First, I'd like to thank "rav009" for the help. I'm sure glad I took your suggeston and verified that the AVI file was good before wiping the original video from the HD. About 10 seconds from the very end, the image froze because the HD space had fallen below 2 gigs. Edited the project down some more, did a HD defrag and finally got a good file. I'm now at "Stage 2" and have a few burning questions. My video project is now 5 1/2 gigs and rendered in the AVI format.
1. I don't know which format to convert it to now so that it can be viewed by a friend in France: MPEG 2? MPEG 4?.
2. Does it make a difference if it's burned as DVD-R or DVD+R? (again, keeping in mind that this will be played on a DVD player in France) (Hope not, because I gather this unit can only burn DVD-R)
3. If I can edit this project down to an AVI file that's 4.5 gigs then I assume I won't have to compress it and the quality will be better. Or maybe I'll still lose quality when it's converted, regardless. Will the file will be smaller?
4. I didn't know what I was doing when I bought this DVD unit (Matshita UJ 810) for my Toshiba laptop. I just re-read the specs and it says: "1xDVD-R" "1xDVD-RW". However, I tried to burn a data disk and got a message saying that the DVD couldn't be detected. Tried it twice with two new Imation DVD-RW disks. However, I previously burned a 5 minute DVD-R (which is the only thing so far I've burned)
5. Since this is a home movie I'm assuming that the zone coding for different regions of the world doesn't apply. Isn't that just for commercial movies?
If you are to convert to a playable DVD (with AUDIO_TS, VIDEO_TS folders)the size of the original AVI is irrelevant. It's time (hours/minutes)of your project that will determine the final output size. You would adjust the video bitrate till it fits on your blank. As an example the bitrate needs to be at about 4800 for a 2 hour project. The lower the bitrate the lower the quality.
Most oversea's players can play our NTSC discs with no problems.
You could also convert/compress your AVI to an XviD and burn it as a data disc which should be computer playable/viewable (with the XviDcodec installed). VirtualDub should do it, but you may find this app easier:
