multiple .avi files on a DVD-R that is viewable on a standard DVD player

[ottawadave]

hi
I guess this is a very newbie question, because I've tried to find a simple answer in some of the preceeding posts, but just get confused. If someone could please help me out, and give me a simple step-by-step method I can use to accomplish what I'd like to do, I would greatly appreciate it! I've been racking my brain for a while trying to figure this out, or find info on the net. Guess I'm not as sharp with video burning as I thought.

My problem is, I have about 25 .avi files of a TV show on my hard drive. They are all about 45 minutes, and are all about 350 megs each. I would like to put them on to DVDs that I can give to my girlfriend to watch on her DVD player, I think its a pretty basic, standard player. I don't want to make 23 DVDs though, since using the normal process I would usually use with video files of my own, I'd get like 90 minutes on a DVD, and thats it (so 2 episodes per DVD). I don't want to do this though, I don't want to make 23 DVDs. The other option I'd do for myself is to put the episodes on a DVDR and then watch em through my xbox, because I have the media center and codecs to do it. And that way I could fit like 15 of the episodes on one DVDR.

So my question is... is there anything like that that I can do, to make a DVD like that? Or do I basically need to convert all the avis in to something else (mpeg files) and then burn them to DVD? And if that is the case, then do I just use like Roxio Media Creator 9 (which is what I have) and make a basic menu up, add the files and burn?

I'm basically wondering whats the easiest way to get this done, ideally on about 4-5 DVDs tops, if not fewer (without losing too much quality).

Anyways, as you can see, I'm confused by how to do this, so any advice any of you experts can help me with would be so hugely appreciated! Thanks in advance.
Dave

[Richard_G]

Encode them to half D1 (See What is DVD at top left) and use a bitrate of around 3000kbs. That should allow you to fit 4 or 5 episodes per disc with quality roughly equivalent to VHS.

[lizzoqops]

You should really check and see what kind of dvd player she has...there are quite a few now that will play avi files. Check the DVD Players forum under Hardware. This could save you a lot of time and trouble.

[kush]

Or go buy one for your girlfriend -- you can easily find Divx/Xvid compatible players for under $50-60 (US).

[edit] In fact, Circuit City has 2 Philips available for $36 & $40 respectively, a Toshiba for $45...Probably others as well. You do the math on the conversion. I'm almost certain Circuit City has/had stores up north, or at least has a company affiliated with them up there (much in the same way as Best Buy).

[ottawadave]

Okay. So if I buy her a divx compatible player, then can i just throw the avi files on a DVD-R basically as data avi files and then the DVD player will recognize them? Or do I need to do something with the avi files to allow them to be read by her DVD player?
Sorry if this question is dumb... I really am confused in the world of different file types for video files.
Thanks!

[guns1inger]

Burn as data and they should play. There are some restrictions, depending on the player, but in general

Less than 720 pixels wide
No qpel (Quarter Pixels)
No GMC
Bitrate less than 3000 kbps

Should play on pretty much anything. AVIRecomp can redo a file if it won't play. If yours are standard TV episodes I doubt you will have any problems.

[ottawadave]

Okay, sounds great, thanks for the tips! So I'm going to buy a DVD player thats advertised "DVD with DivX", and then I can just grab a DVD-R, throw the .avi files directly on there, and then when i pop the DVD in the player, it will give me a little menu somehow listing the various episodes I put on there?

Also someone mentioned above reencoding to "D1" which will fit 4-5 episodes, with VHS-type quality. What does that mean? If I put the files on the DVD-R, shouldn't I be able to fit like 15 episodes on there in the format they are in right now, without encoding anything? I could do that right now, and put the DVD-R in my xbox, and it would play the 15 episodes... What am I missing here? Thanks!

[guns1inger]

It depends on the quality. Assuming you are familiar with TV episodes compressed to around 350 MB and comparing to those, they have a relatively low bitrate and reduced resolution. When I encode for myself, I prefer to have a higher resolution and higher bitrate, and therefore a much higher quality than the sort of files available elsewhere. The choice is really yours. If you want to fit 15 episodes to a disc (or there abouts), look at the bitrates and resolutions used on those files, and use those settings on your own.

[lizzoqops]

I can usually put about 12-13 episodes of a tv show on a dvd as data files, 350 mgs each, and the quality is good for me (I have a fairly small 20 inch tv). You'll have to make sure the names are in good order (I usually just rename to ep 01.avi, ep 02.avi, etc.). I have a Philips 5140, which does play qpel encoded files. A menu comes up and you can select an episode, or just push play and all the files will play in order, one after the other. It's pretty easy, I don't think you're missing anything. : )

There are a lot of topics here on how to do this, and fixing any problems you might have, if you search this forum for "philips 5140" or "philips 642", for example.