stu999 Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 I've spent most of the weekend mucking about with one of my new toys for this year - a bullet cam kit. I've edited various snippets into a small 'movie', which I am quite impressed with, if I do say so myself. However, the bit that has defeated me so far is how to burn the movie onto a disc that a domestic DVD player will 'see'. I am working on a Toshiba Satillite, which has the appropriate disc drive. My first assumption was that the relevant software would be on board too. Now, having trawled round the web for info, it appears that it isn't quite what is required - but I admit to being in the dark at this point. I have managed to burn three DVDs, but none of them work in the player - only the computers. Correct me if I am wrong, but my web search indicated that there are three different types of burn - audio, data and video. My current software only seems to allow audio and data - is that one reason why the disc isn't recognised - or doesnt it matter? Also, I now figure that the file type needs to be converted. Having put a commercial DVD into the computer, it appears to be made up of VOB files. Presumably the movie needs to be converted into VOB before the player will recognise it? If either or both are correct, I guess I am going to need more software. This being the case, has anyone got a recommendation for something nice and simple to get? TIA Stu Quote
Crazy Eddie Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 For my home DVD stuff I use Cyberlink Power Producer: Free copy here: http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/products/main_3_ENU.html Easy to use and converts you windows media files etc onto DVD for you Must be plenty others out there but I've been more than happy with this Quote
Tigger Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Stu, VOB files indicate that it is indeed in a DVD format so you did something right, the only thing I can think why your Player won't play them is the disc type or Your Player. Disc Type Some players don't like some brands of disk so try on a differnt make/type preferably a well known one. Also, are your discs, +R or -R as that can also make a difference. I use Verbatim or Infiniti +R and they seem to work in almost anything. Player Can your player accept copied discs? I had an older Sony model and it played commercial discs fine but nothing aftermarket. BTW: Most newer players will also play Super VCD (SVCD) format or even avi's but that's down to model type etc. Tiggs Quote
blankczechbook Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 does that free trial allow you to burn the dvds then? when i was looking for software i couldnt find any - so ended up buying pinnacle studio... which annoys me cos moviemaker is easier to use - why couldn't they put a dvd burner onto moviemaker?? Quote
Norman Verona Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Tiggs, it's a commercial disc that has the VOB files not the home made one. Quote
bhouse Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 DVDs are basically digital storage devices - they can hold any data. To make a video DVD (whether comercially pressed or burned onto a DVD +/-R) the video (and audio) files have to be converted to a specific format and instructions have to be included as to how the player should behave when certain buttons are pushed etc. All this infomation is then wraped up in (basically) VOB files. So what you need (as Eddie pointed out) is DVD authoring software. The Pinnacle software is abit fiddly to use - you might consider Ulead DVD Workshop as an alternative. One of the reasons that home made discs are not 100% compatible is that they are not (strictly speaking) DVD Video disks - they are DVD+/-R video disks, which don't ahere to the precise DVD specs as laid down by the DVD Forum. However, compatibility (with decent disks) tends to be better than 99% these days so shouldn't be too much of a problem. Brian Quote
a4gom Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 I have pinnicle studio and until recently haven't been able to use it without it locking up due to the size of the files. I've recently cleared my machine off and added another 1gb of ram, it still sticks a bit now and then but is working. I have all the software so not the same problems as Stu but I haven't managed to get anything onto dvd yet because all my files end up too big. Even a 20min video is too large to fit on a dvd. I know this must be down to the settings but what settings should you choose to rec a good quality dvd to watch on the TV? Commercial movies are generally over 1 1/2 hours and they are good quality?? I know they use dual layer on some but I've ripped the movie of some and its been less than 4.7gb Quote
bhouse Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 When you convert the video file into M2V format the data rate should be less than 8000kbits/sec. Any more and the DVD is likely to skip. At that quality you should be able to get about 50 minutes on if you're using wav files for sound. If you use mpa or ac3 audio then you'll fit about 75 minutes onto each 4.7GB disk. A 20 minute video with AC3 audio shoul dbe no bigger than 1.3GB. Brian Quote
VX2L16V Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 http://download.videohelp.com/liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl http://download.videohelp.com/liquid217/dvdauthorgui.pl?p=guide1 Quote
Pew Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Have you burnt them as DVD data or DVD Video. If you have captured the video (say .AVI or .MPG) you will need to convert them to the DVD-Video files you mentioned (.VOB etc.) during the burn process or you will just end up with a DVD with the AVI / MPG files on it. I use Nero Express... I know you say that you have a compatible drive in you laptop .... this is DVD Writer rather than just a DVD player.... Quote
Blatman Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 That may not be so bad though. Most decent DVD players will play MPEG and AVI and MOV and all sorts. My "normal" DVD player plays JPEG and Kodak CD's amongst many other formats. My surround sound/DVD player even has USB input and plays most picture and movie files straight off that, which is cool... Last time I burnt an Mpeg straight to a DVD+R, it played on the DVD no problem... Quote
stu999 Posted February 25, 2008 Author Posted February 25, 2008 Thanks for your responses. If I may respond, and ask some more in order... Tigger: QUOTE VOB files indicate that it is indeed in a DVD format so you did something right, the only thing I can think why your Player won't play them is the disc type or Your Player. As Norman says Tiggs, I havent managed to convert to VOB as yet QUOTE Can your player accept copied discs? I had an older Sony model and it played commercial discs fine but nothing aftermarket. Yup. I have quite a few PC generated discs that work quite happily on the player. Will do JPEGs and MP3's, but not avi... Eddie: Nice one, I'll have a look at that in a mo... Brian: I must admit, I have an edition of a Ulead video editing software, which I really struggle to use, but I will look into it - thanks VX2L16V: Any personal experience? Pew: Data - as that is the only choice my current software will give me. I'm guessing that even if converted to VOB first, burning as data will still render the disk ineffective? And yep, it is definately a disc writer - I have three DVDs here with the movie on in Windows Movie maker format, and in avi... Blatters: My player will seemingly play anything except for formats my computer can spits movies out in! Playstation agrees with the player too Quote
VX2L16V Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 VX2L16V: Any personal experience? Yes, but my life's too complicated... I've got a humax twintuner freeview pvr, in order to save stuff from the HD I have to plug in the laptop via usb2, copy whatever across, demux (split into audio & video streams), remux so that they match, then think about dvd authoring :sigh: In short, I've used that program for the latter stage & it worked well Give it a go, it's free apart from the cost of (another) DVD Quote
Pew Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 Yes you need to have software that will convert and burn the AVI's to Vob's etc in DVD Video format. So all down to the software you need to get. As some of the folks have responded some DVD players will accept and play DIVX CDs / DVD's obviously yours dosn't. Quote
Crazy Eddie Posted February 25, 2008 Posted February 25, 2008 I use Nero for my "back up Copies" of my DVD's and it works great because already VOB files However I had to use cyberlink for my home made movies because Nero would only let me put avi files onto VCD which will play fine on your DVD player but you may struggle with space on the CD. How big is the data disc you have made? Sort of thing you could email me to see what works best? Quote
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