A simple guide on how to burn .avi files to a DVD, so they are playable on your DVD player.
Burning .avi files to a DVD won’t work on your normal DVD player. With the right programs, you can make you home movies playable on your DVD player.
Programs
AVI2DVD : http://www.trustfm.net/divx/SoftwareAvi2Dvd.php
DVDShrink : http://www.softpedia.com/get/CD-DVD-Tools/CD-DVD-Rip-Other-Tools/DVD-Shrink.shtml
Download and install AVI2DVD. Now open the program. In the step 1 tab, you can load your .avi file. AVI2DVD supports other formats, and you can find out which ones at the website above. After you have selected your .avi file, you can choose the audio track you want, if you have more than one.
Next, we go to the Step 2 Tab. Here you can select whether you want to burn to a DVD or a VCD, the disk size that you will be using, and the location which you wish to save the files. Depending on your location, you can make it convert to NTSC or PAL.
In Step 3, you choose the encoder with which you want to encode the movie with. Depending on your computer speed and the level of quality you want, you choose different encoders. When you put your mouse over a selection, it give a summary of the encoder. Higher quality will always take longer.
In Step 4, you can choose whether you want to add subtitles to your movie or not. This is optional.
In the last step, Step 5, you choose whether you want a menu for your DVD. This is also an optional choice.
After the decisions have been made, click “Add Job” near the bottom of the window. Click “GO” and it will start encoding the movie. This will take some time, and it will open some other windows to complete the process.
After this is done, open DVDShrink and click “Open Files” at the top. Browse to the folder where the files were saved, and select the folder name DVD. It will analyse the files. After it has finished, click “Backup!” at the top. Go to the “Burn Settings” tab and rename the DVD to whatever you want. Click ok, and it will start preparing the files for burning. After this has completed, insert your DVD, and it will burn the files on. Once completed, you can now watch the movie on your DVD player!
2 Responses
I know a CD can hold 700mb, but what does that mean in length of movie (time)?
I’ve used Nero to make vcd’s in the past, but it required more than one CD.
Does the DVD Shrink program compress the file in some way making an entire movie fit?
Thanks, I do enjoy your posts!
Clovis
The file size of a movie does not matter. It is the length of the movie (or time as you indicated). Standard CD’s can hold around 75 minutes. A standard DVD+-R can hold 2 hours of video. Sometimes you may want to hold a little more than 2 hours on a DVD. AVI2DVD compresses the movie, and DVDShrink burns it onto the DVD. DVDshrink can also be used to copy DVD’s if needed.
Beware, that if the time is significantly over 2 hours, the quality of the movie would be noticeably worse.