Question: Converting multiple AVIs to DVD

[Agarcia3]

Hello, I am pretty new to this but have been reading the forums for quite some time so I have a pretty good handle on at least the general format. One thing that I have noticed is that there is a lot of scattered information about certain topics, especially those that seem to be most frequently used. As a newbie to find the answers you have to read through pages of searched results and old conversations that may only partially pertain to your problem and then try to piece everything together. This post is to try and solve that problem for me, and also for the other people that me be looking for this kind of specific information.

I have 24 separate AVI files that I would like to burn to a DVD that will play on any standard DVD player. I am trying to construct a complete step-by-step guide on this process to help anyone and everyone that may be interested. There is a huge wealth of knowledge here that extends far beyond what I can grasp and I know that it would help a lot of people that are in this similar situation to see this thing done from the beginning. I know there are plenty of guides like this, but none of them seem to work with the tools I (and undoubtedly many others) have

Below is a list of the files I have and what I have to work with

FILES:
- 24 separate AVI files
- ex. xx1.AVI, xx2.AVI…xx24.AVI
TOOLS:
- Ffmpegx
- DVD2oneX
- Toast 6
- QuickTime Standard
- DivX 6 converter

OBJECTIVE:
- DVDs that will play on a standard DVD player
- DVD menus on each listing the separate files and their names

Here is what I have figured out so far…

Step one: Converting Individual AVIs into Video_TS folder
- Take xx1.avi and drop it into the ffmpegx “source format” box
- Click “Save as” and Select folder destination
- Select DVD mpeg2enc Quick Preset
o Video: 4000 Kbps, 23.976 fps
o Audio: ac3, 48000 Hz, 448 kbps
- Leave Video and Audio tabs as they are
- Select the Option tab and under the mpeg2enc options select the set 3:2 box
- Encode
Result: 1 Folder Containing
- xx1.ac3
- xx1.m2v
- xx1.wav

Here is where I get stuck. Shouldn’t I see a Video_TS folder somewhere? I know this seems to be a common problem, with varying answers so any help/suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help at the end of all of this I hope to have a complete step-by-step guide discussing problems and solutions to this task all in one place.

[WhoisGeorgeBush]

First of all why are you converting your avi files i don't know about toast 6 but in toast 7 and most buring packages you can burn your avi files you dont have to change them into the Video_TS (VOB files), the burning software should do the conversion for you.

[Agarcia3]

I’m not sure if this makes a difference, but I’d like to be able to fit more than 3 AVI’s on one DVD. What I have is 24 episodes of a TV show and 3 AVI’s per DVD would make 8 DVD’s. I’d like to convert them so I can compress them. Did I miss something? Is there another/ easier way to do this? Thanks for the help

[WhoisGeorgeBush]

how long are these episodes you will need a lot of compression try using ffmpegX to convert them to mp4 format which toast should understand. However this will look awful you can safely burn 6 episodes to dvd without a big loss in quality if there are about 20-25 mins long which would make 4 DVD's other than that you would need a DL disk

[Agarcia3]

They are all about 45 min long but even if I can't compress them, I can't get them to burn at all. Everytime I try I get an error from toast. Just dragging the .avi files to the dvd-vidoe tab isnt working. What else can I do??

[germ]

Yes, this is of interest to me as well.
The complication for me is that the original files are .rmvb.
I don't care whether the final compressed files look awful, all I want is to put 8-10 45-60min episodes on ONE DVD.

Help appreciated.

[synchro505]

I wouldn't mind 3 episodes per DVD-R if the quality is good. But if you could maintain a good degree of quality with more files... wow!

[DesertRat]

Agarcia3,

I ran into something like that (no apparent VIDEO_TS file). I switched over to using the DVD FFMPEGX pre-set and enabling "Encode using QuickTime". This takes a LONG time on my old G3 but, for letterboxed tv shows it does a very nice job.

FFMPEGX will make up a number of files. A MPEG file, an AC3 file, a WAV file and something called a VV file. Then it takes these AFTER the progress bar has reached 100% and makes the VIDEO_TS file. This time lag is what threw me at first. The building of the final file took almost one hour. You might have to add the MPEG2 codec or whatever it is to QuickTime.

For converting a number of files to one DVD I use Sizzle with varying results. You bring the MPEG file that FFMEPG made during the conversion into Sizzle. One for each of your episodes. This is NOT the VIDEO_TS filder but instead the large MPEG file it made during the conversion. Sizzle will let you make menues to each then it will make the final VIDEO_TS file for you. Sometimes it works, sometime it doesn't. The program is no longer in development so...

I have a theory about adding more that three episodes to one DVD. If there is something out there that can further compress the large MPEG file and keep an acceptable quality to it then yes, you could add more files. I don't know if there issuch a program but I'm sure somebody will chime in and enlighten us.

I hope tis helps. Someday there will be a set of faqs covering things like what files you have to download and add to make the program work right but they don;t seem to exist at the moment.

[WhoisGeorgeBush]

That seems like a lot of work (time) to simply burn the avi files check what type the avi file is by checking the info of the file? It may just need a codec for quicktime or something simple.