Can't fast forward recordings after burning to DVD.

Maybe the DVD needs to be finalized for use on the other DVD players?
Usually they won't play at all, but who knows?
What DVD blank did you use? -R, -RW, +R, or +RW?

 

Well, I've got nothing else to say.
Maybe someone else can help.

 

I had the same thing happen to me.I used MY DVD from Roxio Creator 9 to burn a few dvd's.

Also recently I have been downloading programs to my laptop using TIVO desktop 2.5 and when I watch them on my laptop I am unable to fastforward or rewind. I can only pause or play. I don't know why.

 

How old is your DVD player? Tivo files are non-standard mpeg2 files so you can't expect them to behave like normal DVDs when burning them to disc. I've had some players work fine with them but most players will either function with a single FF setting or no FF at all.

 

I would expect the DVD mastering software to handle any necessary mpeg conversions to enable basic DVD player functions.

In my case I can FF at lowest speed but not any higher. I also can't reverse at any speed without resetting the DVD to the main menu.

 

I record on my TiVo at Medium.....I use VideoRedo to edit out the commercials, use DVDStyle to make my menu and create the ISO, and use IMGBurn to burn the image to disc. Never had a problem.

I have a single layer burner on my computer and an older gen DVD player (Panasonic A120-U).

 

And that is an incorrect assumption. I've been extracting videos from Tivos of all kinds for over six years now and I can ascertain that no DVD authoring software that I'm aware of will do any sort of mpeg conversions on Tivo files. You need third party apps in order to do what you suggest.

Here's why Tivo files are non-standard, at least in the way I understand them (I'm not an expert on video formats so bear with me): Mpeg2 files are a compressed format consisting of various types of frames. The first frame in the group is called an I-frame and is a full-frame containing a complete set of detailed information within that frame. Subsequent frames, called B and P frames (I'm not sure what the difference between them is but you can google it for details), contain only the difference data between the previous frame and the current one. Since all B&P frames only contain the delta information from the previous one, a lot of real estate is saved since every pixel of every frame does not need to be repeated.

After about 18 frames, a new I-frame is generated to refresh the image. Along with the I-frame is something called a GOP header, which stands for Group of Pictures. This basically defines the start of each set of frames that go with the beginning I-frame. As I said, standard mpeg2 files have GOP headers spaced about every 18 frames. Tivo files can have GOP headers spaced as closely as a few frames or as far apart as 100 frames or more. The random spacing of the GOP headers apparently helps the Tivo perform its own FF and REW features more effecientkly but it wreaks havoc with devices that need to see normal GOP header spacing.

Depending on the type of Tivo you recorded the program with and what setting was used, the resolution of most Tivo files is also non-standard. DVD resolution is 720x480 whereas Tivo files can be all over the map based on the aforementioned criteria. DTivo files are recorded at 480x480, for instance, which is fine for SVCDs but it's not a DVD standard format. Many DVD authoring programs won't even accept them without some sort of trickery involved. DVD-Lab accepts them as is with a warning about them being non-standard.

Since most late model DVD players will also play SVCDs, the DTivo DVDs will play fine in most cases, at least until you try and use the FF or REW functions. I have seen some DVD players that will work at all FF and REW speeds with Tivo DVDs but most will only work at a single speed while a small handful won't function in FF or REW mode at all.

Editing any sort of mpeg file requires a bit of trickery if you want frame-accurate edits. If you cut the video anywhere between the GOP headers you will generally have to rebuild the I-frame and create a new GOP header. This is not the case where you want to cut the end of a clip since any subsequent difference data will be discarded anyway but it is most definitely true if you cut frames prior to a segment that you want to save. The frames that are being removed contain the information necessary to rebuild a new I-frame with all of the basic information required to accommodate a subsequent B or P frame (remember they only contain the delta data from the previous frame). VideoReDo does this quite well and is also geared to work with non-standard mpeg files such as those generated by Tivos and Dish PVRs. VideoReDo and Womble's DVD Wizard both have features that can generate standard GOP spacing within a non-standard mpeg2 file.