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problem with avi files in Toast 7

L

libremebientot

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Jul 19, 2006
11
0
I have tried to fix the problem with avi files playing on dvd players but i haven't been very successful.

I have looked at countless pages online and can still find nothing that helps.

I have saved avi files as disc images and then remounted them in the copy window to check and see if they work, but I get no audio in the idvd player, which is the same thing when I play it on a dvd player hoooked up to my dvd i.e. video but no audio.

I read somewhere about codecs but I have no idea how to install codecs to allow dvds to be played on a dvd player. All of my avi files play wonderfully in VLC, but it seems like a crapshoot when it comes to burning them to disk.

Some of the avi files I get audio on my dvd player, while others I don't. I'm tired of turning dvd's into coasters. I've recently started using Taiyo Yuden dvdrs, but it doesn't seem to matter.

Help me please....
 
Toast uses QuickTime to do the video encoding. You should make sure that the AVI files play in QuickTime Player before you bring them into Toast. VLC does not use QuickTime components, which is why some files will play in VLC but not in QuickTime.
 
ok

thanks a lot for the help. what do i do if the avi file doesn't play in quicktime? if the avi files plays in quicktime, do i just have to drag and drop into toast? are there are any settings you reccomend?
 
you have the same problem as me in reverse. when i tried to play it in my dvd player i get audio, no video.

im so stumped and frustrated that i actually gave up. couldnt get any help either... im still stuck
 
You'll need to get a QuickTime component for the missing codec. If you press Command-I in VLC, it should tell you which codecs it's using (under Advanced Information, you can expand the streams and see the codecs there). Post back with the codecs used and we can help you find QuickTime components for them :)
 
I would just like to correct some misinformation. Toast 7 does not use QuickTime at all for encoding of anything. Its MPEG-2 encoder is licensed from MainConcept and its AC3 encoder is licensed from Dolby. Obviously QuickTime does not support AC3 natively. It is easy to see that many video files that are not readable by any QuickTime component work fine in Toast, and vice versa - many that are not readable by Toast work in QuickTime. Roxio has tried to make Toast into an all-purpose DVD burner by including support for some common import codecs. But they have not successfully included support for every pirate bittorrent movie codec under the sun. AVI is only a container - there could be any variety of audio/video formats within that AVI file and only some of them (probably not many of them) are readable by Toast. It may be the case that Toast supports the video stream but not the audio stream which would cause the lack of sound issue that d wade had in the burned DVD. You may have to do an intermediary conversion before yo can get your AVIs into Toast. Nothing you do with installing QuickTime codecs is going to make any difference since again, QuickTime and Toast have nothing to do with each other. I hope this was helpful.
 
Super Macho Man said:
QuickTime and Toast have nothing to do with each other.
Click to expand...

Then how come there's a QuickTime logo on the back of the Toast box?

Also, Toast help says "You can add any QuickTime supported video files, such as DV, AVI, MOV, HDV (1080i/720p), and MPEG4." It continues on to say that Toast has built-in support for iMovie HD, MPEG-2, VOB and DivX.

Admittedly my first post could be read two different ways. You are correct that QuickTime encoders aren't used when authoring DVDs, I was trying to say that QuickTime is used to decode the video as it is encoded into MPEG.
 
Nermal said:
Then how come there's a QuickTime logo on the back of the Toast box?

Also, Toast help says "You can add any QuickTime supported video files, such as DV, AVI, MOV, HDV (1080i/720p), and MPEG4." It continues on to say that Toast has built-in support for iMovie HD, MPEG-2, VOB and DivX.

Admittedly my first post could be read two different ways. You are correct that QuickTime encoders aren't used when authoring DVDs, I was trying to say that QuickTime is used to decode the video as it is encoded into MPEG.
Click to expand...
Oh ok, yes, you are correct. For some reason I was thinking only of the encoding part of the process and I neglected to think of the decoding part. I've been using Toast 7 to burn DVDs from MPEG-2 content and have experienced files that will not play in QuickTime but that Toast is happy to import and burn, and vice versa. So I am wrong, you need to have the right QuickTime component installed in order to DECODE the audio/video so that Toast can ENCODE it.

