Dvd Format -Help needed

[Jay Bass]

I am about to download a movie i have created using serif movie plus x6 to a dvd disc
what options do i choose so the dvd can be played on most laptops, dvd players etc
i am not upon all the tech dvd lingo , eg pal/nts 4.3 or 16.9 , 720 or 1080 etc etc
any advice appreciated
regards
Jay

[Twang46]

AVI files are probably the best format for compatibility for DVD stuff. They play on most DVD players & all computers.

Dick.

[Didier]

I am about to download a movie i have created using serif movie plus x6 to a dvd disc
what options do i choose so the dvd can be played on most laptops, dvd players etc
i am not upon all the tech dvd lingo , eg pal/nts 4.3 or 16.9 , 720 or 1080 etc etc
any advice appreciated
regards
Jay

You should select pal, 16.9 (unless if the source image format is 4.3), and 720.

Didier

[RayL]

Oh Ho! This is real 'can of worms' time! Are you ready?

If you want to be able to play your disc on a standard DVD player then the player will want to see the standard DVD file format, which is a Video_TS folder (containing the VOB files, etc) (an Audio_TS folder is often there as well but is empty for a standard DVD). This disk will also play on a laptop, provided it has software that will play DVDs (usual these days). To make a standard video DVD you will need DVD burning software.

Simply transferring a file (AVI, for example) on to a DVD blank disk will NOT produce a disk that will play on a standard DVD player (though it may play on a laptop, or it may not, because AVI files can have different 'headers' and some will not be recognised).

Remember that a standard DVD is Standard Definition, not High Definition. For High Definition you need to make a Blu-ray disk.

I'm not familiar with Serif Movie Plus so to get any further I'll need to know the file format that it makes when you download. These days it is likely to be some kind of mpeg4, a highly compressed format. Microsoft have this annoying habit of concealing file extensions by default, so when I say that I need to know the file extension of the downloaded file it will probably mean a visit to Advanced Settings and 'Enable file extensions'.

We can't get any further until I know that file extension, but here's a quick check on your list of known unknowns:
pal/ntsc
NTSC (National Television System Committee) is the USA standard for colour TV. It has technical drawbacks (hence often known as Never Twice the Same Colour). Used in USA, Japan, Korea, a few other places.
PAL (Phase Alternating Line) made improvements on NTSC from the viewers point of view. Used in Europe (except for France, who have their own SECAM) and many other parts of the world.

The PAL/NTSC/SECAM distinctions become irrelevent in High Definition.

4.3 or 16.9
4:3 was the shape of the TV picture up until the 1990s (4 wide, 3 high). Then we went widescreen (16 wide and 9 high). You could also think of 4:3 as 12:9

720 or 1080
These refer to the definition of a High Definition picture (in the same way that 625 line was used for Standard Definition TV). 720 and 1080 also need to be defined as either p (progressive) or i (interlaced), so you might see 720p or 1080i, for example

But the first step is to know what sort of file you have downloaded.

Ray

[Alan Prudhoe]

What an excellent explanation.

I knew all of that in bits, but it was still very helpful to me to have the complete picture explained in a simple easy to understand way. Thanks Ron.

[Twang46]

Ray said

"Simply transferring a file (AVI, for example) on to a DVD blank disk will NOT produce a disk that will play on a standard DVD player (though it may play on a laptop, or it may not, because AVI files can have different 'headers' and some will not be recognised)."

Always worked for me, I have AVI files on flash drives/discs & hard drives.....the discs play in everything we have at home & I usually just plug a usb drive into the main tv to watch films/concerts that I have downloaded.

Your experience seems to be different

I don't suppose there is such a thing as a universally accepted file protocol but AVI has always worked for me..............lucky ? who knows

Used to be far easier in the days of tape, outside the pro systems there was only VHS/Beta to worry about after Philips gave up with their early systems ( I always did wonder if the early Philips NC 1700 system's name had anything to do with a certain Sci-Fi tv series )

Head back in the 70's now remembering the grief we used to get with that 1700 system with all it's pulleys/wheels/cables & stuff was always good clear picture though (when it was working)

Cheers

Dick.

[RayL]

Always worked for me, I have AVI files on flash drives/discs & hard drives.....the discs play in everything we have at home & I usually just plug a usb drive into the main tv to watch films/concerts that I have downloaded.

Dick
Sorry to labour the point, but leaving aside flash drives and hard drives (and any other things which are not a DVD), are you saying that you can take a standard 4.7Gb DVD recordable blank disk, transfer an AVI file to it (and only an AVI file, no other process involved), place it in the tray of a domestic standalone DVD player and have that DVD player recognise it and play the video and sound through to an external screen?

I have to ask because you may have stumbled on something which is of interest.

All the other methods you describe - flash drives, hard disks, SD cards, whatever, I can accept as alternative ways of playing an AVI file into a TV. But a DVD blank containing only an AVI file recognised by a domestic standalone DVD player?
Ray

[exprog]

Hi

I have a Toshiba DVD drive. Cost £35.00, which has the facility to play AVI files.

These can be either on a USB stick or on a standard DVD (Created in the computer)

Other than the facility for AVI it is a standard DVD player, which will play standard DVDs, and is connec

Chris

[exprog]

Last post got shortened. I intended to say it is otherwise a normal domestic DVD player connected to the TV.

Chris

[Martin Page]

My DVD player plays .avi files either on DVD disk or a USB stick.

Martin.