AVI and MP4

Is there a way to convert MP4 and AVI files to a file that will play on normal DVD, because my friend only has a normal DVD player or is Divx the only way to go?

 

I am using Anyvideo convertor - and have converted most files with it.
http://www.majorgeeks.com/Any_Video_Converter__d5692.html

 

Use DVDFlick. It will convert and burn just about any video file to a standard DVD that will play in all home players. It's free, and easy to use:
DVD Flick http://www.majorgeeks.com/DVD_Flick_d5530.html
And the how to guide: http://www.dvdflick.net/guide.php
Usually the default settings will be fine, just add your file by clicking "Add File" and click "Create DVD". That's it! Be sure there's a blank in the DVD burner, and wait about 90 minutes (depending on your PCs specs, it takes about 65 minutes on my PC) and you'll have a playable movie. Disable your screen saver to make things go a bit faster and smoother.

 

have problems when it comes to the burning. Freezes up so I tried loading the files with dvd shrink and when it gets to the burning it comes up with burning error. not should what to do? Tried Sonic CD burner and it will only play in my Divx DVD player.

 

dlb might know more , on this work - I have not had time to try dvdfick.
When I have problems burning, I lower the writing speed, and it usually works.
Sometimes a different dvd might work better, much of it is down to trial and error when you have not tried it before.Some burners will only write correctly with dvd rw discs.
I have used various DVD/ cd rw discs to find the ones my burner/writer would work best with.
If you use re writable discs, its not so bad, just lost time.
To prevent some errors, I click the write to hard disc first option, and this usually gives me less problems.
I notice the dvd flick offers an iso image - like others can, and this should at least keep a copy of your work to write to disc using an iso writing program

 

Also, you must have room on your hard drive to accomodate the prepared file, and depending on the size of your movie, generally, I find you need twice as much for the burning - if your movie is 4gb, then 8gb spare hard drive space would ensure it was o.k.
Also, depending on your system, sometimes you might hit a 2gb barrier, of acceptable burnig, in Xp . Mostly, I have found that if its properly prepared, it will bur o.k, regardles, as todays burning programs are far more efficient - again this will depend on the burning software that you have - I will try out Vista's own DVD burning software , one day.

 

Another thing that I found, again to do with burning discs, was that if your writer would not accept, I used XP to delete files on the disc, that shows as empty(new), and whatever the manufacturer put on the disc is wiped, and it would burn o.k. I could not guarantee this on all discs, but some worked.

 

Go to program files, open the DVD Flick folder, open the ImgBurn folder, and launch the .exe file. Then set the write speed for 4x (circled in purple in the attached screenshot). Close ImgBurn, wait a second or 5, then open it again and make sure that it 'remembered' the 4x burn speed. If not, click on the little green running man (circled in red in the screenshot) and set the burn speed to for 4x. Again close it out and re-open it to make sure the 4x speed stuck. Then try again. As Baklogic suggests, using DVDRW discs is a real good idea when you first start doing this type of stuff until you get the hang of it. When I first got into converting video files, I ended up with tons of 'coasters' so I bought a 10pk of DVDRWs to experiment with.... I've used DVD Flick for over a year, and haven't ever had a burn fail. I've had some bad conversions 'cuz I played with the default settings, or the source file was bad, but it has never errored out during the burn process. There are some other programs that should perform the AVI/MP4 to DVD conversion for you:
ConvertXtoDVD (not free, doesn't burn if I remember correctly) http://www.majorgeeks.com/ConvertXToDVD_2_d4689.html
DVDStyler (free, I haven't used this one) http://www.majorgeeks.com/DVDStyler_d5728.html
FAVC (free, converts only, no burning, use BurnAware or Nero to burn actual movie) http://www.majorgeeks.com/FAVC_d5741.html
Kate's Converter (free, requires registration, converts only, no burning, I don't really recommend this one but it's listed as another option, some folks like it) http://www.majorgeeks.com/Kates_Video_Convertor_d5681.html
MediaCoder (free, converts only, no burning, not for novices) http://www.majorgeeks.com/MediaCoder_d4987.html
SUPER (free, converts only, no burning, I haven't used this in over a year, but it works great) http://www.majorgeeks.com/Super_d5117.html
WinAVI (not free, has free limited trial, easy to use, has option to burn, converts VERY FAST!, recommended) http://www.winavi.com/en/download/download.htm
and there's MANY, MANY other programs available. I strongly recommend WinAVI even though it's not free. It's fast, and has a burn option. I haven't used it to do the burning, so I can't really comment on it, but the conversions are great, and really fast, and there's tons of advanced settings if needed. Like if the lip-sync is off, WinAVI has an audio delay setting so you can correct the problem during conversion. Here's some great sites for all things video:
www.afterdawn.com
www.doom9.org (hmmmm.... wasn't available at 9.40am Feb07,2008)
www.videohelp.com
Also make sure your DVDRW drive has current firmware and that the blanks you're using are compatible. It's rare, but occasionally, certain types of blank media just don't agree with a particular drive....
Good Luck!