DAT files

[Eliminator]

Just got a cd of Wallace and Gromit but can't play them on my player and can't open them on my computer as I get a notice saying they are DAT files and can't be played with what I have. What can I do to fix this and is there any way to change it and record it on another cd to play with my television?

Thanks for any help,

Eli

[Gerbil]

.DAT files can be renamed to .AVI files and they should open ok.

[Eliminator]

Thanks for that Gerbil and now I have to find out how. I'll google it. If I convert from DAT to AVI, can I play this on my vcd player for my tele? What program should I get to do this?

[Gerbil]

You dont need to convert, just rename the file from xxxxx.dat to xxxxx.avi then open in any media player.

Actually you dont even need to rename it, just open in windows media player or similar and ignore the warning about unknown extension.

[Gerbil]

If you burn a cd in vcd format, you'll notice that the media files on there have .dat extensions - they're also just .avi's really.

[man with no head]

It doesn't always work. i have several DAT files that WMP won't open under any circumstance but will open in VLC (Video Lan Client).

[man with no head]

^Oh, and DAT filess can be either MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. VCDs use MPEG-1 format and SVCDs are MPEG-2. If the file won't open in WMP then try using a DVD player (such as WinDVD, PowerDVD).

[Eliminator]

I just Dl this; GPL MPEG-2 Decoder. and about to do this one: DAT to AVI - Convert VCD DAT to AVI will this work or will it go to Windows as Riverpast is a partner to Windows?

[man with no head]

Do you have Nero? It should convert the files for you.

[Eliminator]

No, I don't have Nero.

[man with no head]

If you are using Windows you could download the trial version of Nero. I believe it's good for 30 days.

[man with no head]

Nero 7 [Nero 7 Premium Reloaded - Trial Version]

[Eliminator]

Thanks surasak, I'll try it.

[RDN]

^Oh, and DAT files can be either MPEG-1 or MPEG-2. VCDs use MPEG-1 format and SVCDs are MPEG-2. If the file won't open in WMP then try using a DVD player (such as WinDVD, PowerDVD).

You ever thought about writing a short tutorial on video file types, formats, converters, extensions, players, DVD burners... ? Hmm, maybe it wouldn't be so short, but I'm sure a lot of people would find it useful

[man with no head]

Sounds like a good idea when I find the time.

[Eliminator]

Downloaded the Nero from the site and tried to do the change and my dammmm computer shut off. Did notice a shift in sound when Nero loaded so I'm going to dump it and try again.

[man with no head]

Did you find a solution that worked?

[Eliminator]

I've tried the Nero but find it a pain to use so have gotten Alcohol 120 and will try that. Thanks for the help surasak.

[man with no head]

This might help you too:

GSpot Codec Information Appliance

If you download it and then open the DAT file it will tell you if it's an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file (important because VCDs cannot use MPEG-2 video).

VCD = MPEG-1 ; SVCD = MPEG-2

[RDN]

This might help you too:

GSpot Codec Information Appliance

If you download it and then open the DAT file it will tell you if it's an MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 file (important because VCDs cannot use MPEG-2 video).

VCD = MPEG-1 ; SVCD = MPEG-2

Nice utility - cheers!

I've just downloaded "The DaVinci Code DVDRip". The torrent has 3 files: cd1.daa, cd2.daa and subs.daa.

I found that I needed a program called "PowerISO" to deal with these files and it did indeed allow me to view and hear the .avi files that were "inside" the .daa files: cd1.daa and cd2.daa.

But how do I get the sub-titles to work? Inside the subs.daa file are:
CD1.idx
CD1.sub
CD2.idx
CD2.sub

It looks like I need to use another program to bring together these two .avi files and the other 4 files to produce... something else? A DVD maybe?

Anyone know what to do?

[man with no head]

Try something called 'DVDSanta' for that. It's a simple utility for adding subtitles to AVI files.

[man with no head]

ConvertXtoDVD does it also. I have used CX2DVD to add subs to a DVD ISO but not for a CD sized file.

DVDSanta as noted above is something I have used in the past for adding subs to DVD or movie-camcorder rips.

[RDN]

ConvertXtoDVD does it also. I have used CX2DVD to add subs to a DVD ISO but not for a CD sized file.

DVDSanta as noted above is something I have used in the past for adding subs to DVD or movie-camcorder rips.

I have ConvertXtoDVD - following your recommendation - so I'll see what it can do.

Do you know if either of these programms actually combines a sub-title file (cd1.sub, cd1.idx) with the .avi file to produce a DVD that can show the sub-titles? I presume whatever "ripper" utility was used to produce the torrent files should have a complementary utility to glue it all back together again?

[man with no head]

Generally yes. For ConvertXtoDVD for example you load the AVI file in the main window, click on the + next to the file, then under the 'subtitle' section add the subtitle (right click on the subtitle category).

If the subs and the AVI were bundled together the sync should be OK. If you get an AVI without subs and want to add them by downloading them separately then many times you get subtitles coming up long before the words are spoken.

There's even a site where you can get Thai subtitles for English-speaking movies:

:: ThaiSubtitle.com :: ศูนย์รวมซับไตเติลสำหรับคนไทย

[man with no head]

Subtitles are a major PITA to get right because the subtitles are actually GIF images superimposed over the movie if the option is enabled. By going to the aforementioned Thai site I downloaded Thai subtitles for quite a few movies that I took to Thailand this past March for the home team. But to add them required me to split the movie files into three parts (audio, video, and subtitles) so I could splice in the Thai subtitles.

To be honest I don't see why people waste their time ripping a movie down to 1.5GB (2 CDs' worth) with all the headaches and problems it entails when it's far simpler to simply rip the entire movie down to a 4GB ISO instead. Download ISO and burn...all the menus, audio tracks, and subtitles are proper. The only time I see any reason for this is if the movie is a camcorder release prior to actual retail release of a movie.