What's a good free AVI/MPG to WMV converter?

[Brogan]

I have discovered that I can only stream WMV files from my PC to the Xbox (typical MS) so I now need to convert all of my .avi, .mpg. vob .asf and any other format files to WMV.

Are there any free decent converters available that will convert from all (most) other formats to WMV?
If there are no free ones, what decent paid ones are there?

I have Nero 7 but that doesn't seem to have the capability.

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[senu]

Nero should
However if you have ( and you should) have the WM encoder 9 series ( and its codecs) installed on your system it will allow almost anything to enable you encode to WMV .. including WMV-HD if you have any source material for that.
WMM does anyway although it is mpeg unfriendly
With your very elaborate home cinema setup ( which i glanced at last year but appears to have moved on with a PJ and all ( envy) do you have an HD-DVD xbox add on?
See HERE

[Brogan]

I can't seem to find how to do it in Nero 7 but WM Encoder seems to be working fine.
Thanks for the link.

[Brogan]

Looks like I spoke too soon.
It's doing the first pass but then just ends the job and all I have is a 5KB file.

Also, the videos from my camera are 640 x 480 and it won't do a straight convert - I have to choose one of the preset resolutions (e.g. 768 x 576) which will mean stretching or squashing the file.

[senu]

I dont use Nero but in Vegas or Avid liquid 7 which I use ( amongst others), there are preset templates, and the default,
There is always the option of customising the output template to your exact specifications
However 640 x 480 is VGA and the 720 x576 is DV PAL which is standard for a display output
Im not sure why Nero is crashing though

[Brogan]

It's the WM Encoder that's crashing.

I've looked on Nero but can't work out how to do it.
If it's possible to convert from AVI/MPG to WMV in Nero then they've hidden it well...

[senu]

Nero doesnt have it, WM Encoder is crashing..
Hope is not lost

What about going via WMM.. just to test? . I reckon a video converting utility or NLE Editing software may be called for if that also fails
..WMM doesnt like all file format though but I just tried it on my system with a DV AVI, mpeg1 and mpeg2 all on the same timeline and exported it to WMV effortlessly

You could download a trial version of Vegas Movie Studio,and lets know if it works
http://www.sonycreativesoftware.com/...ct.asp?pid=446

also have a look at vidcrop
http://www.geovid.com/VidCrop/

You can download a trial version to see if it will do the job,
but you get the 'geovid' watermark on the output.

[mmace]

best one I know of is "superconverter" also known as superc (where the "c" is a copyright symbol), freeware, converts just about any format to any format in many different containers

[Brogan]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys.

I did finally get WM Encoder working on my Vista laptop but the resulting file was very stuttery and poor quality.
I'll have a play with the others when I have more time.

[thelone11001100]

Originally Posted by mmace

best one I know of is "superconverter" also known as superc (where the "c" is a copyright symbol), freeware, converts just about any format to any format in many different containers

i know a few people who say super is a good prog for doing what you need to do. also you might want to try Handbreak its free and a bit easyer to use than super