I"m having a problem with a dvd I supplied to a client which freezes after 10 seconds playback.

My workflow is as follows

Film with a Canon xh-a1 in 25f
Edit in Premiere pro cs3
Render out as 1080p 25mbs file (1440x1080)
Transcode that 1080p file to dvd specs with tmpgenc
Import those tmpgenc files into encore and author my dvd

In tmpgenc I allways limit the bitrate to 8mbs and burn my disks in encore using slowest speeds.

I started getting problems since beginning last year, always used verbatim +r and if a client experienced playback problems I burned a dvd -r which always worked.

Only now I have a client with a 3 year old medion player, which is a German manufacturer of cheaper electronics (like pc's and so on). I have tested my dvd's on 5 different brand players with no problems, but on their player + r, -r from verbatim and another brand dvd freezes at the very beginning. They have to reboot the player just to get the dvd's out.

I have burned a iso file on another pc from colleague videographer who has not experienced any noticeable problems and those dvd's also freeze on my clients player.

Now I found someone with a identical medion player and there my dvd's also freeze!

The only thing I can think of now is that the medion player can't handle the bitrate of the dvd's, I read my dvd's with mediainfo and the videofiles have a bitrate of 7800kb but overal bitrate which includes audio is around 8300.

I don't have the time now but will transcode new files with tmpgenc with a lower bitrate end this week to see if this will work but was wondering if anyone here ever experienced a problem like this?

in tmpeg, use 7700 max for video and 256 max for ac3 audio

make sure you set output field order to upper field first

for max compatibility, always use DVD-R

Taiyo Yuden (Japan) will give best results (buy the Premium and not the OEM)

Thanks Anton for your answer, I will test a lower bitrate for sure this week as I need to get the dvd working, you do state upper field but untill now I always choose progressive in tmpgenc for my 25f recordings with the Canon, I noticed that this gives better quality on regular crt's and lcd's, do you think this might be a cause of the freeze problem with the dvd during playback?

Reg -r, untull now that always solved any problems but in this case neither + or -r works.

your source can be progressive

but the destination must be upper field first interlaced, it is required by the DVD standard

so, on this screenshot, be sure upper field is selected, near the bottom
http://www.videoproductions.com.au/assets/images/T4-8.jpg

It took a while to solve the problem but I finally was able to deliver a dvd that worked on the medion dvd player, I tried almost anything, except... lowering the bitrate. I re-transcoded the HD files to a cbr 6500kbs dvd compliant file and it worked without a problem! From now on I will use 7500kbs instead of 8000kbs as max bitrate for my dvd's, not sure if that will solve playback problems on all dvd players but I think the quality is still good then and it should have a better overall playback compatibility I guess. I still might have to go back to lower bitrates in some rare cases but now I at least know were to look.

Thanks again Anton for your feedback.