WMV To AVI/DivX/DVD PAL

[Ninja Special]

I'm wondering if anybody can find a converter to either convert WMV to AVI 700MB, DivX 700MB or straight to DVD files for PAL. I've looked on google and this site but all the ones that I've tried just say there's an error and it dosen't recognise the WMV file. How can it not recognise it if it says it can convert them? So if anyone can find one that works and give me the link to the download I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks, Ninja Special

[Baldrick]

what tools have you tried? and what is the error msg?
if the wmv is drm encrypted google for wmv drm doom9

and try super or virtualdub-mpeg2 or Stoik Video Converter.

[jimmalenko]

WMV files are notorious for being more "fragile" than a lot of other containers - indexing problems and corruption in general seems to happen more frequently with these files in my experience, especially with downloaded (read: unknown) sources.

One method I've used in the past is to open the WMV in Windows Movie Maker, then save out as DV-AVI then use AutoGK to convert to XVID, or alternatively encode to MPEG-2 with TMPGEnc Plus or ConvertXToDVD.

Convertxtodvd on its own seems to be a lot more tolerant of WMV files these days also. Super seems to have a good reputation around here of handling "troublesome" files that a lot of other softwares baulk at. Of course you could also go back to first principles and try an AVISynth script to frameserve to your favorite encoder - I have also used this method when I wanted to do some filtering as well.

[Ninja Special]

ok, ill just try it out

edit: ye, its protected, wnt let me import in wmm

edit2: it says its protected but i dnt think with drm because i can play it in wmp, just double click on it and it plays. ill try out the other programs, thx

[Ninja Special]

this is the deal, i downloaded the movie from sky. i dont know if any1 has sky tv here but theres a thing called sky by broadband where u download the movies that r on sky movies. u download them in wmv file format around 700mb. i can play them in wmp but cant convert them. im just going to try super because i think ive tried the other 2 u suggested and both also have error message saying it is unsupported format or sumin.

edit: so far super is working! its converting it into divx avi format and mp3 audio so it should be round 700mb. thx for all ur help guys!

[jimmalenko]

from http://www.sky.com/skybybroadband/faqs/0,,100012-141,00.html (Sky's FAQs):

Can I watch downloaded videos more than once?

Yes. Once you have downloaded a video, it will appear in your library, telling you the number of days you have left to watch it. This is your licence to watch the video and, for a movie, this is usually 30 days. If you do not get the chance to view the movie in this time, you should search for the movie on Sky by broadband again and download it again. For sports, the length of the licence can vary depending on the type of sports clip you wish to view. After your licence to view, or our rights to show the video, expire the video will automatically be deleted from your library.

Sounds like there's DRM on it according to that.

Can I save to another hard drive, CD, DVD or other device?

You will only be able to play the video on the PC it was downloaded to. Items cannot be downloaded on to DVD.

Sounds like you have viewing rights only.

Can I watch movies or sports videos if I am not connected to the internet?

Yes, opening Sky by broadband when you are on your home PC but not currently connected to the internet will present your "library" of videos. All videos previously downloaded to your PC are still available for offline viewing, provided that the licence to view the video has not expired. If you have parental controls set up on your Sky by broadband account, these will not be applied when viewing videos offline. Parental control settings can be set to disable offline viewing if desired.

Definitely sounds like DRM to me.