Can You Finalize A Computer Burned DVD??

Need to know more about exactly how and what you burned on the disc.

No. Unless you burned the disc from an authored-as-DVD folder (VIDEO_TS), your disc won't play in standalone players. And if you did burn the disc from such a folder, it would already be finalized. Simply copying video files to a DVD doesn't qualify as a DVD Video, that's just a DVD-ROM or "data disc".

This does not consider those players that can play, for example, DivX video files copied to a DVD as a data disc.

Only if their DVD player supports playback of such photos from a DVD will that work. But such a DVD is nowhere near being a DVD Video, and as such, Finalization is a non-issue, it both can't be done and needn't to be done.

You can however make so-called Slide Shows from such JPG (and other image) files, using appropriate PC-based applications. But this would be a subject for another Forum. Such subjects are discussed quite frequently at VideoHelp.com, for example.

...OR you can get a Pioneer DVR-640H-S and copy the JPG photos to the hard drive's PhotoViewer via CD, flash drive, or other USB device, then burn all the DVD copies you want.

That won't make a DVD Video though (will it?). Just a data disc, which will still require the people he gives those to to have the reverse capability (play back JPGs from a data disc).

If you can in fact make a DVD Video from JPG (and other image) files on the 640, then that is a capability I was not aware of.

Yup, sure can.

I just got thru making DVDs of the family Christmas, which combine JPG stills and AVI video clips.

With my digital camera, I have two ways to get the files on the HDD:

1. Put JPGs in computer, then into PhotoViewer via flash drive, then copy to DVD from there (one of PhotoViewer's menu selections=Copy to DVD).

2. Record JPGs and AVIs directly from my digital camera's USB cradle while the camera plays a "Slideshow" of both from the camera's memory card. (For AVIs, this is the only way I have to get them on the HDD.)

It also copies the "SlideShow" that PhotoViewer creates for each folder in its file system. 1st pic draws on screen, holds 30-sec, then 2nd and subsequent pics pop up and hold, etc.

Once on a DVD, you can allow the Slideshow to play its normal way, or you can FF or REV from pic to pic with the frame adv/rev buttons.

The second one makes sense, there the camcorder is being the slide show and the recorder is just recording whatever it outputs, no special function of the recorder is involved.

But for the first option, "Copy to DVD" for a JPEG file, does that really make a DVD Video out of the JPEGs, i.e. playable in a standalone DVD Player? If so, wouldn't you need to tell it things like how long to pause at each picture? Bear with me as I am just trying to figure out the extent of this feature.

EDIT: Just saw your edit about "Once on a DVD". Have you tried playback of such DVDs on a regular player?

The movie backup dvd's that I made on my computer play fine in any dvd player I play them in; haven't had a failure yet. I don't think it's allowed here on the forum to go into detail about the software, so I'm stopping there....

Not sure what format.... encoding....... or what it's called as this is all new to me. But I must be doing something right, lol.

When you copy a disc in its entirety, you also copy whatever Finalization was present on the source disc. So the target disc ends up being Finalized too, as a result of the copy process.

Yes, the DVD the 640 makes shows up as "DVD-Video -R", etc. and it plays on all the many diff. kinds of relatives' DVD players and on my Panny test player. It has a std Title that can be changed, etc.

The PhotoViewer in the 640 determines the Slideshow timing...can't be changed...30 sec. on screen per pic. On the HDD, you can frame advance at about 12-14 sec into each pic and the next pic will be completely drawm on screen...but this is just from the HDD.

On the DVD, you can let the Slideshow run or you can frame advance thru the show w/o pauses...there doesn't seem to be any "drawing" involved like there is when playing the Slideshow on the HDD.

We just watched all the pics (>1000) that some traveling friends brought with them. They had them on CDs, but we found that 30 sec is just about enough time for a "narrator" to describe the scene...we even had to hold longer on some of special interest.

(I just realized that, while we were playing the JPGs from our friends CDs, they had to draw on screen just like those from PhotoViewer on the HDD...once on a DVD, no more drawing!???)

Alright then, that is a new bit of knowledge for me to store away until needed. Thanks for the information!

What software are you using on your pc?

You could try TMPG DVD Author -It has a 30 day trial version....it's pretty easy to get a handle on, and see if the dvds it burns are playable elsewhere.

First try DVD Shrink. It is free and might help isolate the problem. I have TDA and like it a lot but you might be trying to kill a gnat with a sledge hammer.