Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with video and avi

Safe (Legal?) Way to Have Service/Person Rip DVDs Into Movie Files?

WCityMike — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 08:42:20 -0800

Is there a person or company that one could safely hire (i.e., safeguards against theft) to rip DVDs they own into digital video files? I am lucky enough to have all five seasons of “Angel” and all seven seasons of “Buffy” thanks to a long-ago purchase during good times. However, I no longer have a television or standalone DVD; nearly all my television and movies have been ripped to movie files on my computer.

I have a spare hard drive on which they could all go, and I’d like to have them in digital form. I just don’t have the time or inclination to spend the necessary hours ripping these DVDs, plus I’m more than a little concerned about wearing out my laptop’s DVD player with such extended use.

I know you can hire entities like RipDigital and its competitors to rip your CD collection. But unlike CDs and MP3s, I’m pretty sure that ripping DVDs for this purpose is technically illegal since it involves breaking the encryption. (If I'm wrong, I'd appreciate being corrected, but in advance I hope that subject doesn't derail the thread.)

So, my question is this … ARE there any services out there that will rip your (legally owned) DVDs to movie files?

If not, do you have advice on, or what’s my best bet for, finding someone that’ll do it, without getting my stuff stolen – and what would be a fair price for the job?

Please Help me Convert Video

krisak — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 23:47:49 -0800

How do I make a DVD from a MP4 file? I have a video file (legally recorded), in a specific format. I need to burn a DVD with that file.

So far I've tried all the options in hanbrake. I can't it to export to a format that I can import into a DVD.

So...

Can someone help me turn a mp4 into a avi?

Most forgiving blu-ray/media player?

anazgnos — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:03:57 -0800

My Blu-Ray player will play AVI, MKV & other video files but it is a little too finicky about which ones it will accept. Is there a more liberal, tolerant, and accepting player on the market? I watch most of my media in MKV, AVI or MP4 format off of USB keys plugged into my Blu-Ray player. This is great. But, more and more I'm running up against the limitations of my cheap Sony player, which is a little too finicky about formats, encodings, etc. I'd love to be able to use HandBrake, for instance, to convert some PAL DVDs to MKV, but in doing so I'm finding that I can't seem to produce a file that the Sony will accept no matter how much I fiddle with the encoding settings. Is there a widely-available, affordable Blu-Ray/USB-enabled media player that is known to be more wide-open and tolerant and unbothered with the widest variety of video formats? And, for that matter, is cool with both NTSC & PAL?

I'm gif-less and sad.

FirstMateKate — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 08:38:58 -0800

I've switched from PC to a mac- help me alter my gif making process! In my spare time I like to blog about stuff I like. This includes making stupid gifs [mostly from youtube videos]. When I was working on a PC, I'd get a video by various means, open it with VirtualDub, use that to crop the video down and export a series of Jpegs as an image sequence, then open them up in in Photoshop to edit/reduce/ add text/ whatever. It was fairly easy, a gif that didn't take much editing took me all of 2 minutes.
But now I have a mac. And there is no VirtualDub on mac. So, at the very least, I'll need suggestions on a program that will let me edit/crop video files and export them as an image sequence. Preferably this would be open source. But if you're the answerer who likes to go that extra mile, feel free to offer my any tips/tell me I'm doing this whole process wrong. [I've often found when I teach myself how to do things, it's often the hardest way possible.]

Help me convert some videos

norm — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 14:13:52 -0800

How to convert .avi files to be useable in iTunes/iPhone. So I have some fully legal .avi files that I have on my computer and I would like to be able to put them on my iPhone to use the output-to-TV function. I have been trying to figure out how to convert them to MP4 format, which is how I understand it needs to be, and have been failing unceasingly.

I have tried Videodora, MeGUI, and a couple of other programs and have found the most frustrating thing is the mixture of total technical gobbledegook and complete lack of guidance. What I am looking for is 1) a program that will actually work without too much tweaking of settings; and 2) a guide for using it aimed at someone who knows just slightly more than "nothing". I am not averse to paying for this software if it will meet these two requirements.

And speaking as someone who's now put in a couple of hours trying to figure this out, researching this issue is almost intolerable. All I can find are horrible forum posts, spam magnets, and links to various un-vouchworthy programs that probably installed a ton of spyware on my system while not solving my problem. ADMINISTRATOR HOPE ME.

Why are my file sizes so different?

DiscourseMarker — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 09:58:46 -0800

I'm having a problem with screen recording software on Windows XP. I have two identical computers, both of which have been recently re-formatted and had fresh installs of Windows XP. I am using them to record screen video of both sides of IM conversations. I am using the open source program CamStudio to record the screen activity. Both computers have identical settings in CamStudio.

