Getting error trying to make a DVD with Final Cut: Dobly Digital component missing

Yes, in one trial I did. But I still get the error and can't click Next. So I'm stuck.

I have Hard Drive selected as my Output Device, and on the lower left you can see I still get the error. (See below.) The only way to not get the error is to do a normal export to disk (disc!), clicking File > Share > Export File, but then I get a .mov file on the DVD, and it's just a normal data disk. It does not behave like an actual DVD. I did get it to work using Cisdem DVD Burner, but it only burns half the movie or 5 min of it, whichever is less. To get a proper full DVD I have to buy it: $40 for 1 year or $60 for life. But the image is a little darker and the colors are a little thinner. I spent a very long time cleaning up all sorts of problems with this movie, including color correction, and I don't want to spend that much only to have the image degraded. I was hoping to get this to work with Final Cut, but alas, I'm afraid the DVD option, which is actually present and actually documented as working in the User Guide, simply does not work. Maybe I should get Toast or Compressor?

asdf

zxcv

INTRODUCTION: OK, it appears we need a complete rehash of the problem. I will try to be complete, even with "obvious" stuff, so as to minimize the probability of further misunderstanding.

GOAL:

I want to make a DVD of my movie The Great Race. I want it to be a DVD that you can insert into a standalone mechanical unit called a DVD player. Like a VCR, but plays DVDs instead. It will not be played on a computer using DVD Player, QuickTime, VLC, IINA, or any other app. It will be played in an actual standalone DVD player hooked up to a flat-screen TV.

RESOURCES:

Hardware: iMac 24", OWC/LG optical drive Blu-ray burner

Software: Final Cut Pro 10.6.6, Cisdem burner app, QuickTime, IINA, VLC, thinking of getting Toast or Compressor, DVD Player (the app)

OS: macOS 12.7.4

THE MOVIE:

OK, on April 6, 2020, I finished a movie called The Great Race using FCP 10.6.4. I did this on a previous Mac and did an export. The exported file is called TGR_6_2020_04_08_1910_e.mov. I can run it in a video player app like QuickTime. (The date [April 8] is the "Last Modified" date of the fcpbundle file it was made from, but when I open it I can see that this project has a Last Modified date of 2020-04-06 22:22:52. I did not know this until after I named the associated file, I think. [Well, the history of determining the dates is more complicated than that, but I omit that here.])

That old Mac has expired. It won't boot. The hard drive portion of its Fusion drive is kaput. Dead. It does not work at all. So I can't load the fcpbundle file into Final Cut on that machine, where I think I burned the (inferior) print of the movie successfully onto a DVD. On my new machine, the v4 and v5 of the plug-in NeatVideo does not work, so I have to work with the exported movie file, the one I can play in QuickTime, etc.

The codec in the movie file: Timecode, Apple ProRes 422, Linear PCM. It was made using File > Share > Export File... or whatever it was called in FCP 10.6.4 (also called Master, I think). It is a playable video file, not a DVD image or anything like that.

WHAT I'VE TRIED SO FAR:

I copied the movie (a file playable in QuickTime, etc.) file from the Finder to the "Browser" in Final Cut. I put it into a project. So I have a clip and a project of this movie in FCP. I click either the clip or the project in the FCP Browser and then run File > Share > DVD. Upon doing so, I immediately get the error message. This is the exact message, which includes the material in the parentheses:

"The setting Dolby Digital uses software that is not installed or may no longer be supported. (Missing Compressor Plug-in)"

I get this error message when I hover over the (!) in this all-exciting pane:

asdf

zxcv

Wow! The error bubble actually got copied this time! So you can see it for yourself.

Now, it does not matter what I have in the Output Device field. I get this error immediately, and changing the settings in this pane doesn't make it go away. You can see the Next... button is grayed out. Clicking it does nothing: zip, nada, zero, . . ., not even an error sound. Even hovering does nothing. So I can't make an image file or burn the movie to the DVD-R. I can, however, use the Burn function in the Finder to burn the file onto the blank DVD. But then I just have a file on the DVD-R like on a regular disk. I cannot play it in a DVD player app or machine. I can also export the file to a regular drive, but as before, I just get another copy of the original movie file, and I can play it on apps like QuickTime. But I can't play it in DVD player.

So when I said I can write to the hard drive, this is what I meant. I cannot make it an actual DVD image that I can burn to the DVD-R. I cannot burn directly from Final Cut Pro so that one can use it to play the movie on the Mac using the DVD Player app; I presume that means that I also cannot play it on a standalone DVD player hardware machine.

