How To View Downloaded Movie On Dvd Player?

[bapak]

I have downloaded a number of movies from ZML, mostly avi format. Movies run fine on computer but cannot view on DVD Player. What do I need to do?

[trogers]

Convert into a DVD movie and burn on to a DVD disc. Use ConverXtoDVD software or Nero.

[Lite Beer]

I use imgburn Free to download.

[thaimite]

Many DVD players can play AVI or DivX files, however it should be noted that AVI is only a container,, and the actual format of the file inside can vary and may not play on all players even if they state 'AVI' comparable.

[sumrit]

Most cheap DVD's (less than 1000 baht) sold at Tesco/Carrefour/Big C will play almost any format. Burn one of your movies on to a DVD in it's AVI format then take to a store and try it on one of the display machines. works buy the DVD. Most new DVD's also have a USB input so you don't even have to burn your video to disc, you can just put it on a memory stick to watch.

[Jingthing]

A related question.

If you have one of those DVD players that will play most AVis, etc. by merely copying the file to a CD-R disk if 700 meg or under, can you merely COPY (rather than convert to another format) similar AVIs to a DVD-R disk and expect it to play on the DVD player? Or do you always have to run the bigger files through a conversion software program?

[welo]

A related question.

If you have one of those DVD players that will play most AVis, etc. by merely copying the file to a CD-R disk if 700 meg or under, can you merely COPY (rather than convert to another format) similar AVIs to a DVD-R disk and expect it to play on the DVD player? Or do you always have to run the bigger files through a conversion software program?

Most AVIs should play fine, but it depends on the specific video and audio codec used and if the media chip in your player supports this codec.

It is definitely not necessary to 'downsize' or convert movies to a specific format like you have to do with some mobile players (phones, PSP, iPod, etc). The 'el cheapo' chipsets from china are pretty powerful when it comes to that. I even managed to display Thai subtitles from a .srt file (downloaded from www.thaisubtitle.com).

Many players will also read DVD- or CD-RW (rewritables) and all should play movies larger than 700MB or multiple files on one CD/DVD.

Some models also have a USB connector and you can play movies from a thumb drive.

Interestingly there are many different models at different prices sold in BigC/Tesco/etc, however, my guess is that most times the only difference is the casing and the looks, but the electronics inside is very similiar. So just recently I bought just the cheapest for 700 THB for a friend and it works pretty well. I just expect the player to not last very longer than the 1-year warranty BigC offers.

Just put some movies on a DVD and go test it on the player you want to buy.

welo

[Langsuan Man]

Here is one that will transcribe and burn all in one program

Get the trial version and so far after 20+ uses it is still working for me, all you have to loose is a blank DVD

http://www.videoxdvd.com/avi_to_dvd_creator.htm

[sumrit]

A related question.

If you have one of those DVD players that will play most AVis, etc. by merely copying the file to a CD-R disk if 700 meg or under, can you merely COPY (rather than convert to another format) similar AVIs to a DVD-R disk and expect it to play on the DVD player? Or do you always have to run the bigger files through a conversion software program?

Most AVIs should play fine, but it depends on the specific video and audio codec used and if the media chip in your player supports this codec.

It is definitely not necessary to 'downsize' or convert movies to a specific format like you have to do with some mobile players (phones, PSP, iPod, etc). The 'el cheapo' chipsets from china are pretty powerful when it comes to that. I even managed to display Thai subtitles from a .srt file (downloaded from www.thaisubtitle.com).

Many players will also read DVD- or CD-RW (rewritables) and all should play movies larger than 700MB or multiple files on one CD/DVD.

Some models also have a USB connector and you can play movies from a thumb drive.

Interestingly there are many different models at different prices sold in BigC/Tesco/etc, however, my guess is that most times the only difference is the casing and the looks, but the electronics inside is very similiar. So just recently I bought just the cheapest for 700 THB for a friend and it works pretty well. I just expect the player to not last very longer than the 1-year warranty BigC offers.

