problems burning into dvd format using nero

[steven]

hello all

wondering if anyone can help. i got loads of files downloaded tha i want to burn onto dvd disc to be played on dvd players. i got all the software but it seems to take 15 hours or something stupid just to encode the file then it crashes. 1 or 2 have worked but the sound seems to be out by a mile after a hour or 2. just wondering if someone could share with me the art to burning to dvd disk and what software process etc they go through.
thanks in advance for all the help

cheers

steve

[Lost Pup]

my 2 cents.... and i expect change.

save your blank dvd's for real dvd's. They are more costly than a blank cd which can be obtained for several pennies - versus 50 cents to 1.50$ each for dvd (depending on quality and speed)

I would suggest using nero and make mpegs out of them - vladd has a space on his web site devoted to this process.

dvd conversion and authoring can be complex and very time consuming.

[follow_floyd]

if you are saying it takes 15 hours to convert to dvd format then you should get a video splitter and split into however many pieces you want, convert then join then together again but in my opinion its a waste becase if the file is less than 1.5gb (before converting) the picture is probably crap.

or you can just make a vcd or svcd you can do that by converting the video file you want to the vcd format, the file should be alot smaller and faster to convert, you may need to split that also if you dont have an 800mb disc. you can play that on a tv if you have a player that plays vcds, or you can burn to a dvd disc but makes sure you use the whole disc.

[dap OLD werewolf]

First of all I answered you on your OTHER post. Second, I noticed that you are using Nero and hoping it will do a good job to encode an avi (i assume that is what you are trying to do) to dvd format. THe word "burning" is often way misunderstood, as all the process of burning means is taking something off of your hard drive and burning to disk. If you try to do that with an avi or a vcd/svcd mpeg and burn it to dvd, you will not get a file that is playable on a non-avi compatible stand-alone dvd player. If it's an avi, whatever the application you use you must first take the avi and convert it to dvd mpeg, then author it to dvd format (vob) and only then burn. If the file is not good quality, I would agree with Pup, just encode to vcd or svcd and burn to cd. If it is already vcd or svcd, I also agree with Pup, converting to dvd format is pointless as your quality will not get any better and vcd (as well as usually svcd) will most often be supported by your dvd player. However good quality avi's can be encoded very successfully to dvd format, but you have to use the correct procedure, it's much more than just burning:

http://www.rita.lt/video_tools/help/avitodvd.htm

[dap OLD werewolf]

if you are saying it takes 15 hours to convert to dvd format then you should get a video splitter and split into however many pieces you want, convert then join then together again

I don't agree with this, as the more splits and joins you have, the more chances for problems with audio sync, etc.

but in my opinion its a waste becase if the file is less than 1.5gb (before converting) the picture is probably crap.

I also disagree with this statement if it is concerning avi's, as most of the avi's I rip and encode are 700 mb, and I only do high quality work. Whether it is necessary to go to 1.5 gb to get a good quality encode depends on the length of the video in time, its compressibility, the software used to encode and the talents of the person encoding. Most large avi's these days are ac3, and 700 mb of the 1.5 gb are used just for the sound, not video.

[follow_floyd]

you dont have to spilt and join several times, just enought for it not to crash.

its my opinion tha the picture isnt good, i wouldnt like to watch that on my tv, the screen size is almost double.

[dap OLD werewolf]

its my opinion tha the picture isnt good, i wouldnt like to watch that on my tv, the screen size is almost double.

The resolution of a TV is much less than that of a monitor, so regardless of the screen size, an avi rip will almost always look better on a TV than on your monitor. Don't get me wrong, there are few avi's that I bother encoding to dvd because to do that they need to be very high quality, I have a tv out card so I don't bother with many. But my point is that there are many 700 mb avi's that are worthy of conversion if you want to spend the time and the money on blank dvds, and often a person who knows what he/she is doing can make a better encode from dvd to avi at 700 mb than one who does not know what he/she is doing at 1.5 gb. I see it all the time. I.e. thousands of pixels can be thrown into the garbage simply because the person didn't crop the film correctly or paid attention to the bitrate but not the framerate.

[Lost Pup]

there is a big difference in tv's these days. True a regular 20 inch screen may suck, but when you are talking about HD plasma big screen - there is a difference. While i do not dispute that some avi's are ok at 700 mb (over 2100 here) - there is no comparison to a dvd (be it 5 or 9) on a serious screen - and that doesnt even take into account your surround system, which as you pointed out earlier can account for 700 meg for the acs (though dts is better).

By the way - to actually answer the thread - doom9 has some great conversion techniques and http://www.dvdrhelp.com/ has several ways to do it and review most programs.

For those who have tried to compress with CCE (the best way bar none) - you know it is a bout 20 steps that take some time to understand, let alone complete - there is now a BETA version of 1-click software being developed and tested on the doom9 forums using CCE. Worth checking out 4 sure

[dap OLD werewolf]

While i do not dispute that some avi's are ok at 700 mb (over 2100 here) - there is no comparison to a dvd (be it 5 or 9) on a serious screen - and that doesnt even take into account your surround system, which as you pointed out earlier can account for 700 meg for the acs (though dts is better).

For the record, I was not comparing to a dvd - I was answering this statement "if the file is less than 1.5gb (before converting) the picture is probably crap" which is simply not true in the case of an avi made from a standard-length movie dvd with good software and an understanding.

I don't even know why the issue of "dvd" is being discussed - this thread was started concerning videos which were "downloaded," and I assume this means avi or vcd/svcd. Of COURSE an avi or mpeg is not going to be as good quality as a dvd, but give me a 1.5 gig allowance on the avi and I dare any untrained eye to be able to tell the difference between my rip of a standard length movie and the original dvd on a standard non-plasma, standard definition 50 inch television screen.

[follow_floyd]

ok, then lets move on, which is a smaller conversion svcd or vcd?

[Lost Pup]

vcd