[Retired Tech]

Right click any file type, click properties, see what is set to open it, whatever it says, click change, choose a programme from the list, click browse if it isn't there, once you have the programme, check always use this programme for this file type is ticked, click apply

When you install these types of programme, choose cutom / advanced specifically to check the file types it will associate itself with, usually everything, but custom should give the option to untick ones you do not want it to open

This is for transcoding 4.37GB at 5073kbps standard play, high quality 2 passes, using a P4 3.0ghz with 2GB Ram, no other programmes running

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Okay, I've checked the properties of several movies. Only one file of the three that were MKV files still shows up as a Matroska file, but it says it will open with WMP. Now, I also did something else. I tried to find free video converters for MKV files, but the ones I found couldn't convert my MKV files to AVI. Either they didn't have the capability, or they failed when I tried to convert my files.

So, I'd had it. I decided to just change the extension to AVI for the 3 MKV files. I got the little message which says this could make your file unstable, but I played back a few of them through several scenes on WMP, and I didn't see any instability. Now, at first I thought this was what was crashing Nero, but almost every movie crashed Nero after this. Right now I'm burning an old (1985) 2 hour movie. At first Nero gave me the est. time of completion at about 5 1/2 hours. Yes, 5 1/2 hours! Then, it actually added another 45 minutes to the time. So, this movie will take about 6 hours to burn. There must be something wrong here.

[periwinkle]

Okay, I've checked the properties of several movies. Only one file of the three that were MKV files still shows up as a Matroska file, but it says it will open with WMP. Now, I also did something else. I tried to find free video converters for MKV files, but the ones I found couldn't convert my MKV files to AVI. Either they didn't have the capability, or they failed when I tried to convert my files.

So, I'd had it. I decided to just change the extension to AVI for the 3 MKV files. I got the little message which says this could make your file unstable, but I played back a few of them through several scenes on WMP, and I didn't see any instability. Now, at first I thought this was what was crashing Nero, but almost every movie crashed Nero after this. Right now I'm burning an old (1985) 2 hour movie. At first Nero gave me the est. time of completion at about 5 1/2 hours. Yes, 5 1/2 hours! Then, it actually added another 45 minutes to the time. So, this movie will take about 6 hours to burn. There must be something wrong here.

[Retired Tech]

Try Super Encoder, if you haven't already, set the output container to MPEG which is what Nero will convert it to anyway as part of transcoding

convert Matroska (.MKV) files to any other format.

http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

[periwinkle]

Dude! You are awesome! I can say that cuz I'm from Cali. Seriously! I'm so glad you told me about the MPEG2. I didn't know that. I probably would've been able to do this a long time ago, but then again, maybe not. I sure appreciate all your help and expertise. I downloaded Super and it is encoding my file, even as I type. It looks very promising. And the best thing of all is: [size=7]IT'S FREEEEEE!!!!![size=4] Thanks again!

[Retired Tech]

Hope it goes well

[periwinkle]

So I tried the encoding, but I obviously did something incorrectly. The video is way behind the audio. The audio sounds normal, but the video is several frames/seconds/almost minutes behind the audio. It almost looks like the video is in slo-mo. I didn't know what output to select for audio. I had the choice of AC3, MP2 or MP3. So, I'm re-encoding it. I picked AVI for the output, instead of MPEG2. This time, Super asked me to choose among 3 alternatives. The picked the one where it encodes the file for WMP, but it can't play it back to check it. Any tips about this?

[Retired Tech]

It should choose the audio track by default

[periwinkle]

Well now I'm befuddled once again. I was checking my burned DVDs on my Mac laptop, and they were opening fine and playing and everything was hunky dory. I tested every one of them on the Mac and they opened without incident - no pauses, no locking up, no multiple players. Then, I decided to try the latest one I've burnt in my PC where I burned it.

For this latest movie, there is no title on the drive, even though I gave it a title. When I click on the drive where it's at, I see the two folders for the movie. Why am I seeing these 2 folders? So, I open the VIDEO_TS folder, where there are 10 files. I select all of them and click open with. I choose Power DVD. Instead of opening it, two Power DVD windows pop up in the task bar. No matter how many times I do this, I still get 2 Power DVDs trying to open up. They both hang up. I can see the menu of the movie I created, but that's as far as it goes. I always have to force them to quit because they stop responding at this point.

