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billpast

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Oct 6, 2011
6
0
Hi All,
I need to know WHAT and HOW to convert an .avi file to (.mov, MP4, etc.) in order to be able to burn to a dvd and play on any DVD player. Thanks in advance for the help.;)
 
Does your DVD player support .mov and .mp4 files?
If so, what codec is supported, is it H.264 for video and AAC for audio?
Maybe you can try HandBrake to transcode the videos properly.
Also know, that "vlc" is the name of a video/audi player, not a format.
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Btw, if you don't know the details about your DVD player maybe you can provide us with the exact model number.

PS: You can also use Burn to create video DVDs, which are playable in all video DVD players.

PPS:
 
Correction

I meant to type .avi and not vlc. I'd just like to convert to (i think) a MPEG-4 file and try that on my DVD player. I have Handbrake. Do I convert to a MPG-4 (FFmpeg) or a MPG-4 (XviD) file? Are there any other setting I need to make?
 
Use Handbrake and its Apple TV preset, as it creates an .m4v file, which you can easily rename to .mp4 in Finder afterwards. The Apple TV preset also makes sure to use a H.264 (x.264), which might be what your DVD player wants.
Xvid is the free version of Divx, another MPEG-4 codec, but it is used with the .avi container, and the .avi you have probably already uses Divx or Xvid as codec, which your DVD player might support, or not. Maybe you can provide use with the model number?
 
DVD players don't support H264/x264, but some do support Divx/Xvid which is H263.

HB used to do Xvid, so you can probably grab on older release somewhere.
 
DVD players don't support H264/x264, but some do support Divx/Xvid which is H263.

HB used to do Xvid, so you can probably grab on older release somewhere.

Are there none that support H.264? Has it to do with licensing issues?

OP, you could also use MPEG Streamclip to transcode to a .mov or .mp4 file using the H.263 codec, if you need.
 
Are there none that support H.264? Has it to do with licensing issues?

I don't believe so.

That and the cpu horsepower it would take to decode anything other than baseline profile.

To be honest, it doesn't make much sense for DVD players to support h264. Xvid was prevalent before bluray/hddud, but now that' 'everything is hd' and x264 is prevalent, who wants something that only does SD x264? Bluray players are getting cheaper and they all do H264 since it's in the bluray spec.


I'm under the impression that these divx/xvid DVD players only support the avi container (just out of simplicity, I wouldn't be that surprised if mov was supported though).
 
I will try the apple tv preset and let u know if that works.
 
convert & burn

What about a MKV file format? Will that burn and play on a TV & monitor. We're talking about an old, standard DVD player. One in a car and one a Panasonic player at home. I've got 3 hours left on the MP4/Apple TV conversion. Should I cancel that?
 
What about a MKV file format? Will that burn and play on a TV & monitor. We're talking about an old, standard DVD player. One in a car and one a Panasonic player at home. I've got 3 hours left on the MP4/Apple TV conversion. Should I cancel that?

That will not work on a video DVD player either, .avi is the best format, IF the video DVD player supports that.
If you look into the manuals of your video DVD players (or state their model numbers here) you can find out, what formats are supported.
Or you could use Burn, as mentioned earlier, to make actual video DVDs, which will play in all video DVD players.
 
tried

Tried burning to DVD but file is too big. and Popcorn did not recognize avi file.
 
Tried burning to DVD but file is too big. and Popcorn did not recognize avi file.

You have to create a video DVD in Burn. Just follow the screenshots:


BURN%20_video-dvd_1.png

BURN%20_video-dvd_2.png

BURN%20_video-dvd_3.png

BURN%20_video-dvd_4.png



ADDENDUM

Resulting file was an .mpg file with 3.6GB in size, MPEG-2 is the codec used for video, which is the proper codec.
BURN%20_video-dvd_5.png
 
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