Just put some movies on a DVD and go test it on the player you want to buy.

welo

That's true with a lot of 'cheaper' electronic appliances, not just DVD's, but there's no reason to expect them to pack up after a short time.

I bought two cheap DVD's from Big C nearly three years ago and they're both still going strong.

In the UK, over the last few years of CRT TV's, both major companies like Hitachi and Toshiba as well as unbranded sets sold in shops such as Tesco, Asda, etc all had their sets made by a company called Vestel in Turkey. They were all the same basic chassis inside so were just as reliable as each other. If you bought a branded set you were literally paying for the name, not quality or reliability.

Likewise with LCD/Plasma TV's, when you look inside a lot of unbranded sets they're the same/similar to branded ones. Quite a few cheaper sets sold in the UK have Samsung a chassis inside.

[welo]

That's true with a lot of 'cheaper' electronic appliances, not just DVD's, but there's no reason to expect them to pack up after a short time.

I bought two cheap DVD's from Big C nearly three years ago and they're both still going strong.

my friend will be happy to hear that!

[tutsiwarrior]

I copied some AVI format movies from a external HD then fooled around a bit with free codec conversion programs to copy to a thumb drive in a format that my cheap indian DVD player (GEEPAS, purchased in saudi) with a USB port could accept. A bit of a hit and miss process as all the formats that appear on the player package box are not accepted...but works fine after the right conversion is selected...

seems to me that the same selection of compatible format would have to be done if burning to DVD...files on thumb drives can always be erased/copied over...

[welo]

I copied some AVI format movies from a external HD then fooled around a bit with free codec conversion programs to copy to a thumb drive in a format that my cheap indian DVD player (GEEPAS, purchased in saudi) with a USB port could accept. A bit of a hit and miss process as all the formats that appear on the player package box are not accepted...but works fine after the right conversion is selected...

seems to me that the same selection of compatible format would have to be done if burning to DVD...files on thumb drives can always be erased/copied over...

I think you are rather unfortunate to have a vidoe player with very limited codec support. It should not have problems playing standard avi files with xvid or divx video codec. That's what most movies from P2P networks are encoded with. It might have troubles with the AC3 (dolby surround) audio codec, but others should play fine. With the 700 THB BigC player I didn't have any troubles playing AVI/xvid files yet, however, it doesn't support MP4 though (H.264 codec).

Use GSpot to determine the video codec of any avi file, you should soon be able to figure out which codecs your player supports and which not.

welo

[sammycic]

Is there a cheap dvd player out there with a USB drive that plays .avi files because i cannot find one. i need one for a friend so i can him a usb flash drive full of downloaded avi files without the need to convert them to mpg. he doesn't want to pay for something like a wd tv hdplayer.

Brand and model number from where would be good.

thanks

[oposky2006]

well, another better choice u can try. im using pavtube video converter which helps me convert avi to dvd, and now im enjoying dvd happily.

[welo]

Is there a cheap dvd player out there with a USB drive that plays .avi files because i cannot find one. i need one for a friend so i can him a usb flash drive full of downloaded avi files without the need to convert them to mpg. he doesn't want to pay for something like a wd tv hdplayer.

Brand and model number from where would be good.

thanks

DiStar DA-9200

USB with support for 8GB thumb drives

divx and xvid support

supports DVD-RW

JPEG and MP3 support

Stereo and Dolby Surround output

Bought about a month ago at BigC for 690 THB. 1 year warranty.

Personal comments:

only tested with 2GB thumb drive, behavior is the same as running from CD/DVD

reading and initializing a DVD/thumb-drive takes a couple of seconds, but no stuttering or delay when playing the movie

subtitles from srt file work but are pretty small

tested 1 MP4 file which didn't work, no problems at all with any xvid/divx file yet (tested about 20 movies)

quality of the player enclosure (buttons, slot) is mediocre

dolby outputs not tested

Saw more or less the same models at Tesco too. There were a couple of other models with higher version numbers which to me seemed to have only different enclosures.

welo

[sammycic]

Is there a cheap dvd player out there with a USB drive that plays .avi files because i cannot find one. i need one for a friend so i can him a usb flash drive full of downloaded avi files without the need to convert them to mpg. he doesn't want to pay for something like a wd tv hdplayer.

