Thread: AVI to DVD File Size Vs. Quality

Hi guys.
New here and loving the community spirit.
Quick question:
I've recently starting converting my .AVI's to DVD and burning them to play on my dvd player as i only have an 80GB HDD.
I started using WINAVI which was ok but converted in under half an hour and i felt the output quality was being compromised. WINAVI was outputting the dvd format at around 4.2GB.
I have now started using ConvertXtoDVD, which is taking around an hour to convert, and the traffic light system says i am getting the best possible result.. But the output file is only around 2.5GB (average).

Am i losing quality with the final file being half the size? My target size is set at DVD-5 (4.3GB)



(EDIT) Forgot to add, WINAVI was outputting the dvd in normal DVD fashion; Video_TS folder with the video split into .VOB's. With ConvertXtoDVD i am using .iso. Could this be the reason? Is an iso compressed?

dvd players by default can play avi files so why in the hell do you need to convert them. just burn it as a data disk!!!

by the way, if you think you convert a 700mb avi file into "something" better and bigger, IT WILL NOT HAVE BETTER QUALITY!!!

Originally Posted by IMAGINE

dvd players by default can play avi files so why in the hell do you need to convert them. just burn it as a data disk!!!

by the way, if you think you convert a 700mb avi file into "something" better and bigger, IT WILL NOT HAVE BETTER QUALITY!!!

I'm not sure if that is actually true IMAGINE. I don't think every dvd player can play avi files. Many of them can though.

Secondly, your starting quality is always going to be your maximum quality. Taking your 700mb file and expanding is to a dvd5 file size is going to do nothing but insert extraneous bits into the datastream, which is actually going to degrade the quality of the picture.
You are going to better off burning the AVI directly to a dvd with a tool like nero vision. (I think thats the name) It will change the format to a dvd readable one while maintaining the original file as much as possible. I know I burned seasons and seasons of southpark with the tool and they looked great as long as I didn't stuff too many episodes on one disk.

However, your bestest bet is going to be download the untouched DVD5 and just burn it straight to the disc. You will have true DVD quality then.
It will take longer for a download, but you will get the best result - and you won't have to convert it to anything. Just burn straight to disk!

I agree with all the points so far, but I wanted to answer the followup question.

Originally Posted by JamesGuth

Hi guys.
(EDIT) Forgot to add, WINAVI was outputting the dvd in normal DVD fashion; Video_TS folder with the video split into .VOB's. With ConvertXtoDVD i am using .iso. Could this be the reason? Is an iso compressed?

.ISO is lossless - it just stores the raw data (the same \VIDEO_TS, etc folders) within that one file. When you burn a disk using an ISO, it will just recreate the same folder structure(\VIDEO_TS, etc) on the disk.

Thanks for the replies guys. i know the avi is my maximum quality i am not expecting to better it. just not loose to much.
i give these dvds to my friends and i dont think the majority of dvds players play avis? while all will play them if i convert them.

I might go try nero vision though.