Burning rmvb/mkv files (Was: "I need HELP.... BIG TIME....!!!!!!")

[Chryslus]

I'm looking at the bevy of different threads and it's obvious you guys are genius when it comes to Mac.

I am still backwater. I'm still using Panther... and i have a minor problem but it's kicking my behind.

I burn anime and the like to dvds and i'm using Toast Titanium to do it. The problem is that Toast can only burn Quicktime avi's and mpegs.
And now that i've discovered Flip-4-Mac, i've converted WMV files into Quicktime and i can now burn those to disc using Toast.

But i also want to burn rmvb's and mkv's to disc also.. using Mac's dvd burner.

WITHOUT USING THE TOAST PROGRAM.

The problem is that when i pop in a blank disc, the toast program automatically pops open and i can never figure out how to burn to disc without the Toast program.

How do i do this?

and will i be able to record and burn rmvb's and mkv's to disc using the disc burner program on a Mac outside of using Toast, and still be able to watch what i burned on a portable dvd player or a regular one?

Will i need to convert Mkv's and rmvb's to Quicktime to burn the files? and if so, what program will i be able to use that will do so?

And is it free?

or will i have to shell out some serious duckets?

[fryke]

"Aaarggh!!! It hurts!!" - I mean the thread title. That's really about the worst thread title I've ever read. Seriously... -> "I need HELP.... BIG TIME....!!!!!!" -> It's _exactly_ the opposite of a good thread title. A good thread title for your thread would have said something about "burning rmvb and mkv files". And it would have been created in a forum _other_ than the HOWTO & FAQ forum, because that one is for answers only.

(I've edited the thread title now.)

Now for your problem... -> Where do you want to watch the files? That's important. If the files shall only be "on the disc" so you can view them on the _computer_, then either you can use Toast, or you change the System Preferences about handling "media" etc. - there you can set which program to automatically open when entering a disc (can also choose "none" or something like that).

[Chryslus]

I did it like that to get someone's attention.

and it worked i see.

I want the files to be burned as avi files to watch on dvd players portable, or home use.

and on computer... i'm greedy like that.

I want to be able to burn Real Player files and mkv files on disc to watch on my dvd players. But Toast won't recognized them. Only Quicktime avi's.

and now apparently wmv's converted to Quicktime.

thanx to flip4mac.

Since i can't get the files to be recognized by Toast, i want to bypass Toast and burn the rmvb and mkv files to disc without using Toast. But by using the natural burner program from the OS itself.

do i make sense?

and will it work?

[fryke]

Originally Posted by Chryslus

I did it like that to get someone's attention. and it worked i see.

The attention you got so far was my temperament. Please stay away from ever mis-labelling a thread like this again.

[Mikuro]

It's easy to burn files without using Toast. If Toast automatically loads when you insert a DVD, you can change that behavior in System Preferences > CDs and DVDs.

You want to burn them as AVI files, correct? Does Toast automatically convert QuickTime files to Divx AVI? I thought it only converted to DVD (that is, MPEG2 video and whatnot). Then again, I'm not using Toast 7. Anyway, if you want to burn them as AVIs, you'll need to use a non-QT-based program to convert the files to AVI, then burn those files straight to DVD using any program you like. AFAIK, there aren't any DVD players out there that can read mkv or rmvb files.

Converting mkv files can be very difficult, but it's nearly always possible. Unfortunately, converting rmvb files is usually impossible.

For mkvs, use ffmpegX for conversion. Assuming the mkv file uses an MPEG4-based video codec (divx, xvid, etc), this will work just fine. If it uses WMV3....well, let me know if it does. I can explain how to convert it, but it's a long, complicated, tricky process and I don't want to get into it if I don't have to.

If for any reason you can't get ffmpegX to work, you could also try using VLC, but it's geared more for playback than conversion, so ffmpegX is really the better choice.

You can try using ffmpegX to convert rmvb files, too, but I doubt it will work. If you try, be sure to use an output codec based on mencoder. For example: "MPEG4 [.AVI] (mencoder)", since mencoder is best at reading RealMedia files.


(Oh, and if I had seen the original thread title, I would have skipped it over. The best way to get attention from people who could help solve your problem is to let them know what the problem is. Video conversion is my specialty, so I'm very likely to read any post relating to it. But if the subject isn't clear, it won't get my attention.)

[Chryslus]

Originally Posted by fryke

The attention you got so far was my temperament. Please stay away from ever mis-labelling a thread like this again.

..........oh-kay.......

[Chryslus]

Originally Posted by Mikuro

It's easy to burn files without using Toast. If Toast automatically loads when you insert a DVD, you can change that behavior in System Preferences > CDs and DVDs.

You want to burn them as AVI files, correct? Does Toast automatically convert QuickTime files to Divx AVI? I thought it only converted to DVD (that is, MPEG2 video and whatnot). Then again, I'm not using Toast 7. Anyway, if you want to burn them as AVIs, you'll need to use a non-QT-based program to convert the files to AVI, then burn those files straight to DVD using any program you like. AFAIK, there aren't any DVD players out there that can read mkv or rmvb files.

Converting mkv files can be very difficult, but it's nearly always possible. Unfortunately, converting rmvb files is usually impossible.

For mkvs, use ffmpegX for conversion. Assuming the mkv file uses an MPEG4-based video codec (divx, xvid, etc), this will work just fine. If it uses WMV3....well, let me know if it does. I can explain how to convert it, but it's a long, complicated, tricky process and I don't want to get into it if I don't have to.

If for any reason you can't get ffmpegX to work, you could also try using VLC, but it's geared more for playback than conversion, so ffmpegX is really the better choice.

You can try using ffmpegX to convert rmvb files, too, but I doubt it will work. If you try, be sure to use an output codec based on mencoder. For example: "MPEG4 [.AVI] (mencoder)", since mencoder is best at reading RealMedia files.


(Oh, and if I had seen the original thread title, I would have skipped it over. The best way to get attention from people who could help solve your problem is to let them know what the problem is. Video conversion is my specialty, so I'm very likely to read any post relating to it. But if the subject isn't clear, it won't get my attention.)

I don't think Toast converts, that is to say, that i've never tried to do it or i never really thought to check to see if it could. Maybe i missed something.....

But for the most part, it's merely for burning data, video and pics and also divx code for the computer onto disc. There's Jam that comes with it for professionally mixing and burning music CD's.

Nothing about conversion on that also.

But i guess you've answered the question about burning rmvb and mkv to disc.

I have seen video converters that you have to pay for that say that they can convert realplayer files to avi amongst many others, but i'm cheap right now and i don't want to take the risk yet to shell out anywhere from 20 to 145 dollars only to find out it doesn't work.

That would be.... a problem.

As i'm sure you would agree.


but thanx. i'll see what the ffmpegX will do.