Then, when I try to open this same file with WMP, it says it doesn't recognize the file!!! It's an AVI file. This one was one of the only ones I could add into Nero to burn. Windows can't view the file at all. This - after 6 hours of burning the stupid movie. Oh, and I get this message: Direct Draw Acceleration (which is not available on my system, it informs me) is not enabled on your system, and it asks me to enable it!! This has never ever been an issue. I've never had problems referencing a need for Direct Draw. I wrote earlier that I keep getting a message when I start Nero that the hardware acceleration isn't accelerated (even though I have the slider on full). I also noticed in Windows Help/Support under Direct X, it tells me I should be using the Video Graphics Adapter that was supplied by the manufacturer. On my computer, I have a sticker that says I have NVidia GeForce4 MX. I can find this item nowhere on my computer. The computer says it's using a generic VGA.

So, I tried some of the other movies. First, I could see their are titles shown in the list of all the drives. For example it says: J: Amelie. Then, later when I took the DVD out and put it in again, the name was gone. In fact, the DVD player treats the disk as if it were blank! However, when I click on the disk, I can see that the two folders are inside it. So, I select all of the folders and then a menu pops up, like oh yeah, it recognizes that this is a DVD and it's supposed to be doing something. No matter what I choose, two of the DVD players, whether it's Power DVD or Nero's player, always open up. This causes them to stop responding.

Oh, and there's more: I decided to see just how messed up my DVD drive is. It's pretty messed up at this point. I inserted a commercial DVD of Lord of the Rings. First, I got this stupid InterActual agreement that you have to agree to in order to view the movie on the computer. So, clicked yes, etc., but then when I tried to view the movie, I got yet another error: InterActual Player is unable to initialize your DVD decoder for playback. What is going on??? Obviously my DVD burner/player has some issues.

Maybe this accounts for all the errors I was getting earlier about adding files into Nero Vision?

Is there some way to check my DVD drive? The drive is not functioning correctly.

[periwinkle]

I checked the same movie I just burned on the laptop, and it worked just fine. Definitely something wrong with my DVD drive. Also, shouldn't I be able to view a DVD in the CD drive? It seems like I used to be able to do that...Isn't a DVD a ROM file?

[Retired Tech]

Check Nvidia for the divers, which should disable the BIOS setting for onboard graphics

http://www.nvidia.co...ers/drivers.asp

See what difference they make

[periwinkle]

I downloaded NVidia driver file 91.47_forceware_winxp2k_english_whql.exe, and I followed the installation hints as provided by NVidia, but I got this error that NVidia couldn't find any drivers compatible with my current hardware.

What's wrong?

Any idea about my DVD drive? By the way, all the movies work on the Mac laptop, so how do I diagnose my problem on this PC?

[Retired Tech]

Did it say cannot find hardware for these drivers

[periwinkle]

After a second try, I was able to load the NVidia drivers, but now when I open up Nero Vision, I don't get the option to make a DVD at all. What's wrong here? I still get the message that my hardware is not accelerated.

Also, when I was loading the NVidia drivers, it said something about replacing the default AMD drivers. I hope I have a driver still.

[Retired Tech]

If the screen resolution is OK then yes the driver is fine

Any difference if you use start smart to open Nero

[periwinkle]

Okay, I just learned a whole boatload of info. My friend, whom I shall call "Dr. Robert", gave me a ton of information on burning DVDs. He coached me over the phone through burning several movies (albeit without menus or chapters onto one DVD +RW. I knew I could do this, but had never successfully burned this much data in one shot.

Also, it only took 45 minutes, including verification of the files. The only tradeoffs are: 1) no menu or chapter breaks for any movie 2) I can't change the aspect ratio of the movies or do any sort of changes to the movies. 3) I can't play this disk on my TV & DVD player or on my Mac Laptop. However, I can play the movies on my computer. So, I burned 6 movies in less than one hour. You decided which works for you.