Avi files and watching them on TV

godtabh

I have a load of avi file. I want to watch them on my 28" tv screen rather than my tiny laptop screen.

Is it just a mater of copying to DVD (I have nero 6) inserting them into my xbox dvd player and away we go?

Or will I have to download/buy some software to conver the avi files in to a format that is capable to play on a dvd player?

Some of these files have been coded with DivX. Is it possible to backwards decode them? i.e. get back any data lost during the encoding process for better quality pictures?

jor el

If only it were that simple. If your Xbox is modded then you can play divx/xvid AVIs with XBox media player. If it's not modded then you need to convert the AVIs to DVD before it (or any non mpeg4 DVD player) will play them.

Search for VSO Divx to DVD, this will convert AVI files to DVD. However, it only converts one file to one DVD, which is a waste if the files are small.

You can also convert AVIs to mpg with TMpgEnc. I don't know if an Xbox will play mpg files off a DVD though, so you'll still need to convert the mpgs to DVD, something like TMpgEnc DVD Author will do a nice job of that and will convert multiple files to one DVD.

hostyle

jor el wrote:

Search for VSO Divx to DVD, this will convert AVI files to DVD. However, it only converts one file to one DVD, which is a waste if the files are small.

You can also convert AVIs to mpg with TMpgEnc. I don't know if an Xbox will play mpg files off a DVD though, so you'll still need to convert the mpgs to DVD, something like TMpgEnc DVD Author will do a nice job of that and will convert multiple files to one DVD.

I think Nero will do all of this for you also.

formatman

I take it your laptop doesn't have a TV out ?

you could get a VGA to composite adaptor cheap in Maplin

godtabh

laptop has s-vid but I heard that with the tv out ur cable can be hit and miss.

You could get a grand one or one that only does black and white!

Plus I'd like to have these files on dvd's so I can give to family members

Gegerty

kearnsr wrote:

laptop has s-vid but I heard that with the tv out ur cable can be hit and miss.

You could get a grand one or one that only does black and white!

Plus I'd like to have these files on dvd's so I can give to family members

If it shows in black and white then it means you're video card on your pc is set to ntsc and your tv can't handle it. Just change the settings to PAL.

vibe666

you can't get a vga to composite adapter like that. you need a transcoder to convert a vga signal to composite or scart.

most likely if it's a newish laptop it will have an s-video out, but if it's a name brand one it's likely to be a proprietory cable that he'll need to get from whoever made the laptop. or ebay if he's lucky.

if it's a 7-pin s-video then it's a custom one, if it's 4-pin then it's most likely a standard cable that he can go into maplins or peats to get an v-video to composite or scart cable for very cheaply.

nero recode has the ability to convert and burn divx movies to dvd to play in a normal dvd player, but depending on what version of nero you have, you might not have the recode option.

you can download a trial for it from www.nero.com. if you have nero installed already and your licence is valid for nero recode then it will automatically use your current licence and work fine. otherwise you'll have 30 days of a demo before you have to buy it or uninstall it as it will stop working.

formatman

I meant VGA to composite converter box not adaptor etc

Any Black and white problems are down the incorrect PAL NTSC settings on Laptop or TV

Stephen

If your laptop is set to output PAL SECAM this will also cause a black and white picture to appear, though if your tv is newish it should be able to display both PAL and NTSC.

Gurgle

kearnsr wrote:

Or will I have to download/buy some software to convert the avi files in to a format that is capable to play on a dvd player?

Yup.
ULEAD DVD Movie Factory
Or similar
Costs a few €€€ if you choose to pay for it.

kearnsr wrote:

Is it possible to backwards decode them? i.e. get back any data lost during the encoding process for better quality pictures?

Nope.
Thats what 'lost' means.

godtabh

A few of my friends had a problem with the tv out. One on an apple and one on a dell.

Just forwarded the link to them.

As I said I have Nero 6.something so I'll have to check to see if it recode it.

