newbie needs help

[zed149]

Hi,

Im a complete novice with all this downloading so can someone help me.

Ive downloaded 2 films, one is an .avi and one is winrar. What do I have to do to get them to play on a dvd? I have nero6 (not to sure how to use it tho). Ive seen nerovision express mentioned, but as far as I can see, I only have nero express.

Im guessing you have to convert the files to dvd format? what is dvd format known as?

Ive tried looking thro the other posts, but cant seem to find the answer.

thanks

[kluelos]

You didn't look very hard. Try again.

If you had, you'd have seen this:

http://forums.bitcomet.com/index.php?showtopic=1866

[zed149]

You didn't look very hard. Try again.

If you had, you'd have seen this:

http://forums.bitcomet.com/index.php?showtopic=1866

I read that, but guess I read it wrong because I clicked on DVD data in Nero rather than CD video =/

Ok, next question is.......

if Ive burned to dvd in data format, if its a recordable dvd, can I still copy the film in CDformat to it?

Also.....

the winrar film I downloaded, when I try to open it, I get this box pop up asking for the password. On the bottom sheet, if I click that, a window opens asking me to click on the link, then click on one of the sponsors, fill in the details, and the code will be sent to me thro email.

Is that genuine, or someone taking the michael?

thanks for all your help.

[kluelos]

Sorry, but I don't understand your question, so am guessing here.

If you've already recorded a DVD, you cannot go back and change it to VCD, as the the second will try to overwrite some or all of the first. Not knowing what you're working with, that's what I think you're trying to do.

As for the winrar file, first understand that there is no good reason to put modern video or audio files into an archive, WinRAR or anything else. You can't get enough compression to matter, they're already as compressed as they can be.

So why do it? It's either because someone doesn't know any better, or because they've included something/done something that you wouldn't want if you knew about it. As is the case here. In general, then, be very skeptical of archived audio or video files. More often, they contain adware/spyware/malware in addition to the content.

In this particular case, ask yourself whether they did this in order to benefit you somehow? Probably not. Whose benefit, then?

Me, I would delete the file as fast as possible, run a quick virus/spyware scan, just to be sure, and avoid anything from that uploader in future.

[zed149]

hi klueos, thanks for the help.

Ive deleted the winrar file, but with the other one, Im still having problems.

Ignore the last question, cos Im not to sure what I was on about myself.

WHen Im going into nero, wether I click on *Make video CD* or *Make Super Video CD*, it goes thro all loading process and as soon as it hits 100% I get the message.....

"Sorry your compilation cannot be written on this kind of disc. Please insert a disc of the correct type or modify the settings of your current compilation to make it compatible with your current disc."

What do I do?

[kluelos]

Just recapping, you've downloaded an .avi file and are trying to convert it to a video disk for playing in a standalone DVD player. If that's not correct, tell me.

When you convert from a modern compression format (most .avi's use some form of MPEG 4 for their video side), to an older form (Video DVD uses MPEG-2), it is far less efficient, and the file size expands enormously.

That means that most movies, after conversion, just won't fit on a video CD or SVCD, and have to be manipulated by someone who knows what they're doing in order to do so. There's no way to do this automatically and come out with reasonable quality.

Your options are to burn to a DVD instead, giving up the idea of a VCD; learning how to create VCD's; or get a newer DVD player that can handle DivX-compressed files (most .avi's) on DVD+R disks. Most of the newer crop of players can do that, for well under US$100. If you do the latter, you can just burn the .avi to disk as data, and it should play just fine as is. THe disadvantage there is that the disk won't play in older/any DVD players. That may not matter to you, as long as it plays in yours.

[zed149]

K, to recap.....

Ive downloaded an .avi, and originally, I burned it to a blank dvd-r using Nero, but clicked on "Make Data DVD", rather than anything else. This will play on my computer using Windows mediaplayer.

I have 3 dvd standalone players, all 3 have played copies in the past. When I put that dvd into any of them, they all say something like, nonformatted.

