avi's.... Hhmmm...

[XIII]

.avi files are a bloody pain. Let me explain the situation. I have a SD iBook, and many .avi files. I am looking to burn them to PAL DVD, to be watched on my normal TV. I have Toast 6 Titanium, and Popcorn. I really have no idea how to do it.. When I simply add the .avi files to the dvd, and then burn it, it takes forever, and when it does finish, when I try and play them, all I get is a black screen.

Has anyone got any help/advice?

Thanks

 

[Manzana]

I was going to do the same thing you're currently doing until i decided to go with a dvd player that plays .avi's straight from cd's or dvd's. they're only 70 bucks at best buy, i have not bought one yet but this is the route i will go instead of converting my .avi's to dvd's and losing resolution in the process.

divx.com has a list of compatible hw player's and this is the player available at BB

if you have a lot of avi's like i do this will save you a lot of hassle. all you need to do is burn avi's!

 

[WinterMute]

If your .avi's play from your QuickTime player and you have QT pro, you can convert them to a format that iDVD or DVDSP understands.

The easiest way is to go:

.avi-->.mov (sorenson or H264)-->iDVD-->DVD

iDVD will convert your .mov to MPEG2 as part of the burning process and will create the file structure that your DVD player understands.

 

[Veldek]

If your .avi's play from your QuickTime player ...

What I'm wondering is, if his avi's play in QT, he should be able to burn them to a DVD using Toast. I did this before. And it really takes a while, because it has to encode the file.

 

[WinterMute]

What I'm wondering is, if his avi's play in QT, he should be able to burn them to a DVD using Toast. I did this before. And it really takes a while, because it has to encode the file.

Yes, the latest version does that doesn't it, I have DVDSP, I build VIDEO_TS folders to disc and burn them in the data tab in toast.

It's quicker and I've never had a coaster yet...

 

[XIII]

If your .avi's play from your QuickTime player and you have QT pro, you can convert them to a format that iDVD or DVDSP understands.

The easiest way is to go:

.avi-->.mov (sorenson or H264)-->iDVD-->DVD

iDVD will convert your .mov to MPEG2 as part of the burning process and will create the file structure that your DVD player understands.

QT6 wouldn't play the avi's, so I used VLC. I do have QT7 Pro now, and I assumed it wouldn't have changed.. So I carried on playing in VLC. It seems I need to have fiesl that QT can play, which should then be able to be burnt using Toast..? In which case, I need some tool to convert from .avi to mpeg2..? Would that be a correct assumption? Also, these DVD players that poster no. 2 mentioned, do you simply burn under the Data tab in Toast, Mac disc, with the avi's on? Seems almost too good to be true.

Thanks for all the help so far.

 

[WinterMute]

QT6 wouldn't play the avi's, so I used VLC. I do have QT7 Pro now, and I assumed it wouldn't have changed.. So I carried on playing in VLC. It seems I need to have fiesl that QT can play, which should then be able to be burnt using Toast..? In which case, I need some tool to convert from .avi to mpeg2..? Would that be a correct assumption? Also, these DVD players that poster no. 2 mentioned, do you simply burn under the Data tab in Toast, Mac disc, with the avi's on? Seems almost too good to be true.

Thanks for all the help so far.

OK, go Gooooooogle for Xvid and Divx codecs for the Mac, they are out there, and a lot of .avi's are coded from them, my QT7 plays .avi without problems, it plays some stuff that VLC won't touch.

Once you can play it in QT you can transcode it.

 

[XIII]

OK, go Gooooooogle for Xvid and Divx codecs for the Mac, they are out there, and a lot of .avi's are coded from them, my QT7 plays .avi without problems, it plays some stuff that VLC won't touch.

Once you can play it in QT you can transcode it.

Why do I need the xvid and divx codecs? Do I install them into QT? And by transcode do you mean to mpeg, or something toast can burn? I'm sorry, I am just a little lost here. Thanks.

 

[WinterMute]

Why do I need the xvid and divx codecs? Do I install them into QT? And by transcode do you mean to mpeg, or something toast can burn? I'm sorry, I am just a little lost here. Thanks.

Yes, they are codecs that are installed into QT. You need them because .avi is a "media container" i/e/ a wrapper that holds the data, the codec is often DivX or XviD.

Transcode to a QT movie (.mov) and you can put it into iDVD or iMovie.

Transcoding is done in the Export menu of the QT player.

Once you've got it into iDVD, you won't need Toast, although you could just transcode to MPEG2 and chuck iy at Toast as well.

 

[XIII]

Ok, thanks. You've been a big help.. I needed it spelling out. Will I lose quality when I transcode to a format then? I hope not too much..

 

[WinterMute]

Ok, thanks. You've been a big help.. I needed it spelling out. Will I lose quality when I transcode to a format then? I hope not too much..

The new H264 codec is great, but if you really want to keep it looking good, code to DV-stream (PAL DV) and then throw it at iDVD.

Be aware that file size will jump dramatically in DV, and H264 will do fine, as will Sorenson 3. .avi isn't the best quality anyway.

 

[allan_zip]

I had a lot of avi's that i burnt onto a data dvd disc in Toast. They played fine in QT but when i play them on my Philips DVP630 dvd player i get a great picture but the sound cuts in and out and drifts way out of sync (by minutes!) making them unwatchable.
Any ideas as to what might be the problem?

 

[ezkimo]

I run my AVI that cant play in quicktime through DivX doctor and then they work. Then I can do whatever I want with them, including burning to DVD for playback.

http://www.3ivx.com/divxdoctor/

 

[johan_tanying]

Ok, thanks. Will I lose quality when I transcode to a format then? I hope not too much..

Some avi:s, at least the wide screen ones, have a higher resolution than a DVD (MPEG2). So, in other words, yes you will loose (some) quality. And a lot of time when re-encoding.

Otherwise it can be recommended to buy a player that handles these files natively. I have a portable Shinco (a large Chinese brand), model SDP 1850, which plays whatever disc I throw at it. Strange Windows-encoded mpg:s that on a mac (QT, VLC whatever) just plays the first five minutes of works fine, as well as various xvid, divx encodings. This player also has a USB port which should mean that movies, jpegs and mp3s can be played directly from a portable harddrive. Unfortunately it cannot handle partitioned drives very well, so this is still untested.

Also, these DVD players that poster no. 2 mentioned, do you simply burn under the Data tab in Toast, Mac disc, with the avi's on? Seems almost too good to be true.

Just burn a mac/pc data disc in Toast. Do not use folders, just throw them all into the root directory. The player truncates long file names so keep the file names short and withour non-english characters just in case.

 

[Riot_Mac]

my quicktime 7 pro will play dixx or xvid avis but without sound... i know that in panther and quicktime 6 pro i had both sound and video playing without any problems. am i missing something in tiger and quicktime 7?

 

[killmoms]

my quicktime 7 pro will play dixx or xvid avis but without sound... i know that in panther and quicktime 6 pro i had both sound and video playing without any problems. am i missing something in tiger and quicktime 7?

None work? That's bizarre. With the DivX codec my QT7 plays all AVIs with MP3 audio just fine. Are you sure you don't have AVIs with AC3 audio or something?