Now what did I do??!!

After adding a DVD menu to the timeline, there is no audio on the burned DVD.  I checked the audio for the video and audio only clips and they are all 48 K, 16 bit - just what AL likes.  I previewed the DVD using the preview function in AL and it worked just fine.  As a test, I simply marked in and out on the timeline and burned a DVD without menu and, presto, the audio is back!  Tried again right after that with the DVD menu and - no audio.  I have never had this problem before.

I'm using AL 7.2 build 4296.  The last project I burned to DVD was about a month ago.  The only thing that has changed since then is a program update on my AVG Free Antivirus to version 8.5.  I have not tried uninstalling AVG 8.5 yet.  Should I?

I'm using a DVD preset for default max and average burn rate and Dolby stereo audio.  It is creating an ISO file and burning the DVD.  I never had problems with this before now I get this the day before the project is due to be delivered!  Any suggestiions?

Thanks in advance for the help!

First thing to do is to make sure the audio under the menu is a few frames shorter than the menu at each end and see if that helps. What format is the audio file under the menu? If it is not a WAV file, convert it to one using something like Audacity and see if that fixes it.

Lew,

Thanks for your quick response.  Note that I don't have any audio clip under the DVD menu.  When burning a DVD with DVD menu, there is no audio on the entire DVD.  Sorry I was not more clear regarding this on my original post.  I just submitted an approval DVD without the DVD menu to the customer and told them that I was in the process of adding the DVD menu.  Strange thing is that there is audio when I burn a DVD between mark in and mark out without a menu (automatically starts playing when loaded).

I'm thinking maybe I should re-render the entire sequence with the DVD menu now in the timeline and see if that works - any merit to this?

Since posting, I located an old Avid document in my files with Recommendations for virus scanner operation as follows:  "It is important to choose a product that allows exclusion of processes and file types from antivirus monitoring.  The following processes need to be excluded from virus scanning: Studio.mod, rm.exe, umi.exe, reintime.exe, masfilter.exe, watcher.exe."  It goes on to list a bunch of file types to be excluded from virus scanning.  I don't know if any of these make any difference as I have the AVG Resident Shield disabled when I am editing and not connected to the internet.  Of the eight security components in AVG Free 8.5, I have the following disabled:  Resident Shield, Email Scanner, ID Protection, Link Scanner, Update Manager.  The active components are: Anti-Virus (database is outdated), Anti-Spyware (database is outdated) and License.  If anyone is familiar with AVG Free Version 8.5, am I doing anything bone-headed here?  Should I try uninstalling AVG Free 8.5"

I have never seen this problem. I would manually delete all the DVD render files from the hard drive and let it re-render the DVD.

I use AVG 8.5 with no options checked it just runs in the background and does not give any grief to Liquid what so ever. It may not be the absolute best anti virus but it plays with Liquid very well.......Edd

smithe1:

I use AVG 8.5 with no options checked it just runs in the background and does not give any grief to Liquid what so ever. It may not be the absolute best anti virus but it plays with Liquid very well.......Edd

Yes, same here, works well on my editing machines together with lots of other editing apps

Thanks Lew!

I will give this a try but in what directory do I find the DVD render files?  Or do I just use the utility in AL to "Delete Render Files of Project - All"?

Based on the feedback regarding AVG 8.5 I believe the problem had to do with rendering as you suggest.

Thanks!

What preset are you using to create your DVD? If you are using ISO or video_ts path, then it is whever you sent it. If you are using Direct to Disc, that is not a good choice.

Just use the video_ts path and burn to create a custom preset. Change the audio type to Dolby Digital Stereo and on the Options tab uncheck everything but to open the drive when finished. Save the new preset. Then use it to burn your DVD and create a new path for the location of the render files when asked. See if that fixes the problem.

Lew,

Thank you for the excellent help as always!

Right after I replied, on a hunch, I made three changes:

1. moved the clips in the timeline much closer to the DVD menu (they were separated by over 60 seconds previously)

2. moved the DVD chapter marker to slightly before the opening music audio track

3.  Added file exclusions to AVG Free 8.5 per Avid Documentation recommendation (as close as possible to recommendations given the limitations of the free program)

After making these changes I burned a DVD-R (I use Taiyo Uden) using the standard create ISO and burn to disk preset except modifed with Dolby Digital stereo.  It worked!!  I'm not sure which (or any) of the above changes really made any difference or if it was just re-rendering the DVD files to a new path, but on all future projects you can bet I will follow this same process - even if it may just be superstition!

Thanks again for the help!

Good to hear it worked.