Create DVDs with Windows Movie Maker to be played on DVD players

Issue

I have an Optiarc DVD RW AD-7173A ATA Device on my computer. I use Windows Movie Maker and the DVD maker to create and burn my DVDs. I am using DVD + R DVDs. I see the burner is working and burning the DVDs, however I'M not able to actually see the movie when I use my regular DVD player connected to the T.V.

The DVD will play back on Windows Media Player just fine.

Solution

To create DVD's that can be viewed on another device you must choose the Mastered option and you must finalize the DVD.

Discs formatted with the Mastered option:
Do not copy files immediately, meaning you need to select the entire collection of files that you want to copy to the disc, and then burn them all at once.

-Are convenient if you want to burn a large collection of files, such as a music CD.

-Are compatible with older computers and devices such as CD players and DVD players.


Close or finalize a CD or DVD:
Before you can use a recordable disc (such as CD-R, DVD-R, or DVD+R) formatted with the Live File System format in other computers and devices, you need to close the current disc session to prepare the disc for use. By default, Windows closes your disc automatically when it is ejected.

To close a disc automatically:
Press the Eject button on your computer's disc drive.

Windows automatically closes the current session. This consumes 20 megabytes (MB) of disc space and can take several minutes.

To stop closing discs automatically:

• Open Computer.
• Right-click on you Writer then select Properties.
• Click on the Recording tab, and then click Global Settings.
• Clear the Automatically close the current UDF session when the disc is ejected check box.

To close a disc manually:

• Open Computer.
• Right Click on your Writer and then click Close session.

Once the disc is ejected, the session will be closed and the disc can be used in other computers and devices.

Notes

After you close a disc session, you can still add additional files to the disc, but you must close each additional session to be able to use the disc on another computer.

If you remove a disc from your computer without closing the disc session, you can close it at a later time. Just return it to the computer's disc burner and follow the steps above to close the session.

Some programs might finalize your disc instead of closing the current session. You can't add any additional files to a disc that has been finalized.


Thanks to xpcman for this tip on the forum.