I am running Windows 7 on a Dell desktop computer (XPS if it matters).  Do I need to upgrade the version of MEP.  Can send me a link?

"Can somebody tell me what options to choose to successfully burn an HD video on a BD-R? I am in Canada and I am using Movie Edit Pro 17. Thank you very much."

I know I sound like a heretic, but I would not use Magix to burn things.  It is ok to use Magix to create a video image on the hard drive, but then I use Nero to do the actual burning to disc.  Nero has been the go-to software for burning discs for years now, by a lot of folks. 

These days, frankly, that's all it's good for.  It has come down in the world, but it retained its ability to do burns, at least. That's why I got Magix.  Nero could no longer be counted on to do editing once the world went to hi-def...

I always check data when creating an image with Magix, and it has never failed to report a successful burn.  It failed to make it through a burn-to-disc two times in a row however, and that is when I switched to the latest version of Nero from then on, and have been a happy camper ever since.  If you burn to disc with Nero and it reports a failed burn, you can bet it's probably your burner hardware going south.

Thanks for the reply. I have always been able to burn DVDs with Magix. Before purchasing Nero, I'd like to see if I can at least burn it with Magix. I'm just not sure what settings to choose or if I need an upgrade of MEP....and if so, how/where do I upgrade it? 

Wish I still had support from Magix, but my product is too old. 

Thanks for the reply. I have always been able to burn DVDs with Magix. Before purchasing Nero, I'd like to see if I can at least burn it with Magix. I'm just not sure what settings to choose or if I need an upgrade of MEP....and if so, how/where do I upgrade it? 

Wish I still had support from Magix, but my product is too old. 

Hi,

There's no neeed to purchase Nero.

I have followed the same approach as Arthur for many years, but I use the excellent free burning program ImgBurn.http://www.imgburn.com/

Higher resolution: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4019461/BurnMEPVideo-ImgBurn-3.jpg

Thanks Terry. Do I need to do something first? When I go to the folder, I just see the folder name and no videos. Do I export the video as MEP? I haven't done anything like that. Prior to this, I have just been clicking on burn and Magix handles the rest. Thanks for your help.

Hi

@ ArthurLW

. . . . It failed to make it through a burn-to-disc two times in a row however, and that is when I switched to the latest version of Nero from then on, and have been a happy camper ever since.  If you burn to disc with Nero and it reports a failed burn, you can bet it's probably your burner hardware going south. . . . .

Here I must disagree with you - failure to burn discs more often then not comes down to the quality of the discs.  Using cheap unbranded or shop branded discs is false economy.

MEP failing to burn a disc for me has been a very rare event mainly because I stick to disc manufacturers and types that I have found to be consistent and reliable, in the case of DVD's I also stick to a specific dye.

Burners going south is also a rare event unless they have been physically abused ie had the lens mechanism damaged, or are very old - I have some 10 year old Pioneer drives that are still in service and working fine.

John

Thanks Terry. Do I need to do something first? When I go to the folder, I just see the folder name and no videos. Do I export the video as MEP? I haven't done anything like that. Prior to this, I have just been clicking on burn and Magix handles the rest. Thanks for your help.

OK, yes, my Step 1 assumed you had already rendered the DVD to that specified folder as a set of files and that you knew how to do that. To do so, follow these steps:

1. Start the Burn process just as you have been doing.

2. When MEP 17 completes the rendering stage and asks you to insert a disc, politely refuse by clicking Cancel. And you can then close MEP if you wish, to keep things tidy.

3. Navigate to the DVD folder as already explained and check that your DVD is OK. Use the player of your choice. I prefer VLC. That free program allows me to right click the folder in Explorer and play it  just as if it was a physical disc.

4. Close your player, secure in the knowledge that your multimedia masterpiece is now safely digitised on your HD, and proceed to Step 1 of my previous illustration.

Thanks Terry. When you say start the burn process just as I have been doing, I just click the burn icon and it goes on its way. I'm not sure what  you mean by when MEP 17 completes the rendering stage....

@JohnB:

I never skimp (knowingly).  I find Verbatim Data Life the finest discs money can buy.  I trust them implicitly.  I have never had a disc go bad (other than when I used Magix to burn, or when the hardware was going bad.  In that case it eventually threw a blue screen and when I pulled the plug on it all was well again.  (But then that's ASUS for you.  They are on my do-not-buy list.  )

Argue if you care to, but let's be honest here.  All hardware will fail eventually.  (And I'm sure there are folks who swear by some other brand of discs too.  To each his own.)  But your assumption that I use cheap media is just plain wrong, and unwarranted.  I must have pissed you off somewhere back in time, for you seem to always have something acerbic to come back with.

I thank Terry for seconding the motion about using a third-party burning tool.  Me? 

I have an inherent distrust of free stuff.  I keep wondering what their angle is.  I mean, let's face it.  People who do this for a living need to - and desereve to - make money to live on some kind of way.  I'd rather pay my way up front and be able to expect that the folks on the other end are satisfied with their earnings.

Thanks Terry. When you say start the burn process just as I have been doing, I just click the burn icon and it goes on its way. I'm not sure what  you mean by when MEP 17 completes the rendering stage....

Sooner or later you need to start reading up on the basic stuff in the PDF manual!

