avi files to a dvd + or -r

[subliminal76]

i have seen this somewhere before i think but now i cant find it, and i have seen so many programs recomended it makes my head spin. so anyways, i have a bunch of avi divx and xvid backups sitting on my hard drive and i want to get 2 or possibly 3 of them onto a single dvd.. just wondering what is the easiest and or most economical way of doing this, without losing any quality from the avi's (which are already not that great quality) so i am thinking that just putting one avi to each dvd would be a waste of a dvd.. is it possible to convert all 3 to vcd format then try to squeeze all 3 onto a dvd? orr say i wanted to rip 2 or 3 dvd-5 videos into vob format then shrink them to the max compression with dvdshrink.. then from there what would be the way to go to get them onto a single dvd as far as software / settings and all. im not really worried about menus and all of that as long as i can just forward track to the next video on the disc. hopefully i made it clear what im trying to do here if not let me know and ill try and explain better. by the way some of the software i have or use are dvd decrypter / dvdshrink / latest nero / dvd copy 2 platinum / smartripper / virtual dub / tmpgenc plus and tmpgenc dvd author cucusoft avi converter etc. thanks

[VCDHunter]

Do you want to be able to play these avis on a standalone ? If so and your standalone doesn't support mpeg4 playback you'll have to convert them to VCD/SVCD to get them onto a dvdr. Don't forget to change the audio to 48 khz. If you're just backing up the avis just dump as many as possible onto a dvdr.

[andyp1]

i have a bunch of avi divx and xvid backups sitting on my hard drive

Yeah Right

without losing any quality from the avi's (which are already not that great quality

Second Huge Clue.

You could always use your originals and Shrink them to fit 3 on 1 DVD-R.

If you must D/L crappy AVIs then the most economical root is make XVCDs . One film as a VCD on one CD-R. Otherwise Create vcds with TMPGenc (free for Mpeg1) then you need TMPGenc DVD Author ( 30 Day Trial ) to Author the films with menus then burn to DVD-R

Big rule with video editing is 'Garbage In Garbage Out' you will always lose some quality when encoding.

[subliminal76]

Thanks for the information. I dont think Id be losing much quality just to make these into a vcd format really. The main thing I was looking to do was just fit a couple onto a single disc to avoid always having to switch them over like I do on regular cd-r. But I wasnt sure If I burned VCD format onto a dvd to play in a stand alone player if it would actually play just like a standard VCD would. So I guess that doing this wouldnt be a problem?

[ricky1756]

a normal mpeg 1 has a bit rate of 1150. i up that to 1246. it gives you a bit better quality without sacrificing much space. after that re-encode audio to 48000. i use tmpgenc author, and i can usually fit 5 or 6 on a dvd