I hate AVIs...

[Lord Blackadder]

I have a bunch of short home movies I made and imported into iMovie to stich together and whatnot. So far so good. But recently my uncle gave me a DVD with some more home videos that are much longer (~30-50 min), and worse still they are in AVI format. Why he chose that I don't know (and he probably doesn't either), but iMovie is a no-go.

I want to put all the home movies together on a couple playable DVDs to mail to other relatives.

Quicktime Pro supposedly can convert these AVIs into more usable formats for me but before I spend $40 I want to know if it will work, and comments on Apple's QT page are not entirely encouraging.

Right now all I can do with these AVIs is watch them in VLC. But I want to make them a playable DVD, even if I can't stitch them together with my own short movies.

Can Toast do this? or am I out of luck?

 

[XNine]

Your best bet is Mpeg2 Works (which includes Export to QT). This app is a godsend and is cheaper (25) and can convert AVI's to .mov's and .dv and whatever else you want, and it's got a nice gui and is FUNCTIONAL.

I'd try this. You may be able to download the demo and see if it'll work for you.

http://www.mpeg2works.com/

It's now at version 4, but here's the description for 3.5.4
MPEG2 Works helps to author/convert Your movies to MPEG2/MPEG1 DVD/SVCD/VCD ready.

* "Custom" encodings section [MPEG1/MPEG2 user configurable encodings]
* DVD/SVCD/VCD PAL/NTSC MPEG2/MPEG1 conversions
* ReplayTV MPEGs conversion to DVD/SVCD ready MPEG2 movies
* "Tools" tab with Mux/Demux/Split/Join MPEG options
* "Audio" tab with options to work with AC3,WAV,AIFF,MP2 audio files
* PAL/NTSC VOB > SVCD conversion
* Making burnable DVD/SVCD [VIDEO_TS/CD-XA] Images options
* Cinemascope [2.21:1] to 16:9 PAL/NTSC DVD/SVCD encoding
* SVCD Wide /16:9/ to 4:3 letterboxed encoding
* Half-D1 MPEG2 encoding options for backup purposes
* Terminal output /You can watch progress in Terminal, and start simultaneous encodings/
* Info on passed encoding time at the "complete" window
* MPEG Info tool
* Français, Italiano and Deutsch localization files
* No installation needed; Just copy to HDD and start to work
* Export2DV application [Export Your MPEG/VRO/ReplayTV iles to DV for editing in iMovie]
* DVD converter application [Convert Your VOB's from PAL > NTSC and NTSC > PAL]

 

[Lord Blackadder]

Wow. That looks pretty much like the franchise. Thanks, I'll probably give it a go when I get home. 25 bucks is a decent price for all that.

 

[big]

you can pay for a nice bundled package, or do it for free

try www.3ivx.com it's most impressive, makes quicktime play avi's... this should be included in every new install with OSX. works behind the scenes

also try:
DivX Doctor II
VLC.

I will not install without these!

of course not all those features come with these 3 utilities, but they are great with Quicktime pro & toast

 

[XNine]

you can pay for a nice bundled package, or do it for free

try www.3ivx.com it's most impressive, makes quicktime play avi's... this should be included in every new install with OSX. works behind the scenes

also try:
DivX Doctor II
VLC.

I will not install without these!

of course not all those features come with these 3 utilities, but they are great with Quicktime pro & toast

However, it will not work with ALL AVI's (I should know, that's why I picked up the app I mentioned because it'll convert those nasty AVI files over that won't play nicely in VLC or quicktime with any amount of codecs).

 

[Fukui]

However, it will not work with ALL AVI's (I should know, that's why I picked up the app I mentioned because it'll convert those nasty AVI files over that won't play nicely in VLC or quicktime with any amount of codecs).

Try FFMPEGX and convert it to DV, or download Dixv 6 plugin for quicktime and use QT Pro to edit the file without converting.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

It says in the system reqs for mpeg2works that I need the MPEG2 plugin for QT, which is $20. Does that mean I need QT Pro as well, or does this plugin work with the free QT player?

Too bad there isn't a free and easy app like GraphicConverter for movie files. It's such a pain to have this bewildering array of formats...

 

[Counterfit]

AVI is a container, NOT a format. It could be DivX, XviD, or others. clicky

 

[Lord Blackadder]

AVI is a container, NOT a format. It could be DivX, XviD, or others. clicky

I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the differences between containers, compression methods etc. It's all very confusing...

 

[Fukui]

It says in the system reqs for mpeg2works that I need the MPEG2 plugin for QT, which is $20. Does that mean I need QT Pro as well, or does this plugin work with the free QT player?

Too bad there isn't a free and easy app like GraphicConverter for movie files. It's such a pain to have this bewildering array of formats...

There is! Try FFMpegX or Mencoder OS X they are Free Open Source encoder/decoders. They aren't easy to use, but they work with a lot of formats including AVI files. WMV may be trouble though.

I just imported a .avi into iMovie using File>Import.
I installed the Divx 6 plugin (5 is no go on Tiger).

 

[rickvanr]

Download Divx. If that doesn't work, VLC will play anything. Either way, QuickTime Pro is solid, I highly recommend it.

 

[live4ever]

Open the .avis in VLC and press command+I, open up the streams drop down list and post back with the codecs or screenshots.

This will help in choosing the best way to convert them for use in iMovie.

 

[Trout74]

what is VLC,
thanks

 

[risc]

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I installed the Divx 6 plugin (5 is no go on Tiger).

According to the DivX website DivX 6 does not exist for the Mac, and DivX 5.x is incompatible with QT 7, which is what I have.

 

[MisterMe]

According to the DivX website DivX 6 does not exist for the Mac, and DivX 5.x is incompatible with QT 7, which is what I have.

DivX 6 (aka DivX Fusion) most definitely is available for the Mac, albeit still in beta. You can find it on this DivX server. The issue between DivX 5.2.1 and QT 7 is grossly overblown. To the vast majority of users, the only problem is that QT 7 displays double-Help menus when the DivX 5.2.1 is installed. DivX content plays fine. I use the DivX Fusion beta codec with no problems at all.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

DivX 6 (aka DivX Fusion) most definitely is available for the Mac, albeit still in beta. You can find it on this DivX server. The issue between DivX 5.2.1 and QT 7 is grossly overblown. To the vast majority of users, the only problem is that QT 7 displays double-Help menus when the DivX 5.2.1 is installed. DivX content plays fine. I use the DivX Fusion beta codec with no problems at all.

Interesting, thanks.