New Super Dumb Technical Question du Jour
M C Hamster
I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
Each step is a baby step in my dumbness remediation.
--
M C Hamster "Big Wheel Keep on Turning" -- Creedence Clearwater Revival
Veronique
> OK. My dumbness knows no bounds.
>
> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>
> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
>
> Each step is a baby step in my dumbness remediation.
I don't think these are super-dumb questions, because if they were I'd
know the answer and feel all superior.
V.
--
Veronique Chez Sheep
Dover Beach
news:5e98f6c3-d366-46a7...@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com:
Right, me too. A little more background, MC? What software are you
using to burn the DVD?
--
Dover
M C Hamster
wrote:
Well, I can burn the MPG file onto the DVD-R disk using Windows Media
Player or just Windows. The file is on there, but if I stick the DVD
into a DVD player it says that the file is not playable. I assume
that the DVD player can't read or play the MPG file.
I actually have a newer DVD player and it might work in that one...
let me check.
****
Well, that was weird. This newer player will display JPGs from a CD.
It showed the MPG file on the disk... the audio came on for a few
seconds but that was all, and no video displayed.
It plays OK when I open the file in my computer so the file is OK.
So I need something that converts the .mpg file to something that runs
on a standard DVD player.
Jim Ellwanger
M C Hamster <davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>
> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
Mac or PC? If you're working with a Mac, there's a very good shareware
video-conversion program available called Visual Hub that can, among
other things, burn simple DVDs (i.e., no menu; the DVD will just start
playing).
For PC...I have no idea what's available. Sorry.
--
Jim Ellwanger <use...@ellwanger.tv>
<http://www.ellwanger.tv> welcomes you daily.
"The days turn into nights; at night, you hear the trains."
M C Hamster
<use...@ellwanger.tv> wrote:
>In article <stbml3pp63b5jj59r...@4ax.com>,
> M C Hamster <davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>
>> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
>> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
>> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
>> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
>> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>>
>> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
>> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
>
>Mac or PC? If you're working with a Mac, there's a very good shareware
>video-conversion program available called Visual Hub that can, among
>other things, burn simple DVDs (i.e., no menu; the DVD will just start
>playing).
>
>http://www.visualhub.net
>
>For PC...I have no idea what's available. Sorry.
Nope, PC here. Thanks anyway.
M C Hamster
<use...@ellwanger.tv> wrote:
>In article <stbml3pp63b5jj59r...@4ax.com>,
> M C Hamster <davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>
>> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
>> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
>> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
>> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
>> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>>
>> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
>> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
>
>Mac or PC? If you're working with a Mac, there's a very good shareware
>video-conversion program available called Visual Hub that can, among
>other things, burn simple DVDs (i.e., no menu; the DVD will just start
>playing).
>
>http://www.visualhub.net
>
>For PC...I have no idea what's available. Sorry.
I don't need a menu... just want the DVD to play in a typical DVD
player.
Les Albert
<davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>Well, I can burn the MPG file onto the DVD-R disk using Windows Media
>Player or just Windows. The file is on there, but if I stick the DVD
>into a DVD player it says that the file is not playable. I assume
>that the DVD player can't read or play the MPG file.
>I actually have a newer DVD player and it might work in that one...
>let me check.
>****
>Well, that was weird. This newer player will display JPGs from a CD.
>It showed the MPG file on the disk... the audio came on for a few
>seconds but that was all, and no video displayed.
>It plays OK when I open the file in my computer so the file is OK.
>So I need something that converts the .mpg file to something that runs
>on a standard DVD player.
Go here:
http://smartdvdcreator.com/indexg.htm?gclid=CM26nouPmpACFSosagodyEp48Q
You can download a free trial.
Les
Hactar
> wrote:
>
> >Veronique <veroniq...@gmail.com> wrote in
> >news:5e98f6c3-d366-46a7...@e25g2000prg.googlegroups.com:
> >
> >> On Dec 8, 4:09 pm, M C Hamster <davol...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
> >>> OK. My dumbness knows no bounds.
> >>>
> >>> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
> >>> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
> >>> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
> >>> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
> >>> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
> >>>
> >>> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
> >>> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
> >>>
> >>> Each step is a baby step in my dumbness remediation.
> >>
> >> I don't think these are super-dumb questions, because if they were I'd
> >> know the answer and feel all superior.
> >
> >Right, me too. A little more background, MC? What software are you
> >using to burn the DVD?
>
> Well, I can burn the MPG file onto the DVD-R disk using Windows Media
> Player or just Windows. The file is on there, but if I stick the DVD
> into a DVD player it says that the file is not playable. I assume
> that the DVD player can't read or play the MPG file.
