I have made nothing but coasters with my burner. Any advice?

[tecmobo34]

Hello guys and thanks for taking the time to read my post. I got my Sony dvd burner about a month ago and I have been trying to put some of my video files on to a dvd so I can watch them (video-dvd) on my TV. These video files were saved under my Windows media player folder and were saved as WMV files. So I used a full version of WinAVi video converter to try this. I wanted to be detailed so I will describe it step by step so you guys can see what I am doing wrong.

1. I open the WinAvi program and I go to the DVD icon. It says on this icon AVI to DVD, AVI to VCD, AVI to MPEG.

2. After I click on that icon it instructs me to open my files to convert. So I go to program files and I open my windows media player folder and then I click on a video file and it says type :windows media video/audio. I click on this video file to convert to dvd.

3. the next screen shows file to be converted and my file looks like this
C:\program files\ Windows Media Player\sportsclip.wmv

4. the converting screen comes up and it appears as if the file is being converted. There is even an indicator showing the progress.

5. the staus shows 99% and then it shows a status bar that looks like it is finishing up the conversion, finally it says conversion finished back to menu interface.

This is where I get stuck. I click on the burn your dvd now icon and it pulls up the Nero software that came with my burner. I click on make dvd video and I try and open my file and it appears to still be listed as a wmv file, meaning afrer a 30 minute conversion the same file seems to still be a wmv file. I cant seem to find the newly converted file to burn the dvd, it still appears as a wmv file and when I burn it to dvd it wont play on the dvd player (new dvd player) any advice? Thanks again guys, and I sincerly apoligize for the question..I am still new to all of this. I tried the how to guide, but nothing seems to work.

[Sabro]

Try some of the products at http://www.zealotsoft.net/

I've personally used their AllVideoJoiner and it works great. Select the one file (need not have more then one), select the output type ranging from VCD- NTSC/PAL, SVCD - NTSC/PAL or DVD - NTSC/PAL and poof.

I think they have a few other products that do standard conversions like your wanting to do, but never had a problem with the above mentioned app.

Sabro

[daamon]

I can't help with WinAVI etc., but I strongly suggest you burn to a re-writeable DVD. At least you'll only be wasting time...

I have a suspicion that your WMV files may be of the type that connect over the net, rather than files that, when played, play direct from your hard drive.

The easy way to tell is to open the WMV files with (say) Windows Media Player and look for saying it's "buffering" or, try playing the file when you're not connected to the net and see if it plays.

If the WMV files do connect to a server via the net, you can open them with a tool like Stoik Video Converter (there are others) and convert to a file in a format of your choice, that's then stored on your hard drive.

I'd suggest using the DV AVI codec - if you don't have one, the Panasonic DV Codec is a good one, and it's free.

Use this new file as the source file in WinAVI.

Hope that helps. Good luck...

[jimmalenko]

It sounds to me like you're looking in the source folder for the destination files. Is there anywhere in WinAVI where you choose your output directory ?

In the settings, maybe ?

Either that or do a search (or browse) of your hard drive to see where (if anywhere) the files have been saved. You should be looking for a VIDEO_TS folder.

[jtoolman2000]

I click on make dvd video and I try and open my file and it appears to still be listed as a wmv file, meaning afrer a 30 minute conversion the same file seems to still be a wmv file.

Look some where, maybe "My Documents" to see if you program created a special folder for the final VIDEO_TS folder to be placed

It might also end up in the C root directory or even Documents and Settings, somewhere there should be a new VIDEO_TS folder. DO a search by DATE for the latest / newest folder.

Most of these programs will show where the default final output location will be and the better ones will allow you to change from the dafault to a custom location.

The file you are seeing when you are trying to burn is your original. The VIDEO)TS folder contents will have NO resenblanse to the original wmv file.

[RottenFoxBreath]

winavi makes the mistake of converting to the last folder you converted to,or a temp one,just open it up and look at the proposed folder it gives you.
or what to do is give vso divxtodvd a try,its free,and does a damn fine job.

[tecmobo34]

sounds great guys! Thanks again for the tremendous advice, I am going to try all of the above mentioned tips. I am frustrated at not being able to figure it out but I know it is going to be fun when I finally get it. Again, thanks for the great information and help.

TB34