So, I tried again, using a new blank dvd-r, but tihs time in Nero, Ive tried "MAke Video CD", and tried "Make Super Video CD", and both times, when it gets to 100% I get the message.....

"Sorry your compilation cannot be written on this kind of disc. Please insert a disc of the correct type or modify the settings of your current compilation to make it compatible with your current disc."

So I dont know if this will play in any of my DVD players, because I cant get it to burn to the DVD in the first place.

Is it because, in "Make Video CD" mode, its to much info to fit on the DVD, and I have to compress it somehow? or something totally different?

[kluelos]

Ok, you've told Nero you want to burn a CD. You put a DVD blank in the drive. Nero says, "Nah, you told me you wanted to burn a CD, this is a DVD you've fed me. Fuhgeddaboudit." If you DID put a blank CD in there, then Nero would say, "No way will this fit onto that disk." (If it DOESN'T say that, you want to find a way to view the output first, or be prepared to waste a CD on a movie of unwatchably bad quality.)

So tell Nero you want to make a Video DVD, not a Video CD, and you should be fine.

[zed149]

Recap No 2.....

either Im blind or dumb, (probably both) I cant see a button that says "Make Video DVD" in Nero 6. So, Ive downloaded Nero 7, found the button in there, but now I have another problem. I followed what was said in the other post, e.g. open Nero, click on make video dvd, add the file, I dont get a message saying the file is to big so Im assuming its ok...... click burn, and the burning screen comes up with 2 progression lines on it.

Both have "time left to go" kinda things on them. Top one is something like 3 hrs 20 mins, and the bottom one is 3 hrs 40 mins ish.

The top one gets to 100% (goes all green), but the bottom one, gets to about 85%, and then just stops. Ive left this run for over 10 hours, the "time elapsed" keeps going up, but the green line doesnt move. The only button that is available to click on is "Abort".

Ive tried this a few times, and it happens every time.

Whats next on the "to do" list kluelos?

By the time I suss this out, dvd's will be extinct! =/

[kluelos]

I'd call it fairly normal behaviour for Nero. I don't use Nero at all, anymore. Sounds like it's getting through conversion, but blowing up during the burn....

There are two parts to this task. First, convert the .avi to video DVD format. Take a prerecorded DVD, put it in your drive and look at it with Windows Explorer. Notice the directory structure. Notice the file names. Notice that you can't tell what's on this disk from the filenames. Notice the file sizes.

That structure, and those names, are required for a DVD player to recognize and play a video disk. So task #1 is to convert the file from it's .avi structure, to this VIDEO_TS sorta structure. That, as you have seen, takes hours. And it's all waste. While the file size swells, you get absolutely nothing in return except wasted time and wasted space. Quality will be, at the very best, equal to the .avi. It will never be better, and most likely a little worse.

Now having created that structure, task #2 is to burn it to a disk. These tasks are quite severable. You can even sever them with Nero, by telling Nerovision to output to a folder on your hard disk, rather than burn to a DVD. It's hidden in the options somewhere there. But having converted it with Nero does NOT mean you also have to burn it with Nero.

If I were you, I'd get separate programs for those tasks. I generally use a program called Super for most conversions except those involving Real Media. It works well enough, though support is pretty spotty. It's also a ltitle intimidating, what with all the available options. So I suggest you try some others.

After the conversion, you should have that same VIDEO_TS structure in your output folder, and you'll just burn the entire contents to a DVD as if it were a bunch of data files. It's the structure that's critical, not anything special about how it's burned.

Or you may find a conversion program whose output is a disk image like an .iso file, or .bin and .cue files. These get handled and burned, as disk images, and most burner software has provision for these.

For burning, just about every program I've ever tried has proven superior to Nero for the purpose. You really don't have much to lose in this area.

[moose_g]

Hey... i have been having problems with burning a dvd in nerovision express.... it says after transcoding the compiliation cannot be written onto this disk and i an using a memorex dvd-r if anyone knows any solutions to this problem i would aprreciate it,.....

thx