If you are having trouble burning to DVD, we suggest saving your creation as a video file and using a third-party software program that is compatible with your computer.
To learn how to save the creation as video file please visit our article: Can I save the creation as video file?
Please note: Smilebox recommends using DVD disk formats of DVD-R or DVD+R when burning your DVD. These are read-only disk formats and have a greater success rate. If you are using DVD R/W (read/write) formats, older DVD players may not be able to playback your creation.
Troubleshooting tips:
- Make sure you are signed in to your account and have an active Club Smilebox subscription. You must have a strong internet connection and the newest version of Adobe Flash. For help updating Flash, please click here.
- If you are on a Mac, you are required to have iDVD6 or later. If you do not have this software, please save your creation as a video file and burn using your preferred software.
- If you are seeing performance issues when preparing your DVD in the DVD maker, please shut down any other programs running on your computer. These may include search engines, internet browser windows, virus protection programs, or other programs listed in your Task Manager. It is important that the CPU on your computer be available for the DVD create process.
- You are required to have a DVD burner on your computer. If your DVD drive says ROM (Read-only memory) that will not work for burning DVDs.
- If you have an external DVD burner connected to your computer, but the Smilebox DVD Maker is not identifying the DVD burner, try connecting the external DVD burner to a different port on your computer, then try again.
- If you receive a low-level error when you try to burn your creation to a DVD, save the creation as video file, then burn it to a DVD using a third-party software program.
- The error message "DVD can't play in this region and needs to play on the correct geographical region." means you will need to burn your DVD with a computer that was made in the same region you wish to play. Depending on where you purchased your computer, you may have issues with DVD playback because of something called the region code. More information can be found here: http://hometheater.about.com/cs/dvdlaserdisc/a/aaregioncodesa.htm
- Make sure you have all software updates for Windows, Mac, and Adobe Flash.
- Please be sure that all DVD drivers and firmware are up to date with the latest version. If you don't have the latest drivers, your burn may fail. You can visit your manufacturer's website to determine if updates are available.
- While recording what you see and hear is what will be burned in your DVD.
- When recording, your volume must be turned up (and/or speakers plugged in) so that the audio can be heard on your DVD creation.
- While recording it is important to point your mouse away from your recording window else it will display the status bar, arrows or counter.
- When recording, you must play the videos, included in the creation, for them to appear on the DVD. If the videos are not played during the recording step, they will not play on the DVD.
- When recording, you have control over how the playback will appear on your DVD. It can be automatic or manual (stopping the playback of your creation in record, and turn the pages yourself clicking the Next or Arrow buttons).
The Smilebox DVD Maker limits your recording time to one hour.
If you are still having trouble, please uninstall/reinstall Smilebox. For help, please see our article: Uninstall/reinstall Smilebox; get current version
You can also try saving your creation as a video file and transferring it to a different computer (PC preferred) as an alternative.
If you see low resolution of your creation, please see our article: Poor DVD/video resolution (low quality or blurry playback)