Noob question: I have downloaded a BitTorrent archive. I used VSO DivxToDVD to make the Video_ts folder. When I set up Nero Express to do the job it looks like it will go ok and recognized the vto (?) files etc. Before I mess up any dvds does this procedure look ok? Also, I see that VSO DivxToDVD has a time limit. Which is the next best and free alternative?
I never felt at ease using Nero Express so I only have Nero Burning Rom installed on my system. Burning a DVD video is very easy with the wizard though. When the program comes up you have wizard with New Compilation on the title bar. On the top left there's a dropdown box. Make sure it's on DVD. Then click on DVD-Video. Now click the Burn tab. If you have a blank DVD in the drive it should show how fast you can burn and if it gives a choice select Disc At Once method. Click the New button on the top right. Now the wizard disappears and you have explorer type windows. Click the red VIDEO_TS folder on the leftmost window and just drag and drop the files from your VIDEO_TS folder with the left mouse button to the middle pane. At the bottom it should show how many GB are used on the blank DVD now. If that looks reasonable then everything prolly worked as expected. Click the DVD image on the toolbar with the red flame on it, and burn. I like Nero Burning Rom much better because I have the feeling with the wizard that I can move through the tabs and change or check settings until I'm satisfied. With the other Nero tools it's not intuitive where each setting is hidden. That's just my feeling. If I knew how to do Nero Express I'd put the procedure but it just creeps me out too much to mess with it.
I'll copy out your reply. One thing I noticed was that I was having a problem getting the directory of vob files to stick in Nero Setup to do a burn job. I was stepping through browse and couldn't get past a certain directory. Here's the path: C:\Mydownloads\DivxToDVD\Part 1 of 4 and I can't get to the next level on the folder tree. The little box on the left won't show me that location. Is there a specific guide for that? I'm also going to get the guide for Avi2DVD which is a free program but looks absolutely *un*intuitive. You need a _map_ with that one. I'm a noob at doing all these file conversion processes. It's like having 5 different brooms to sweep the same piece of floor.
I don't know what you mean getting a directory of vob files to "stick". You should have a VIDEO_TS folder with all the stuff created by DivxToDVD. If they won't drag & drop into the Nero compilation as I described then you have other problems. If you have a VIDEO_TS folder why not try this experiment. Get DVD Shrink and "back up" that folder to an .iso image file. Then in Nero Burning Rom, close the wizard and just use the Recorder Menu "burn image" command. That's about as easy as it gets. If you can't figure how to get an .iso file out of DVD Shrink ask in the DVD Shrink forum. None of this video stuff is "easy" until you've done it a few times. Try different programs that work until you feel comfortable with one. Some people really like the Nero conversion tools, but I get lost. For some reason the wizard in TMPGEnc Plus seemed easier to me once I read a couple of guides and got the app set up. After a while it gets kind of fun to convert and burn the videos, but it is frustrating at first.
A while back they told me in here (afterdawn) that my hardware is just too old and slow to do this. I responded again because I wondered if an 8-10 hour estimate from one of these programs-- VOB DivXtoDVD-- to encode. My system is old: Pentium II 400mhz 40G drive What _should_ an encoding job take? That asked, what I couldn't understand was the fact that the job ran ok, but just wouldn't play. And for some reason the completed job on part one (before burning) ran for about 5 hours. The part 2 I tried today estimated so much longer, I cancelled it. No other prog.s were running. Thanks for responding.
So have you managed to burn the VIDEO_TS folder that was that root of this thread yet or no? Seems like this is just rambling all over.