Here's the problem: Computer A will produce an .avi file of about 500MB for an approximately 30-minute video; the *same* 30 minute conversation on Computer B is producing .avi files of 1.5-1.6GB!

Why is the second computer producing such large file sizes? I'm concerned in part because CamStudio documentation can only handle file sizes up to 2GB, and I'm worried about corrupted files (this is part of a research project). I'm concerned that the massive discrepancy in file sizes is indicative of a larger problem that could cause the computer to fail in the middle of a session.

I am a Mac person, and I inherited these computers (they are probably more than 5 years old), so I'm not as adept at Windows troubleshooting.

Please hope me MetaFilter!!

Video and subtitles, all in one file?

afx237vi — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 06:13:49 -0800

I have a video file (.avi) and a subtitle file (.srt). What is the simplest way to merge these two files into one single video file with built-in subtitles? I have a cheapo DVD player with a USB port that allows me to plug in a USB stick and watch video files directly from that. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to do subtitles at all.

Most of the googling I have done seems to be concerned with burning divx discs to watch on a DVD player. This is not what I want.

I'm using Windows 7.

Creating video from a program help

JohnGL — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 16:16:24 -0800

I'm looking for a library, package, product or some sample code in either JAVA or Visual Basic that would allow me to create a video from my program. I have some software tools I've developed and I'd like some functionality to my program that could take existing video clips and pictures and then assemble them into a video. I would like the final video format to be FLV however any popular format would do. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Have a great one.

How to import AVI video files in Adobe Premiere Pro?

meta.mark — Sun, 31 May 2009 22:41:22 -0800

When I import an AVI video file I recorded on a Canon digital camera to Adobe Premiere Pro, it only shows up as a still picture with audio. Why does it do this and how can it be solved? We are creating a music video as a school project and we need Premiere to add effects. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Minimum PC specs for playing HD video files?

wastelands — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 08:08:07 -0800

What are the minimum specs for a PC to play HD video files smoothly? I need to replace my ancient P4 2.8 GHz (w/onboard video) for several reasons, including that it chokes on some 720p videos during high action/movement scenes. Would your basic ~$480 Dell handle smooth playback of high def video files (.mkv, .avi) on VLC media player? Could I run other apps in the background (browser, IM, etc.) without input or video stutters and lag?

For example something like this:

Intel Core 2 Duo E7400 (3MB L2, 2.8GHz, 1066FSB)
Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium Edition SP1
2GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz- 2DIMMs
500GB Serial ATA Hard Drive (7200RPM) w/DataBurst Cache
Integrated Intel® GMA X4500HD Graphics

Or do I need more power?

My video editor suddenly can't see my video clips ... HALP!

jbickers — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:33:20 -0800

All of a sudden Premiere Elements doesn't know what to do with my AVI files. GAAHH! So about two weeks ago, I created this really elaborate video in Premiere Elements (7, the latest version, Vista). Lots of edits, lots of clips from lots of different source files, all of which were taken on a Flip camera. No problem, it worked great.

Today, I go back to make edits ... and all of my AVI files in the timeline are sound only, no video. (Actually, a tiny little bit of squiggly color along the bottom - it's like the whole video has been smooshed down to about ten pixels tall). I've got some still photos in this project, they're fine. It's just my AVIs.

When I open the source files in WMP, they play just fine. So there's nothing wrong with the AVIs. And the fact that I can play them in WMP means there's no missing codecs or anything like that (doesn't it?)

So, why is Premiere Elements doing this - and more to the point, how can I salvage this edit file with all of those dozens of edits and crossfades and so on? Is there some trick to re-associating them? I'm wracking my brain to think of something/anything on my computer that might have changed or been installed in the past two weeks, but I'm not aware of anything.

Borrowed camcorder uses obnoxious format. How to fix?

®@ — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 11:55:11 -0800

Converting ".mts" to ".avi?" I've been recording stuff for work on our office camcorder. The software that came with it is useless, it's basically Canon's "picture browsing" software that they just threw in the box (if there's a "video edit" software, it's not included or mentioned in the manual). I can pull the files off the camera via USB, but they're in MTS format. I need to edit these down into discrete clips, preferably as AVI's (Adobe Premiere). Tips? Advice? I've seen a handful of programs online that claim to be able to shift MTS to AVI, but they're in that "sketchy freeware might be adware" territory. Thoughts?

Videoplayback in Vista

Iax — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:51:18 -0800

Windows Vista seems to have much worse video playback compared to Windows XP. Any way to fix this? I just got a new computer intel duo 8400 with 4 gigs of ram and two Nvidia 8800 GT in SLI.

Ive installed windows xp on one harddrive and windows vista on the 2nd harddrive. So I can easily boot into either one.

