avi to dvd

[vwwanksta69]

I have nero express and for some reason when trying to burn a dvd since i just bought a dvd +-rw burner i can not burn .avi files. Does anyone have a convertor that makes avi into the file type i need to burn the movie onto a dvd using nero?

thanks
chris

[daamon]

Hi vwwanksta69,

I notice that this is your first post here - welcome to the forums.

Also, I'd guess from your question that you're new to the whole "make a DVD from an AVI" thing?

The basic steps involved are:

1. Shoot the footage (be it on a DV cam, analog, whatever).

2. Get that footage on to the PC / get a file from your mate / download etc. In your case, you have an AVI from somewhere.

3. Get that footage into a DVD compliant MPEG2 file. See the "What Is... DVD" link in the top left of the page for the specs.

If you have an AVI (or a number of other formats) you use an encoder. Here are some popular choices in no particular order:

TMPGEnc
Mainconcept MPEG Encoder
Cinemacraft Encoder
Canopus Procoder

AVI isn't as format - it just holds video and audio that can be in different formats (DV AVI, Divx AVI, Xvid AVI etc.). It's best to know what type of AVI you have - use AVICodec or GSpot to find out.

4. Then you author the MPEG2 file - this creates the VIDEO_TS and AUDIO_TS (usually empty) folders, with the VIDEO_TS holding all the VOB, IFO and BUP files.

It's at this stage (during authoring) that you can create menus etc.

A good tool to start with is TMPGEnc DVD Author (TDA), but there are others.

5. Then you burn to DVD and watch. TDA will do this, as will (should) your favourite burning tool - in your case, Nero.


The above is a very high-level explanation. You'll need to do some reading and learning before you can get a DVD to watch.

I'd suggest doing practice burns on a re-writeable disc until you're confident with the process.


You'll find it heavy going, but worth it in the end. Come back with questions after you've done some research, and take it one step at a time.

Good luck...