burning dvds without dvd burner??

[lordscrubba]

I have searched the forums for this and cant seem to find the answer to this (probaly) very simple question

My computer does not have a DVD burner I am looking to download various things and copy them to a media

Can I copy a MPEG-2 to a Data CD in the divx format without a DVD Burner

My DVD player is Divx compatible so I can play it through that

Thanks

[thecoalman]

Can I copy a MPEG-2 to a Data CD in the divx format without a DVD Burner

You can do one or the other not both, MPEG2 and DIVX are two different animals. Your DVd player may play both burned as data files. Easiest way to find out is try it.

You can also make a VCD, try VCDEasy . This will create a VCD which will play on just about any DVD player. VCD also has some menu options.

[mats.hogberg]

If you have an mpg2, load it in AutoGK and encode away to DivX or XviD. Burn the resulting AVI to a CD as data. Play the CD in your player. Much better quality than VCD/SVCD.

/Mats

[overloaded_ide]

Sure you can burn DVD without a burner, go camping, toss into the fire

You only need a DVD burner to Burn DVD's, you will need a CD burner to burn CDs. A DVD burner can also burn CDs but you don't have one.

There are lots of ways to burn Video to CD, as long as your player will play it. My player will play raw MP2 files on a DVD up to 1 or 2 gig I think it was, I did that by accident once and found out it worked.

About $30 sometimes less for a good DVD burner though at Newegg.com if you need one. Better quality and easier than CDs.

[lordscrubba]

About $30 sometimes less for a good DVD burner though at Newegg.com if you need one. Better quality and easier than CDs.

Didnt realise they were that cheap will probaly look into getting one and until then I will use burn as a data cd

Thanks for all youre help

[Bjs]

Usually not noted on players is mini-dvd playability , dvd on cd .

If authored dvd content will take no more space than a regular cd , then you can use imgburn or nero express (if you have it) , to burn it to cd .

You need to test your players abilities to find out if vcd / mini-dvd is supported , if your player dose , then good .

About the best thing about mini-dvds written to cd is you can scratch the blazes out of them and they keep on working , unlike dvds .

----

I was recently helping someone with vcd mpegs to dvd , including subtitles , and from my test project source files .

Video stream = 1100kpbs , 352x288 , 25fps
Audio stream = 192kpbs , 48khz , 2 channels , ac3
Subtitle = 5kbs

Total = around 66.5mbs , giving a max capacity for given stats of about 68 minutes max per 700mb cd .

More can be fitted if audio is lowered to 64kpbs (no lower) which roughly would add between 8 to 15 minutes more .

[FulciLives]

Before I had a DVD burner I used a format called CVD which is similiar to VCD and SVD but falls somewhere in-between. If your DVD player can do SVCD it should be able to do CVD. In fact now that I think about it my DVD player at the time wouldn't do SVCD but would do VCD and CVD.

VCD uses a resolution of 352x240 if NTSC or 352x288 if PAL and is MPEG-1
CVD uses a resolution of 352x480 if NTSC or 352x576 if PAL and is MPEG-2
SVCD uses a resolution of 480x480 if NTSC or 480x576 if PAL and is MPEG-2

The resolution that CVD uses is known as Half D1 resolution which is a compliant resolution for the DVD format. This is probably why CVD works on a DVD player that doesn't work with SVCD since the SVCD resolution is not a compliant resolution for the DVD format. Yes a DVD player can be made to work with SVCD but if you wanted to copy the SVCD to a DVD in the future you have to re-encode to a compliant resolution.

In short I found CVD to be the best of the CD formats because the resolution is good for the bitrate you need to use. Yes SVCD uses a higher resolution but with the bitrate limit imposed by the SVCD standard ... the resolution is actually too high for such a low bitrate. CVD with the slightly lower resolution still looks darn good and the bitrate works better since the resolution is a bit less.

It's been a long time since I made a CVD but as I recall I used the Half D1 DVD template in TMPGEnc Plus but made sure I limited the video and audio bitrates to be the same as the limit for SVCD.

This works well for TV shows especially after you cut out the commercials to reduce the running time but full length movies will have to be split out across 2 CD discs ... maybe even 3 CD discs if the movie is very long.

The DivX format is great if the source is progressive video but for interlaced video you would do better to stick with CVD I think.

Of course the best thing would be to buy a new DVD burner. If bought via mail-order you should be able to get one for around $40 and that includes the shipping charge.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman