Hi, I'm new and in need of some serious help!

[kiki26]

Hi, everyone! I am hoping someone can help me out. I am not real familiar on this stuff, but I have read alot on this website as well as others that I have come across, I have even printed them out, so I could follow the steps and I still can't figure it out.

What I have as far as software and drives is as follow:

SmartRipper 2.41
DVD2AVI_176+
TMPGEnc
VCDEasy
Nero Express
hp cd-writer
dvd-rom
And I just purchased a DVD+RW/+R writer
My stand alone DVD player is a Sony DVP-NS300

What I want to be able to do is burn movies and videos that I have downloaded off of kazaa onto a CD that will play in my Sony stand-alone DVD player.

I tried burning some videos on several different disks to see which ones worked and none of them did. I used a Memorex CD-R, PNY CD-R and a Memorex DVD+RW. I tried burning them in my CD writer as well as the DVD writer by using Nero Express. It would say it was burned successfully, but when I tried to play it in my Sony DVD player it didn't work, it didn't work playing it on my computer either.

I have spent many hours playing around with it, and I am just so frustrated. And I have spent almost $500 on this DVD writer that doesn't seem to work. If someone could explain to me the steps on how to burn the movies and videos as well as what Cd's I need to use in what writer. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks in advance

[Nelson37]

You need to read some more.

The movies you are downloading are most likely Divx-AVI, which will not play in a standalone DVD. Check the Divx Conversion guides to the left.

[Bel]

Dvd's need to be authored. This requires two things. Dvd compliant mpeg2 videos, and an authoring program to create the proper dvd structure. You cannot just burn an mpeg onto a dvd+r and have it play on your dvd player. I wish it were that simple, but it isn't.

For converting an avi or a non-dvd compliant mpeg, the easiest thing to start with until you get comfortable is TMPGenc. Use the project wizard to start with and you can select one of the dvd templates and start from there. Use NTSC if your source is NTSC, use PAL if your source is PAL.

For authoring, my personal recomendation is start with Spruceup. It's easy to learn and use. Check out the various guides here and at doom9.org. You can download a demo of spruceup on the internet, but you're going to need to "find" a key somewhere.

As for specific help, you're just going to need to dive into it and post whatever specific problems you're having at each step...

[kiki26]

Thanks for your help! I was able to find my .dat files and play them on my Windows Media Player from my burnt CD. So that works, YAY!!

Just a few more questions for now.
When I burn my mpeg videos onto a cd, that is called converting it to a "VCD" right? And stand-alone DVD players do not play mpeg's files, right? So I need to take a look at Spruceup?


So basically I should only be using TMPGenc and Nero? And forget the other programs mentioned above?

Also, in your opinion is it worth it to keep my DVD writer? Or can all this be done on my CD writer?

[Bel]

For authoring vcd's and svcd's you don't need to use Spruceup (although I think it can do vcds) but it's mainly a dvd authorer. If you want to make vcd and svcd's just use Nero to author it. Not sure how nero express works (because I hate it) but create a vcd or svcd project, drag the file into it. Nero will check to see if it is compatible, and then all you do is burn the cd and Nero creates the correct file structure.

[Bel]

Regarding the program you have, depends on what you want to do:

Smartripper - Used for ripping movies off of a dvd. Use this if you're copying a dvd to either a dvd or vcd/svcd

dvd2avi - Used to "Frameserve" a mpeg2 file (dvd or svcd) into an encoder to reencode it. You load the mpeg, select save project it creates a small file which you would then load into tmpgenc. Some versions of tmpg will not take mpeg2 directly without this step. Program can also be used to turn mpeg2 into AVI files such as divx but these are never compatible with standalones.

VCDEasy - Never used it, but I believe can also be used to author vcd's and svcds instead of Nero.

[kiki26]

Thanks so much for your help! it's starting to make sense now

So, in your opinion, do you think I should keep the DVD writer? Because I spent almost $500 on it, and if I don't really need it, I would rather return it. Or do you think it would be worth it for me to keep it?

[Bel]

Personally, I love mine and wouldn't give it up for anything. DVD's hold more, generally better quality because you can use a higher bit rate. Although it takes a bit more effort to author them, once you get the hang of it it's really not hard. I generally never make vcd's or svcd's anymore, except for the ones I "find" online.

The quality of vcd mpeg1 I find to be too crappy for my tastes, and while I can't argue with svcd (essentially the same quality of the dvd's you'll be making if you stick to low bitrates), instead of 2 cd's for 1 movie, you can get 2 movies on 1 dvd.

As for cost, it's up to you of course. Dvd drives are still pricey, and the blank dvds are much more expensive than blank cds.