Do I Use TMPGenc DVD Author to Convert DIVX to DVD?

[johnharlin]

When I use a program called GSPOT on my AVI 698 megabyte 2 hour long movie file, that plays perfectly on my computer using my DIVX player, it says that it is IDX50/DIVX.

When I use TMPGenc DVD Author 1.5.13 it says that my avi file is an illegal file and that you can only use mpeg 1 or mpeg 2 files. I want to convert my avi file so I can use it on my stand alone DVD player.

Do I need another TMPGenc program or do I need to get an upgraded version of TMPGenc DVD Author?

[Forum Troll]

use Virtualdub to frameserve the video into TMPGENC. Also use Virtualdub to demux the audio and encode it separately to AC3.

[Baldrick]

Or use an all-in-one tool like divxtodvd (free ) or convertxtodvd.

[johnharlin]

Baldrick,

Thank you for the recommendation for the free divxtodvd program. That seemed to be the easiest to use. I used it and it seemed to be successful in the conversion. Then I used the recommended copytodvd program from the divxtodvd web site. After I finished copying the file to a DVD, I stuck the DVD into my recently bought Sony Video/dvd player and it immediately said Error. Then I used my Nero program and copied it to a DVD and when I stuck it in my DVD player it also said Error.

Things are never easy. I wonder what could be wrong.

[guns1inger]

If you got a video_ts folder with ifo, bup and vob files in it, then my first guess would be format. You don't give a location, so I will guess that the player is NTSC and the disc you have created is PAL. Many NTSC players will not play back PAL material . Sony and other major players seem to be slower at changing than the el cheapo models.

Load the Divx into g-spot and look at the framerate. If it is 25 fps, that is most likely your problem.

[johnharlin]

guns1inger,

My location is U.S. and you were right about my DVD player not accepting the PAL format and 25 fps. Luckily the DIVX to DVD converter has an option that says Force NTSC 29 Frames. I used that option the second time I did the conversion and then tried playing it on the Sony Video/DVD player and this time it did start playing though I only had time to test about 30 seconds since I had to go so I don't know yet how the quality will be overall.

One curious thing is that when it is converting everything, it says it is doing 10 frames per second. Does that mean my 600mhz processor is just not fast enough to do the NTSC 29 Frames per second?

Another thing is that the original 2 hour DIVX file is 698 mbytes. After it is through converting DIVX to DVD, the file is 3.49 Gigabytes in size. That's about 5 times the size of the DIVX file. What's going to happen if I have a one gigabyte or more DIVX file. When I convert it to DVD, will it turn into a 5 gigabyte file and then make it impossible to copy on to a single DVD?

In any case, thanks for leading me in the right direction in finding the solution to be able to play the DVD on my player.

[steveryan]

File size doesn't matter with AVI's, it's the running time of the video that is important.

[guns1inger]

File size comes from running time x bitrate. A 2 hour movie compressed to 700mb Xvid and a 2 hour movie compressed to 1.38GB Xvid will end up the same size if encoded to mpeg2 with the same bitrate.

Don't be concerned about getting 10 fps. Encoders don't process in real time. Otherwise those of us with faster machines would be tired of waiting instead of getting 2 and 3x realtime.

A better option, if going from 25 fps PAL to NTSC is to encode at 23.976 fps and apply 2:3 pulldown. Tmpgenc can do this for you. The results will be much smoother on playback.