*OFF TOPIC* Newbie needs help w/ DVD player

[Guest]

I'm thinking of buying a DVD player but only if I can play video files from the Internet on it. So, can I burn a video file such as .asf, .mpg or .divx onto a CD-R/RW(not DVD disc) and play it on a DVD player? If so, is there a certain type of DVD player I should buy? What video filetype must it be in in order to be able to watch it through the DVD player? Thanks for any help!

 

[Negaverse23]

Should work if you record as VCD under CDR disk. Probably use Nero.

<font color=red>It is the weakest link. They are not ready yet many have tried and failed with it.</font color=red>

 

[njeske]

Almost all DVD players sold now have the ability to play Video Compact Disks (VCD). So, just get <A HREF="http://www.ahead.de" target="_new">Nero Burning Rom</A> and burn your CD-R disks in the VCD format. That should make it work for you.


<font color=red>"I'm not gonna launch a $2 million missile at a $10 tent and hit a camel's butt." -Bush</font color=red>

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Um, I hate to burst your bubbles guys, but you cannot just use Nero to 'convert' any video file you want into a VCD. Nero will not encode to mpeg format, it just prepares mpeg video for playback in a DVD or VCD player.

The only way you could take files of a different type, such as divx avi, asf, rm or whatever and convert them to VCD or SVCD format would be to use a program to encode them to mpeg or mpeg2 format first... which takes a hell of a long time unless you have a hardware level encoder, which most of us don't.

It is NOT worth the hassle to do all those conversions just to play them in a DVD player. If all you want is to view these video files on your television, then get a video card that has TVout and hook up your computer to your TV or VCR.

"Laziness is a talent to be cultivated like any other" - Walter Slovotsky

 

[Guest]

Do I have to purchase Nero or can I just use the downloadable demo?

 

[Negaverse23]

Think they want you to purchase it.

<font color=red>It is the weakest link. They are not ready yet many have tried and failed with it.</font color=red>

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Fuzz, did you read my post about Nero? Nero will NOT encode mpeg video, it will only prep mpeg video for playback in a DVD player.

If you buy Nero for this purpose you'll be wasting your cash, although Nero is my personal favorite program for burning CDs



"Laziness is a talent to be cultivated like any other" - Walter Slovotsky

 

[jclw]

If you want to convert movies into MPGs try VirtualDub (check it out at at: <A HREF="http://www186.pair.com/vdub/index.html" target="_new">http://www186.pair.com/vdub/index.html</A>). You'll need to get an MPEG codec as well (if you don't already have one. VirtualDub is also useful for "backing up" DVDs as well, allowing both Video and Audio compression.

 

[Guest]

What do u mean it will not encode mpeg? I want to be able to watch mpegs through a DVD player isn't that what "prep mpeg video for playback in a DVD player" mean?

 

[SerArthurDayne]

When I said "prep mpeg video for playback in a DVD player", what I meant was you needed an mpeg file to begin with. You can't just burn a .mpg or .mpeg file onto a cd-r and try to play it in your DVD player - what Nero does is take that mpeg1 or mpeg2 file (VCD or SVCD) and allow you to output something to a cd-r that a DVD player will recognize. If you have mpeg format videos, then you CAN use Nero to convert them to VCD or SVCD. However, if your videos are in other media formats, like AVI or ASF, you will have to convert them to mpeg format first - a process which takes many many hours with software encoding.

When you 'encode' your video, you are using a codec that is used to compress the information into a format that can then be decompressed upon playback. Nero will not do this.. it only prepares previously mpeg encoded video to be playable in a DVD or VCD player. Is that clear now?

"Laziness is a talent to be cultivated like any other" - Walter Slovotsky