Hi guys, I know this is probably a totally newbie thing to ask, but I have almost zero experience in this stuff and could use a little help. This place looks very knowledgable, so I hope you'll be willing to put up with amatuerish questions... So, I am wanting to burn some .avi files on to a single layer DVD using Nero. each file is about 170mb in size, but when I select the file, Nero reads it at over 4 gigs! When I add another file, it will ask me if I want to change to long play. When I add a third, it will ask me if I want to use Super Long Play. After the third, the size just keeps getting bigger. So why would it go to a 4 gig file from a 170mb and how many SHOULD I be able to fit?
That doesn't sound right. Launch Nero Smart Start, at the list of all the installed Nero programs on the left. Click "Nero Express" Select "Data" --> "Data Disk" "Add" Then, choose your files (I've noticed that Nero tries to play the file [i.e., if it's an AVI] right off the bat. You have to press the square-shaped stop button on the bottom left, before you press "Add" on the bottom left) Continue to add files until your disk is full, then press "Next" and burn away.
That's cool, and thanks, but I want to burn these into a usable DVD with a menu and everything. So... I guess I am too knew at this. :
What I am doing is this: I click on Nero Vision Express 3 I choose Make DVD, then DVD-Video Then I click "Add Video Files" Then I navigate to the file I want, add it, and it comes out at 4 gigs. If there were a way to post a screenshot of what I am doing, I would...
No double posting in the future please (read forum rules). Okay, now I see what you want to do. Generally, AVI files only contain a video and audio stream (and NO menus). You can add menus yourself later with Nero, but for now, let's concentrate on getting your AVI files into a DVD-compliant format (i.e., VOB files) so that they are playable on a stand-alone set-top DVD player. Then, you can worry about adding menus later. The easiest way to convert AVI's to DVD-compliant VOB's is with a free utility by VSO called DivxToDvd. Download it for free here: http://www.vso-software.fr/download.htm (It should be the 4th main product listed there.) Then, follow this guide: http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/vso_divxtodvd_guide.cfm Then (try building menus in Nero with the new VOB files you create with divxtodvd) or do a search here at afterdawn for a guide to show you how.
Sorry about that, I promise to be more alert in the future... So is this easier than say, loading it into Pinnacle and creating a movie that way? That's how I did some of my home movies and I like the amount of creative control I had with setting the chapters and designing the menus. Also, Pinnacle rendered the files down to a more managable size. I have only used that minimally though, and to be honest, it seems a little amatuerish, so if your way is better, I'm all for a change. I'm off to do some reading!
VSO's DivxToDvd is one of the easier (and better) encoders around, which is why I recommended it. Personally, I would not use Pinnacle. I use DivxToDVD about 2 or 3 times a day myself because it is so easy and so good. At the onset of this thread you said you were taking a 170MB AVI file, and nero was trying to say it would be over 4 gigs when converted. Something is very wrong there. I would take your 170MB AVI file, run it through DixvToDVD, and see how big the VOB files really are. Plus, once you have them in VOB form, you can always shrink down the file size with DVDshrink. However, I really doubt you'll have to do that. Usually, after I've converted five or so 350MB AVIs to VOB fomat with DivxToDVD, I can fit all five of them onto a single 4.7Gig DVD-R without even having to run them through DVDshrink.
you are using the wrong feature in nero!!!!!! you need to use nero express to create a [bold] DATA DVD [/bold] (not sure you can create menus with this),i have never tried it sounds as if you are using nero "vision" express,which is used for converting avi's etc to dvd format NB: using nero express to create a data dvd,will not play on the standalone dvd player you have..only the pc, unless someones tells me otherwise!!!.......
@Hursty - I already gave him that advice (right at the beginning of this thread), but then later he made it clear he didn't want to burn a data DVD. @kdryan - Your best bet is to still converting your AVI's to VOB with DivxToDVD first, and then to worry about creating menus.
Wow! Converting these files takes a bit of time, huh? For a 353mb file it says it is going to take 2 hours! Is this normal and is there any way to speed that up a bit? Kevin
depends on what spec you have you have 2.4ghz,with 1024 mb or ram,so it sounds a bit heavy usaly takes me about an 1 hr to 700mb with vso's dvixtodvd
Yep, with your system specs that sounds about right. If you have a whole bunch of AVI's to convert at once, you can load them all up and batch process them all at once... then go to sleep and let your computer churn overnight.
