AVI to DVD but won't play

[sumire]

Hi,
I've been having problems converting AVIs so that they will play on my DVD player. I've tried a few methods that should have worked but have had no luck so far.

Since I have a mac I first tried downloading the open source program Burn. This seemed like an easy solution because all I had to do was drag and drop my AVIs into the program and it encoded it into mpeg. I did this with 5 AVIs and then burned it onto a DVD-R disc.

The disc played perfectly on my computer but when I put it onto my DVD player something weird happened. The sound was perfect but the image ran down the screen. It just kept wiping down the screen making it unwatchable.

So I went back to square one and downloaded ffmpegx. I then dragged my avi into the program and used the mpeg2enc setting to encode it. I created a disc image out of the DVD file (which contained an Audio_ts and video_ts) and burned that using disk utility (meaning I could only burn one file at a time which doesn't really work for my purposes anyway but it was just to test).

When I put this into my DVD it seemed like it was playing perfectly. Finally! Only as I watched the movie I noticed that the image sort of skipped now and then and parts of the image on the screen was actually dropping off and going fuzzy. At one point it froze. When I played it on my computer I noticed the same thing.

So at this point I'm totally stumped. This is really frustrating me. I've been trying to get this to work for ages and every time I think I have a solution it fails.

I know this was a long explanation but I'd greatly appreciate some help .Thank you!

[Baldrick]

It sounds like bad dvd media, have you tried with different dvd media? www.nomorecoasters.com
Does the video_ts folder on your hdd play fine on your computer?

[terryj]

Ok, let's back up a minute.

1. Do the .avi files play fine in Quicktime/Quicktime Pro?
No stutters, stops, or wierd effects?

2. What Codecs does Quicktime list as necessary to play back the files?
(Window-->Show Movie properties)

3. Do you have those codecs loaded on your system?

The easiest method, provided you have all the proper codecs
necessary to handle the .avi files in playback mode,
is to go buy a copy of Toast Titanium 8, and
from there,
you can drag and drop the files into Toast's Video Tab,
with the selection DVD -Video selected, and this will
process your .avi files and create a valid Video_TS folder
suitable for burning to DVD Media.

In your case I would highly recommend it.

With ffmepgx your cost of entry is lower than Toast
($15 vs. Toast's $80 price tag) but you will need to learn more
on the transcoding end.

[sumire]

Yeah, they play perfectly in Quicktime. I don't have Quicktime pro so I can't see what codecs are needed. I could only get basic info and nothing about codecs from the "movie inspector" option. However I haven't had any problems playing it so I'm assuming I have everything necessary.

I have heard about Toast but was hoping there was a cheaper method. If there's really no other way I may have to give up and purchase it, though. Are there any free or cheaper burning programs you'd recommend?

To answer your question, Baldrick, the video_ts plays fine on my computer. It seems weird that it'd be bad media since one of the DVDs I burned plays fine (on my computer) but I'll look into it. I did buy the cheapest ones I could get which in retrospect may have been a bad idea.

[terryj]

Search the database link on the left marked "DVD Media"
to see how your cheap brand rates. We all contribute and post to
this database to help others BEFORE they make a purchase
and waste money.

There is also VLC to determine what codecs are used in Playback,
and it's free.

You'll find soon enough that "cheap and free" equate in most cases
"headache and hassle". Ffmpegx, while cheap but not free,
will require you to be able to know what codecs are used in the file going in,
to fiddle with the settings to get the best end results.
( for instance, knowing when to use mencoder instead of
the ffmpegx engine, when to decode with Quicktime, etc.)

While solutions like Visual Hub, or Toast, you pay a bit more, but
the trade off is drag and drop, and then author ( or in the case of
Toast, author and burn).

[KeepItSimple]

Sumire save yourself more grief and get:

1.Toast - The best $80 you'll spend for mac video software. It does so many things that I don't know where to start. I'm sure Toast would handle that .avi file you have with no problems. There are rebates and specials often so maybe $50-60 if you shop around.

2. Superior dvd media. After years of trial and error the only 2 I buy now are Verbatim DataLifePlus 8X (has to be DataLifePlus not just DataLife) or Taiyo Yuden 8X Premium Line (NOT the Value Line). If not those brands it's a crapshoot every time. Down the road you'll be glad when the Memorex, Imation and GQ discs won't play anymore (if they ever did ) but the Verbatims and Taiyo Yudens are still going strong.

[tomlee59]

It seems weird that it'd be bad media since one of the DVDs I burned plays fine (on my computer) but I'll look into it. I did buy the cheapest ones I could get which in retrospect may have been a bad idea.

Not weird at all. Just because one disc in a batch worked ok doesn't tell you anything about the next. The deal with bad media is that quality control can be poor. Buying cheap is false economy, especially with blank dvd media. I second the recommendation for TY Premium media. The stuff is great, and ages well.

Also, be extra careful never to touch a blank disc's active surface. Fingerprints might be somewhat tolerable on playback, but they are absolutely forbidden for writing. You probably knew that already, but perhaps a reminder doesn't hurt...

[KeepItSimple]

Yeah the discs often burn fine but fail verification or they pass verification but won't play back or they play back on that computer but no other or work on computers but not DVD players and on and on and on. The good discs work everywhere and you save your hair.

[KeepItSimple]

Verbatim DataLifePlus 8x inkjet printable 50 stack for $16.99 at amazon.com right now.

[sumire]

Thank you all for the help, it's made things a lot clearer. I picked up Toast and you're right it's much easier to use and burned just fine. Definitely worth the purchase.

The only problem is that with Toast there's a significant quality loss with my DIVX encoded .avis. I know that some quality loss is inevitable but when I was converting with ffmpegx and then burning the video and audio_ts files it looked much, much better.

Sorry to keep coming up with questions but is there any way to fix this?

[KeepItSimple]

If the files are a smaller resolution such as 320x240, Toast doesn't re-encode to a higher 720x480(640x480) resolution. It keeps the lower resolution so it gets "magnified" on the screen and looks awful. Takes up a lot less disc space though .

When I have those I use FFmpegX to re-encode it to 720x480 or 640x480 then burn it with Toast and it looks good. Yes it's another step but it's the way I've found to make those smaller res files look better.

[sumire]

Yeah, that seemed to be the problem. Thanks!