Okay here's my problem. I have some movies I want to burn to cd-r and play in my standalone dvd player. The movies are about 650-675MB a piece in avi format. I know that when I convert them to mpeg format so I can make a vcd out of them, they will be much too large to be put on 1 or 2 discs. What can I do here? Is there anyway I can convert these avi files into a vcd while keeping it on 1 or 2 cd-r discs? BiLL
If you are making VCDs, you will need to first convert them from avi, as you said. Then you need to cut the resulting mpg into as many 74 minute pieces as you can. Basically, that is the normal maximum you can fit on a CD-R. If your avi is longer than 148 minutes (does not matter how 'big' it is, just how long) then you will need more than 2 VCDs. This would be the case for Godfather, but not Gladiator, so I hope that is helpful. Paul.
Oh, so when making a VCD only the minutes count, not the file size? Cuz a 700 MB avi would turn into like a 4GB mp3. So really, most movies should fit onto 2 CDs correct?
Also, wouldn't I get a ton of quality loss by doing this? Seems like I'm squeezing a file that is way too big into a vcd. Wouldn't that decrease my movie quality?
avis can be big or small, it depends on the quality. Generally the bigger the file, the better the quality. The size of a VCD/MPG is proportional to its length, so you will need to cut a movie longer than 74 minutes, regardless of the size of the avi. Yes you will lose quality when you re-encode the movie. Paul.
Okay, I used TMPGEnc to convert the avi to mpeg but I got a file thats 2.84GB. It's also 5 hrs long and looks more like a full screen movie now when before I had the black bars like in a widescreen movie. Plus the audio isnt there. What the heck happened? I couldnt even fit this on 2 CDs if I wanted to. Why did the clip become 5 hrs long? After about 100 mins the movie is over but the file keeps playing nothing for like 3 more hours. Ahhh! BiLL
Ok to fix the sound, do the following Take the avi file and open it in VirtualDUB, 1. click video - direct stream copy 2. click audio - full processing mode 3. click audio - compression, select no compression pcm and click ok! 4. click file - save avi after a couple of minutes you will have a file saved with uncompressed audio and it will work better with TMPGEnc! Now to fix the aspect ratio and file length!! On TMPGEnc, click the setting button and click the "Advanced" tab. First change Video Arrange Method to "Full Screen (Keep Aspect Ratio)". That will make sure the movie remains widescreen! Then while still in the advanced tab, tick the box beside Source Range. Now doubl;e click source range and a new dialog will appear! Do the following exactly as i say! Click "Move to start frame" then click "set start frame" then click "Move to end frame" then click "set end frame". Now click ok! And thats it, try the encoding now!! Should take a lot less time, have audio, be widescreen and correct file length!!
Okay, that worked, thanks alot guys. Can you explain to me what wrong and what it was I did that fixed it. In technical terms. Will I always have to do that to get avi files to work? The movie was a DVD Rip, did that have anything to do with it? Also, how do I know when I have a DIVX movie? What format is it in? AVI? Mpeg? BiLL
Well, typically divx has the extension .avi. You can also get the program gspot and that will help you determine what kind of file you've got!! What actually went wrong was, your audio stream was compressed, most likely mp3 and TMPGEnc couldnt read it well and therefore decompressing the audio gave it more support with TMPGEnc! Some divx/xvid file lengths are over estimated by TMPGEnc and the source range would make sure they only did the correct number of frames fixing the problem on output! TMPGEnc like to turn everything Full Screen which is why your movie came out stretched, therefore, setting it to keep aspect ratio made sure that the movie stays widescreen!! And thats it basically!!
Thanks alot Dela! You've been a big help. Two more questions if ya don't mind. 1.) My resulting mpg was still not quite as wide as the orginal. Anything else I can do to get it perfect? 2.) Is there anything special you have to do to turn a DIVX into a VCD? Beyond what is normally done I mean. BiLL
Trust me, the ratio being kept means its as widescreen as it will go lol!! Also what exaqctly do you mean by anything special?? you already have dont it now all you need to do is burn!
Im just saying, is the process of turning a DIVX into a VCD any different than the process of turning a regular avi or mpg into a VCD? Also, all the stuff you showed me how to do, will I always have to do that to every avi I wanna make into a VCD? BiLL
I recommend you do it with every avi file!! Now VCD is really just an mpeg file with riff headers (.dat file!!). So all you are doing is encoding from divx to mpg! Then using software to burn it, this software will give the file it's riff headers then!!