Video DVDs have to be in a specific structure for a DVD player to
understand them. I use ffmpeg (for format conversions), sox (to
tweak audio), dvdauthor (to put things in the right format), mkisofs (to
make a DVD image), and dvdrecord (to burn that image). But those are
Linux tools, and you're in Windows.
Hie thee to videohelp.com which may answer thine questions.
> I actually have a newer DVD player and it might work in that one...
> let me check.
Probably won't work either. But anyhow, it's better that you do things
the right way than you restrict your playback machines through reliance
on weird capabilities.
> Well, that was weird. This newer player will display JPGs from a CD.
> It showed the MPG file on the disk... the audio came on for a few
> seconds but that was all, and no video displayed.
>
> It plays OK when I open the file in my computer so the file is OK.
It's stored as a data file, not as a video DVD.
> So I need something that converts the .mpg file to something that runs
> on a standard DVD player.
VOB files go on a DVD, but as I said it needs to be in a particular
structure for the player to recognize it.
--
The mnky gibbering and screeching used to keep me up at night, although
in the lst week or so it's prtty mch tailed off to nthng. The smell has
gttn noticbly worse in the last cple of days, too. The next time I get
a barrl full of mnkys, I'm going to try taking the lid off. -groo, AFCA
Greg Johnson
<davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>OK. My dumbness knows no bounds.
>
>I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
>Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
>a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
>DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
>whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
The format used by playable video DVDs is called .VOB, but it's
essentially the same as MPEG-2.
>Is there a freeware / shareware program for that?
Yes, but...
I wouldn't recommend this unless you are happy downloading and
installing multiple tools and spending quite a while getting used to
them. The freeware approach does work, but it's a long way from
simple.
This is where to start if you want to try it.
http://www.doom9.org/index.html?/mpg/avi2dvdr.htm
> Or do I need to
>purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
I use Nero Vision, which is part of Nero 7 Premium.
For this particular sort of job, it's a very simple point-and'click
process.
Read about Nero here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_Burning_ROM
Get it here: http://www.nero.com/ena/products.html
I notice they're up to version 8 now. Well, 7 still does everything I
currently want, so I'm not about to upgrade.
M C Hamster
wrote:
Unfortunately, the sneaky bastards have it so that when you use the
free trial, it only imports 70% of the total file. That's pretty
damned sneaky of them.
Les Albert
<davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>hOn Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:05:30 -0800, Les Albert <lalb...@aol.com>
>wrote:
>>On 8 Dec 2007 19:42:02 -0600, M C Hamster
>><davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>>>Well, I can burn the MPG file onto the DVD-R disk using Windows Media
>>>Player or just Windows. The file is on there, but if I stick the DVD
>>>into a DVD player it says that the file is not playable. I assume
>>>that the DVD player can't read or play the MPG file.
>>>I actually have a newer DVD player and it might work in that one...
>>>let me check.
>>>****
>>>Well, that was weird. This newer player will display JPGs from a CD.
>>>It showed the MPG file on the disk... the audio came on for a few
>>>seconds but that was all, and no video displayed.
>>>It plays OK when I open the file in my computer so the file is OK.
>>>So I need something that converts the .mpg file to something that runs
>>>on a standard DVD player.
>>Go here:
>>http://smartdvdcreator.com/indexg.htm?gclid=CM26nouPmpACFSosagodyEp48Q
>>You can download a free trial.
>Unfortunately, the sneaky bastards have it so that when you use the
>free trial, it only imports 70% of the total file. That's pretty
>damned sneaky of them.
I thought you might be able to use the trial *once* for your mpg file.
Does the 70% work for a one-time trial?
Les
Hactar
M C Hamster <davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
> hOn Sat, 08 Dec 2007 18:05:30 -0800, Les Albert <lalb...@aol.com>
> wrote:
>
> >On 8 Dec 2007 19:42:02 -0600, M C Hamster
> ><davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
> >
> >>So I need something that converts the .mpg file to something that runs
> >>on a standard DVD player.
> >
> >Go here:
> >
> >http://smartdvdcreator.com/indexg.htm?gclid=CM26nouPmpACFSosagodyEp48Q
> >
> >You can download a free trial.
>
> Unfortunately, the sneaky bastards have it so that when you use the
> free trial, it only imports 70% of the total file. That's pretty
> damned sneaky of them.
Now that you know that, pad your input files with 45% blank space.
