It’s exactly BECAUSE of the fact that these are containers and NOT formats that you may or may not be able to view a particular video file on your system. You need to know what codec is being used, or you only have 1/2 of the information you need.
All I need to know is if a program reads a file. I don’t need to know why or how the file is structured.
Burn as is and pop it in. Most DVD players can play the most popular codecs
100% sure I do it all the time with DVD-RWs, you can do lots of menus and make a movie look very profesional.
I’m talking about stpauler’s claim that Windows DVD maker will convert AVI.
Jesus. No, that’s not all you need to know. A program might say that it reads .avi files, but if you don’t have that divx codec, or Xvid, or cinepack, etc, etc then it WON’T open it.
Got it now?
I didn’t say anything about a program that “might say that…”. I said if it reads the file, I don’t give a flying AVI what the file is made of or how it’s structured. Got it now?
If a program reads it, it reads it.
What’s with the attitude, dude?
I just noticed this post now. Codecs aren’t something that get played. If you’re saying most DVD players will play a DVD that have an AVI file burned on it, I’m almost certain you’re wrong.
What an odd thread to get such heated responses on.
Here’s what I know, as a consumer and a video converter of old.
If you have the codecs installed on your computer so that when you play the .avi file in your media player it works okay, then it will also work in the conversion application.
If you burn the avi to even a CD or DVD directly, without all the menus and crap, many DVD players have the wherewithal to handle the most common codecs and play the avi directly. Mine does that, and it’s several years old with nothing fancy in its pedigree.
I think calling AVI a “container format” hinders more than helps, as it just confuses the layman. It’s fine to mention codecs, though, as that is marginally more informative. e.g. “If the file has been compressed using the DivX codec, it should play in all modern media players and DVD conversion software applications, and a good chunk of modern DVD players. Obscure, proprietary, or newer codecs, such as x264, Sorenson, and RealVideo, may experience problems.”
Yep. My $40 DVD player not only reads DivX and XVid avi files written to discs, but also has a USB slot and can read those files directly from a FAT32 USB key or external hard drive.
Even if you have the software, converting an avi to a DVD is a relatively lengthy process, and uses a lot of the computer’s processing power. I haven’t converted in that direction for a few years now.
When i used to do it, i used the AVI2DVD program suggested by x-ray vision early in the thread. At that time, the free version did not have any restrictions or watermarks.
The OP mentioned AVI and didn’t specify DivX and XVid AVI files. A little Googling leads me to believe that more modern DVD players will play DivX and XVid avi files but not other AVI formats.
Right, but the vast majority of avi files are still encoded with DivX and Xvid. While the x264 codec has grown in popularity, i find it is still used far more often in MP4 and MKV files.
This is why you need to know what’s actually in your avi file. 
If it says .avi, .divx, or .xvid most new dvd players won’t care.
Just look for the divx logo on the player.
264 and mkv players are still scarce.
The newest versions of this program tries to install a toolbar each and every time you shut the program down unless you unclick the boxes. I’ve stopped recommending it to people because of this, although I still use for some things.
Wouldn’t you know it? Windows 7 has a program that (allegedly) does this. So, I brought up the friendly and intuitive user interface last night, followed the directions, and produced a DVD from an .avi file. Sort of.
The avi file plays perfectly on my laptop. The DVD I created is not good for two reasons. One, the picture is distorted. The program was nice enough to mush the sides in, making every object in the screen look awful. Two, there isn’t one iota of sound.
I am going to try a couple of the suggested tools in this thread. If, in the meantime, anyone can tell me what I might have done wrong with the Windows DVD Maker, I would appreciate it. The creation of the DVD took quite a long time, but there is no place I could have made an error. Since the avi file I have on my laptop contains the sound, I would think that the MS tool would know that and pull it out correctly. But alas, it doesn’t.
Hurdle number 1.
I’ve downloaded ConvertXtoDVD and am following the directions provided on the link by** x-ray vision** The first page, Input, requires you to find the avi file you want to convert. I found the file, selected it, and it appears in the window correctly. However, I get no input for the audio stream box. Unlike the example, my Choose AudioStream box is empty, which makes me wonder what the problem is… I don’t want to create another DVD without sound, so before proceeding, can someone shed some light on this?
Thanks
On Win 7 I burned an avi to dvd just a couple of days ago.
Actually I did better than that. I had a kid’s dvd that annoyed the heck out of me because it played several minutes of inane advertising which couldn’t be skipped before bringing up the main program. I used Format Factory to copy the sections I did want to an avi file. When I put an unformatted dvd in the drive Win7 asked me if I wanted to produce a dvd. I simply followed instructions and had exactly what I needed complete with a simple menu.
I believe Format Factory and Freestudio can both do something similar (both free), but, well, the job was done.
I wanted to answer some of the questions posted in the thread
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I originally burned the avi file directly to the dvd and popped it in the dvd player. It had no idea what to do with it. It could not read the dvd at all.
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using microsoft windows7 Windows DVD maker created a dvd, but it has no sound as looks like it is at the wrong aspect ratio (or the avi file has been smooshed.) it really doesn’t matter since I cannot enjoy the dvd without sound.
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musicat - no hard feelings here either. No problem on my end.
I’m going to download another one of the options suggested and see if it works. Whichever one does the trick, I’ll keep and delete the rest. This shouldn’t be so difficult!
You meant Avi2Dvd, not ConvertXtoDVD, right?
AVI2DVD gives me no choices for "Audiosource" | AfterDawn Discussion Forums (see posts #7 and #17)
Basic Guide How to Convert AVI Files to DVD with Avi2DVD - Page 6 (see post #78 and #79)