I am told by both a participant in this thread and the FCP User Guide that I can burn my movie onto a DVD-R disc, and it will play in an actual standalone DVD player (and I presume also the DVD Player app on the Mac). But it does not work. I get that error message and don't know what to do to address it, and I cannot not plow on past it.

At this point, I am thinking of getting Toast or Compressor. But this is probably a one-time burn, and I don't think I'll need either app again (though I might!). I tried burning using the app Cisdem. But the free version only burns half of the movie. I need to spend either $40 per year or $60 for a lifetime license. And it produces a DVD which is darker and the colors are less saturated. Toast, if it doesn't do that, is a better deal. I guess Compressor is, too. What to do?

I hope it is clear this time. Let me know if you have any questions. Or better yet, a solution! TIA!

BenB wrote:

Be sure you're not using the Blu-Ray DVD preset.

Checked. Not using the Blu-ray version. My optical drive is, however, a Blu-ray burner. I previously used it to burn DVDs years ago, including an old version of _The Great Race_. Now I have an enormously better version of that movie, but cannot go back to my old mac to burn it, as the old mac does not boot.

Are you using the Apple supplied DVD preset?

Yes.

Can you write it to the hard drive rather than burn it?

Yes.

What FCPX and macOS versions?

FCP 10.6.6, macOS 12.7.4 (I specified these in the OP, but I got the FCP version wrong.)

NOTE: I need this to work in a standard old-fashioned DVD player. I can burn the file to the DVD-R, but it's just a file on a disc, not a DVD.

TIA!

Looks like FCP can't do it. :(

But I found a program called Cisdem DVD burner, but the colors are a little dark and faded, and I have to get the paid version: $40 for a year, $60 for life.

Maybe it would be better to get Compressor? I don't think I'll have much use for its other features, though. And will it bomb out like FCP did? Oh, do I get a free trial period? Looks like not, at least not in the App Store.

Recommendations welcome (friendly ones! :-)

Tom Wolsky wrote:

If you can create a disk image from FCP you should be able to burn the image contents to the disc. I

How do you make this disk image, and how would it work? I need to put a 3-minute movie on a DVD, send it to my friend in NH so he can play it on a DVD player to a big screen where people there can watch it.

think you can still do that from the Finder or from Disk Utility.

Yes, I did this, but it was just a file on DVD. Doesn't play as a DVD.

"Can you write it to the hard drive rather than burn it?"

Yes. But I meant I can do a normal export to disk, producing a file that I can run in QuickTime and other video players.

So the problem is that when I do File > Share > DVD I get the error whether I set the Output Device to hard drive or to the name of the burner drive. It appears that FCP can't even make the stuff that needs to get burned onto the blank DVD-R.

Sorry for my previous misleading answer.

@Alchroma:

I already gave the error message from hovering over the "!" in my opening post. Here it is again:

"So I click the project, I click Share, then DVD, and then I get this error:

"DVD: The setting Dolby Digital uses software that is not installed or may no longer be supported. (Missing Compressor Plug-in)"

There's the error message. How do I fix this?

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

Did you select “Hard Drive” in the export? This is what Tom was suggesting.

The problem is that I get the error message whether Hard Drive is selected or the DVD Burner name is selected. So I don't get anything at all, as the Next button is never made active.

I can't even get to the point where I can export or share anything at all if I choose File>Share>DVD. I get the error message before I can proceed to creating files on the hard drive or on the DVD-R. I didn't get an image file. I didn't get anything at all because the error prevents the Next button from working, and I need to click the Next button to make an .img file or to write directly to the DVD-R. IOW, the error prevents making any files at all on any disk or disc whatsoever.

If you did that, then you should have gotten a .img file

No, because the error prevents me from getting to the point of creating any file anywhere at all. I need the Next button, and the error prevents it from working. I can't make an .img file and I can't burn directly to the DVD-R when using Final Cut. Toast is looking more and more attractive.

This file you could then control-click in Finder and choose Burn.

Nope. The error message stops things dead in its tracks. The Next button is disabled by the error. I have to get past the error to make an .img file or to burn files to the DVD-R.

It seems that this is not what you did. Burning just a mov file or mp4 file to dvd is what it seems that you’ve done. That would just produce a data dvd.

Sorry for the misleading info. One thing I tried is using the Finder to burn a .mov file onto the DVD. I didn't think it would work, but it was easy and cheap to try.