Conversion problems

[djtommye]

I am a DJ and a few months ago a friend of mine (he's pretty tech unsavvy) asked me to rip some music DVDs for him. I used Imtoo DVD Ripper and encoded the files as mpeg 2.

He says that when he plays them, he gets audio but no video.

I tried again here and was getting the same thing (they used to work), so I reinstalled the K-Lite Codec Pack (standard install with the classic player) and transcoded the video to mpeg 4 with the Imtoo MPEG Coder.

The video plays fine for me. I sent it to him and had him re-install K-Lite, but he still gets audio but no video.

What am I doing wrong?

[Baldrick]

Tell him to try play the video using VLC Media Player. It has built in codecs.

[djtommye]

He has to play it with his DJ Software (DJ Power). If he opens the file in Media Player Classic, he gets just the audio there, too.

[guns1inger]

Imtoo DVD Ripper ? K-lite ? Who is not tech savvy ?

Tell him to install FFDShow. He may have to manually set some of the codecs after installation, but he won't know for sure until he tries to play the file.

[djtommye]

Seriously - this guy can't even uninstall a program without my help. Scary, huh?

I'll just have him get me the DVDs again and I'll rip them again. Last time,I ripped them (with Imtoo) to an AVI, then from there encoded them to Mpeg2.

I'm guessing that mpeg 4 is the preferred codec? These are just videos that will be projected on a tv or screen at a party (music videos). So it's the quality vs file size conundrum...

[guns1inger]

Why on earth would you rip a DVD (which is already encoded as mpeg-2) to an avi file, then re-encode it to mpeg-2 ? Honestly, this really seems to be the blind leading the blind.

Start by working out what format he really needs. Once you understand that, start using some decent software and smarter techniques. This means not using Imtoo, and not re-encoding needlessly.

Until you know what you are trying to create, you are just wasting your time.

[djtommye]

Thanks for the insult. Was wondering how long it would take for someone to roast me.

All that aside - I mentioned what I was needing. How about a post that is actually helpful?

BTW - this guy I'm doing this for is pretty much an techno-idiot and originally wanted mpeg 1, which is why I ripped to AVI - so we could play with some different encoding methods to see which would work best. (Like you've never done that?)

[guns1inger]

Yes, I have, but I have had a reason to.

You have two choices, both of which have been given to you already.

Option 1. Fix his playback problem by working out which codec he needs, and installing it. FFDShow is one way. Use a codec identifier to work out what you have actually created for him. Don't ruin his system by simply throwing a codec pack at it. They are never the right answer.

Option 2. Find a format he can already play, and encode the videos to that format.

A possible Option 3 is to use an alternate player, such as VLC or the KM Player, which come pre-loaded with most codecs and can play most videos out of the box. Convert everything to Xvid encoded AVI using Xvid4PSP (ripping DVDs with DVDFab HD Decrypter and never using Imtoo again). If VLC or KM Player won't play these then his system is screwed and needs rebuilding.

If he is really that technically illiterate he should just use a DVD player.

Does that cover all your needs ?

[djtommye]

Yes - thank you. There's really only two collections in question (two DVDs). This guy can hardly copy a file without help, so walking him thru FFDShow may cause his head to explode (which is still a viable option).

These videos are for display within a DJ program, so #3 is out.

Thanks again for your help. I've really been a bit miffed as to why this has been a problem. I just figured Imtoo was a good app, but I guess not!