Originally posted by: eliasbboy
I've used this program forever, but I never see anybody else mention it. It's free, for now, so grab it quick. All you do is choose the avi or divx file, tell it the output location, and in about an hour you have a VIDEO_TS folder ready for burning without any visible quality drop that I have ever noticed. I have a 52" DLP HD and I have no complaints on the quality whatsoever.
Once you have your VIDEO_TS foled, burn it to dvd, and add any DVD-ROM content you'd like.
Here's the link:
Direct Download
Detailed program Info
I've used this program forever, but I never see anybody else mention it. It's free, for now, so grab it quick. All you do is choose the avi or divx file, tell it the output location, and in about an hour you have a VIDEO_TS folder ready for burning without any visible quality drop that I have ever noticed. I have a 52" DLP HD and I have no complaints on the quality whatsoever.
Once you have your VIDEO_TS foled, burn it to dvd, and add any DVD-ROM content you'd like.
Here's the link:
Direct Download
Detailed program Info
I have never heard of that program before so I tried it out, as I am always game for basic freeware that can do stuff that normally costs money. A lot of the time, the freeware becomes my preferred software for certain applications, even if expensive stuff is available (IrfanView, Media Player Classic, and VirtualDub come to mind).
I've done a few short tests with this DivxToDVD program and I am very impressed. I cut out a 1 minute clip from a good quality PAL 700MBx2 2.38:1 (608x256) XviD AVI with AC3 audio to try it out. I left the settings at default (automatic) and the results were amazing, as good as can be done manually with demuxing + MPEG encoder + DVD authoring software. The results were better IMO, than with that other one-click-wonder that isn't free, namely NeroVision Express 3.
By default it kept the 5.1 448 kbps AC3 stream intact without touching it (a nice touch that NeroVision Express refuses to do; only offering the option of 2 channel 192 kbps AC3 encoding, and only if you start with something other than AC3, such as MP3 or WAV), kept the PAL frame rate and gave it an overall PAL aspect ratio, and made it anamorphic (16:9) and had excellent picture quality. I specifically wanted to test it with a PAL AVI so I could try its "force NTSC" function. This worked perfectly as well. The audio remained in sync and the picture quality was great with a smooth frame rate. I also tried the "force 4:3" function which also worked perfectly, giving me a 4:3 letterboxed DVD.
On top of that, when you open a file in this program, it automatically gives you a lot of detailed information about the file, along the lines of GSpot or VirtualDub's "file information" function.
Here are some [lossy JPEG] screenshots:
Original AVI:
Anamorphic DVD conversion at default settings:
Resized to 16:9 (1.78:1) as viewed in a DVD player:
I haven't done a full test on a full length movie but so far, I like this program a lot. Thanks for the link.