Fastest AVI to DVD program

[mjaeson]

Hello please help, I'm fairly a beginner

I've been using Nero Vision Express to convert some Avi's to DVD's (I usually combine more than two in one dvd, like episodes etc...)

Problems:
NERO Vision is a little slow
Some files (XVid files) have color problems when converted

I've tried WinAvi, it was fast (700Mb Xvid file to DVD in 40minutes); but can only make one file at a time and I really was hoping for a "fit to disk" option....
I've tried TMPGenc, love the menu but it was twice as slow as Nero....

So can anyone help me find a tool which is as fast in converting as WinAvi with a "fit to disk" feature (so i can put in several avi's) and a menu maker for a DVD or am i wishing too much?

Please help, thanks

[buttzilla]

ConvertXtoDVD. The best avi converter around. It can do what you want.

[Jeremiah58]

ConvertXtoDVD. The best avi converter around. It can do what you want.

...and which costs 40$.
And for that price, or a couple dollars more, you can buy a standalone DVD/DIVX player to watch AVIs on your TV, without ever converting to DVD.

[mjaeson]

Is ConvertX fast like WinAvi?

[buttzilla]

ConvertXtoDVD. The best avi converter around. It can do what you want.

...and which costs 40$.
And for that price, or a couple dollars more, you can buy a standalone DVD/DIVX player to watch AVIs on your TV, without ever converting to DVD.

Yes it does cost $40 but it is well worth it. There are a lot of free good programs out there but sometimes you have to pay for the best. I have tried all the free programs that convert avi and I found none of them yet that compare to convertXtoDVD.

[buttzilla]

Is ConvertX fast like WinAvi?

Yes it is fast and more reliable then winavi. Winavi is very buggy. If you are going to buy a program buy the convertXtoDVD over the winavi. You wont be disappointed.

[mjaeson]

can it make menus and have the "fit to disk" feature if i was to burn many avi's to one dvd?

[mjaeson]

Also not everyone has a Divx Player, I want to be able to lend / share my DVD's to friends

[mjaeson]

Tried the program, Menu Creation is limited (compared to Nero Vision and TMPGenc) and it's not as fast as WinAvi, Converted a 700MB XVid and it took Winavi 40min while ConvertX took 1hour,

[guns1inger]

But when ConvertXtoDVD does, the audio stay in sync, it doesn't crash, and you didn't have to install a codec pack to get it working. As well as all that, VSO take an interest in what people think of their product. WinAVI produce second rate crap, then hide when you contact their support number.

If you love WinAVI and all it's flaws, go for it. Just don't expect much sympathy when you come back saying it doesn't work. We already know that.

[mjaeson]

Okay well...

1. I was asking for "other" programs because I have tried WinAVi and Nero Vision and TMGenc, my previous entry was ment for comparative purposes

2. I don't "love" WinAvi, that's why I'm asking for some other program, to WinAvi's defense I have not burned anything using WinAvi that was out of sync and it is really fast, I just find it limited in the multi-avi department and the menu department

[guns1inger]

None of the one-click-wonders do any of it really well. They either encode quickly, but have limited menus. Or they have better menu options, but are very poor encoders. Usually they are just rubbish all round. However they are created for a particular audience. That audience is people who download movies off p2p networks, don't really place to high a value on quality, and just want their movie on there DVD player as quickly as possible. To that end they are simplistic, gloss over the finer points of encoding and menu design, and assume that the source is low grade, so they don't have to work too hard to make it better.

You, as a user, have a choice. If you just want to get you downloaded avi to DVD as quickly as possible, then you have to accept that this is the level of tool you will have to play with. The only one of these to actually come close to spending any time of real development is VSO with ConvertXtoDVD, but that time has been spent on encoding and transcoding, rather than menu design. And for the most part, that is fair. if you are are putting more than one movie on a DVD5, why worry about the quality of the menu when you obviously don't care about the quality of the video.

Your other option is to learn how to encode properly using standalone encoders, frameservers, filters and proper authoring tools, and to create a disc that is worth the effort. It takes longer to learn, and longer to encode, but once you know the tricks it doesn't take much longer to set up.

Of course, you can't turn crap into gold, so if the source is a downloaded Xvid there is really not a huge amount you can do with it. But you have given it your best shot.

It comes down to either easy to use, limited ability tools to get the job done quickly, or harder to use tools that get the job done properly.

Personally, I would not urinate on WinAVI or NeroVision to put them out if they were burning. Experience, both practical and long hours answering posts here in the forums, have shown me that neither of these, or a myriad of other second rate encoders are worth the effort. ConvertXtoDVD is the only one that comes close to being reliable, and I don't use it's menu functions anyway. For the most part I don't even both to encode this type of material again because it just isn't worth it. Divx players are cheap and getting cheaper. If I do want to create something worth doing a menu for, I do it all by hand.

[mjaeson]

Hmm okay, well is there a way to combine or make menus from other programs and then put them as Menu for ConvertXtoDVD?

[mats.hogberg]

Fastest is not to convert at all. Get a player that plays AVI. Cost around the same as WinAVI, Converx2dvd and other commercial offerings in this area.

/Mats

[mjaeson]

Also not everyone has a Divx Player, I want to be able to lend / share my DVD's to friends

Also check my "location" Divx Players aren't cheap here

[guns1inger]

Hmm okay, well is there a way to combine or make menus from other programs and then put them as Menu for ConvertXtoDVD?

No, but there is nothing stopping you taking the video from ConvertXtoDVD and using it in other authoring tools to add menus. TDA is a cheap and cheerful tool for this. GUIForDVDAuthor is free and powerful.

[Dawter]

I tried Nero as it came free with my DVD writer and I didn't like it. ConvertXToDVD is the best I have found and well worth the money.