Brand and model number from where would be good.

thanks

DiStar DA-9200

USB with support for 8GB thumb drives

divx and xvid support

supports DVD-RW

JPEG and MP3 support

Stereo and Dolby Surround output

Bought about a month ago at BigC for 690 THB. 1 year warranty.

Personal comments:

only tested with 2GB thumb drive, behavior is the same as running from CD/DVD

reading and initializing a DVD/thumb-drive takes a couple of seconds, but no stuttering or delay when playing the movie

subtitles from srt file work but are pretty small

tested 1 MP4 file which didn't work, no problems at all with any xvid/divx file yet (tested about 20 movies)

quality of the player enclosure (buttons, slot) is mediocre

dolby outputs not tested

Saw more or less the same models at Tesco too. There were a couple of other models with higher version numbers which to me seemed to have only different enclosures.

welo

thanks next visit to big c will check it out sounds like just what i need.

[sunnymarky]

I like to watch on TV direct from mnotebook to TV , I have the TV out on my samsung notebook (the 15 point rectangular shape) but problem is getting the connection lead that fits and connects to an AV input on the TV , At pantip in BKK could not get anything that would fit.

[tigerbeer]

i've had a lot of experience with these avi's that play on these cheap players and would like give my 2 satangs worth of opinion.

avi's that do not play on these machines whether or not its burnt on a dvd/cdr or played through a flash drive probably has the following in them:

1. video output at speeds of 1,000kbps or above.

2. above 33,000khz and above 180kbps audio output.

what i do is to use Gpot Audio to read information about the avi file that you have downloaded. Then use SUPER converter to convert the avi file to below 1000kbps video and to 128kbps or below audio speeds. thats the standard i keep with. i normally use around 800kbps video and 112 kbps (and 24,000khz)audio. and it always plays on any cheap divx machine. also keep in mind the FPS (frames per second) that you read from the Gspot codec information appliance and input the same value in your SUPER converter as the original file. otherwise you would get a file that skips 5 or 10 seconds now and then. Output divx codec for video and mp3 codec for audio.

One machine that plays most of these avi's is the Pioneer DVD/divx player. I think it retails for below THB2,500 at Carrefour. Otherwise you could always go for the chepo brands. I have 2 machine and they have lasted more than 2 years.

TB..

[OriginalPoster]

Will the DVD players discussed above play *.mkv files also or does the above discussion apply to *.avi files only?

[MKAsok]

what i do is to use Gpot Audio to read information about the avi file that you have downloaded. Then use SUPER converter to convert the avi file to below 1000kbps video and to 128kbps or below audio speeds. thats the standard i keep with. i normally use around 800kbps video and 112 kbps (and 24,000khz)audio. and it always plays on any cheap divx machine. also keep in mind the FPS (frames per second) that you read from the Gspot codec information appliance and input the same value in your SUPER converter as the original file. otherwise you would get a file that skips 5 or 10 seconds now and then. Output divx codec for video and mp3 codec for audio.

Good advice, except I'd say convert to XviD rather than DivX. Some players are fussy and won't play DivX (in my experience). Most downloaded AVIs will be XviD below 1000kbps with 128kbps audio anyway.

Will the DVD players discussed above play *.mkv files also or does the above discussion apply to *.avi files only?

I've never seen a DVD player for sale in Thailand that plays x264. If anyone knows of one, I'd be grateful to hear about it (yes, I know about media players thanks).

[tigerbeer]

Will the DVD players discussed above play *.mkv files also or does the above discussion apply to *.avi files only?

I've never seen a DVD player for sale in Thailand that plays x264. If anyone knows of one, I'd be grateful to hear about it (yes, I know about media players thanks).

i would love to see a cheapo player do *.mkv containers. i am sure it would be out soon. its about time. maybe the rights to use x264 is still way too expensive. that would be superb and my reason to finally buy an LCD screen . thats right i am still on tube tv

[OriginalPoster]

Will the DVD players discussed above play *.mkv files also or does the above discussion apply to *.avi files only?

