A question about Nero Vision Express 2

[Minx]

Last night I began to transfer a .AVI video file to DVD using this programme . It is still Transcoding the file after 8 hours(Now it has about 45 minutes to go). I chose to burn it to disc but not really sure what it's doing when transcoding, is it a bit like when DVD shrink Encodes, it has apreview of the file in the preview window showing? And once the time has elapsed will it go straight to burning it to disc?

I am new at this so sorry if it is a bit jumbled up.

[reboot]

Nero's encoder is one of the slowest, worst quality things around. No wonder it's taking 8+ hours.
What it's (attempting) to do, is take your avi, encode it to a DVD compliant mpeg, add your menu's and chapters, convert (transcode) into .vob and .ts and then burn it.
You will (eventually) get a dialog popup to enable the burning of your disk, if you selected that option on the last screen of the wizard, otherwise it will write a .nrg file to your hard drive, which can be burned in Nero as an image file, to produce your finished dvd.
Just a couple of suggestions:
1.) Encode your avi into a proper mpeg using a better program first, such as TMPGEnc, Mainconcept, CCE, or Canopus.
2.) Only use NeroVision Express to author and burn the dvd.
BTW, it is NOTHING like DVDShrink.

[guilhas]

an add for the post above.......

Try DVDLab for authoring, DVDShink for BackUp.
I USed Nero Express and no good result was burned, some of them gave me 'Invalid Navigation Estructure' others simply no read. And Nero didn't alerts u if a DVD project could be saved into a single DVD (4,7Gb) until it recode the video file, in the Minx case, probably it won't fit a DVD+-R for a 8 hour recode, my movies usualy take 5 hours to recode to fit a DVD. DVDLab project can be saved to a folder with any size (according to free space u have in your HD) and DVDShrink fits it to a single recordable DVD.

[Minx]

Well the programme finally finished and burnt the file to DVD and it's fine, it runs ok on my DVD players. I do have DVD Shrink but it wouldn't recognise a .avi or Mpeg file.

[Minx]

BTW I do have an encoding programme called :-Sceneo but that was going to take absoultely ages to do too...am I doing something wrong, for it to take so long, to convert files so they go to DVD?

I did convert the .avi file using Sceneo into MPEG but still couldn't use it with DVD Shrink. And thinking i can't use it with NERO VE i ended up starting from scratch again.

[reboot]

NVE will accept mpegs with no trouble. It will insist on re-encoding them if they are not DVD compliant.
DVDShrink is for backing up dvds, not encoding/authoring/burning mpegs.
I still think you should use my steps 1 and 2 above, at least to start with. Once you get familiar with the process, then venture into something like DVDlab, Pinnacle, or Ulead.
Nothing creates a high quality mpeg quite like tmpgenc, at least for the price. CCE, Canopus and Mainconcept can all do it, but at more expense (Canopus is around $500 or more).
Once you're familar with one encoder, stick to it, you'll get the best results. The same usually applies to your authoring app. You'll soon grow tired of NVE's limits, and there's nothing better than DVDLab (IMHO), especially in the sub $100 area, and with a little practice, the average home user can crank out superbly authored dvdr's.

[Minx]

I have TMPGEnc but not used it, and Sceneo was easy to operate juct 3 easy simple(like me..lol) steps.

[reboot]

I just downloaded and tried out Sceneo.
Other than it's severly limited options, it does produce a nicely dvd compliant mpeg.
Now load resulting mpeg into NeroVision Express, and author it.

[Minx]

did you find Sceneo slow when encoding from avi to mpeg i had to wait hours for it?

[reboot]

Slow is an understatement.
5 hours 22 minutes to encode 1:33 movie.
TMPGEnc did the same movie in less than 4, and Mainconcept did it in just under 2.