avi files to watch on a DVD player

[petebuch]

Copied a movie AVI file to a VLC media player. Good quality watching on my computer. Now want to watch it on TV through my Sony DVD player. Sony manual says it supports DivX. Dowloaded DivX convertor and copied film to DivX. Followed process to burn onto a DVD but to no avail. Using DVD-RW. Totally confused. Any help would be very much appreciated . Thanks

[patio]

Sounds like all you did was copy the file...did you convert it ? ?

[Salmon Trout]

Many DVD players now support playing MPEG-4 DivX or Xvid video files. My Toshiba that cost 39 UK pounds can do this. You have to burn a data disk with the files on it. You are NOT burning a video DVD. If the file was an AVI file it would probably play just as it was, without being run through the DivX converter.

[2x3i5x]

a question: does it matter if you burned to DVDRW or  DVDR? I remember hearing something about some players not liking DVDRW for some reason or another?

[Broni]

There is often a lot of confusion between codecs, like DivX and containers, like .AVI, so it's a good idea to have some good reading about it: http://www.differencebetween.net/technology/difference-between-divx-and-avi/

DivX is a codec used to compress the video depending on  how small the user wants it to. The Audio Video Interleave or AVI is a container format where the compressed audio and video files are stored in.

1. AVI is a container format while DivX is a codec for compressing video files
2. DivX was created by DivX Inc. while AVI is from Microsoft
3. DivX dictates how the video is coded while AVI is responsible for how the data is stored along with other related information
4. DivX and AVI are not exclusive or inclusive of each other. A DivX video might be in another container and an AVI file might have a video that was not encoded in DivX

does it matter if you burned to DVDRW or  DVDR?

All newer DVD players should recognize both.

[jason2074]

Another convenient way of watching movies from computer AVI format is to used a DVD Player that is USB capable. To avoid the burning and purchasing CDs everytime you feel like watching a movie. Just Plug and Play. http://hubpages.com/hub/dvd-players-with-usb

[2x3i5x]

I see some files of .avi format requiring divx codec to watch. I see some files of .divx extension. They the one and same?

[Broni]

I see some files of .divx extension

Maybe someone renamed them, because, it's not correct extension.

[Salmon Trout]

Maybe someone renamed them, because, it's not correct extension.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DivX

DivX Media Format (DMF)
DivX Media Format DivX media container icon
Filename extension    .divx
Type code    DIVX
Developed by    DivX, Inc.
Type of format    media container
Container for    MPEG-4 Part 2–compliant video
Extended from    AVI

DivX 6 expanded the scope of DivX from including just a codec and a player by adding an optional media container format called "DivX Media Format" ("DMF")[11] (with a .divx extension) that includes support for the following DVD-Video and VOB container like features. This media container format is used for the MPEG-4 Part 2 codec.

    * DivX Media Format (DMF) features:
          o Interactive video menus
          o Multiple subtitles (XSUB)
          o Multiple audio tracks
          o Multiple video streams (for special features like bonus/extra content, just like on DVD-Video movies)
          o Chapter points
          o Other metadata (XTAG)
          o Multiple format
          o Partial backwards compatibility with AVI

This new "DivX Media Format" also came with a "DivX Ultra Certified" profile, and all "Ultra" certified players must support all "DivX Media Format" features. While video encoded with the DivX codec is an MPEG-4 video stream, the DivX Media Format is analogous to media container formats such as Apple's QuickTime. In much the same way that media formats such as DVD specify MPEG-2 video as a part of their specification, the DivX Media Format specifies MPEG-4-compatible video as a part of its specification. However, despite the use of the ".divx" extension, this format is an extension to the AVI file format. The methods of including multiple audio and even subtitle tracks involve storing the data in RIFF headers and other such AVI hacks which have been known for quite a while, such that even VirtualDubMod supports them. DivX, Inc. did this on purpose to keep at least partial backwards compatibility with AVI, so that players that do not support the new features available to the .divx container format (like interactive menus, chapter points and XSUB subtitles) can at least play that primary video stream (usually the main movie if the DMF file contains multiple video streams like special features like bonus materials). Of course, the DivX codec and tools like Dr. DivX still support the traditional method of creating standard AVI files.

[Broni]

Aha...
Thanks for the update. I wasn't aware of it

[BC_Programmer]

And let's not confuse the DivX Codec with the ill-fated DIVX pay-per-view DVD format.

[Salmon Trout]

And let's not confuse the DivX Codec with the ill-fated DIVX pay-per-view DVD format.

Nice to see an old friend come out to play. I haven't written or seen that in a post for at least 8 years...