Windows 7: Universal Video Format?

seekermeister · 15 Jul 2010

There are so many format options available, when I'm given a choice, I'm not certain which to download or use. I realize that each of them has their own fortes, and some players may not like some of them, but is there one that is more usable than the others, in terms of compatibility, burnability, or simply playing?

windowsapple · 16 Jul 2010

Hm, AVI would be the best way to go. (MOV isn't good because you need another program to play it.)

seekermeister · 16 Jul 2010

Your suggestion caused me to Google and find this"

Quote:

Since its introduction in the early 90s, new computer video techniques have been introduced which the original AVI specification did not anticipate.
AVI does not provide a standardised way to encode aspect ratio information, with the result that players cannot select the right one automatically (though it may be possible to do so manually).[2]
There are several competing approaches to including timecode in AVI files, which affects usability of the format in film and television postproduction (although it is widely used). An equivalent of the Broadcast Wave extensions, designed to standardise postproduction metadata for wave audio files, has not emerged.
AVI is not intended to contain variable frame rate material. Workarounds for this limitation increase overhead dramatically.
AVI was not intended to contain video using any compression technique which requires access to future video frame data beyond the current frame. Approaches exist to support modern video compression techniques (e.g. MPEG-4) which rely on this functionality, although this is beyond the intent of the original specification and may cause problems with playback software which does not anticipate this use.
AVI cannot contain some specific types of VBR data (such as MP3 audio at sample rates below 32KHz) reliably.
Overhead for AVI files at the resolutions and frame rates normally used to encode feature films is about 5 MB per hour of video, the significance of which varies with the application.

More recent container formats (such as Matroska, Ogg and MP4) solve all these problems, although software is freely available to both create and correctly replay AVI files which use these more recent techniques.

Audio Video Interleave - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I'm not disputing what you have said, because I know so little about the subject and am still trying to piece things together, but at first glance, I'm not convinced that this is the format that I'm looking for. I didn't see it mentioned in the linked article, but can AVI be used to burn a movie to DVD?

seekermeister · 16 Jul 2010

The comments that I quoted above, caused me to Google Mastroska, and I found another Wikipedia article, which I found of interest:

Matroska - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

It mentions compatibility with PowerDVD, which is my preferred player, but it sounds as though it isn't compatible with optical drives, except some Blu Ray players, which I don't have.

Bill2 · 16 Jul 2010

AVI is IMO the easiest to work with. It plays natively in windows, there are numerous apps available (both free and commercial) that'll convert AVI to dvd which you can then play in a standalone dvd player and again there are numerous apps to generally manipulate AVI- join, split, demux, mux etc.

MKV (matroska) is a superior container compared to AVI (more quality in less space), but it is relatively difficult to work with. I use the 32 bit CCCP codec, but for the 64 bit pack , the last I checked all the components of CCCP hadnt been updated. Alco, converting from MKV to any other format is somewhat involved. MKV thumbnails in Windows 7 are troublesome.

If you want to play on the computer alone, MKV could be managed at least for 32 bit.

mitchell65 · 17 Jul 2010

Hi seekermeister
In your second post you spoke of burning a file to a DVD. Can I ask what you want to do with the DVD? Play on a DVD through a TV, if so is it standard definition or HD? Or do you just wish to play the video clip on your PC?

seekermeister · 17 Jul 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by mitchell65

Hi seekermeister
In your second post you spoke of burning a file to a DVD. Can I ask what you want to do with the DVD? Play on a DVD through a TV, if so is it standard definition or HD? Or do you just wish to play the video clip on your PC?

Movie DVD through HDTV.

mitchell65 · 17 Jul 2010

Quote: Originally Posted by seekermeister

Quote: Originally Posted by mitchell65

Hi seekermeister
In your second post you spoke of burning a file to a DVD. Can I ask what you want to do with the DVD? Play on a DVD through a TV, if so is it standard definition or HD? Or do you just wish to play the video clip on your PC?

Movie DVD through HDTV.

To create a DVD in standard format you need to use an authoring program. I believe Winows movie maker can do this but I don't use that program so can't guide you without downloading it (Windows Movie maker is no longer shipped with Windows 7)
There are many programs out there that will do this and most are available on a TBYB (Try before you buy) basis.
It is not just a case of burning a video file to a disc. The program will render the video file/s to a format of two folders. One VIDEO_TS and one AUDIO_TS. The video one will contain many VOB and IFO files. Just put a commercial DVD into your PC and right click on the "D" drive (if that's your dvd/c drive letter) and click open this should reveal the folder and file structure. Come back if you need further help but I am pushed today and may not get back here until early evening.

seekermeister · 17 Jul 2010

I appreciate the explanation, but that isn't my question, because I basically understand how to burn a .vob. It is more of what file format requires the least steps to reach the .vob stage. I don't know if it is exactly the same, but I do have Windows Live Movie Maker, and I doubt that it can be used for making the .vob, because the only format that it saves in is .wimp.

I realize that my question isn't very clear. That's because my thinking on the subject is equally unclear. For example, when downloading a movie from Internet Archive, it usually offers to do so in either Ogg, MPEG4 or DivX. Other programs for dealing with such files may use other formats. I'm looking for a format that is a common denominator, which can be used either to play directly on the PC or convert to .vob for burning. However, the Wikipedia link that I posted above, says that Matroska can be used to burn DVDs with instead of .vob, if one has the right hardware. I'm not certain that a MKV file can be played directly on the PC or not.

I'm not sure that this is any clearer or if I'm just rambling.

EDIT: After taking a second look, it appears that Windows Live Movie Maker can burn a DVD. Therefore I assume that it converts it to .vob as you said.

mitchell65 · 17 Jul 2010

Yes I'm sure that WMM con create a standard DVD. Make sure thought that it is set for NTSC and not PAL. Given the choice I would go for a MPEG file but suggest you first look at what files WMM will import and then try a short clip of each compatible formats to see which saves to the best quality, bearing in mind that the better the quality the lower the compression but the bigger the file size will be! Then another trial and error exercise, use a DVD+RW disc and try burnong each file formet to a DVD and see which works best for you!
If you use an MPEG file have a look at WMM and see if in the burn properties there is an option to "Not re-render compliant MPEG files" If there is check that as this will stop unnecessary rendering giving you a better quality.
Maxim. The least amount of rendereing the better as this is what dengrates the quality.

Windows 7: Universal Video Format?

Universal Video Format? problems?