"Media Not Present"

[raygulaskey]

Steve. I love your promo video. I want to be able to preserve the vidoes of my daughter too. I just started by purchasing PE 4. My needs at this point are small. All I am after now is just to be able to record with my mini Sony DV camcorder and then Get the media from the camera and put it onto the computer and then be able to make copies onto DVD that will be able to be shown from any DVD player or maybe any computer. I did post a comment on your forum somewhere else but I will repeat my problem again.
I just bought PE 4. I have been able to Get video from my DV camcorder and put it onto my computer HD. For some reason it seperated my 48 minute recording into 52 short clips. But now I want to write my project to a DVD. I have tried for hours to figure this one out and I am lost. Someone, please help me. I have no hair left on my head. When I go to burn it to DVD from the Share tab, I get a "!" quote saying, "Media not present" Do I need to purchase an authorizing software like Encore to write it to DVD or is it all there within PE 4?

[Steve Grisetti]

Welcome to Muvipix, Ray! And thanks for your kind words on my promo.

Media not present means that you don't have a disc in your disc drive, Ray. That's an easy one! (It could also be that you're putting a DVD+R into a DVD-R drive or vice versa.)

Meantime, rather than tagging onto this tired old thread, you may want to start a brand new one so we can work you through whatever other challenges you're facing.

You're probably a lot closer to getting this disc out than you think!

[Bobby]

There is a "Media Not Present" bug that has been hanging around for quite a while and is very subtle.

Try grouping your clips, then moving them up a track and back down, or group them and right click and Disable, then Enable.

If the problem goes away, you have found (and cured) another instance.

[tiny]

Disable/Enable works best for me.

However, if you have changed the names of the files or any folder names, that would do it too.

[raygulaskey]

OMG. Steve. I hope you are correct. I guess I should have stated that I know I had put a brand new DVD-R in the disc drive. I would have never have guessed it could be something like that. I will try a New DVD+R disc ASAP. I did not know disc drives were picky on the DVD + or - R. Will the DVD be able to be played on any other DVD player or another computer once it is burned? Also Steve, thanks for starting the NEW topic for my question.
Is it normal for the download to break it up into many shorter clips? In my case it was 48 minutes on my recorder into 52 clips downloaded. Is there anything I need to be aware of when it does that? Will it download to the DVD normally without any breaks in the video? How do you group them as Bobby stated? Is there an advantage to grouping
How do I select the project to be burned or is it that the active project is the only way to get to the point of SHARE tab to burn it?
Sorry if these ?'s are so basic. I'm sure I will have have many PE newbie questions for all of you pros out there.
Thanks for the other comments too from Bobby and Tiny.

[Steve Grisetti]

Hey, Ray, have you seen my book on Premiere Elements? It probably answers a good 90% of your questions.

Yes, the program will break up your video as it captures into scenes, based on when the camcorder was stopped or paused. In most cases, this is desirable because, when you're editing, it's easier to work with short clips than with long ones. But that's an option that can be turned on or off, so it's up to you.

The DVD your burn will be of the video you've assembled on your timeline. It will link to the menu markers you've added to this video.

And, no, your home DVD player doesn't care if your DVD is a +R or a -R. It's all pretty much the same, as far as compatibility. Though a good brand (like Verbatim) will increase the odds of your DVD player reading the disc (while Memorex brand discs can be a bit iffier).

But before you rush out and buy a pack of DVD+Rs, check to see which format your DVD burner uses. To do that, open My Computer. This should open a window which shows you all of your computer's drives. Your DVD burner will be there -- listed as either DVD/CD+RW, DVD/CD-R or possible a dual format.

[Bob]

Just a note to follow on to Steves answer. Newer DVD players generally support both +R and -R, but older DVD players may not. I used to have a DVD player that only played -R DVDs. Players also vary on how well they can play home burned DVDs. Using a high quality blank disc like Verbatim or Taiyo Yuden and burning at a slower speed will definitely improve the abilty to be played.

[raygulaskey]

Thank goodness I read your post before I left for Walmart. So, when i go to MY Computer, the list shows that drive to be DVD/CD-RW... but when I do a right click and go to the properties over that drives icon, it shows it as _NEC DVD+RW ND-2100AD.. So which is it then? My computer is a Dell XPS that I bought about 5 years ago. The new pack of disks that I have now are Verbatim DVD-R. I was just going to go out and get the Verbatim DVD+R.... I have a Sony Dual deck player with VHS and recordable DVD player +RW -RW +R -R .. I am guessing it will not matter whick DVD I play in it. My last resort was to just play my mini DV recorder to that player/recorder and just record to it that way. But I do not think that would be a good option. Any insight on that?
I really appreciate you guys here.
Thanks,
Ray

[Chuck Engels]

Ray, the NEC drive in your computer is +R/+RW only from the looks of it. So you cannot use a -R DVD in your DVD burner.

If all you want to do is put the video from your camcorder onto a DVD, without doing any editing, you should use your DVD Recorder.

My last resort was to just play my mini DV recorder to that player/recorder and just record to it that way. But I do not think that would be a good option. Any insight on that

Just like you suggest above might be your best alternative until you decide that you want to edit the video, which you will probably want to do at some point

[raygulaskey]

Yehaaaaa! Steve. you nailed it! I just put in the new DVD+R and it is READY! I am soooo happy now. You have NO idea how frustrating that was to me. Thanks so much. Hopefully my hair will regrow where I pulled it all out. The one video I have downloaded is a 48 minute wedding that I did and I know the newlywed couple is wondering what is wrong with me and why is this taking me so long to make a simple copy for them. Fortunately they are my wifes nephew.
I have already selected one of the nice titles to start out the video and edited the text with their names in the first frame. Then I selected a nice transition to start the actual video. Do I need to set up scenes? If so what is the first easy way to do that? What else would you guys reccomend as an easy thing that I can do that will not take alot of newbie brain power?
Chuck thanks for your reply also. I learned a lot about DVDs at Best Buy this afternoon too. Awesome thing is that they have an external DVD writer that can do everything.
Thanks again!
Ray

[Chuck Engels]

Hi Ray,
Glad you got the DVD sorted out.

You don't have to add markers but you can. If you place the CTI (Current Time Indicator) where you want to place a marker and then press the DVD Marker button. Be sure to add Chapter/Scene markers, not stop markers or main menu markers.

Steve has a great article on DVD Markers here
http://muvipix.com/products.php?subcat_id=41