I am a newbie to this forum but not a newbie to burning, and I hope this question is in the correct area of your forum... I have Nero 6. When I have an avi file on my computer, I use convertxtodvd to convert the avi to a vob, which i then burn using Nero. Oftentimes, the resulting dvd either plays on my dvd player sometimes halfway but mostly most of the way through until the video starts to pixelate and then freeze altogether, obvious not allowing me to view the end of the movie/clip. I searched for a different program to convert and, although I found a couple that ADVERTISE they convert avi to vob, the resulting downloading of the new program and converting results in the new file being labelled as a vob but is not (not recognized as a vob by Convertxtodvd nor Dvd Shrink. So my questions: what could be causing the pexelating and freezing and is there any free program other than ConnectXtodvd that actually converts to vob that can be burned using Nero? Sorry for the long windedness!
ConvertX saves a copy of the output to a folder on the HDD? If you playback the folder using a media player, is the video ok. If the video is good when played back from the HDD, then it's not a problem with the conversion. If you play the disk on the PC (or the standalone player) and it pixelates, then look to the media you are using first. If you use a known to be consistently good disk (Verbatim are good, except for their Valueline series) you should see better results. Set the burn at half the maximum shown on the package. A good, basic, converter/authoring program is either FAVC or DVD Flick. They both use ImgBurn to optionally burn the disk. You can also burn the output from ConvertX with ImgBurn instead of it's built in burning software.
Thank you for the reply. Yes, a copy is saved onto my hard drive and plays wonderfully. After burning, the disc will play perfectly or freeze on one particular player (one hooked up to my surround system) while it may play with worse pixelating and freezing on a different player (the one built in to the surround system), while the disc will be fine on my PC. Or, I will get an error message on both players that there is a disc error - in those cases the disc will not be recognized by the PC in most cases I toss the disc (Nero does burn the disc successfully in this case, or so it states.) I have no experience with DVD Flick or ImgBurn (down load it and use it to burn the files that are saved, basically?), but can learn. I just finished downloading an avi file, so I will hope that the Memorex disc is better than the Staples brand I have always been using. If not, I will experiment will DVD Flick and ImgBurn and see how I do. Thanks again.
All went smoothly, it appears. Played the new dvd on my system, moving it forward enough to see if there may be any freezing, etc. Everything went well. Perhaps burning at a slower speed did the trick - for that I thank you. One other question...last week I was playing a downloaded concert already in dvd format and, with about 20 minutes or so left, the picture began to stop and then begin again quickly and eventually froze. I ejected the disc and the next day put it in the player again and quickly forwarded the disc to the same spot where it froze the day before. This time it played beautifully right to the end of the disc. Have you ever heard of such a thing? Thanks again for your time.
The problems you have listed are symptomatic of media that is borderline. Taiyo-Yuden and Verbatim are generally reckoned to burn reliably in most burners. ImgBurn is the best burning program in general use.
Just an FYI - I downloaded a Billy Joel concert in avi format and used ConvertX to convert and then burned it. With about 20-25 mins. left in the concert, the dvd began to stop and start and stop and start, etc. and eventually it would have froze. I'm sure. Burned using Nero at 2.4 using Memorex. I thought perhaps the Memorex would have solved my problem since a friend uses them and has no issues at all.
