Help - How do I convert a downloaded avi file to dvd

[Lulu]

I am an absolute beginner to this!! Please can anyone help me. I have downloaded movie files (avi) and I would like to burn them onto DVD as they are too large to fit on a 80 minute disc. I understand I have to convert the file using TMPGenc. I have tried this but got no sound. I have read the guides but am getting more and more confused. Could someone tell me in very easy terms exactly what steps I need to take.

Lulu

[bugster]

I am an absolute beginner to this!! Please can anyone help me. I have downloaded movie files (avi) and I would like to burn them onto DVD as they are too large to fit on a 80 minute disc. I understand I have to convert the file using TMPGenc. I have tried this but got no sound. I have read the guides but am getting more and more confused. Could someone tell me in very easy terms exactly what steps I need to take.

Lulu

Lots of people here will help, but you will be lucky if you can find someone who will post a complete step by step beginners guide just for you. If you say which guides you have tried, what your target format is ((S)VCD or DVD) and where things have gone wrong, then maybe we can help.

BTW, if VCD is what you are after, you can only get 80mins on an 80minCD. If you want more, then you end up with what is known as a XVCD and compatibility with DVD players is reduced.

[cugglemonster]

email me at cugglemonster@hotmail.com or messenger me on same address and i will talk you though what i do to avi 2 dvdr

[Lulu]

Thanks for your answers

I can convert to VCD in Nero Vison Express with no problems. When I try to convert to DVD it tells me the AVI files are too big for the DVD disc. I then converted the file using TMPGenc, but when I burnt it, it ended up with no sound, and four times the length. I have read various guides and a lot of the posts on this site, but it has only confused me more.

I have just tried to use an AVI to DVD guide but stumbled at the first hurdle, as I don't know how to extract the audio file from a movie to convert it from MP3 to WAV. Do I really need to do this?

Lulu

[flaninacupboard]

It certainly won't hurt, and avoids potential problems when encoding, such as out of synch sound and no sound.

Just open your avi in virtualdub go to the audio options, set the mode to full processing, then click file -> save wav. this will save your sound as a .wav file.

[Laddydaddy]

lulu
Since your source file is an avi and your final encoded file is mpg2, it will definitely be larger than the avi file. This is normal. To extract the audio you can use virtual dub. I would download virtual dub mod from the tools section. Load your avi into it. Choose audio>avi audio and full processing mode. Then choose file>save wav. When the drop down box appears give your wav a name and save it. You now have your wav file. Then, with your film still in virtual dub choose audio>no audio, video>direct stream copy, and file>save as avi. Save your avi. You will now have an avi file with no audio. Load THAT file in TMPG along with the wav file you created. Let us know how you make out.

[FOO]

Are you sure an AVI is smaller than an MPEG2 ?
Why would anybody use MPEG2 if that were so ?

[The village idiot]

Are you sure an AVI is smaller than an MPEG2 ?
Why would anybody use MPEG2 if that were so ?

Because in my opinion Divx sucks! But others seem to like it. It is almost always more compressed than mpeg, and often looks that way. Depends on who does the encoding. If it is done well, it is OK and there are few problems. If it is done poorly, like most seem to be, then it is nothing but problems. It always seemed to be a crap shoot of re-encoded garbage, with strange mega compressed codecs with "I" frames every 2 minutes. The only consistancy that I found was with the SMR codec, at least those guys all had a common method.

I'd rather spend my time downloading the mpeg, than trying to figure out what video codec they used, and figure out what audio codec they used. And then end up with some kind of audio sync problem. Maybe I'm just doing something wrong, but to me it is a pain.

And I would bet that whatever this specific movie is, that there is an mpeg version somewhere for it. And I would bet money that we can not talk about the title of this movie! We'll just contiue to assume that it is something his friend made with a camcorder of family reunions, and leave it at that. I say, have your friend convert to mpeg and download it again.

[Lulu]

I have downloaded virtual dub mod as I was told to, but I can't find anything about audio on it, video is there but nothing about audio. What have I done wrong?

Lulu

[Laddydaddy]

Avi files downloaded from the internet use mpg4 compression. Since it is supposed to be more efficient in compressing video than mpg2, you can use a lower bitrate with mpg4 to achieve the same quality as an mpg2 video. In other words you will have a smaller file size using mpg4 compression than if you use mpg2 compression. Unfortunately nearly all standalone DVD players can't play avi files. You will have to re encode your avi (mpg4) file using mpg2 compression to be able to play the video on your standalone.