I've never seen a DVD player for sale in Thailand that plays x264. If anyone knows of one, I'd be grateful to hear about it (yes, I know about media players thanks).

i would love to see a cheapo player do *.mkv containers. i am sure it would be out soon. its about time. maybe the rights to use x264 is still way too expensive. that would be superb and my reason to finally buy an LCD screen . thats right i am still on tube tv

I was considering taking the route of getting an LCD or plasma TV and buying a mid-range notebook PC to dedicate to my A/V system. Many not too expensive PC's seem to have DVI and/or HDMI outputs these days and most flat panel TV's seem a VGA input that allows even older PC's to be connected. I was thinking in terms of just using software based media players for video, figuring that with that approach I ought to be able to play back just about any video source that exists now or will exist in the foreseeable future, and just connecting the TV directly to the PC. For good old-fashioned stereo audio playback (of ripped CD's and the like), I was thinking of getting an outboard USB DAC for the PC and plugging its output into my stereo preamp. On the surface that sounded like a flexible solution - is there a flaw in that strategy, or perhaps some advantage for using an outboard piece of hardware such as a DVD player in order to playback avi and mkv files instead of software based players on a computer?

Edited December 15, 2009 by OriginalPoster

[MKAsok]

i would love to see a cheapo player do *.mkv containers. i am sure it would be out soon. its about time. maybe the rights to use x264 is still way too expensive. that would be superb and my reason to finally buy an LCD screen . thats right i am still on tube tv

I'm pretty sure x264 is a free codec. Probably just not enough demand yet in Thailand to make DVD players with the necessary firmware. I think they're available in the US, but they're pricey. Not like here, where it's usually the cheap models that are superior (at least in terms of supporting formats).

...is there a flaw in that strategy, or perhaps some advantage for using an outboard piece of hardware such as a DVD player in order to playback avi and mkv files instead of software based players on a computer?

No clear advantage I'd say, just considerably less mess and hassle to have a dedicated standalone player. If you're concerned about future-proofing, you should probably consider a media player with hackable firmware. I'm probably going to invest in a WD media player pretty soon. I just like to have all media backed up to DVD Rs anyway, so cheapo DVD players are pretty convenient for me.

[tigerbeer]

i would love to see a cheapo player do *.mkv containers. i am sure it would be out soon. its about time. maybe the rights to use x264 is still way too expensive. that would be superb and my reason to finally buy an LCD screen . thats right i am still on tube tv

I'm pretty sure x264 is a free codec. Probably just not enough demand yet in Thailand to make DVD players with the necessary firmware. I think they're available in the US, but they're pricey. Not like here, where it's usually the cheap models that are superior (at least in terms of supporting formats).

...is there a flaw in that strategy, or perhaps some advantage for using an outboard piece of hardware such as a DVD player in order to playback avi and mkv files instead of software based players on a computer?

No clear advantage I'd say, just considerably less mess and hassle to have a dedicated standalone player. If you're concerned about future-proofing, you should probably consider a media player with hackable firmware. I'm probably going to invest in a WD media player pretty soon. I just like to have all media backed up to DVD Rs anyway, so cheapo DVD players are pretty convenient for me.

MKAsok, i deal in some cctv work and with DVR machines that record and play recorded CCTV coverage. the machines with MPEG4 compression is way cheaper than those of h264. reason being a superior codec used. Not sure if the manufacturers are just taking the opportunity of making more money by offering a better codec or if there are rights to be paid to the owner of the codec and hence the machine being more expensive. it is supposed to be free as you have mentioned though.

OriginalPoster, yeah i do not see any benefit in the set up that you are talking about. just it being messy. you'd do better off with a media players out of a hard disk drive. such has the WD media player that MKAsok mentioned or something of that sort. you could find HDD enclosures that do media playback. find one that does avi, mp3, wmv, and perhaps even mkv and you are all set.

