dat files????

[mol3000]

what software do i use to convert dat files to mpeg?????

[adam]

vcdgear. (www.vcdgear.org)

[idrdata]

Where do your dat files come from? I downloaded movie dat file via Agent newsreader. so i have this large dat file and a smaller one - several other files that are meaningless to me. So I ran both files trough VCDgearGUI, and the file converted to AVI was a whole 7k, maybe. That I could tell all the individual files that resulted in this large date file were good. Should I just stick to Morpheus for movies? I've seen the quality of movies from Agent download and those of Morpheus. Agent much better. Should I conclude bad dat file?

[kr0n0s]

for every dat file i have ever seen and used

i have been able to simply rename the file to mpeg and it has worked fine

i had a friend check out what a dat file was a few years back, he came back to me that the dat file is nothing more than a renamed mpeg file, the renaming is so that the software on the rest of the vcd can read the file.

so from that point on when i download a vcd i take the dat file and rename it to mpeg, which i then burn (i dont do the vcd in a dvd player i would prefer to use my computer over a crummy tv)

i have also taken these cds to others houses and have the file work just fine with a mpeg player

[idrdata]

that's consistent with what i was told previously - rename file. just won't work for me. maybe my problem is in the renaming steps. i rename to.mpg, but the file type still indicates dat file. this is really bugging me. thanks for the input, though.

[kinneera]

Simply renaming the file will make it playable using most software programs, such as Windows Media Player. Strictly speaking, however, there are some things added to the MPEG stream when it is converted to .dat for mastering to VCD. Those modifications can interfere with a lot of program's abilities to edit the MPEG. It's best if you run it through a converter to make sure its a normal MPEG video stream.

[adam]

A dat is not a renamed mpg. When you burn a vcd it takes the mpg and adds a file header resulting in the .dat. This file header gives the hardware player the necessary info it needs to play the file correctly. This file header can cause problems if you treat the dat as an mpg. Software players might choke and, though its never happened to me, I can imaging telling an authoring program to add a file header when one is already present could corrupt the file completely.

When you rename a dat to an mpg you are not changing the file in anyway you are only changing how windows interprets it. Its no different than renaming a .txt file to mpg. Its still a .txt file but if you try to run it, it will be run with whatever program you have associated with .mpg files.

As kinneera said you should always convert dat files to mpg before doing anything with them. With vcdgear it literally only takes maybe 30 secs so its not like its a big inconvience.

[idrdata]

OK, I'll give it one more try - only cause I have seen the quality of video converted from dat files. I will try vcdgear first this time... not much luck with VCDgearGUI. Thanx.