A good program for AVI to WMV(mpeg4) conversion

[ROBERT BLACK]

Any recommendations? Thanks.

[hotwings]

well since microsoft is the proprietor of the wmv technology, i would figure they have the upperhand on the process. I would recommend getting the windows media encoder set for wmv9 from microsoft's website. Alternatively, If you have xp, try windows movie maker, it does some avi to wmv conversion, although it is more limited in its options than the encoder series.

[ROBERT BLACK]

I'll look into that Hotwings,Thanks. Any more software that will do AVI to WMV?

[Muffzilla]

Use the Windows Media Encoder. It has far more options than the Windows Movie Maker. I ripped a couple DVD's to WMV and the quality is extremely good. I even managed to preserve the 5.1 surround sounds since the windows media 9 pro audio codec can handle 5.1 and up to 7.1. The's 1 and 2 pass options, cbr, 3 forms of vbr (peak - where you specify the highest rate you will allow, Bit Rate VBR where it will try to use an average bitrate you specify throughout the clip but will go higher or lower in some spots, and quality VBR which will give you the highest quality but also the largest file size.) There's deinterlacing options, inverse telecline, pixel format conversion and a whole lot of other stuff. Any third party software you come across to convert avi to wma is going to be as good. Plus this is free!

PS You should also note anyone who tells you wmv files are copy protected are full of b*llsh*it! It's optional to copy protect a file and it is turned off by default. However in the Windows Media Player it is on by default, but that is only for ripping cd and is quite different. The point is wma and wmv files can be made WITHOUT copy protection.

[ROBERT BLACK]

Thanks for the info Muffzilla. I have a DVD player that can play WMV. So the prospect of getting better than SVCD quality on a cd,(from a VHS backup) without the file size or DVD-R cost is too good to pass up.

[Muffzilla]

There's a DVD player that can play WMV? I've been looking for one forever! What model is it? I have seen a few Panasonic models that say they support the HIGHMAT format but don't actually support WMV. So, I guess I'm a little skeptical but if there is one please supply the vendor name and model number. A link would be helpful too. I'v almost given up on encoding to wmv as I couldn't find a DVD player that will play it. In fact, I started using DivX because the Kiss players and some other's will play those.

[ROBERT BLACK]

Unfortunately it's only for sale in Canada, right now.(China/ Canada trade agreement benefit,I guess)And only in Toronto and Vancouver's Chinatowns. It's called the VSONIC 9200mx. Multi region,PAL anamorphic conversion in correct aspect ratio, as well. It has the Ciruus Logic chipset,I believe. Great sound quality for the price.($190.00CAN)There is a link on Google under VSONIC, but the website doesn't tell you any info,is in Chinese and it's incomplete. There is another DVD player that can play WMV though. It's called the NINTAUS. There are several models available the 9868,and 9888, are best. Both can do WMV,are multiregion, and PAL compatible. The Vsonic is of decent build and so is the Nintaus,9868, that a friend has. Nintaus has an english website,here,www.Nintaus.net.

[Muffzilla]

Thanks for the info but all I saw on the Nintaus page was that they support wma. I didn't see anything about wmv.

[ROBERT BLACK]

My friend said he played a WMV movie trailer burned to cd, on his 9868. I have no reason to doubt him, but you could E-mail Nintaus and ask about the Windows Media feature. I haven't tried it on the Vsonic, but the feature is listed in the specs.