Neither XP or vista could play some my video files (just audio of the files), so I installed the CCCP (it also comes with Zplayer, which i like) and it works fine on XP, but in Vista the edges of moving stuff seem noticably blocky. Is there a way to fix this?
Playing XVID files in vista, this is the most noticable.
Also, after installing the cccp, windows media player can play the video, and the video looks finr, not blocky atall. but I hate the user interface for any version of windows media player.

How can I turn a picture into a video?

Rabulah — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 07:17:55 -0800

I have a picture that I want to make a video out of. It's a jpg, but I want it to be displayed for about 3 minutes, with an accompanying mp3. I want the end result to be something like an .avi, so I can send it to a friend and they can play it out of the box, probably in VLC. Powerpoint is not an option, but that's something like what I want, without all the fancy animation. Just a stationary picture, displayed to music.

How do I go about creating this? I know a little about muxing video and audio (I'm assuming VirtualDub will do the job?), but I have no idea what program to use to create the video of the image. I'd prefer some nice simple point and click software to something technical.

Cannot see .XviD avi files inside Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, am I missing a codec?

cheero — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:24:41 -0800

Cannot preview .XviD avi files inside Adobe Premiere Pro CS3, am I missing a codec? Hello all,

I'm trying to edit some video files I downloaded that are compressed with .Xvid. I basically try to load them inside Premiere Pro CS3 and its all black with no audio. Then I have to convert the file via TMPGEnc to windows media format which takes about an hour or so (for 25 mins worth of footage) and only then am I really able to see real footage. I am wondering if there is a faster way of doing this? Am I missing a codec for Premiere?

Is there a good alternative to the AppleTV?

itchi23 — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:45:28 -0800

Is there a good alternative to the new Apple TV 2? We just got a new HDTV as a gift for the holidays, and I've been connecting my laptop (Windows) to it in order to watch downloaded TV shows & movies. It works ok, but the gfx card on the laptop's a bit old, & doesn't really support HD resolution. Now that the Apple TV's (re)released today, I was wondering if there's a good alternative ....something small that'll playback hd video files in divx, xvid, etc, super easy to connect to the wireless network, plays back in full hd res., etc. Storage space isn't really an issue, just a few gigs is ok considering we usually delete a video file or backup to dvd-r after watching it. I'm also concerned the AppleTV won't playback all the random video formats that VLC & a codec pack handle with ease. ...oh, and definitely cheaper than the AppleTV - think grad student income. Thanks!

Why won't my Canon let me upload my .avi movie?

arielmeadow — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 19:26:06 -0800

I recently shot an 8min .avi video with my Canon point 'n' shoot (SD800 IS). Now, I'm unable to upload the file onto ANY of my computers (pc, macbook, ibook). Is the 1gig .avi file just too big? I get an different error on each machine, with the PC saying there's not enough room to import the file (despite hundreds of gigs of room), the Macbook saying the import failed, and the ibook simply stalling out.

I can play the video on the camera, so I know it's ok. I can import other photos and video from the camera, so I know that the USB connection is ok. So why can't any of my computers deal with this file?

Censoring Aduio in Quicktime

Smarson — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:54:26 -0800

How can I censor the audio in an .avi file using Quicktime Pro? I've got this hilarious video of my wedding reception "after party." It's comedic gold and I wanted to post it online for some other friends and family to see except that in two separate sections someone says something totally inappropriate. Thus I just need to either cut the audio at those two points (for like 2 seconds each) or dub it over with a censoring *BEEP* (which might actually be funnier). Using Quicktime Pro I've figured out how to overlay the current audio with other audio (i.e. inserting a soundtrack), but this doesn't actually remove what was said and it can still be heard over the insert. Can what I want to do be accomplished with QT Pro?

Video was shot as .avi.

Schlock & Roll! Eddie Furlong is so cool! He is HERO!

aristan — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 18:48:31 -0800

I need a rather rare video tape copied to DVD or saved as a video file. I don't have the equipment to do it myself and the tape is out of print, only released in Japan, unlikely to ever be released on dvd, and still under copyright. It's official documentation of an American child actor's Japanese music career. It is my 'happy' tape because I always feel better after I watch it. What is the best way to get this copied? Bonus points if it's cheap or free and/or local to Charlotte, NC. After he became famous in Terminator 2, Edward Furlong had a music career in Japan. His uncle was his manager.

The video is so hilarious, with Furlong singing Doors covers with a cracking voice. You can literally hear puberty set in over the course of the album. The video is poorly shot, covering his promoting of his albums to his fan club and on Radio Stations. I love it when his uncle starts bowing to a DJ so deeply that it borders on genuflection. The poor DJ just wanted to shake hands.