--
"Never go off on tangents, which are lines that intersect a curve at
only one point and were discovered by Euclid, who lived in the 6th
century, which was an era dominated by the Goths, who lived in what we
now know as Poland." - from Nov. 1998 issue of Infosystems Executive.
Mike Williams
>So I need something that converts the .mpg file to something that runs
>on a standard DVD player.
There isn't really any such thing as a "standard" DVD player in this
context. Your absolutely basic DVD player will only play DVD-ROMs, which
you can't create for yourself. There are various formats of recordable
DVDs, DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD-R DL, DVD-RAM, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD+R DL. Each
DVD player may support some of those formats. Some players require the
DVD to be "finalized", and some can cope with unfinalized data.
--
Mike Williams
Gentleman of Leisure
M C Hamster
wrote:
Looking at both the Wiki article and their web site, it doesn't look
to me like they're doing what I want.
What I want to do is take a long .mpg (260 MB) and put it on a DVD-R
disk that will play when one sticks it into a DVD player.
It looks to me like Nero is designed to burn data onto a DVD (or CD or
other storage device)... but not to convert it or somehow prep it so
that that DVD will play on a DVD player.
Does the program do that particular task, do you know? Mike Williams'
post indicates that perhaps the disk needs to be "finalized" in order
to run in a DVD player... maybe that's what I'm asking for (I don't
know what "finalized" means, though).
UaN...@gmail.com
> OK. My dumbness knows no bounds.
>
> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>
> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
>
> Each step is a baby step in my dumbness remediation.
Huh. I had no idea I was so smart. I burned a dozen or so big files
onto DVD almost without effort when I got my DVD burner.
So, points of difference here are: a, I was burning .wmv files, and
b, I got a software package bundled with my DVD burner. I put the
software package on the machine, and after that it was totally like,
drag, drop, push button, made menus, select background, select a still
from the clip to act as a thumbnail, all that.
It's not on this machine, so I can't tell you right now want the
package was called. Oh wait, it's on the dead desktop tower, I can't
tell you at all. When I google on "create DVD mpeg wmv" I get a bunch
of hits, but not one I recognize the name of right off. It worked
fine for me, though, so if you care I can dig the disk up. Did you
not get a software package with your DVD burner? It's likely to not
satisfy the power user, but it might suffice for just burning a clip.
I've been having my own video follies; I wanted to post some videos to
youtube. They all loaded fine but the first one, which wouldn't go at
all. I don't know why. After about ten attempts I cut the first and
last second off the .avi file and managed to post it to google videos,
but man was it a hassle. Then I wanted to email big video files to a
few people, since youtube reduces the quality quite a lot. Nope. Not
via my work mail, not via yahoo, not via gmail. Gad dammit. It turns
out they all have size limits. It turns out Lycos doesn't. So now I
also have a Lycos account, and I eventually got the damned things
sent, but man, what a hassle.
--
Kevin
mike muth
>
> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>
> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
Get the trial version of Nero - It's good for 30 days. Use the
NeroVision application. It will recode the movie to fit the DVD and
burn it - after you click cancel on about five annoying "buy now"
boxes.
It won't cut your video short. The daughter just burned a two hour
avi file without any problems.
Mike
M C Hamster
wrote:
>On 9 Dec 2007 10:06:02 -0600, M C Hamster
> If you can see the files on the dvd in the player, the disk is fine;
>it's just your player can't play those files.. Some players will play
>mpg video, jpgs, and mp3... and some will try and fail.
>
>Personally, I use ConvertXtodvd, for quick'n'dirty conversions from
>avi/mpg/whatever to dvd video. There's a demo at
>http://www.vso-software.fr/ but it puts a watermark on the output.
>Very impressive program that works well.
Thanks. That worked great, except for the watermark. I'll probably
buy the full version.
Dover Beach
news:8c1da021-3523-466d...@w40g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:
> Then I wanted to email big video files to a
> few people, since youtube reduces the quality quite a lot. Nope. Not
> via my work mail, not via yahoo, not via gmail. Gad dammit. It turns
> out they all have size limits. It turns out Lycos doesn't. So now I
> also have a Lycos account, and I eventually got the damned things
> sent, but man, what a hassle.
>
www.yousendit.com and, I think, dropsend.com will upload your file onto
their server and send your recipient an email telling them the URL for
it, so the recipient can download it. It's a good workaround if you
don't have your own FTP site, because the recipient might have email
quota limits as well. yousendit is free for, uh, like 5 files a month
or something, as I recall.