I'm posting from my iPad right now, at 11 pm, not my PC, so I'll be brief and without illustrations and recalling detailed steps from memory.

Show me a screenshot or two of how you are 'starting the burn process' and describe what you see as it does so. Here, from Edit mode I click Burn to change modes, click the Burn button, click DVD (you would click Blu-Ray) and then, assuming I didn't want to change any of the settings, I'd start the burn process. MEP would progress slowly through several steps of that, eventually reporting the message I described.

You say you 'just click the burn icon and it goes on its way'. Do you not insert a disc? Did I not say you should not do so? Do you observe the messages being reported?

As they say, the devil is in the detail!

To repeat, what do you do and see!

Hi Terry,

 Here is my process. It  sounds to be what you do. (Yes there is a blank BD-R disc in the burner.)

1. From Edit mode, I click "Burning". From there I choose the template I want, modify the date, and then I click on the Burn icon on the right.

2, I select blu-ray. I choose MPEG-2. Then click the burn icon. I don't see any activity and then I get this:

http://www.magix.info/mcpool11/10/30/18/1F/00/C4/5C/11/E4/A5/A1/DB/8C/45/C4/AA/E5/301AB710C45C11E4B030A0BF45C4AAE5.jpg&mgxid=3701584

The Magix process is not what I was confused about. I was thinking that I had to export the movie or do something with the ImgBurn software.  At present, I have my .MTS files in a folder where the actual edited movie is saved. When I go to select it, I just get an empty folder, so I wasn't quite sure how the ImgBurn software got the files to burn.

Another thing that was different with the HD camera is that the software did not discover the camera. With my old DV camera, I would connect the firewire cable and turn on the camera. Then the video would be captured as I played it. For the HD camera, I ended up inserting the memory card and then dragging the clips off. So I'm wondering if maybe the .MTS files are not going to work because they should be MPEG??

Hi,

I'll jump in here with a question. I have a nice DVD/BD burner in my computer, but, it can't actually write to BD. I had to read the fine-print. The message that I see in your screen shot is that Magix is saying that you can't burn to a BD using the burner. Despite what the salesman said, this may be the case.

You say that you have Nero. Are you able to burn a BD, not DVD, using Nero?

I have an external BD/DVD RW that actually works. In fact, when I bought one, the salesman insisted that I could burn BD's. When I got home, I inspected the box, looked it up, took it back and exchanged it for one that could burn BD's. The salesman was wrong.

Before trying to burn to a BD using Magix, try just copying/burning data (files) onto a BD using Nero or some other program. If you are successful, then your machine can burn to BD, but you need to try this first.

Let us know what happens.

Since my last post, I have done two attempts without the disc in. I did the process above and then hit cancel, as your note instructed. I don't know where the movie goes. So now I am encoding it to a specific folder with the hope that I can navigate to that folder with ImgBurn. I got to this point by clicking Encode in directory here and selecting a directory.  

http://www.magix.info/mcpool11/10/06/93/E4/80/C4/79/11/E4/B8/D6/8D/0D/45/C4/AA/E5/06951D00C47911E4840B982145C4AAE5.jpg&mgxid=3701596

This is what I typically see when burning DVDs, except I am able to leave a DVD in the burner. Maybe the sales guy is wrong. Time will tell. Getting late here, so may not be able to attempt to burn until tomorrow. Thanks all.

OK. You can disregard previous messages. I have figured out how to do this. I am thinking my burner is not writeable, even though I was told. The movie I have done is large and spans over more than one disc. So I made a smaller movie and when I click burn from ImgBurn, I get this:

When I hit cancel (as retry doesn't result in anything different), I get this:

Again I hit cancel, and then I get this:

When I click Yes,  I get this:

So while I do not get a message saying it cannot write to the burner, is this in fact meaning I do not have the DVD/BD writeable capabilities that I was led to believe I had? Perhaps then I just need to get a writeable BD burner.

Thank you to all who took the time to reply. 

Hi

You are correct - the drive is a DVD writer which can read Blu-ray but not write'

The device name is the giveaway in the part DVDRWBD

DVDRW  = DVD ReWriter

BD  =  BD read only

If it was a BD rewriter the BD part would be BD-RE

John

OK. You can disregard previous messages. I have figured out how to do this.

Pleased to hear you've isolated the problem!

I am now the proud owner of a blu-ray writeable burner. I burned the movie using Magix, as I have always done, except when I go to play it in both the PC and in the blu-ray machine, it doesn't play. I have not tried it with ImgBurn, but it really should play as the DVD ones work just fine with Magix. May be I need to change a setting. When I go to burn there are two settings: 

MPEG or  H.264. I picked MPEG. Should lit be H.264??

Well I give up. I tried IMGBurn and Magix and I cannot play the movie on my Sony blu-ray. I am officially stumped. Any ideas?! This is extremely time consuming and no results except two discs gone.

Since my last post, I found out that my blu-ray does not support 1920x1080. So I bought a new one. Sony BDPBX120. It supports it, yet I still cannot play it. This player supports MPEG-2. I have played the video I burned with IMGBurn also. Is this a MAGIX problem or what? Do I need an upgrade? I am using Movie Edit Pro 17. Thank you. 

Hi

This post has been solved here.

John EB