questions on converting home movies to DVDs

[etrurian]

Hey Y'all,
I'm trying to convert analog home video to DVD's. Using a Dazzle Hollywood DV BridgeI've made a series of avi files plus one 129 byte dzl file. This trial project is aprox 8Gb of hdd space and is 40 mins long. What I need to know is:
1, Will avi files run on my DVD home player?
2, Should avi files be converted to vob files (or some other format)?
3, Can avi files be split into smaller files like vob files?
4, Can a 15-25 Gb avi file be shrunk to a single DVD?
5, What software is called for (recommended)?
tia

[hakko504]

No Yes, it's a must in order to get them to play on a standalone. Yes, but not all PC apps can play them correctly that way. Yes, the size of the AVI is not important, only the length (time) It's a two step process, first you convert the AVI to MPEG-2 and then you compile the MPEG-2 into a DVD (vob/ifo).
If you look at Doom9's guide page (http://www.doom9.org/guides.htm) you'll find at least three sections that you should read: Format conversions, DVD basics and DVD backup/DVD and mini DVD's. Especially the AVI->DVD±R section of the Format conversions.

[killingspree]

1) no. if you have a special mpeg4 capable dvd player you might be able to read some avis, but not those coming from your capture anyway :)

2) generally yes. but it is more difficult than it first seems. now in the end you'll come up with a couple of vob files, but what really matters is the content of these files. you see both *.vob and *.avi files are just so called containers. in other words a package that merely contains a video and an audio (and in the case of vobs a couple of extra informations like subs etc). what is moer important is the codec behind it, or the standard if you like. to be able to play your files on your standalone you'll have to create a DVD project containing mpeg2 video with either ac3, mp2 or PCM audio and a valid DVD structure. (you know thos ifo and bup files etc)

3) they can of course. you can do that with virtualdub or any other general video editing software!

4) generally yes. of course this depends on the compression of the video, the length resolution etc etc. not to forget the desired quality. anyway, if it is something like uncompressed avi you can compress 100 gig or more onto a single DVD

5) i'd suggest you'll take a look at the doom9 guides in general. do some basic reading and take a special look at this guide:
http://www.doom9.org/mpg/dvd2svcd-avi.htm
and also this one, although it requires some fairly expensive pieces of software:
http://www.doom9.org/mpg/avi2dvdr.htm

hth
steVe

edit: argh hakko you beat me ;)

[etrurian]

Thx for the info guys, exactly what was needed