When I asked if it could retriew lost data i thought it would simple reverse what it had done. Thinking of it now probably alot harder said than done.

Thanks for the help

Friend just read the tread.

Here is what he said

"ive tried changing my pal and ntsc settings a bunch o times and it made no difference. tried 2 diff tvs, both newish and got b&w"

Wertz

I use a neat s/w package called WinAVI. It converts to and from nearly every video format I've come across. It integrates with nero via a plug-in, so burning the created .vob files to dvdr is very simple.
The conversion process is CPU intensive but it is still relatively quick and produces great results.
There's a trial version for the shareware and the full version is very reasonable at $30.

Fionn_McCool

A program which will do this for you very easily and quite quickly is WinAvi. just google it and you will find.

all you need is the codecs, it will convert avi to dvd or avi to vcd or avi to mpeg.







All you have to do is burn the folders (Audio_TS and Video_TS) which the program makes, using nero etc.


one more thing, unless you want to buy it, you will have to get the trialware version the y have, this period is infinite, but it puts a watermark on every video clip yoiu encode.
There is one way to bypass this, which is to use a crack, but that would be illegal and should not be done

JackKelly

while this topic is going, what about doing the reverse, converting VOBS >avi's? How would one go about this.

*cough edit* just noticed, winavi does it.lol*uncough*

vibe666

autogk is probably one of the better and simpler apps to convert dvd video to divx or xvid.

you'll need dvd decrypter to rip the dvd to your hard drive first, and since it's just been killed by some big company for what it does, you might have a job finding it.

it's good though.

but again, nero recode will do it too.

it can convert dvd's to it's own nero digital format which is similar to divx. you need nero showtime to play them though.

on the up side, it's the only app i've found that can take episodes from a tv series where you might have 2 episodes split between 3 vob files (soprano's comes to mind) that seems to get messed up by most ripping encoding software, and lets you encode via episode by reading the disc info rather than just throwing the vobs at it and ending up with a big mess at the end with the audio all over the place.

Joeface

actually there is an easy and not too expensive way, divx to dvd is like €35 in pc world , or u can buy X-oom Dvd creator, they will both allow you to create dvds with menus and you can have 2-3 avi's on every dvd ,with a simple interface menu and its basicly a drag and drop operation , I must say it was well worth the cough !!price!!,

vibe666

there's some free tools here: http://www.videohelp.com/tools?s=2

most of them are trials but there's some freeware.

be careful of spyware though, and make sure you have something installed to detect if any of them are installing anything suspect on your system.

ElNino

The easiest solution is to buy a DIVX capable DVD player and you can burn the AVIs directly to DVDRs or DVDRWs without re-encoding anything and watch them on your TV.

vibe666

that's actually what i'm doing at the moment. got a divx dvd player off someone here for about 60 quid, and it works a treat. has a set of 5.1 surround speakers too. very nice.

ebay is your best bet I'd say.

dal

Does anyone no if the XBox plays DVD-RWs? That way I could (obviously) re-use the same disc and just overwrite each time.

vibe666

my PS2 does. don't think there's any difference (from a reading point of view) between an R or an RW disc afaik.

pickarooney

This 'My TV-out is Black and White' question seems to come up every single day. Would someone not make a sticky with a step by step guide on what components you need and how to set them up (it's pretty damn easy, in fairness) so as to get a decent, colour image on the TV?

There seems to be a lot of confusion about the three basic TV standards (PAL, SECAM, NTSC) and a lot of misinformation flying about. Is there anyone who can honestly say they know 100% what they're talking about when it comes to TV-out that could make a clear guide? I'm a bit sketchy on a couple of details myself, but I have at least managed to output a colour signal from several graphics cards on a couple of OSes to a few TVs and know it's not really that difficult.

DemonOfTheFall

The reason that you're all getting B&W is because your composite/svideo dealies are crap. You need to get a decent one for them to actually work afaik. Peats have a proper one for 25 euro (yes a criminal price i know), youre gonna have to get a decent one if u want colour