Beginner's question

[Johnypart2]

I am new at this stuff and I don't want to ask stupid questions, but I've been checking the site out for a while and am confused about some of this stuff. I am trying to figure out how to burn AVI,MPEG,and WMA videos to DVD-R's so that I can play them on a set top dvd player. Can anyone help me get started by telling me what software to use. I tried to use Nero and just drag and drop the files into the window and then burn, but I can't do that.
Thanks a lot

[lostbee]

Wow that is a beginer question, u need to convert your avi's to mpeg 2 first u do this in TMPEGenc then you have to author it TMPEGenc dvd author (turn the mpeg 2 into vob files) then u can burn the vob files to a dvd using nero
The easiest guide to follow on how to do this is this one. have fun http://www.dvd-guides.com/guides.php?category=othertodvd&name=tmpegenc

[andyp1]

I just wrote this out for someone with the same question so i'll post it here for you as well. Good Luck.

First thing I found is that making DVD's using easy to use software doesn't come for free like making VCD's .

I can tell you what tools I use and you can look them up in the tools section and see what you think.

For a straight back-up of a commercial DVD I use DVD Shrink ( Freeware)
which takes either the whole disc or just the movie if you want better quality and rips it to your hard disc , then you simply burn the files to your DVD-R using Nero.

Encoding a file i.e. an AVI to DVD I use TMPGenc Plus (30 Day trial for MPEG2 encoding ) and use it just like I used TMPGenc to covert to VCD except choose to convert to DVD.
The you need to Author to create a file you can burn, I use TMPGenc DVD Author (30 day trial ) With this you can add menus and chapters easily and make your film act just like a commercial DVD.

Then I burn to DVD-R using Nero 6 Ultra Edition.

I found these tools easy to learn and have had excellent results.
I use a pioneer 106A burner and out of maybe 100 discs in the last few months I have only had 2 coasters and I know they were my fault not the software or the burner or the discs.

Another metod I found recently is ( and it saves on purchasing TMPGenc Plus - and you can use the free version of TMPGenc ) is to convert an AVI or MPG to VCD which gives you an MPEG1 file with 44.1K audio which you would have previously burned to a CDR as a VCD . The Take that file and run it through TMPGenc DVD Author which lets me add menus and chapters converts the audio to DVD compliant 48k . This way I can get up to 7 hours of film onto 1 dvd-r i.e 3 movies.

If you have been making VCDs successfully for a while the step to DVDs in not too bad.