Which DVD format is best for playback on the new style console...

[Noddyunplugged]

Hi all,

I'm a bit of a complete noob at this, so bare with me lol...

I have some .M4V files that i'd like to burn to a DVD that would play in my xbox 360.

My question is - what software is best to use and what format do i need to convert it to. Bare in mind I'm a total novice at burning DVDs lmao! :-D

 

[StevieBuck]

If the xbox 360 doesn’t support playback of your .M4V files natively, you will have to convert. You can either convert to another media format (MP4 preferably, which the console definitely supports) or use the files to create a standard DVD-video.

There are a number of free converters available, but for .MP4 conversion I’d recommend Handbrake:

HandBrake

.MP4 would be what I’d recommend first, but if you want to watch the files on any standalone DVD player then the DVD-video option would make more sense. Again, there are a number of converters available for this. One that I’ve been using lately is AVS to DVD (I haven’t tried it with .M4V files though):

https://sites.google.com/site/avstodvdmain/home

 

[Noddyunplugged]

Hi Stevie,

I'm fairly sure M4V files won't play on an eggbox (from what I've been reading). So if I wanted to just play them on it then .mp4 is what we're after...? I wonder then if the xbox would pick up my maxtor one touch III external USB drive and allow me to copy the files straight on it's drive.

However I'm thinking that writing them to DVDs for playback on any player would be the way forward though - would that still be an .mp4 format then - or something else?

So what I'm needing ultimately is a way of converting .m4v to regular PAL DVDs

 

[StevieBuck]

There are other supported formats, but h264 encoded video in an MP4 container typically offers the best quality/compression ratio.

MP4 files will only play from a DVD on a standalone DVD player if the player in question specifically offers that functionality.

A DVD-video converter will convert the files to MPEG-2 and pack them in a .VOB container. Prior to burning, the converter will also generate a set of other files (.IFO/.BUP) that is required for the files to play correctly on a DVD player in standard DVD-video mode. As I said, AVS to DVD is a converter I've used personally so would recommend that.

 

[Noddyunplugged]

Ah cool, ok. Thanks again Stevie. So I don't necessarily need to worry about selecting the correct output format then if I'm using a dedicated 'dvd convertor' such as AVS to DVD that you've mentioned. Cool. Right then, I'll get hold of some blank discs and that software and give it a whirl and let you know how I got on.

Thanks again Stevie!