[Oberkommando]

Likewise with LCD/Plasma TV's, when you look inside a lot of unbranded sets they're the same/similar to branded ones. Quite a few cheaper sets sold in the UK have Samsung a chassis inside.

Samsung only make certain sizes of LCD panels 40" or 46" among them. I believe they make panels for Sony, but acknowledge they keep the best panels for themselves. If it is a 42" or 47" size then it won't be made by Samsung, but perhaps their competitors LG/Philips.

You get what you pay for though, and if you buy a non-branded model you will get an older panel that is nowhere near the spec of the current range of branded models.

I've never seen a DVD player for sale in Thailand that plays x264. If anyone knows of one, I'd be grateful to hear about it.

A DVD player is a standard definition device therefore will not be able to process HD file content. All DVD players do now is 'upscale' standard definition content for viewing on HD screens. It is still standard definition though.

I built an HTPC with a Pioneer Blu-Ray and 1TB HDD to handle all file formats. Cost more than I wanted to part with but ensures I never have issues and can watch x264 through HDMi.

[welo]

Since we are talking about other kind of media players now - I was pleasently surprised when somebody showed me one of those 2,5" HDD players that are barely bigger than a normal hdd enclosure. I found one for as cheap as 900 THB at Panthip (common advertised price was about 1200) excluding the harddrive.

I guess the electronics inside is similiar to the DVD/DIVX players we discussed here. Difference is that it is connected to a 2,5" (laptop) harddrive (cost about 1800 THB for 320GB at the moment).

The player comes with AV cable to connect to the TV, VGA out, remote control, headphone jacket, external power adapter (alternatively powers via USB from the PC), sd card reader and of course USB connector - the player behaves like an ordinary external harddrive when connected to a PC.

That is the cheap option for sure, no dolby surround outputs, no HDTV support. But it is ultra portable and both storage medium plus media player.

I know this is nothing for cinephiles but might be interesting for those considering a divx player.

[sammycic]

just had a look at pioneer and LG dvd players. no problems playing both avi and mpg file. the pioneer start at 2,990 up to 3,290.

the lg around the same.

[OriginalPoster]

...

Edited December 16, 2009 by OriginalPoster

[OriginalPoster]

No clear advantage I'd say, just considerably less mess and hassle to have a dedicated standalone player. If you're concerned about future-proofing, you should probably consider a media player with hackable firmware. I'm probably going to invest in a WD media player pretty soon. I just like to have all media backed up to DVD Rs anyway, so cheapo DVD players are pretty convenient for me.

One of those WD Media Players does sound as though it might be an attractive option, provided that it would really be capable of playing back all of the variants of *.avi and *.mkv files that one would be likely to encounter on torrent sites. But if I was going to be needing to handbrake files from one encoding format into another before they would properly play on the WD device, then I would think that it would be more convenient to use the computer as a player since the re-encoding step would be unnecessary. How's the codec support of the latest incarnation of the WD devices, will they play back just about any thing?

[MKAsok]

How's the codec support of the latest incarnation of the WD devices, will they play back just about any thing?

Pretty good I'd say:

Video MPEG1/2/4, WMV9, AVI (MPEG4, Xvid, AVC), H.264, MKV, MOV (MPEG4, H.264), MTS, TP, TS Subtitles SRT (UTF-8), SMI, SUB, ASS, SSA Audio MP3, WMA, OGG, WAV/PCM/LPCM, AAC, FLAC, Dolby Digital (AC-3), AIF/AIFF, MKA Pictures JPEG, GIF, TIF/TIFF, BMP, PNG Playlists PLS, M3U, WPL File systems FAT32, NTFS, HFS+ (no journaling)

There's some custom firmware floating about, but nothing that seems to improve the codec capability. This could well change I guess, since it looks like it basically runs Linux, but for $100 I wouldn't really be that fussed about replacing it in a couple of years anyway. I also like the fact it plays lossless, since my entire music collection is stored in FLAC (if I move stuff to the iPod, it means encoding to LAME V0).