Converting MPG files to DVD for TV viewing.

December 7, 2004 5:07 AM

Converting mpg to dvd for viewing on my tv. More inside.

I downloaded a clip from a friend. The movie ends in .kvcd.mpg and will open in vlc, but not in quicktime, nor in windows media player for Mac OSX. I tried just popping it into iMovie, but it just hangs.

I need to be able to convert the file to a format that iMovie won't hang up on so I can burn it to a DVD. Are there any free converters for Mac OSX that will convert it to a video type that I can then burn to dvd using iMovie/iDVD?

posted by thebwit to Technology (5 answers total)

I'm ignorant of OSX tools, but here's some more info about your file and what you need for output:

a KVCD is a severely modified mpeg-1 or -2 that's been encoded with a non-standard quantization matrix to force a whole movie (up to about 2 hours) onto a CD (in non-standard VCD or SVCD formats). No matter what the fans of the format say, you're trading image quality for the convenience of fitting a whole movie on a CD.

If you put it on a DVD, you're going to have to reencode the movie into a "compliant" MPEG-2, and it's going to look somewhere between acceptable and total ass. You're better of using the file in the manner it was intended and turning it not into a DVD, but a VCD or SVCD (assuming that your DVD player handles SVCD and this file is an mpeg-2. But it's probably an mpeg-1).

Don't bother trying to watch it-- just put it in your burning program, select "VCD", select non-standard if you get a warning and burn it onto a CD.
posted by Mayor Curley at 6:21 AM on December 7, 2004

Toast will re-encode it for you, but if you don't have Toast and want iDVD to burn it, you can use MPEG Streamclip to convert it to just about anything.
posted by tomierna at 6:37 AM on December 7, 2004

I've had exceptional results converting video on my G4 with ffmpegx. It's shareware with most features working without paying. ind of an odd interface, but there's a great forum that can also help you out.
posted by hamfisted at 7:18 AM on December 7, 2004

You can make VCDs out of mpegs and they'll play on most DVDs.
posted by eas98 at 7:19 AM on December 7, 2004

eas98, I guess the lesson for me here is that if you write more than two sentences, no one will read your post.
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:57 AM on December 7, 2004