Best method for video file converting

[neo_bahamut1985]

Okay, I play on making a DVD (that will run on a DVD player and not
a PC DVD-ROM) by using DVD-RWs and wish to convert media files (such as .avi, .mpeg, .divx, etc) into a format that can be burned on said DVD-RW. So, one - is there freeware for doing this? And two - will I be able to play these discs on a standard DVD player? And please don't tell me that DVD-RWs can't be read; I made a DVD backup on a DVD-RW and it works fine.

[Agozer]

Eh? I don't recall anyone here ever saying that DVD-RW's can't be read.

Does your DVD player support DivX?

[bobthebuilder]

If you wish it to run on all dvd players then you are out of luck. Some players are limited in the kind of discs they can use, but most (if not all) modern/new players seem to handle dvd-r's just fine. If you wish to play an .avi, .mpeg, or .divx on a dvd player then the player must support such a feature (most dvd players don't). Your best bet is to create a dvd and there are freeware programs that can do this. Here is a link to the best site on this issue: http://www.videohelp.com/ . You can find guides that can give you step by step help.

[Gil_Hamilton]

Eh? I don't recall anyone here ever saying that DVD-RW's can't be read.

He's probably thinking about "don't use DVD-RW if you wanna use it in a DVD player"

Anyways, plus, minus, writable, rewritable...
Check your DVD player's manual.
See what disks it supports. If in doubt, use DVD-R. Not -RW, not +R, and not +RW. -R is the oldest of the formats, and is the most likely to be supported.

[LobStar]

tovid does it all for you magically
http://tovid.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

[neo_bahamut1985]

tovid does it all for you magically
http://tovid.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Ah, but I never compiled anything in my life! AND I don't have Linux/OS X/etc.

[Aaron]

tovid does it all for you magically
http://tovid.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Ah, but I never compiled anything in my life! AND I don't have Linux/OS X/etc.

You can apparently compile Tovid easily with Cygwin (http://tovid.wikia.com/wiki/Installing_tovid/Cygwin).

You might be able to use Mediacoder in combination with CDRTools Frontend to produce DVD-compatible MPEGs (Mediacoder) and burn them onto a DVD (CDRTools Frontend). Use the Mediacoder DVD video player extension, and use the CDRTools Frontend Video DVD burning software to select the MPEGs' directory as your source. I think I might have tried this before, but I'm not sure. I'm going to switch over to Windows to verify this. (Btw, there's a very nice Linux tool that I use called QDVDAuthor. )

[edit] Scratch the Mediacoder/CDRTools Frontend setup. :/ You need VOB files, it turns out...

[LobStar]

tovid does it all for you magically
http://tovid.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Ah, but I never compiled anything in my life! AND I don't have Linux/OS X/etc.

Should have made that clear that you want everything done for you and you want it on windows, having said that though, tovid can compile with cygwin as already stated. I must also say, it is WAY worth it. It automatically handles space for quality and an amazingly high quality encoder. Plus its FAST and can convert ANYTHING FFMPEG can play. You seriously won't find a much better program for free.. otherwise.. look into dvd santa, but its pretty crappy.

With tovid I typed one line and it turned a whole series of a TV show into DVDs correctly assigning the optimal episodes for discs, etc.

[neo_bahamut1985]

Right; I don't doubt it's amazing software. My issue is that I never compiled, much less programmed anything in my life. I just wish they (the Tovid website) would compile the builds for download.

[jdratlif]

mencoder is avail on windows, supports mpeg-2 encoding which is dvd compliant.

if mplayer can play it, mencoder can encode it. if you are not worried heavily about space constraints, it is the best solution. free software.

http://www.mplayer.hu/

Code: Select all

mencoder -oac lavc -ovc lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf \
  -vf scale=720:480,harddup -srate 48000 -af lavcresample=48000 \
  -lavcopts vcodec=mpeg2video:vrc_buf_size=1835:vrc_maxrate=9800:vbitrate=5000:\
keyint=18:vstrict=0:acodec=ac3:abitrate=192:aspect=16/9 -ofps 30000/1001 \
  -o movie.mpg movie.avi

Be warned mpeg audio/video sync is hell on earth. good luck with weird video sources. Test before burn is what i'm saying.

Also there are probably other settings you might want to look into. Like aspect ratio is unlikely to always be 16/9. Many might be 4/3. DVD Author will turn DVD compliant mpegs into DVD folders or ISOs that are burnable.

I use this script to convert TIVO video to low-quality DVD video.

Code: Select all

#! /bin/sh

ENCODER=mencoder
ENCODER_OPTS="-ovc lavc -oac lavc -of mpeg -mpegopts format=dvd:tsaf -vf crop=480:478:0:2,hqdn3d,scale=352:240,harddup -af volume=10 -fps 30000/1001 -ofps 30000/1001 -lavcopts"
AUDIO_OPTS="acodec=ac3:abitrate=192"
VIDEO_OPTS="vcodec=mpeg2video:vstrict=0:vrc_buf_size=1835:vbitrate=1470:vrc_maxrate=9800:keyint=18:trell:dc=8:mbd=2:aspect=4/3"

if [ x$1 == x ]; then
    echo "syntax: tivo-encode.sh video_file";
    exit 1
fi

FILE=$1
MPGFILE=`echo $FILE | sed -e 's/\.[A-Za-z]\{3,4\}$/_dvd.mpg/'`
LOGBASE=`echo $FILE | sed -e 's/\.[A-Za-z]\{3,4\}$/_pass/'`
CMDBASE="$ENCODER $ENCODER_OPTS $AUDIO_OPTS:$VIDEO_OPTS"

for i in 1 2
do
    if [ $i -eq 1 ]; then
        OUTFILE="/dev/null"
    else
        OUTFILE=$MPGFILE
    fi
    
    CMD="$CMDBASE:vpass=$i $FILE -o $OUTFILE"
    
    echo "running [$CMD]"
    $CMD > ${LOGBASE}${i}.log 2>&1
done

I can fit 18+ simpson episodes (sans commercials) on one DVD at this quality. It is basically the same as I had on VHS tapes at SLP/EP quality.