11 replies to this topic

[michaeldan]

Hello,

I am trying to copy a video file from my hard drive onto a CD-R disc. The disc only holds 700MB. The video is much larger.
What can I do?

Thanks for any ideas.

[Andavari]

You're best bet is to burn the video onto a DVD-R or DVD+R disc. If you don't have a DVD burner drive about the only other choices I can think of would be:

* Archive the video in an archive format such as 7z, ZIP, RAR, etc., that allows you to split the archive into CD-R sized pieces. Of course this means you won't be able to play the video directly from the CD-R, you'll always have to extract it onto a hard disk and always must have the proper software installed to extract it. This would be the only other approach that leaves the original video intact at the quality it currently is.

* Transcode the video ("convert the video") down to the size of the CD-R - this will however make the quality poorer or absolutely horrible.

[michaeldan]

Andavari, on Aug 21 2007, 05:21 PM, said:

You're best bet is to burn the video onto a DVD-R or DVD+R disc. If you don't have a DVD burner drive about the only other choices I can think of would be:

* Archive the video in an archive format such as 7z, ZIP, RAR, etc., that allows you to split the archive into CD-R sized pieces. Of course this means you won't be able to play the video directly from the CD-R, you'll always have to extract it onto a hard disk and always must have the proper software installed to extract it. This would be the only other approach that leaves the original video intact at the quality it currently is.

* Transcode the video ("convert the video") down to the size of the CD-R - this will however make the quality poorer or absolutely horrible.

I do have a DVD burner drive. But when I try to burn the video from my hard drive to the DVD+R disc, it does not recognize it.

[Caldor]

I agree with Andvari - digital video and transcoding is a complex subject that mostly results in newbies being frustrated and poor quality footage.

After confirming your firmware version of the dvd drive personaly I like ImgBurn as my burning app

[Andavari]

michaeldan, on Aug 21 2007, 07:28 PM, said:

But when I try to burn the video from my hard drive to the DVD+R disc, it does not recognize it.

You should probably find out if it's a a DRM protected video, because if it is you may be out of luck.

[lotse]

Speaking from experience and no real technical knowledge here...

Firstly I would stick to DvD -R. That is the only type of DvD I have had sucess with. I have never suceeded in burning to DvD +R

Secondly it depends what you want from your DVD. Do you want to be able to place it in your DVD player and watch it via your TV? or do you simply want to store the movie as an AVI (or any other movie format) as a file on you DVD? (still playable on your PC, but not on a conventional DVD player)

If you just want to store it as a file, windows will burn the file for you - no special software involved.

To play your movie in a conventional DvD player you need to convert your movie to a "VOB" file, which you then burn to a DVD. It is playable in any DVD player. To do this you need software like WinAVI Video Converter.

Quote

WinAVI Video Converter is easy to use and powerful for experts. Just one click to convert with beautiful user interface. Burning VCD/SVCD/DVD is supported. It supports almost all video file formats, include AVI, MPEG/MPG 1/2/4, VCD/SVCD/DVD
, DivX, ASF, WMV, RM, QuickTime MOV MP4, and Flash SWF. And it has a powerful video decompress/compress engine that convert whole AVI movie to DVD in 90 minutes. What're you waiting for? Just use this software to convert your AVI to DVD and enjoy it now!

It works and is simple to use. Bear in mind its not a two minute job and the results as mentioned above are not always perfect. - set aside a few hours.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Vi...Converter.shtml

Hope this helps

[Andavari]

lotse, on Aug 22 2007, 03:08 PM, said:

do you simply want to store the movie as an AVI (or any other movie format) as a file on you DVD? (still playable on your PC, but not on a conventional DVD player)

Some newer DivX enabled DVD players are supposedly able to playback a DivX encoded AVI if one is to believe some DivX documentation, although they probably cost an arm and leg too.

[DennisD]

Andavari, on Aug 22 2007, 09:14 PM, said:

Some newer DivX enabled DVD players are supposedly able to playback a DivX encoded AVI if one is to believe some DivX documentation, although they probably cost an arm and leg too.

You'd be surprised, I've been looking round for an inexpensive DivX enabled DVD player (standalone) and I've seen quite a few for roundabout the 20-30 quid mark ( 40-50 US?).

My local Asda (Wall Mart) do a 30 quid one, and you can take it back any time during the 12 month guarantee period for a full refund.

This is now the Asda policy on all their hardware.

[Andavari]

DennisD, on Aug 22 2007, 05:15 PM, said:

I've seen quite a few for roundabout the 20-30 quid mark ( 40-50 US?).

Hmm, that's in the regularly priced players I've seen, of course there's some unbranded store models for around 20-25 US I've seen too but they have very little features and DivX playback isn't one of them.

[BrownSugar]

Caldor, on Aug 21 2007, 10:19 PM, said:

I agree with Andvari - digital video and transcoding is a complex subject that mostly results in newbies being frustrated and poor quality footage.

After confirming your firmware version of the dvd drive personaly I like ImgBurn as my burning app

For newbie conversions, try this little utility which is a front end GUI for the ffmpeg command line converter. It does a remarkably good job for audio and video conversions.

Winff

http://www.biggmatt.com

I'm not sure what codec the original file is written in, but a conversion to a Xvid file (900-1050 kbps) will usually result in a video that's very close in clarity to the original.

If you use other free programs like Avidemux or VirtualDub, you can even adjust the sharpness and enhance the contrast and color.
Avidemux has the codecs built in, and you need a codec pack for VirtualDub.


As far as copying that file to a DVD, is the poster using his burner to copy it as an UDF 2.0 data file?

[DennisD]

Andavari, on Aug 22 2007, 11:22 PM, said:

Hmm, that's in the regularly priced players I've seen, of course there's some unbranded store models for around 20-25 US I've seen too but they have very little features and DivX playback isn't one of them.

Just one example of what appears to be a pretty good DivX enabled DVD player.

Link:

And in UK shops, I've seen quite a few more.

[BrownSugar]

DennisD, on Aug 27 2007, 06:36 PM, said:

Just one example of what appears to be a pretty good DivX enabled DVD player.

Link:

And in UK shops, I've seen quite a few more.

I was going to mention that Philips manufactures quite a few good ones, and you posted one that is a level better (but cheaper) than the one I was going to mention, the trusty Philips 642/37. There are numerous threads in various forums where posters mention they've purchased several of the 642/37 models because it plays everything. I was watching a Youtube vid the other day that I converted from flv to Xvid using Winff, and it played flawlessly.