I use Pinnacle Studio software to make videos, which I then save as avi or mpeg files and burn on to DVDs using Nero StartSmart. Short videos (say, under 5 mins) play back OK, but longer ones tend to stop - not always in the same places. This happens when playing back on some DVD players and also on some computers. Any idea what the problem might be? Thanks for any help.

"Any idea what the problem might be?"

It could be a result of N/A CPU/RAM but not sure. It is difficult to tell.

If N/A refers to None Available then that is the problem.

It's not Not Applicaple because it is.

If N/A stands for "I don't know" then
hold down the Windows key and hit the Pause/Break key to find the System Properties of your PC or right click on My Computer (whereever you may find it) and select Properties.

I can think of couple other ways to find the System Properties information.

Otherwise it could simply be a result of you have a new PC with a 16x DVD burner that is so fast that other, older, players can't handle it. If this is the case then arrange for Nero to burn them at a slower speed like 1-4x.

Whereas the problem does not occur on the short videos I would suspect not enough RAM or you need to adjust the buffer amount in Nero.

Another idea would be that perhaps you are using a single hard drive to perform your editing so that Pinnacle and the video are on the same hard drive.

Or, since you did not mention which OS you are using, which would also suggest the age of the machine, perhaps you are working with hard drive/s that run at 5400 RPM instead of the newer 7200 RPM allowing for the needed sustainable data transfer rate of 4MB/second.

Beyond the above I can only guess.

Bryan

A home DVD burn is never perfect and there are some DVD players that are just simply better at playing home burns than others.

I have 3 different players at home from cheap to expensive... My cheap player has problems on playback with about 80% of my burns, and it is always the latter part of the burn that acts up (or in other words, the outer tracks of the disk) but my expensive player will play just about anything with no problems at all.

The one thing I have noticed for sure though is that I have more problems with the disks that have been burned with NERO as opposed to PINNACLE.