some general questions about DVD authoring

[ericdunn]

Hi,

I have some general questions about DVD authoring, and hope for your valuable input.

1. Can a DVD burner play back DVDs, or do you need to purchase a DVD player as well (this is on PC)?

2. Can a DVD player play WMV, RM files? If yes, how does it work? Do you just burn the WMV or RM files onto your DVD or VCD and then play it back?

3. What is a good file converter for movies? I used WinAVI but find the result file playable but bad quality. Can someone recommend a good software that not only converts but also does the burning as well?

4. Some movie files (WMV and RM) come in such a way that you cannot fast-forward or rewind. Any way to fix this problem?

Thank you in advance for your help!
Eric

[winifreid]

1. It isn't the burner perse that plays the dvd, but software like windows media player or powerdvd.
2. See 2. You have to have the codecs (software) for each format.
3. DVD shrink with DVD decrypter.

[AlecWest]

1. Can a DVD burner play back DVDs, or do you need to purchase a DVD player as well (this is on PC)?

All burners are "player/burner" combos. All you need is the software to play it back. Windows Media Player is one way. Other software is available to do the same thing ... sometimes better.

2. Can a DVD player play WMV, RM files? If yes, how does it work? Do you just burn the WMV or RM files onto your DVD or VCD and then play it back?

If you burn a WMV file to a DVD, any software that will playback WMV files (and recognize your DVD player) will play them back. Same with RM files or any other media file. DVDs are just a 'medium' ... a place to store things. Playback is a software task.

3. What is a good file converter for movies? I used WinAVI but find the result file playable but bad quality. Can someone recommend a good software that not only converts but also does the burning as well?

There are too many to name them all. Between OSS Video Converter and EO Video (both cost money), you can cross-convert between almost any video format you can think of. Determining how "good" the conversion will be depends solely upon the quality of the source file and the quality settings you choose for the destination file. But, to my knowledge, there isn't any "one-button-fix" ... a program that will do the conversion, the authoring, and the burning. And I suspect if there is such a program out there, it would cost even more money.

4. Some movie files (WMV and RM) come in such a way that you cannot fast-forward or rewind. Any way to fix this problem?

Sometimes you will encounter files encoded exclusively for streaming that don't give you the option of "sliding" along a time-bar. However, simply re-encoding them with Windows Media Encoder (or Real Producer) will fix those problems.

[reboot]

1.) Yes. You don't need a separate player.
2.) Yes, with the right codecs.
3.) VSO Divx to DVD, TheFilmMachine, DIKO, SVCD2DVD, DVDHive. Burn files with Nero or any other good burning program.
4.) Convert them to something that will (avi or mpg).