Play .avi files or Burn to disc as dvd?

[z1ggy]

Would it be better for me to watch divx quality .avi files on my computer directly from the source on my 1080p monitor or use winAvi and then burn them to a disc and play it through my ps3 onto my monitor using an HDMI cable?

 

[Fardringle]

What do you mean by "better"? In your case, the answer depends on you. Do you want to store your videos on your computer (as AVI) or do you want to store them on DVD discs?

 

[z1ggy]

By "better" I meant better quality. Is there going to be a difference I see visually/audio between the two options? Personally I would rather just have GB's of avi files that I can organzie on my computer rtaher than having hundreds of dvd's.

 

[mc866]

I believe it all depends on the quality of the source file but if you have the means to play the avi on your tv why bother with burning a bunch of DVD's? I doubt you would see any "upconvert" in quality just because you are using your PS3 through HDMI, but if you are curious enough test them both.

 

[0roo0roo]

lol it sucks either way. most divx /avi sourced on the net are already over compressed...and sub dvd resolution to boot. they are compressed to fit a cd or two. why? because pirates follow arbitrary laws lol. it is teh law yo!! must fit on a cd or its nuked! even when you recompress dvds using h264 if you want to preserve quality you need ~1.6-2.5GB for decent quality at full animorphic resolution ,and thats much better compression codec. so avi releases just are sh*t to begin with and theres no way around it. and they got away with it because well, it was meant to be watched on a computer screen, and was started way before flatpanels got popular and cheap. dvd resolution is already 6 times less than 1080p to begin with.. watching an avi on a hdtv is ugh...waste of effort.

now feed that through an avi to dvd converter and you lose even more quality because of recompression.
better quality? f*** no!

you don't get more quality converting from one lossy format to another, qualitys already been lost. and only gets lost further. furthermore the audio will just get recompressed again unless you are lucky enough to have an ac3 audio track, which is very unlikely.

 

[Rottie]

I would rather put them into dvd to have more spaces on hard drive. avi or any formats eat up a lot of space and to back up all avi video with true image takes a lot of space too. Also I like put dvd into standalone dvd player to share with family or friends than on the computer. I guess that is me.

 

[z1ggy]

Originally posted by: Rottie
I would rather put them into dvd to have more spaces on hard drive. avi or any formats eat up a lot of space and to back up all avi video with true image takes a lot of space too. Also I like put dvd into standalone dvd player to share with family or friends than on the computer. I guess that is me.

True..But I have a 1tb external that I store them all on...thats literally hundreds and hundreds of movies I can put on there...plus i can wlays just delete the ones I know Ill never watch again after I burn them to a disc.

 

[13Gigatons]

I prefer DVD so I convert them and then watch them on 40" TV.

Also DVD still looks good on 40" or smaller screens. HDTV is really only required for large 50" to 100" screens otherwise it's harder to notice.

 

[0roo0roo]

depends on your vision..and your tv. 42 inches is hardly small, you don't need to have anything close to 50" to see the difference between hd and dvd...its 6 times the resolution. and 480p on a 40" screen is just noticeably inferior. you are spreading pixels way way too thin at that level.

 

[BurnItDwn]

If you have h264 720p or 1080p files then play them off of the PC and don't transcode them!
If you just have divx/xvid then you won't lose any noticable quality by transcoding them to mpeg2 and burning them onto DVD.

What upscales better, PS3 or PC? I'd think PC ... but that's just a guess...

 

[Absolution75]

Stream them to your PS3 with PS3Media Server or TVersity - they won't be transcoded and you won't lose any more quality than you already have.


The best rips (quality/size ratio that is) are blueray 720p h264 rips that fit on dvd's. The PS3 really needs to get their container support up to date. . .