Trying to join divx/xvid AVIs is killing me

[digMole]

Normally, I make a dvd from an avi by processing it with vso divxtodvd, not because i am extremely pleased with that program but rather because it is the only thing i have found that works at all, and as a bonus, it is free. Often I find that I need to join 2 or more avis together to make a complete movie, because I'm not one for wasting discs. Even if the output was bigger than a dvd5 (which it never has been, thanks to divxtodvd's abysmal fixed bit rate) I would just run it through dvd shrink. I've tried combining avis with several different programs like media4pc avi joiner 1.02, and ultra avi convertor gold. Sometimes it works perfectly fine, but often the resulting file plays back with a psychadelic smearing transparency effect and choppy sound. I've tried stripping and rebuilding the indices with divfix (which finds no errors in these way messed-up movies) and.. no dice. What's the best way for me to join avis that will work 100% of the time? Like most people, I want a program that is simple and free of course, but I'll settle for free.

[LT. Columbo]

if the files are identical (framerate audio etc, which i'm sure they are) you can use virtualdub (free)

1 Loading the first file and then, from the "File" dropdown menu selecting "Append .AVI segment" and loading the second file.

2 Set BOTH "Video" and "Audio" to "Direct Stream Copy"

3 Save with a new filename

i join these with tmpgenc dvd author once they have been encoded to mpeg-2, no need to ever have to join 2 avi's and you shouldn't experience any of the problems you described above. it's quite simple.

[digMole]

Very, very nice. I appreciate the prompt reply and virtual dub is a really great program. In fact, my girlfriend has a 'who' concert video on vhs that has awful audio, and she has a cd of that same concert. Using this program, and my rca dvd-vcr combo, i'm going to transfer that tape to dvd+rw, rip the audio from the cd, and recombine them to a dvd-r for a nice gift. So I might start using the method you suggested to make my dvd's, i'm unhappy with ... something, i'm not sure what... in divxtodvd. My videos always come out crystal clear, but it seems like there is something wrong with the framerate. I have to convert them to ntsc, and they play back at the right speed, but they look jumpier than the avi source. What up with that?

[LT. Columbo]

i dont use divxtodvd to do encoding, does sound like it's framerate related though..