[jorgem4]

I have a video file an .avi and I want to burn it on a DVD so I can watch it on my TV.

I tried importing it into iMovie, but the file is to big (time wise, bigger that 9min 28sec) so iMovie suggests chopping it into pieces on quicktime and the importing it.

So I open the file in quicktime but quicktime just plays the video and no sound comes out. The only program where I get video and sound it playing it in VLC, but I can't chopped on VLC.

Any suggestions on how to do this?

Thanks.

[Nap]

A lot of avi files use a mp3 variable bit rate encoding and QT refuses to play such audio. If the encoding is one of the mpeg-4 variants like 3ivx or divx then the Divx codec may help. It somehow fools QT into playing the VBR mp3 sound. If the Divx codec doesn't work, it may be using a video compressor that divx doesn't work with. You may be able to fix the audio by visiting the 3ivx site and downloading a program called Divx Doctor II, which can fix most any kind of problem audio in avi files.
http://www.divx.com
http://www.3ivx.com
http://doctor.3ivx.com/

[k_munic]

.avi is just a container as .mov - could be anything of file standard, the mentioned divx, or maybe a mpeg, mpg2...

give mepg streamclip (free, versiontracker) a try! it can transform many mpgs into dv, it chops it into iMovie compatible chunks…

[jorgem4]

Thanks!

I will give it a try...sound perfect for what I weant to do.

[jorgem4]

Originally posted by k_munic:
.avi is just a container as .mov - could be anything of file standard, the mentioned divx, or maybe a mpeg, mpg2...

give mepg streamclip (free, versiontracker) a try! it can transform many mpgs into dv, it chops it into iMovie compatible chunks…

The programs looks great, but it didn't work, it will not read the .avi file I have only mpg files....

Thanks do.

[Nap]

If you can open the file in QT you can find the compressors used by checking MovieInfo. Have you looked there yet? As I said earlier a lot of avi files created on a PC use variable bit rate mp3 audio and you have to use one of the methods I outlined before to hear that avi audio format in QT Player or to convert it to other formats in QT Pro.

[nerd]

I just got MPEG2 Works tonight, it's $10. This does what you want. You 1st pick the .avi file and it converts and scales to DVD size and MPEG 2. Then you use the same program and select the converted video file and MPEG2 Works will automatically find the audio and join the 2 into a VOB/Video TS folder.

MPEG2 Works is the first program I found that makes this whole process so easy. You can get the demo from macupdate.com but the demo won't let you try out the DVD, only VCD.

Brad

[chessplayer]

I'm also trying to convert some AVIs to burn to DVD. I did it using Toast 6.07, and it worked but the quality was significantly worse than the original AVIs (putting about 2 hours of AVIs onto a DVD). Does that mean Toast is bad at doing the encoding?

Would I get better results using MPEG2WORKS first? I can't try it out since the demo won't convert to DVD.

Brad, how well is MPEG2WORKS working for you?

Thanks for any thoughts on the easiest way to do this without a large loss of quality.

[nerd]

Originally posted by chessplayer:
I'm also trying to convert some AVIs to burn to DVD. I did it using Toast 6.07, and it worked but the quality was significantly worse than the original AVIs (putting about 2 hours of AVIs onto a DVD). Does that mean Toast is bad at doing the encoding?

Would I get better results using MPEG2WORKS first? I can't try it out since the demo won't convert to DVD.

Brad, how well is MPEG2WORKS working for you?

Thanks for any thoughts on the easiest way to do this without a large loss of quality.

I'll post a still of the origional AVI and the MPEG2 when I get off work tonnight. I thought it did good but there was a couple scenes that showed some artifacts. I'll let the same file go in Toast while I'm at work, that'll help decide.

Brad

[chessplayer]

Originally posted by nerd:
I'll post a still of the origional AVI and the MPEG2 when I get off work tonnight. I thought it did good but there was a couple scenes that showed some artifacts. I'll let the same file go in Toast while I'm at work, that'll help decide.

Brad

Thanks so much, that will be very helpful. I like the simplicity of Toast, but don't mind adding a couple steps with MPEG2WORKS or something else if it does a better job than Toast.

[nerd]

chessplayer,

MPEG2 Works looks better then the Toast CODEC. The big thing is this; the original AVI is 16x9 aspect, Toast didn't compress it as anamorphic so the video doesn't appear letter-boxed if your on a 4x3 TV. MPEG2 Works lets you chose between 16x9 or 4x3 for the source, this is all you need to know, MPEG 2 Works will take care of the rest.

Panther wouldn't let me take a screen shot with the DVD Player so I don't have any. Sorry

Brad

[chessplayer]

Brad, thanks for the feedback on MPEG2 Works. It was very helpful and I bought the program (well worth the $10).

MPEG2 Works did a much better job than Toast in the conversion needed to go from avi to DVD (I saw a lot of annoying artifacts when I used Toast).

In case it's helpful to anyone, the procedure I used to put several AVIs onto a DVD was:

1. Use DIVX Doctor II on the avi files.
2. Use MPEG2 Works (one of the preset DVDNTSC buttons) on the avi files one by one. For each, it outputs a .m2v file, a .mp2 file, and a .mpg file.
3. Drag a .m2v file into the Video tab in Toast 6. It asks for an audio file to go with it, and so select the corresponding .mp2. Do this for each of the .m2v files.
4. Burn to disk image and test it out in DVD Player.
5. Burn to a real DVD!

I used Toast for assembling them since it creates very nice-looking menus automatically. I only wish that MPEG2 Works had a batch mode, since it took about 6 hours per 1 hour avi file on my PowerBook G4 1.33, so it would be nice to let it handle several avi files overnight or during the day without supervision.