Hope I'm posting to the right place. I've just encountered my first problem converting and burning TV torrents to dvd and would really appreciate some help. The thing is, just about every Battlestar Galactica episode comes from British TV, and are different I guess than the TV shows I've been using...the files are labeled "ws.pdtv.sfm". They are recognized as Avi's by Easy Video Joiner and WinAVI.
At the outset, Easy Video joiner is only able to join only some of these files together, even though they're all recognized avi files. I can burn the WinAVI generated files with DVD shrink, but the picture is enlarged just enough to be nauseating. Nero Vision Express tells me that 'most' of the content reads as PAL rather than NTSC and has me choose on over the other--both result in a 'failure to create disc structure error'.
I just told some friends we'd be watching these shortly...does anyone know how I can properly convert/burn these files? Thanks...
I'm curious to know if you ever get this sorted out, as I have the B'Star Galactica files as well, and they must have come from the UK because when i check the files with AVICodec they indicate that they are 25.0fps (PAL). I must have gotten them from a different source however because MY files have a similar naming convention with the exception that ALL my files enfd in the .AVI structure. I can play them just fine using a DIVX layer on my PC, but I'd kinda like to watch them on my TV if possible, and I have no idea if a video file created for PAL can be played back on a NTSC TV/DVD player...
Well, I haven't figured this one out yet, but I did take another look at things; this may just be an issue with Easy Video Joiner, I dunno.
I found that no matter what show you download, NTSC or PAL, EVJ will almost always not be able to join sequential episodes even if the files come from the same 'production' group and have the same name. For instance, all my '24' episodes read 'hdtv-lol', but it's anyone's guess how you'll be able to join them; I end up fitting three to a disc, which is good money- and quality-wise, but they're always out of order, which is annoying.
With Battlestar Galactica (PAL) EVJ displays the same 'not the same type' warning, but *will* actually join them...and maybe that's why the picture ended up being stretched, rather than it being a PAL issue.
The other British shows I've downloaded have played just fine after converting with WinAvi and burning with shrink...Curiously, my dvd player has a PAL option, but couldn't play the british shows in PAL mode, so maybe WinAvi converts to NTSC as well. I'd sure like to hear how to best use these programs if anyone knows...
I have had this problem myself. If you recode the AVI file with dr divx, it should fix it. I know it takes time to recode the video file, but at least it works.
I did figure out a solution to the joining problem; instead of using Easy Video Joiner and DVD Shrink, I've found you can simply use WinAVI and Nero Vision Express to burn. This eliminates the need to join the files together and is very efficient. Simply choose the "batch" option from the WinAVI start screen and then create a list of several tv shows to be converted to dvd format; Nero will burn the separate files to a dvd. With my 500 megs of ram, WinAVI requires about 20 minutes for each 42 minute "hour long" program; leave this running overnight and you'll have a week of tv shows when you wake up.
Still having the UK torrent problem, though. Absolutely every british show I've downloaded looks stretched on my tv...and, as I've found out, avi's are not in PAL or NTSC format, so who knows. Hopefully the dr divx will clear this up. Thanks for the tip.
