I got a DVD burner the other day and so, of course, I'm wanting to burn DVDs. lol And I know how to burn DVDs, VCDs, and SVCDs. My problem is that I can't find a program to convert my movie files into those formats. I've found a few but because they're free, of course, they leave a watermark. Are there any free converter programs out there for this? Also, I'm curious as to why this occured? I burned a DVD (using one of the programs with a watermark to convert it to DVD) and played it in my home DVD player and it played fine, and then I played it in my PS2 and it played, but it skipped. And is there a way to get DVDs to play well on PS2s?
Avi2Dvd is freeware but its not junk, it can encode 5.1 surround sound, convert between pal and ntsc, make a dvd a vcd an svcd and even an iso, It has four open source encoders and if you can find the 2.67 version of CCE you can use that as well. The skipping on the ps2 may have something to do with the audio used in the conversion.
If you google "Avi2Dvd" look for a link that goes to doom9.org or videohelp.com, that way you can download the software and bookmark the sites for the excellent help and tutorials on the open source software available there.
Some players are better at playing poor quality media than others. Just because it played in one player doesn't mean it wasn't a media problem. Try Taiyo Yuden discs, you'll probably have to get them online. If you want to buy discs from a B&M store, get Verbatim. Look for spindles that say made in Taiwan, not India. Best Buy sells Verbatim and has them on sale once a month or so.
Thanks guys for the advice. I do have Verbatim's now, luckily enough. And I downloaded the Avi2DVD program, but it kept messing up. But I haven't had time to mess with it really, I'll prolly tackle that tonight.
Avi2Dvd has a few bugs, first, it doesn't like any symbols in the title of the video so if it contains (2006) it will complain. Second you have to have the proper codecs installed (audio and video) or it will fail at the point where it would convert one or the other. There is a known bug that is well documented that pops up an error about memory or something but its meaningless, just click ok and it continues on to the end. GSpot is a good tool to get in the habit of using on new videos you aquire, look for the more stable cbr audio and the correct frames per sec for your area (25=pal or 23/29=ntsc). If I find Vbr audio I usually reencode to cbr with V Dub before going to the trouble of converting so I can catch any syncing problems early and correct with interleaving (1000=1sec or 250=1/4sec and -1000=1sec in the other direction) you can preview what the interleaving setting does before saving by using the 1st play button at the bottom of V Dubs window.