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Should I change an .avi file to .mpg4 before burning to DVD?

d wade

d wade

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 27, 2006
1,046
2
Boca Raton, FL
I have had success burning DVDs before so I somewhat know what I am talking about.

I think I remember hearing that when you burn an .avi file to DVD that it expands. And the burning process takes a long time. I dont have a problem with that when I burn just one movie to DVD. But I have 6 episodes I want to watch back-to-back-etc.

I ask this because I am curious if the .avi files will expand so much that they wont all fit on one disc. 6 episodes that equal approx 1.5gb. The DVD-R I use says it supports 4.7gb. I could be way off about the .avi's expanding, but for some reason I remember reading that.

Anyway, if that is the case, would using iSquint to change them to .mpg4 file format make a difference?

Thanks
 
I thought DVDs were MPEG-2?

Well, you could try and change them into MPEG-4 and see if that helps, but more than likely your best shot is leaving them in .avi.
 
what maybe I neglected to say is that i use Toast to burn the files to DVD. I drag the .avi files to Toast and it goes through a long process. Is that b/c Toast is changing them to MPEG? That would cut out using iSquint to convert them.

Can anyone clarify the .avi file expanding while being burnt to disc? Or do you think 6 .avi files (combining to 1.5gb) fit onto a DVD-R that holds 4.7gb?

Or am I crazy and the files dont expand and will easily fit?
 
Yes, all of those files will be converted into MPEG2. What is the total duration of those six episodes? iDVD can easily fit one hour into one single layer DVD, up to 90 minutes if you compress it a bit more, but quality may suffer a bit. Toast may be able to compress it more, but I doubt any more than two hours.
 
same problem i've been having

hey i just came across this forum and thought i'd ask some questions. i've been trying to burn avi files to DVD as well. i've used toast to do it but it takes a painfully long time (about 3 hours for one movie). I'm almost positive that the bulk of this time is from toast encoding the avi file to mpg4 format. I've been looking for the best way to do this (fastest program with the most options, oh and free) and i cam across isquint. i haven't really played around with it much but it seems to encode the avi files in only about 40 minutes. then i guess i can burn them to DVD from there using either imovie or toast. does anyone have any ideas about what the best program for this is?

I also had some questions about copying DVDs as well (not for selling). i know you can use mactheripper, but does that shrink the DVD to fit on a regular DVD-R? I think i basically need a program like DVDshrink for PC. which shrinks the DVD and lets you reauthor it, taking out the extra languages and subtitles and stuff that you don't need in order to shrink it to fit. Does anyone have any suggestions for this as well? I appreciate your input
 
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