Total Newbie Needs Help

[Lanisse]

First things first...

My nephew has e-mailed an .avi file of his wedding which I'd like to burn to a DVD so that I can do some HDD housekeeping (its a big file - 800Mb). I'm not sure what codec he used, but it has to be either DivX or XviD.

I haven't used my DVD writer since I bought the PC. I have PowerDVD 5 and Nero 6 OEM installed. I have no idea where to start

Q1. How do I find out what codec he used?

Q2. Where do I go from there? I assume I need to convert the .avi into some other format (mpeg?) before I can burn to DVD.

Q3. Will I need to acquire another piece of software to do this? If yes, can you suggest any good FREE software I could download (as idiot proof as possible please).

Q4. Can I use my existing version of Nero?

I'm sure these questions have all been answered before. Sorry to go over old ground. Humour me... please.

[setarip]

"Q1. How do I find out what codec he used?"

Either load the video into VirtualDub and from the "File" dropdown menu select "File Information" - or use "GSpot"

"Q2. Where do I go from there? I assume I need to convert the .avi into some other format (mpeg?) before I can burn to DVD."

One set of procedures (other posters may/probably will suggest alternative methods) would be:

1) Use "TMPGEnc" (or "TMPGEncPlus") to convert the .AVI (DivX-compressed or otherwise) to compliant MPEG2-for-DVD format - Use "TMPGEnc's" DVD wizard/template to accomplish this

2) Use "TMPGEnc DVD Author" (a different program than "TMPGEnc") to easily create the required additional DVD files and structure (and chapters and a menu, if you wish)


**If the combined filesize of the DVD "package" written to your hard drive is greater than 4.37Gb, use DVD Shrink (or similar) to compress


If your O/S is either Win2000 or WinXP, TMPGEnc DVD Author can also burn your DVD. Otherwise, use NERO to burn in "DVD-Video" mode
(As an alternative to "TMPGEnc DVD Author", you could use "DVDLab")


Let us know of your success ;>}

"Q3. Will I need to acquire another piece of software to do this? If yes, can you suggest any good FREE software I could download (as idiot proof as possible please)."

See above

"Q4. Can I use my existing version of Nero?"

See above


Happy converting ;>}

[Lanisse]

Getting there... I think.

Ok, I manged to convert the .avi into an .m2v and .wav with TMPGEncPlus.

The problems happened when I burned the files to disc using TMPGEnc DVD Author. The video bit is working just fine. but I have no sound.

Any idea why?

[setarip]

"I manged to convert the .avi into an .m2v and .wav with TMPGEncPlus."

After selecting "Open File", you're not able to select the .WAV file by clicking on "Browse" next to "Audio input source" in "TMPGEnc DVD Author".

If, for some reason, you're not able to do that, then:

In TMPGEncPlus, choose to save as ONE multiplexed (video and audio combined) MPEG file, rather than saving video (.M2V) and audio (.WAV) separately...

[Lanisse]

Hmmm...

It lets me choose both the .m2v and the .wav but then doesn't seem to encode the .wav.

I'll try it the other way and see what happens.

Thanks.

[LT. Columbo]

on the final screen before it encodes, make sure the box is unchecked that refers to elementary streams.

[Lanisse]

Still can't seem to get it to work. I'm going to download DVDlab and give that a try.

[setarip]

"Still can't seem to get it to work.'

1) When you "tried the other way" in "TMPGEnc" by making sure the box was unchecked that refers to elementary streams, what was the name of the file that was generated?

2) Did you try playing this file on your PC? If so, did it play with audio?

3) When you loaded the file into "TMPGEnc DVD Author", what showed in the box labeled "Video input file name"?

4) What showed in the box labeled "Audio input file name"?

[Lanisse]

Originally posted by setarip
"Still can't seem to get it to work.'

1) When you "tried the other way" in "TMPGEnc" by making sure the box was unchecked that refers to elementary streams, what was the name of the file that was generated?

Daniels_Wedding.mpg

2) Did you try playing this file on your PC? If so, did it play with audio?

Yes, and no

3) When you loaded the file into "TMPGEnc DVD Author", what showed in the box labeled "Video input file name"?

Daniels_Wedding.mpg

4) What showed in the box labeled "Audio input file name"?

Daniels_Wedding.mpg

This is totally frustrating. The .avi plays perfectly. Its only when I try to convert to a DVD that I get problems. Its the same with DVDlab - great picture, no sound.

I've downloaded the appropriate codecs (AC3 and Divx), so that shouldn't be the issue.

Wish I knew what I was doing wrong.

[setarip]

1) Load the original .AVI video file into VirtualDub (or one of its many variants) or NanDub

2) From the "File" dropdown menu, select "File Information"

3) Post (here) EVERYTHING you see (BOTH video and audio information), or post a screen capture .jpg of the information box

[Lanisse]

Sorted!

I am a happy bunny

I downloaded VirtualDub and VirtualDubMod. My nephew mailed me with instructions on how to decode/encode the file and it worked perfectly.

Basically, I was trying to encode the sound twice. His explanation was way more complicated, but thats it in a nutshell.

Using VirtualDubMod, I saved the sound as a separate .AC3 file (not .wav, which is what TMPEngc wanted to save as). I then used TMPEngc to save just the video file (as a .m2v). After that, I used DVDlab to bring them both together as a compiled DVD.

Bingo! I have both sound and image.

Many thanks to everyone who suggested work-arounds. I got there eventually.

[setarip]

"I am a happy bunny"

Congratulations to both you and your nephew on resolving your dilemma!