Newbie only know how to use DVDSanta, but it won't convert some videos

[HartsVideo]

Hi,

I want to burn an .avi file. I use DVDSanta because it's easy and the results are good. Sometimes it won't work and I get a message that says "Unsupported Audio Stream, Unable to Open the Video File."

I used MediaInfo and it found that the audio is "MPEG-4 Visual (DivX 5) (Packet Bitstream) BVOP."

Are there other programs that I can use to burn .avi files? I would also need good directions on how to use them.

[Baldrick]

ConvertXtoDVD if you want something EASY or maybe DVD Flick(FREE).

[CBC]

possible solution:

Check to see if you have the right codec installed to decode it. Maybe try ffdshow, enabling DivX support or try the xvid codec

Even better solution: what Baldrick said

[HartsVideo]

I have codecs coming out of the ying-yang. DVDSanta has no options. What I wound up doing was encoding it using Easy Avi Divx Xvid to DVD Burner, but it wouldn't burn because the movie was 13 minutes over 2 hours. I remembered that DVDSanta will allow a movie to run longer than 2 hours, probably by compressing it somehow. So I then ran the VOB files through DVDSanta and it burned fine. The big drawback to this way of getting an .avi suitable to burn with DVDSanta is that the entire process took a little over 3 hours.

AVI to DVD looks good, it has more controls than DVDSanta, and it's free to boot. I'll use it the next time that I want to burn something. Thanks!

[guns1inger]

The real solution is to stop using crap software. DVD Santa is not very good, and Easy Avi Divx whatever is throw away crap as well. If you want free, try DVD Flick or FAVC. If you want commercial, use ConvertXtoDVD. Burn with Imgburn.

[HartsVideo]

Recently, my daughter has been asking me to burn some cartoon movies for my grandson and some movies for her so I'll be trying all the ones I have. I downloaded DVD Flick yesterday and I'll be trying that one out too. It's good to have some options. Thanks

[HartsVideo]

I burned a file for my grandson today, using DVD Flick. The only problems that I ran into is that the instruction's photos don't match the windows that opened on my screen, and there was no setting to choose WS or FS. It looks like it was automatic because the file was WS and it burned it WS. Other than that, everything went smoothly.

[guns1inger]

The interface has changed a bit over the last couple of releases, which is why the heklp files and guides are out of date.

After you have added a title you can double click on it to bring up the properties for that title. Here you can change the aspect ratio, set how far apart your chapters are, add extra audio tracks and add subtitles. DVD Flick is pretty good at estimating if a title should be widescreen or not. The only time you have problem is if you have a 16:9 video being processed via an avisynth script, as there is no aspect ratio flag to tell DVD Flick to make the title widescreen. In this case you have to set the value manually.

[HartsVideo]

I just remembered another option that the program no longer has, unless it's hidden. I wasn't able to choose 2-passes. It, basically, was just to load the file and click "Make DVD.

[guns1inger]

I don't remember it ever having a two-pass option, unless it was a version prior to 1.0. You can select a quality profile in the project options and set a bitrate (within reason).

[HartsVideo]

The instructions that I have show a screen where you can choose 2 passes. The instrucitons were pretty different than the actual windows. They were for a different version but I couldn't find the instructions for the version I have and I couldn't find the versions for the 2 guides that I found, lol.

[steptoe]

Again, ConvertXtoDVD


It works, and its quick, it can do everything in one package including burning your DVD at what speed YOU choose and is updated fairly frequently with new features or improvements for codecs with specific issues (unlike DVDSanta)

Having to many codecs on your computer can cause more problems than it fixes as they sometimes clash with each other, or overwrite codecs parts so that a specific codecs doesn't work as it should

I gave up using codecs packs along time ago


My codecs consists of what Windoze installs, plus RealPlayer Alternative and QuickTime Alternative (they are basic no frills versions of RealPlayer and Quicktime, but without all the rubbish they add to 'enhance' the software) and possibly Matroska pack as I play around with MKV files


ConvertXtoDVD can handle AVI, MPG, MKV and much more without installing any codecs packs and is one of the better softwares than keeps audio in sync

[HartsVideo]

I'll give ConvertXtoDVD soon, if I can find a free version. Somebody is always wanting something burned since they found out that I can burn movies, lol. Thanks for your advice about codec too.

[freebird73717]

Last free version
After that newer versions are trialware.

[HartsVideo]

Thanks

[Ai Haibara]

Of course, keep in mind that the last freeware version of ConvertX (or rather, DivXToDVD), is somewhat dated by now, and a lot of things have been changed in ConvertX since then. But, if it works for you...

Did you try FAVC as guns1inger suggested, too?

[steptoe]

If you want 100% free, try looking at ASVI2ISO

It uses HCEnc, but is slower as it basically rebuilds the video to match the bitrate so sqeeezing what is can out of the source video. But it is 100% free as it uses nothing but freeware software

It also can handle MKV and AVI and can also convert 5.1 or DTS to stereo or upmixing stereo to psuedo 5.1 audio plus handles subtitles that frequently come with MKV files or external subtitle files if you want to add subtitles to films that don't have them, just like ConvertXtoDVD

I use it to get better quality than ConvertXtoDVD plus it allows me to use AviSynth so I can use filters and functions to do various things to the source but this can add a lot of time to the encode but will improve very poor sources if you have the time as avisynth is very very powerful but needs time and effort to get the best from it


Yes, I have tried The FilmMachine, FAVC, AVI2DVD and a couple of others that all fell over when I gave it some avisynth scripts I use, but AVI2ISO managed it perfectly

[HartsVideo]

When I did a search for ASVI2ISO, there were no results. Maybe it has another name.

[guns1inger]

Try searching for AVI2ISO