dvd players + video formats

[Target]

any video authoring buff's here?

I'm trying to convert some vid's to a format I can play from a USB key on my DVD player. 

As usual, the destructions are less than useful here (compatible formats are avi,mp4,mp3,wma,etc,etc,etc)

I realise they're talking about the 'container' format here, and so far I've tried a number of things (H264 as MP4, MP4 as MP4, MP2 as MP4, MP2 as AVI, H264 as AVI, MP4 as AVI) but can't find a format that will play...it can see the damn files, but it won't play them.

There's probably a basic standard in play here, but I'm damned if I can work out what it is...

any idea's

[MilesAhead]

The first thing I would do is look up your player here:
http://www.videohelp.com/dvdplayers

I found annoying things with my upconverting DVD player(Philips) such as it would play .avi format, but only if the resolution was SD.  If it was already HD it would not play.  So I found myself doing stupid things like converting an HD video to SD so my player could upscale it to HD.

I found set top boxes to be more versatile with formats.  The one I had would play HD .avi and .divx as well as .mkv .mpg .mp4 .m4v .m2ts etc..

Often all I had to do was copy the video onto a USB.  Sometimes it would not play because the audio was not in a compliant format.  In which case all you may need to do is run it through an .mp4 video encoder that would convert the audio and remux if that is all that is needed.

But you can find a wealth of tools on that VideoHelp site.  Also there is a forum for just about every type of conversion and tool.

What DVD player do you have btw?

[antekgla]

If h.264 in .m4 container don't work your DVD player is old.

To be sure you must go with DivX/xVid codec for video, MP3 for audio in an .avi container.

Also be sure don't surpass the 720x480 max resolution. (NTSC).

With this surely your DVD player accept the files.

Before convert a movie you could test with xvid releases in torrent sites. That would be more quick what convert a movie yourself. That releases have thousand of seeders. In minutes you could download a new release to test.

[MilesAhead]

It is floundering in the dark unless the hardware is specified(TV as well as DVD Player, connections to TV etc..)  But as for playing through the USB port directly on the DVD player my Philips was very restrictive.  It pretty much wanted compliant .avi or .divx files if you wanted both video and audio to come out of the TV set in sync. 

If you think you may soon upgrade your TV to HD or Ultra HD for the money you can't beat a set top box.  Once I got a set top box the video conversions I did dropped to about 10% of my previous activity.  And most of those were processing through the .mp4 program I mentioned that batch converted and muxed to get compliant audio.  I had the portable program, plus the video input, intermediate, and output files on an SSD.  Man that thing went through 2 hour movie videos in like 5 minutes each!  It was fun to watch the processing rather than tedium.

[antekgla]

It is floundering in the dark unless the hardware is specified(TV as well as DVD Player, connections to TV etc..)  But as for playing through the USB port directly on the DVD player my Philips was very restrictive.  It pretty much wanted compliant .avi or .divx files if you wanted both video and audio to come out of the TV set in sync. 

If you think you may soon upgrade your TV to HD or Ultra HD for the money you can't beat a set top box.  Once I got a set top box the video conversions I did dropped to about 10% of my previous activity.  And most of those were processing through the .mp4 program I mentioned that batch converted and muxed to get compliant audio.  I had the portable program, plus the video input, intermediate, and output files on an SSD.  Man that thing went through 2 hour movie videos in like 5 minutes each!  It was fun to watch the processing rather than tedium.

-MilesAhead (November 02, 2016, 02:51 PM)

If the post is about recommendation for media players then here is mine:

If you has to use a old dvd player I think what money is important factor here, so I recommend you the cheapest (but great) hardware for a media player: The Raspberry Pi 3
For $ 40 you have a perfectly capable media center. Only put a SD card with OSMC or OpenElec and you have Kodi working in no time.
No more tedious transcoding... You download and play... Easy!

[MilesAhead]

No more tedious transcoding... You download and play... Easy!

-antekgla (November 02, 2016, 04:45 PM)

As time goes on more and more stuff will become available, so less of a need to transcode.  I like foreign films generally and Asian moves and TV shows in particular.  Having to deal with subtitles often limits the options.  Hopefully more and more edits of each film/TV show have synced subs available online.  Therefore stuff should be a lot simpler than the hurdles I had to jump over just to watch quality video with subs. 

Anyway I am curious about the hardware the OP uses and look forward to the replies.
I have been out of the loop for a few years.  Software and especially media stuff changes fast.  So I am reluctant to suggest specific software.  If I did the chances would be high that much of it is abandonedware by now. 

I wish I had a setup to check out the new set top boxes and Ultra HD.  I'm sure it is all very cool. 
Next time I hit the Lotto I'll have to empty out the BrandsMart. 

[Target]

ok, safe to say we're not in UHD territory . 

Device is a cheapo Audiosonic (Mod # CDV-992AQ) which isn't referenced on the site Miles linked to.  Googling the model number only shows 2 pages (almost a googlewhack these days). 

Generic searching for Audiosonic and formats indicates DIVX so I'm gonna go with that and see what happens (what could possibly go wrong?)

[MilesAhead]

Device is a cheapo Audiosonic (Mod # CDV-992AQ) which isn't referenced on the site Miles linked to.  Googling the model number only shows 2 pages (almost a googlewhack these days). 

Generic searching for Audiosonic and formats indicates DIVX so I'm gonna go with that and see what happens (what could possibly go wrong?)

-Target (November 02, 2016, 07:13 PM)

Sounds like a good plan.  Likely any video made using xvid converter to specs would work.  A lot of free conversion tools use xvid.  I never had a problem due to using that instead of the divx codec.

[wraith808]

I just use MakeMKV, and that allows me to play it from my DVD player, my media hub, and my computer.

[MilesAhead]

I just use MakeMKV, and that allows me to play it from my DVD player, my media hub, and my computer.

-wraith808 (November 03, 2016, 09:18 AM)

+1  I bought a MakeMKV license back in Feb. 2010.

I don't know why the DVD Player USB port is so touchy about format unless the DVD makers all buy the same chip that has the decoding built in or something.

[Target]

so it seems we have a winner - XVID seems to do the trick

I've yet to watch it, but can confirm that I can play the resulting file.  Curiously it seems to have generated some sort of 'extra' info at the beginning of the file, ie it plays, but there's nothing on the screen.  Jump to the next chapter and the vid proper starts. 

could be something in the source file (a H264 encoded version I prepared earlier, and which I couldn't play on the DVD, but neither version exhibits said artifact when played on the PC...

[MilesAhead]

Sometimes this DivFix freebie will straighten out the header info.

Unlike .mpg, .avi and .divx have a header with info such as duration and likely the starting frame.  Some avi and divx files actually have a menu built in.  That's probably the reason they have the start frame number in the header.