4 hours of processing time (1 hour of Sony Handycam AVCHD source material), MEP2014 ejects the disc asking me to insert a blank one (a blank BD-R was already inserted). After several attempts nothing ever gets written to the disc. And its not clear to me how the BD files are prepared (this is my first time with BD; I've had good success on MEP MX writing DVDs before). I'd be open to trying this function in 2 phases, first writing the BD files to my hard drive, and then writing the files to BD Disc using Speed BurnR (or similar). Any help or points to other BD burning posts would be greatly appreciated.

When I click on Disc Information... the popup dialogue says "Not a blank CD", when in fact it is a brand new BD-R loaded in the (ASUS) device.

When I attempt to use this disk (I opted to use files from prior encoding), MEP ejects and says the following:

When I insert (yet another) brand new disc, it spins for about 20 - 30 seconds and ejects that disc and says the following:

However, nothing has been written to the disc.

Comments

emmrecs wrote on 1/24/2018, 3:30 AM

Hi.

First, can you read this post and supply all the information requested there. It could very easily be relevant to your problem!

Second, MEP 2014 is now a relatively "old" version (I fully understand about the 32 bit hardware and OS restrictions you have) but I think it should be easily capable of exporting to BD.

Third, when exporting to DVD or BD I always use the Image Recorder option in MEP/VPX. On the Burn screen dropdown where your burner is listed you should have the choice also of Image Recorder. This creates ALL the files and a disc burning "image" (.iso) file on your hard drive. You can then use any standard disc burning program to create the actual disc.

However, and this is where the details of your computer become very relevant, the amount of RAM you have available to MEP to process the export (I realise 32 bit cannot use more than about 3.25GB) and the amount of free space on your Hard Drive can each adversely affect your computer's ability to successfully export to BD. In the latter case, and especially with a 32 bit OS you will need sufficient space equivalent to considerably more than the total size of the resulting BD files.

HTH

Jeff

Operaman wrote on 1/24/2018, 7:27 AM

Following are some of specs from my System Information log. I have tonnes of space on my Hard Drive, RAM as you mentioned is constrained by the 32 bit limitation. I'd attempted to burn the image to my hard drive, but the PDF manual is very light on which types of files are exported and how those files would then be written to BD-R as a second step. Any tips or details you could provide as to the file structure and how those files would then be written to BD-R in that 2nd step would be appreciated. [System Information follows]. Thanks!

System Information report written at: 01/24/18 07:12:07
System Name: DESKTOP-R91IMQP
[System Summary]

Item   Value
OS Name   Microsoft Windows 10 Pro
Version   10.0.16299 Build 16299
Other OS Description    Not Available
OS Manufacturer   Microsoft Corporation
System Name   DESKTOP-R91IMQP
System Manufacturer   LENOVO
System Model   4313CTO
System Type   X86-based PC
System SKU
Processor   Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU M 560 @ 2.67GHz, 2667 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 4 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date   LENOVO 6MET81WW (1.41 ), 2010-10-26
SMBIOS Version   2.6
Embedded Controller Version   1.24
BIOS Mode   Legacy
BaseBoard Manufacturer   LENOVO
BaseBoard Model   Not Available
BaseBoard Name   Base Board
Platform Role   Mobile
Secure Boot State   Unsupported
PCR7 Configuration   Binding Not Possible
Windows Directory   C:\WINDOWS
System Directory   C:\WINDOWS\system32
Boot Device   \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Locale   United States
Hardware Abstraction Layer   Version = "10.0.16299.98"
User Name   DESKTOP-R91IMQP\dlars
Time Zone   Central Standard Time
Installed Physical Memory (RAM)   6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory   2.92 GB
Available Physical Memory   455 MB
Total Virtual Memory   4.17 GB
Available Virtual Memory   940 MB
Page File Space   1.25 GB
Page File   C:\pagefile.sys
Virtualization-based security   Not enabled
Device Encryption Support   Reasons for failed automatic device encryption: PCR7 binding is not supported, Hardware Security Test Interface failed and device is not InstantGo, Un-allowed DMA capable bus/device(s) detected, TPM is not usable
Hyper-V - VM Monitor Mode Extensions   Yes
Hyper-V - Second Level Address Translation Extensions   Yes
Hyper-V - Virtualization Enabled in Firmware   No
Hyper-V - Data Execution Protection   Yes

Drive   E:
Description   CD-ROM Drive
Media Loaded   No
Media Type   DVD Writer
Name   ASUS SBC-06D2X-U USB Device
Manufacturer   (Standard CD-ROM drives)
Status   OK
Transfer Rate   -1.00 kbytes/sec
SCSI Target ID   0
PNP Device ID   USBSTOR\CDROM&VEN_ASUS&PROD_SBC-06D2X-U&REV_D301\3248433031354B4A30303030&0
Driver   c:\windows\system32\drivers\cdrom.sys (10.0.16299.15, 114.00 KB (116,736 bytes), 2017-09-29 5:49 AM)

[Drives]

Item   Value
Drive   C:
Description   Local Fixed Disk
Compressed   No
File System   NTFS
Size   698.15 GB (749,629,075,456 bytes)
Free Space   563.85 GB (605,428,793,344 bytes)
Volume Name
Volume Serial Number   28C84C31

Drive   D:
Description   CD-ROM Disc

Drive   E:
Description   CD-ROM Disc

johnebaker wrote on 1/24/2018, 7:44 AM

When you use the Image recorder and ISO file will be created in the location you specified in the Burn dialog, also in the Disc Images folder - you may need to locate this depending on whether you are using the default files and folder locations when MEP is installed - you will also see a folder containing all the necessary files etc for the BD as shown below

Using a lap top with an external USB writer can have issues with Windows will turn it off if it is not used after a while, especially if just running on the battery - this depends on the Power management settings for the USB ports - and it may not be turning back on fast enough so MEP thinks it is not there and aborts the writing.

Check what the power management settings are for the USB ports for when running on battery and on the power pack.

HTH

John EB

emmrecs wrote on 1/24/2018, 8:59 AM

Just to add to what John has written: any disc burning software which is able to burn from a disc image will convert the .ISO file and burn all the necessary files, folders etc. to your BD. (The .ISO file is simply a zipped file containing ALL the components needing to be burned to the actual disc.)

HTH

Jeff

Operaman wrote on 1/24/2018, 9:44 AM

Thanks folks. I'll give it a whirl. If still no joy, I'll probably revert to burning on the native DVD drive, which I have done successfully before (with MEP MX). Cheers!

Operaman wrote on 1/24/2018, 11:00 AM

Using a lap top with an external USB writer can have issues with Windows will turn it off if it is not used after a while, especially if just running on the battery - this depends on the Power management settings for the USB ports - and it may not be turning back on fast enough so MEP thinks it is not there and aborts the writing.

Check what the power management settings are for the USB ports for when running on battery and on the power pack.

The external BD (ASUS) drive connects to the laptop with a Y USB cable; i.e. it uses 2 x USB ports for power / connection to laptop. The laptop is plugged into A/C transformer and not running just off of battery, so shouldn't be power issues. My next step is to do some write testing with the drive outside of MEP to check that it is working. Switching to DVD if no joy there.

Operaman wrote on 1/24/2018, 1:45 PM

OK, so it looks like I should have checked the ASUS Model Specifications page first. It looks like writing to BD is not supported on this particular model, only reading of BD. Writing of various DVD and CD formats are only supported. Thank you all for your support and providing options for Image Recording method. Cheers!