Do I need a special DVD player to play data discs with .avi files on them?

My friend, Renato, showed me that he can just burn .avi files straight to a DVD as a data disc (without converting them to another format) and watch them on his DVD player. There’s no menu like your average DVD, rather a directory tree. Yes, it appears on the TV screen after the data disc is inserted. It had just one folder and in that folder was a bunch of .avi files. He selected a file from the directory using the DVD’s remote and it played perfectly – even with subtitles (.srt files)! He told me his DVD player wasn’t anything special. So, my question, how can I do this? I tried burning a data disc using Nero StartSmart, but it wouldn’t play on my DVD player (Sony DVP-NS575P). Maybe it was because I put each show in a different directory folder (Bones, Heroes, House, Survivor). I don’t have any more blank DVD-Rs or DVD-RWs to burn, so I can’t experiment anymore. So do any of you have a solution? I searched already, but all the answers talk about downloading a program to convert the .avi’s to a format the standard DVD players could handle. I’m not looking for this. I’m looking for how my friend did it: just .avi files on a data disc DVD. That’s all. Thanks for your consideration! =o)

I think there are three things you need to do:
First: Check if your DVD player can play .avi format. You may see the instructions book of your player to check it.
Second: Check if the .avi file is divx format. As far as I known, most dvd players are only compatible with divx format.
Third: Put the .avi format to the root folder.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 30th, 2009 at 11:02 pm and is filed under straight talk dvd. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

4 Responses to “Do I need a special DVD player to play data discs with .avi files on them?”

HandyMan on December 31st, 2009 at 4:48 am

Some players will do this and some won’t.
Philips makes some inexpensive ones that will.
Try putting the files in the root instead of in folders.

References :
Daddio on December 31st, 2009 at 5:25 am

Sorry Charlie, I have no idea. Try that other persons suggestion about the root directory and see what happens.

References :
Danhua W on December 31st, 2009 at 5:33 am

Total Video2Dvd can help you convert avi movies to dvd, work on home dvd player

simply and directly, easy to use,
1. Click "New Project", add video files,
2. Click "2. Menu", view dvd menu,
3. Click "3. Output", Click "Convert & Burn" output.

features:
1. Easily convert avi or other popular video (such as flv, divx, xivd, avi, wmv, mkv, rm, rmvb, 3gp, mp4, mov, ts, ogm, etc.) to DVD or ISO image file.
2. Supports subtitles(srt, sub, idx, ssa, ***, smi, etc.), and multi-subtitle track.
3. Download youtube video or other video share website video, and burn it to dvd.
4. Supports DVD menu with background.
5. supports photo slideshow to DVD.

you can download this software FREE:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=vid...

References :
Victor on December 31st, 2009 at 5:45 am

I think there are three things you need to do:
First: Check if your DVD player can play .avi format. You may see the instructions book of your player to check it.
Second: Check if the .avi file is divx format. As far as I known, most dvd players are only compatible with divx format.
Third: Put the .avi format to the root folder.
References :

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