Good Grief! I have just spent the last 72 hours trying to burn a 7 minute mp4 movie to a DVD so it will Play in a DVD Player.
It was such a simple matter. My Step Mum said “I have a movie I need to show during my sermon on Sunday, I need you to make it work” (that was the gist of it.) – I am supposed to be the kid (#2 of 5) that is good with computers. (#3 of 5 is also good with computers, but he’s out of state. Lol)
The truth is I’m not good with computers I’m good with Google! And after spending 3 days dealing with this I thought – I Bet There are a Whole Lot of Other Folks Who Need to Do the Same Thing!!!
So here it is:
First, verify that you actually HAVE a DVD drive that Burns DVDs. You do this by going into ‘This PC’ and beside your DVD drive it will read DVD RW drive. Your drive may be E or it may be a different letter, but it will read DVD RW if it is a writable drive.
#1 You will need a FREE program called DVD Flick and install it.
Just trust me on this one. I tried all the Microsoft products DVD maker and media player – they didn’t do what they should have done. Download DVD Flick and install it. It’s Free and Open Source.
#2 Once you have the program installed and open on your computer Click Add title on the right hand side. “Add Title” is the Windows equivalent to ‘Open file’ – You know, folks just have to be different.
Using Add Title open the movie you want to burn to the DVD
#3 Now that you can see the movie you want to burn, click on Project Settings.
#4 Where it reads ‘Target Size’ change that to size of the blank DVD you are going to burn to.
#5 Click Burning. This is going to give you the options you REALLY REALLY REALLY NEED.
I have just about everything clicked here, but the Most Important option you want clicked is Burn Project to Disc
I know, it’s a no brainer, but unless you know that option is there you’ll miss it.
Then click Accept. Which is the Windows equivalent of OK.
#6 You’re almost ready to burn. If you haven’t already, put a Blank DVD-R in your DVD burner drive. For most of us, that is also the DVD player drive that came with our computer/laptop. Also make sure that you are Not using a DVD-RW. Many times those won’t work. Make sure the DVD reads DVD-R right on it.
At the top, Click Create DVD.
When I click Create DVD it always gives me a warning, no idea why. I always click Yes and nothing has blown up. So I suggest clicking Yes.
#7 Make yourself a cup of tea. DVD Flick is first going to convert a copy of your movie into some strange format and then it has to churn and churn and then it burns – this process can take more than an hour (typically around 15 minutes.) So turn on Doctor Who, sit back and relax.
#8 Depending on your settings, when the burning is complete the DVD drive will open and there will be your freshly burned DVD sitting there waiting to be played in a DVD or Blu Ray Player. TEST IT!!
Trouble shooting.
The first 5 times I tried to burn the movie I received an error that there was a problem with my actual drive. There is – the problem is called iTunes. iTunes has destroyed my DVD-RW driver. Uninstalling iTunes did the trick. So if all else fails uninstall iTunes.
Double check your media. I reached into my box of blanked DVDs and pulled out a blank CD – Yeah, that didn’t work well. Make sure you are using a blank DVD-R disc.