Right, all i want to do is take an .avi file that i made and burn it to a dvd so i can watch it on my DVD player.

This seems to be a lot more difficult than i thought it would be.....

So, first i burned the AVI to a dvd disk, which wouldnt play on my DVD player as i had apparently made a 'data cd' so the i read a bit more about it and found that i need the file to be a .vob vile, so i downloaded a convertor and converted it into a .vob, then burned that to another blank dvd, which didn't work either.

So i then went googling again and i apparently also need a .bup file and an .ifo file, and i dont know what the hell they are, or how/where to get these files, or how to get them from my original avi, or from the vob that i created.

All i wanted to do was get my video file, burn it to a blank DVD so it can be watched on my dvd player, which seems to be nigh on impossible!

I am using CDburnerxp for burning (i was assured that it CAN burn DVD's as well as CD's) and i am using a program called 'Super' to make my video files into VOB files.

Does anyone know how the hell any of this stuff works, as i was expecting to just put in a blank dvd, locate my file, click on burn and that would be it, but i appear to be failing and i only have 1 blank disk left.

personaly i use VSO ConvertX to DVD.

It works very well and also has the burning facility built in.

http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/

The trial version adds a watermark to the video. but its well worth the £35 if you are going to use it alot.

Try it out and at least you will be able to see exactly what the converted files should look like.

Windows Movie Maker / DVD Maker if your in Vista?

If your AVI is less than 700MB, burn it onto a CD. Most modern DVD players can play Divx discs (3/4 can in our house at least, 2 of them are a good 5 years old)

Many dvd players play all kind of dvd's. I think that it had to support DivX and it was need to be region free or something, not sure about this. So, check your dvd player manual first. If it doesnt support it, then i think that ive seen few programs what lets u convert avi files into dvd files (with scenes and all that kind of stuff). Also, u have to use right dvd's.

check out AVI2DVD. i used it before and worked fine..

Quote from franky500 :

personaly i use VSO ConvertX to DVD.

It works very well and also has the burning facility built in.

http://www.vso-software.fr/products/convert_x_to_dvd/

The trial version adds a watermark to the video. but its well worth the £35 if you are going to use it alot.

Try it out and at least you will be able to see exactly what the converted files should look like.

+1 top notch bit of kit. really easy to use and even burns the dvd once the conversion is complete.

...or you could just use this great open source tool... does the job for free!

http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php

I'm with Franky and Dadge, VSO ConvertX to DVD. Great, simple program and does the job suprisingly fast

Most standalone players (SAP) can play MPEG-4 ASP (DivX, Xvid) + MP3 in an AVI container.
But from my own experience here are the settings to be used for the best compatibility with most, if not all, SAP's:

Video width: 720 max
B-frames (BVOP): 1 max
QPel: no
GMC: no
Packed bitstream: no
Matrix: H263
Frame rate: constant, either 23.976 or 24 or 25 or 29.97 but no variable frame rate.

However, any SAP with a Sigma Design chip (e.g. DivX certified ones) can also use:
B-frames (BVOP): 2 max
Packed bitstream: yes
Matrix: any CQM SAP compliant

Quote from rediske :

...or you could just use this great open source tool... does the job for free!

http://www.dvdflick.net/download.php

+1
Easy to use, free and open source.