The ending of the video is god awful, a seemingly neverending shot of Furlong walking down a dark corridor in an airport, alone.

And just when you think it's over... they fade back in with the "Making Of The Video".

I love this tape and I watch is often because it's so unintentionally hilarious. I know it sounds mean, but I love it. I'd love to share bits on YouTube, but I have to get it off the Videotape first!

How can i get a copy of this ripped and burned to DVD or saved as video files? I'd prefer not to let go of the tape, I don't want to mail it off as I'm afraid it wouldn't come back. I'd like something local to Charlotte, NC if possible. It's under copyright, so I'm assuming the more legit places won't touch it.

Fraps is giving me craps!

cowbellemoo — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 18:05:51 -0800

How can I edit Fraps AVIs from my windows machine on my Macbook (iMovie)? Importing the file directly results in a black movie file, and I couldn't tell if I didn't have a codec or what. Trying to play it in quicktime takes me to an addon page but I have no idea which will solve the problem. Reencoding in Windows Movie Maker produces WMV files, which iMovie can't use.

Anyone know what codec to get so that iMovie can read that Fraps AVI?

(Windows XP machine, vanilla yr-old low-end Macbook, no extra video software -- I'm a noob at this)

DYC into something useful?

LGCNo6 — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 23:35:18 -0800

Mission Impossible? Converting ICUII video to AVI or MPG or MOV? Got a bunch of video files of video messages from conference delegates from an online consortium earlier this month. BUT, here's the kicker: they're all saved in ICUII's DYC format. I need to convert the video files into something viewable by people who don't have ICUII. What tool can I use to do this? I've been searching and have found absolutely zilch.

DivX to .SWF conversion always converting without a sync.

cheero — Mon, 22 May 2006 21:53:11 -0800

DivX to .SWF conversion always converting without a sync. I have a video that is an .AVI (DVcodec), I converted it to DivX via VirtualDub and later on converted it from DivX to .SWF via (Flash Video Studio 1). For some unknown reason, whenever it gets converted to .SWF, the audio/video are not in sync. The main reason why I did this is because more people can see flash videos rather than DivX (at least my friends group.) I am looking for the correct way to convert this so it does not keep coming out of sync.

I've tried converting the raw file (the avi/dvcodec) one and it converts it to flash just fine, however, the file size is rather large, I am also looking for a way to compress it a little bit.

If it helps, the original avi file (DvCodec) is 270MB. When I convert it to DivX via VirtualDub, the size is knocked down to about 26 with almost no quality loss. So the third step is where I get shafted, which is the conversion to SWF which normally works, but never when I do it via DivX to .swf. Is there an alternative way? Should I convert the original file via VirtualDub to some other codec and then try to do in Flash Video Studio? Or is there another way I should do this entire procedure?

Any help is greatly welcomed. Thank you in advance!

Downloaded video to DVD?

killdevil — Mon, 15 May 2006 13:05:47 -0800

How do I convert the various popular flavors of digital video floating around the Internet into a format I can easily and reliably burn to DVD and play on a DVD player? I'm technically savvy, but this remains beyond me. What I'm looking for are simple, free tools I can use to convert various AVI and MPEG video files for playback on a DVD/TV. The formats I need to deal with are those popularly used to encode movies and tv shows for distribution via bittorrent and similar.

I'm on Windows, if it matters.

Why are some YouTube videos so much better quality than others? What video specs and file format (AVI, MOV, MPG) produce the best results?

JudgeBork — Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:56:13 -0800

Why are some YouTube videos so much better quality than others? What video specs and file format (AVI, MOV, MPG) produce the best results?

simple images-to-video converter for mac/unix?

sergeant sandwich — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 13:19:55 -0800

can anyone recommend a simple piece of Mac (or unix) software that will take a bunch of image files named abc001, abc002, etc and string them together into a video file that i can view with a lowest-common-denominator video player? i have some code that spits out a bunch of images - currently into the simple PPM format that's part of netpbm package. the images have filenames with sequential numbers in them, and i want software that will just string them together in order into one of the more common (mpeg, avi, quicktime, or whatever) video formats.

i was planning to use ppmtompeg that comes with netpbm but i'm having a hard time getting the netpbm package to compile on my powerbook. while i try to sort that out, i'm wondering if there's any other software available to do what i want?

i see from this thread that apparently quicktime will do this, but i suspect i need the quicktime pro that you have to pay for, as opposed to the free quicktime player.

so, my only absolute requirement be that the software is free. it would be nice if it supported the PPM format (if not, i can batch-convert my images in graphic converter) and extra nice if i could run it from the command line like ppmtompeg so that i can incorporate the conversion into a shell script.

any ideas? thanks in advance!