So, d wade, your problem is not the exact opposite of libremebientot's, it is the same. AVI files are not standard and can contain any number of different audio/video codecs. Sometimes MP3 audio, sometimes AAC audio, sometimes AC3 audio, sometimes VBR audio which X plugin may or may not support, etc. The only thing you can do is try to find out what codecs you are trying to play that you cannot and try to find a QuickTimeplugin to handle them. Unfortunately, even with plugins there are some codecs that QuickTime can't play, which makes your job more complicated, as you'd first have to transcode the video using something like VLC.
 
[QUOTE The only thing you can do is try to find out what codecs you are trying to play that you cannot and try to find a QuickTimeplugin to handle them. Unfortunately, even with plugins there are some codecs that QuickTime can't play, which makes your job more complicated, as you'd first have to transcode the video using something like VLC.[/QUOTE]

First of all, thank you very much for your responses.

I wish there was a way to figure out which codecs I need to download. I have an AC3 codec component I download, but each time I double click on it, the Toast 7 window pops up and nothing seems to happen, and none of the avi movies act any differently in Quicktime.

It's all just so complicated.

What does transcoding involve?
 
Nermal said:
You'll need to get a QuickTime component for the missing codec. If you press Command-I in VLC, it should tell you which codecs it's using (under Advanced Information, you can expand the streams and see the codecs there). Post back with the codecs used and we can help you find QuickTime components for them :)
Click to expand...

Thank you very much for your help!

Ooooooook, here we go.

Video Codecs: theora
x264

Audio Codecs: a52tofloat3
vorbis

Other Codecs: ffmpeg
subsdec
svcdsub

Advanced: ipv4

Hope this helps.
 
Super Macho Man said:
That looks like Ogg Theora video with Ogg Vorbis audio, so try this QuickTime plugin: http://www.xiph.org/quicktime/download.html
Click to expand...

So I think you are onto something. I installed the plugin you sugested, and I restarted my computer. After I restarted my computer and tried to play an avi movie that didn't work before, the audio still didn't work, but usually a window pops up telling me I need to download more software at a Quicktime website, and now that doesn't happen anymore.

Am I getting closer to a solution do you think? Are there settings I can tweak with? Should I try to burn a dvdr with this new plugin?

Thanks!
 
libremebientot said:
So I think you are onto something. I installed the plugin you sugested, and I restarted my computer. After I restarted my computer and tried to play an avi movie that didn't work before, the audio still didn't work, but usually a window pops up telling me I need to download more software at a Quicktime website, and now that doesn't happen anymore.

Am I getting closer to a solution do you think? Are there settings I can tweak with? Should I try to burn a dvdr with this new plugin?

Thanks!
Click to expand...
If it doesn't work in QuickTime player, don't try to burn a DVD yet. When you did that command-I thing in VLC, it told you what audio & video codecs are in the AVI file. Your task is to find a QuickTime plugin or plugin(s) that can handle those codecs. VLC has given you several clues: "theora," "x264," "vorbis," etc. I located that one at xiph.org by doing a Google search.

Just to warn you though, a lot of files won't play on QuickTime with any plugin... in which case you would need to use VLC or some other program to convert the audio/video to some other format that QuickTime CAN understand and THEN burn it using Toast. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
 
Not sure if this will help, but when I want to burn an AVI to a DVD in Toast 7, and the AVI doesn't play in Quicktime I first :

-run the AVI through the default setting in FFmpegX.

download that program and try it out.

I don't change a single setting in FFmpegX, I just drag my AVI file into it, and click "convert, or export" whatever the command button is.

This leaves me with a new AVI that 9 times out of 10 WILL play fine in Quicktime, and therefore burns just fine in Toast 7.

Good luck. :)
 
quigleybc said:
Not sure if this will help, but when I want to burn an AVI to a DVD in Toast 7, and the AVI doesn't play in Quicktime I first :

-run the AVI through the default setting in FFmpegX.

download that program and try it out.

I don't change a single setting in FFmpegX, I just drag my AVI file into it, and click "convert, or export" whatever the command button is.

This leaves me with a new AVI that 9 times out of 10 WILL play fine in Quicktime, and therefore burns just fine in Toast 7.

Good luck. :)
Click to expand...

I tried to download all of the necessary pluginns, but they aren't available. I get website errors at some of the sites. I was able to download the mencoder and mplayer binaries but not the mpeg2enc binary. Any suggestions?
 
Also, after I cancelled the installation, the window for the FFmpegx was still open. Once I drag an AVI file into it, does it automatically fix it? Do I still drag the original into the Toast program or does it save a fixed copy somehwere on my computer? Thanks a lot for the help. :)
 
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