Playback Issue

[AllisonChains]

Hello Everyone -

Firstof all, I have sat here for the last few hours reading all the posts, articles and everything on this site and I must say that it is a wonderful site. I am new to burning/backing-up files to DVD and in the last few weeks I felt I had just become more confused with each 'how to' article or 'tutorial' I read. I found this site a few days ago and I do understand a LOT more than before, so thank you for that.

Now, having said that....

I am still so green with all of this... converting, authoring, codecs, why is it so complicated?

...after a lot of trial and error and wasted cd's I have learned that I need to convert from my Xvid (avi) to DVD in order for them to play at home. I have gone through countless software downloads to achieve this process, but I think I have finally settled on one. I'm not sure if I can mention the name, but it converts the file then will burn it for me. Seems simple enough.

I just played the DVD in my home player and while the overall sound is ok, I believe (a little fuzzy as is the picture) everyone is orange/red, and/or really dark in the movie. I adjusted color, contrast settings and all of that, but it didn't do anything for the overall picture on screen.

Beforehand, through my research on here, I downloaded the most recent codecs from DivX, Microsoft DirectX and Xvid before attempting this last burn thinking that might have been the problem, but it wasn't. Maybe the wrong codecs? Is there such a thing?

I do have the latest (I assume) N ero that came with my burner, and I thought that this one program would do all of this for me, and it says as much in the manuals, but I am not having any luck with it at all. I can never even get to the burn process in it. I would LOVE to be able to just have Nero and be able to do all this at once, as it seems that for every program I find, I need to download 2 or 3 more things to make that one work and there are 4 or 5 more added steps!

So, if you have sat through this whole thing, thank you and if you have any suggestions or comments, I thank you in advance. If you are going to ignore me because I am a stupid newbie to all of this like a few other sites have, I guess that's fine, too.

I will just go pout and kick a cute, furry kitten.

[45tripp]

, why is it so complicated?

what's not?

I have gone through countless software downloads to achieve this process, but I think I have finally settled on one. I'm not sure if I can mention the name,

please do

Maybe the wrong codecs? Is there such a thing?

sometimes

I do have the latest (I assume) N ero

Nero is not recommended for encoding.

So, if you have sat through this whole thing, thank you and if you have any suggestions or comments, I thank you in advance.

Convertxtodvd is the standard suggestion for a newbie.

If you need more specific suggestions,
you'll need to provide more specific info regarding video info and apps used.
And yes you need a few apps, and what not.
Like Gspot which is something you can use to get info on your video.

gl

[jagabo]

I just played the DVD in my home player and while the overall sound is ok, I believe (a little fuzzy as is the picture) everyone is orange/red, and/or really dark in the movie.

Computer monitors have very different color/brightness curves than televisions. You have to keep this in mind if you're adjusting the video before burning to DVD. Video usually looks darker on a computer monitor. And the dark areas look more saturated. The light areas usully look less saturated on a computer monitor. Your case sounds the opposite of that though.

A lot of people around here seem to like ConvertXToDVD for Divx/Xvid to DVD conversion.

[AllisonChains]

45tripp -

I know - most things ARE complicated, but I consider myself pretty computer savvy, or so I thought, and that just makes it worse!

The software I was referring to is DVD Santa - so far I like it, it is pretty fast at burning the file, but of course the actual converting takes almost 2 hours, which from what I have read is pretty normal?

Encoding - see, I have that blank look on my face. From what I read Santa does does that as it converts, but I have heard of Nero not being ideal for that.

...and I do understand that a few apps would be needed, there is just so much information and choices, I don't know what is good or not worth the time. I will definitely look at convertxtodvd and gspot, thank you.


jagabo - See, I have that blank look again - I haven't seen any kind of video setting before burning, or maybe I just don't know. I am usually one to completely look at settings and get a general feel for software before using it, but that is one thing I haven't found, yet. Maybe the wrong software. Maybe that would be something that gets messed up in the conversion process?

...maybe to explain it a little better is that if someone has on a red shirt, it looks almost neon and the faces look almost like the contrast is too high. It is all orangey (is that a word) looking.

Thank you both very much, I will start with what you have suggested.

[jagabo]

jagabo - See, I have that blank look again - I haven't seen any kind of video setting before burning, or maybe I just don't know. I am usually one to completely look at settings and get a general feel for software before using it, but that is one thing I haven't found, yet. Maybe the wrong software.

In your original message you said "I adjusted color, contrast settings and all of that..." it wasn't clear to me if you were talking about adjusting the TV or adjusting the video before converting to DVD.

...maybe to explain it a little better is that if someone has on a red shirt, it looks almost neon and the faces look almost like the contrast is too high. It is all orangey (is that a word) looking.

I think the person who created your AVI file adjusted the colors to look good on the computer. When you convert this back to DVD you will need to undo what that person did. You will want to tone down the video before converting to DVD. I don't know anything about DVD Santa so I can't give you any instructions for that. Look to see if it has controls for adjusting the brightness, contrast, hue, and saturation.

It's going to be hard to eye-ball this. If you can, convert a short segment at several different settings then see how they look on the TV. You can also look at a "normal" video on the computer to get an idea your video should look like on the computer before burning it to DVD.

[redwudz]

DVDSanta is OK, but not a great converter, average at best for all-in-one converters. If you are converting the average Xvid off the net with a all-in-one, you can't get much easier or better quality than ConvertX.

The best methods would take a few more days of reading and learning about all the individual tools that will let you 'fine tune' the processes for the best quality. Start with 'WHAT IS' DVD to the upper left on this page to get a idea of what the DVD format is. And Gspot 2.70 is a great tool to tell you information about your videos.

The basic method of making a DVD from a existing video is 'CONVERT > AUTHOR > BURN. The first two are covered in our guides to the left. This is the same basic process whether you use a all-in-one converter or the individual tools. For burning, you can't do much better than ImgBurn. And it's free.

And you must be a fast reader to read everything here in a few hours. Make sure you do read our F.A.Q's to the left. A lot of answers there.

And welcome to our forums.

[AllisonChains]

jagabo - Sorry - I did mean that I had adjusted those settings on my TV/DVD player.... BUT that isn't an issue as of now!

I must say that I have done as directed by 45tripp and jagabo and I now have a wonderful movie perfectly playable on my dvd player. ConvertX is wonderful and GSpot (a woman HAD to have created that) certainly helped.

While I am a fast reader, I failed to mention that it might have been a few hours a day over about 4 or 5 days. I would just get frustrated. I am a redhead and that equals no patience! Everything here has been a great resource and did help greatly. There were just a few odds and ends that still had me all twisted. I wish I would have found this place sooner!

Thank you guys so much - I appreciate it. You may have my first born as a sign of my gratitude, she comes potty trained and everything, she just has a wicked mouth on her....can't imagine where she gets it. :P