Kevin's Watch

Novice question. Why can't I burn .AVI files? I've got Real Player, Quick Time, Windows Media Player, Nero 6.0, Nero 8.0, VLC MediaPlayer.

I've tried each of the Programs I can find that burn to disk, and none of them recognize .AVI. My previous set up was a CD Writer/DVD Reader Built in. I just got an external HP 8X DVD Writer with the NERO 8.0 a week ago.

Is .AVI not a Windows file? I can play them on VLC Media Player (Which allows me to watch PAL Videos), but, none of the others. I run into a Framework 3.0 .net error?

.avi files play on Windows Media Player, though depending on the encoding, it might end up audio only (about half the time, that I've noticed, but I usually stick to VLC as well). But then, I often burn .avis to a disk to watch them on my DVD player (plays data files) downstairs. So yeah, they should burn. Are you trying to burn a data disk or something else?

Syl wrote:.avi files play on Windows Media Player, though depending on the encoding, it might end up audio only (about half the time, that I've noticed, but I usually stick to VLC as well). But then, I often burn .avis to a disk to watch them on my DVD player (plays data files) downstairs. So yeah, they should burn. Are you trying to burn a data disk or something else?

I'm trying to burn a disk for Home DVD player, and none of the programs will recognize a .AVI file as available to grab, because it doesn't recognize .AVI?

I had to plug in both USB cables to get proper power on the external DVD Writer and don't think I had the power set properly when installing it. Should I try to Uninstall and Re-Install with confidence in the USB power and recognition? Or might it be the 3.0 .Net Framework? .Net Framework errors often cause more problems then they solve, IMHE(xperience)

Can't say. I've never seen anything like that. Are you sure there's not a drop-down menu that will allow you to select all file types? Otherwise, I'd suggest copying the files, navigating to the drive's folder, and pasting them to the drive directly. If that doesn't work, I suppose you could try to reinstall, though that doesn't really explain why the burning software doesn't even see the file.

Syl wrote:Can't say. I've never seen anything like that. Are you sure there's not a drop-down menu that will allow you to select all file types? Otherwise, I'd suggest copying the files, navigating to the drive's folder, and pasting them to the drive directly. If that doesn't work, I suppose you could try to reinstall, though that doesn't really explain why the burning software doesn't even see the file.

When browsing for files, I have changed the file type, but, no, it won't change to "All Files", just a toggle between some types of files.

My thought was that perhaps, the power wasn't good enough to recognize the External when installing the software, and maybe therefore, it didn't see a DVD Writer, and therefore, didn't set up ability to grab files to burn to DVD.

I'll try to drag and drop into the External Drive, and see if that works

Hmm. I think I might know the problem now. If you're trying to burn a disk for a home DVD player, it might require a specific file type (as opposed to a data disk which should accept everything). I've never bothered converting .avi files to a strict DVD-playable format. From what I've gathered, though, it's a simple process but requires specific software, which, IIRC, is available as freeware.

This program looks promising. It's supposedly freeware and open source, and their forum is active.

Or you could try converting the files into one of the file types your software recognizes. Of course, that also requires software and is usually a time-intensive pain in the ass.

Or you could just be lazy like me and buy a DVD or BR player that will play files. They're pretty cheap these days. However, I have burnt a few files that just wouldn't play for whatever reason.

OK, I'll give that a shot when I get home too.

A neighbor did mention maybe needing something like Image Burn. (Can't click your link here at work)

Syl wrote:This program looks promising. It's supposedly freeware and open source, and their forum is active.

Thanks, I think I'll give that a go too. My damned DVD player will play anything except an AVI for some reason, and I've never had much success trying to convert them to something else. It takes forever, and then it bombs out half-way or something.

--A