--
Dover
UaN...@gmail.com
> UaNe...@gmail.com wrote innews:8c1da021-3523-466d...@w40g2000hsb.googlegroups.com:
>
> > Then I wanted to email big video files to a
> > few people, since youtube reduces the quality quite a lot. Nope. Not
> > via my work mail, not via yahoo, not via gmail. Gad dammit. It turns
> > out they all have size limits. It turns out Lycos doesn't. So now I
> > also have a Lycos account, and I eventually got the damned things
> > sent, but man, what a hassle.
>
> their server and send your recipient an email telling them the URL for
> it, so the recipient can download it. It's a good workaround if you
> don't have your own FTP site, because the recipient might have email
> quota limits as well. yousendit is free for, uh, like 5 files a month
> or something, as I recall.
Ok, thanks. Mailing via Lycos has worked so far. It seems one can
get large files via gmail, but not send them. I find that odd. I'll
save your recommended pages against the day when gmail decides to
throttle incoming mail too.
--
Kevin
Bill Turlock
and *forever* email harassment IIRC
Jon M
<davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>OK. My dumbness knows no bounds.
>
>I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
>Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
>a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
>DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
>whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>
>Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
>purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
>
>Each step is a baby step in my dumbness remediation.
My DVD player (for the TV) will play AVI files. It's a relatively
cheap machine I bought at Costco last year. The movie I downloaded
came in AVI format, so I don't know about converting programs.
Jon M
Greg Johnson
<davo...@speakeasy.nospam.net> wrote:
>On Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:08:12 +1100, Greg Johnson <greg...@gmail.com>
>wrote:
>>Read about Nero here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero_Burning_ROM
>>Get it here: http://www.nero.com/ena/products.html
>>
>>I notice they're up to version 8 now. Well, 7 still does everything I
>>currently want, so I'm not about to upgrade.
>
>Looking at both the Wiki article and their web site, it doesn't look
>to me like they're doing what I want.
>
>What I want to do is take a long .mpg (260 MB) and put it on a DVD-R
>disk that will play when one sticks it into a DVD player.
>
>It looks to me like Nero is designed to burn data onto a DVD (or CD or
>other storage device)... but not to convert it or somehow prep it so
>that that DVD will play on a DVD player.
It's actually a collection of about 20 programs that do different
DVD-related tasks.
>Does the program do that particular task, do you know?
Yes, the program Nero Vision does exactly that, with a very
easy-to-use interface. But you don't seem to be able to buy it
separately, and the whole Nero suite may be more than you want to deal
with.
> Mike Williams'
>post indicates that perhaps the disk needs to be "finalized" in order
>to run in a DVD player... maybe that's what I'm asking for (I don't
>know what "finalized" means, though).
"finalised" means that the index has been closed off so no more tracks
may be written. In most CD/DVD-writing software, it's a little
checkbox that you tick on the last page before you burn the disc.
Bill Bonde ( 'Hi ho' )
M C Hamster wrote:
>
> OK. My dumbness knows no bounds.
>
> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
>
> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
>
Since the file could be in a lot of formats, you'll want something that
can deal with more than DVD input. You might see what the player
supports since you can often view stuff from burned CDs. A CDRW might
piss you off less in testing if there are repeated issues.
--
"Throw me that lipstick, darling, I wanna redo my stigmata."
+-Jennifer Saunders, "Absolutely Fabulous"
Jim Ellwanger
ebenZ...@verizon.net (Hactar) wrote:
> Video DVDs have to be in a specific structure for a DVD player to
> understand them. I use ffmpeg (for format conversions), sox (to
> tweak audio), dvdauthor (to put things in the right format), mkisofs (to
> make a DVD image), and dvdrecord (to burn that image). But those are
> Linux tools, and you're in Windows.
I believe the Mac OS X program I mentioned elsewhere in this thread,
VisualHub, is essentially a fancy front end for some or all of these
(ffmpeg in particular).
Raven-Poe
> OK. My dumbness knows no bounds.
It's OK, MC, now that you've admitted it, you're on the way to recovery.
;)
> I have snagged this video file with my dad in it, thanks to Greg
> Johnson and Hactar. I want to put it on a DVD that can be played in
> a DVD player at my mom's place. Just burning the MPG file onto a
> DVD-R doesn't work. I need some program to convert the MPG file to
> whatever format is used on playable DVD's.
> Is there a freeware / shareware program for that? Or do I need to
> purchase a program, which I'm OK with doing as well?
> Each step is a baby step in my dumbness remediation.
Oh, you think that your not being able to jump through some tech hoop
qualifies you as stupid? Well, it doesn't but it's the thought that
counts.
John - good luck on your quest.
Here, have 10 Opus Points (TM)
--
Remove the dead poet to e-mail.
Ask me about joining the NRA.