'Puter techie help needed please!!

Question, if I burn something onto a dvd, (a movie) for my sister in the states, will it play on her computer? Also, the dvds that I burn on my computer won't play on my regular dvd player....what am I doing wrong? I'm using sonic digital media to burn them, and the dvds are rewritable, if that helps any.

Hiya,

Need a little more information on this
When you say you burn a 'movie' is it a home made video? or a 'backup' of a commercial DVD? Are you creating a MPEG or MPG movie on the dvd disk? (or a DivX? or a .MOV)

Depending on what you are doing will determine what will and won't play rightaway on another computer or 'regular' DVD player.

for instance, if you make a video of your kiddies playing in the garden and want to send it to family in the US, you could first of all capture the moments on a camcorder. Then, import that into your PC and then use software to edit it. Then you can instruct the software to 'output' a file and choose various options (.mpeg or .mpg or DivX or .mov for instance) then the software will 'create' a file. You then take that file and burn it onto a DVD. Said disk will 'play' in another Computer - not a regular DVD player - say in Windows Media player or Nero etc. Depending on your software there may be an option to create a 'normal' DVD that can be played in a regular DVD player. By choosing that option you then get a disk that can be played in regular players AND on a computer with a DVD drive.

If you want to create a recording say of a commercial DVD to send then that's a whole different ball game. It can be done using specialist software (sometimes free!)but 'technically' you are breaching copyright laws - just be careful!!

There's quite alot more to this subject as there are so many file formats, different conversion techniques and playback options.

Some more info and I can tailor a more speciific response!

Cheers! Dennis! West London & Slough UK!

It's a movie I downloaded from utorrent. It's just stored on my hard drive right now. It will burn onto a dvd and play on my computer, but I don't know if it will play on my sister's computer. I guess they didn't show the movie there, that's why I've gotten it for her. She did ask could I email it to her, but she hasn't got broadband, and I'm sure it would take her forever to open the attachment. Any more help would be GREATLY appreciated Dennis!! Thanks!!

I see!

downloading a movie using bittorrent!!

OK, what you need to do is have a look at the file YOU downloaded onto your PC. Find the file and right click, choose properties. This dialogue box should give you information including the 'type' of file it is - i.e Spiderman.mpg or naughtynurses3.mov (haha sorry couldnt resist!)

It's the file extension that's the important bit, the dot & 3 letters. Now Windows media player, nero, power DVD, windDVD etc will be able to play most file types. If it's a .MOV file it's a Apple Quicktime file so you can watch in Apple's Quicktime player and/or some of the ones mentioned before may require a 'plugin' in order to play Quicktime .MOV files.

You can then burn that file to a blank DVD and send it to you family/sis and provided they have media playback software capable of 'reading' the file type you've sent - they'll be able to watch on their PC.

Without getting overly complex, things like DRM (digital rights management) and Region encoding and Video systems encoding are (generally) not applicable with what you've decribed you've got and wanting to do.

So that at least she can watch, just burn it to a blank DVD send it across to her by international signed for post (quickest way - about 3-5 days) and she 'should' be able to just pop it into her PC and watch it.

Cheers! Dennis! West London & Slough UK!

Five.Children.and.It.DvDrip.AC3[Eng]-aXXo

This is all it says........really latiny to me. Naughty nurses...you crack me up. I still don't know what type file this is........can you tell? Thanks for your help by the way!

hiya

I gave up on downloading my media from file sharing over a year ago, too much hassle getting what you want and getting it to download properly, getting to work etc etc.

Looks like you have a .ac3 file which I'm not familiar with. Go to www.afterdawn.com for getting information on getting stuff to work - this site can get a little techy but there are sections for more intermediate users

I found this on there

http://www.afterdawn.com/software/video_software/codecs_and_filters/ac3filter.cfm

maybe it'll help - it could be that you have a special bit torrent player or something, if so, you'd need to get yer sis to have the same or equivalent.

Sorry I can't be of more specific help, there's just too many torrents, players, codecs and software permutations - there may be a plain english guide on afterdawn to help you and you can always ask this question on those forums to see what those users say.

Keep downloading, one day you'll decide to download mission impossible 3 and end up with UK Yankee Uncovered or something !!



DtM - Westside!

Thanks Dennis! You've been a great help!!