No sound with DVD player

To the technical wizards here:
I have a recording gadget, looking like an external disk drive, connected to my satellite receiver. This device creates .avi-files, usually of 1 hour lenght (around 1 - 1.3 GBytes). I can transfer these files to my laptop/PC and cut and compress them with VirtualDub 1.7.5. As compression method I use XVID MPEG-4 Codec. There are lots of other methods offered in the compression menu, but I know nothing about them. The compressed files are around 200 - 230 MB. These files get also the .avi extension you surely know that, but I want to be precise here.
I can play these Files with VLC media player; no problem.

Now I bought - a few months ago - a Panasonic DVD player DVD-S33. Not expensive, but also not the cheapest type. I choosed that model because the blurb on the box said that it can play almost any video format.

Yes, kind of. It can play my DVDs, but get the message on screen: No sound.
Now in the manual of the player is a (rather complicated) table 'playable discs'.
Even after several attempts I am unable to see where the problem is. I first used DVDs of type +R, but found then that these have a '-' in that table (means 'not available'). Then I bought type DVD-R (which have a 'available'-mark as far as I can interpret this), but there is no difference.

So, to come to the final question: How can I record/burn a DVD which also plays with sound on a DVD player?

If I made it completely unclear now, just ask.

The audio you have is in an uncompressed form - it's quite similar to what you have on an audio CD.

PCM is playable on a dvd player but the frequency must be 48khz. It's possible that your clips are captured at 44.1khz (the audio CD rate) Windows Explorer properties does not give you this information but Mediainfo will.

The problem with the typical free authoring program given away with a burner is that it is a cut down version. Typically just one video per dvd.

I'll name 2 programs which will do the biz for you. DVD Flick is free (get it from [hidden link - please register]) The other one is called ConvertXtoDVD also available from there but not free. Both can create fully dvd compatable disks with multiple files. You may also need another program to actually burn the disk. A very good one, and again free, is called ImgBurn.

Thanks for all the answers. I am a bit further now in knowing where the main problem is, but not much. First hint came from DB: yes, what I did was creating a data DVD... The MySonic program gives no good explanation about the purposes of the other available menu points. One is called 'video project'. I tried this, and got so far as to reading in the .avi-files. but then the program stopped with an error message. Could it be that it is only possible to create a video DVD using ONE .avi file? I could (and want to) put about 40 small (compressed) files on the DVD.

Elmo said something about the 'Eigenschaften' of the files. Yes, the (original and compressed) files say: 'Audio format IMA ADPCM', whatever that is...

Shirtfull: I don't know how/if i could reduce the bit rate at the level of the recorder. In the manual I find nothing about that. But I understand that it would be fine if I could record in a compressed format, as the compressing of dozens of files with VirtualDub is a pita.

Last night I downloaded the DVDForger program and tried it out. Well it did something - I just don't know what.
I gave him 2 small files to chew and choose to write the' virtual DVD' in a new directory. This was a VERY slow thing; I had to let it work the whole night. To my surprise I had (among other stuff) now 4 .avi files in the output directory: two with the original soundtrack, and 2 with another, new one.
Now don't fall from your chairs: one file now has Frank Sinatra's 'I did it my way' as soundtrack!!!!!
Heavens only knows how that happened. It surely was not 'my way!'

@kasenit

Try playing a file from your recording gadget (say a five minute test recording) on the dvd, if it does then try to reduce the bit rate this recorder captures at and then edit and save using virtualdub in direct copy mode (saves time as no recompression is needed).

@ kasenit

right click the .avi file, in German a window Eigenschaften (English properties) will show. there you can obtain the info you require about the file. from there using for example V.Dub you have to change the audio to any form available that your DVD player can read. leave the video track alone on pass thru or whatever lingo V.Dub uses.

Yes, sorry, you spotted my typo. It should have read Dolby and not Dobly.

The reason you can hear the sound on your computer is because you already have the audio codec installed. If you are curious as to what it is go to that site and download a small program called mediainfo. Another suitable tool to get this info is called Gspot.

as far as authoring is concerned the Sonic MyDvd is a basic program but will suffice. Now there are two types of dvd disk. If you have created a disk with your avi files and with no conversion (just open the disk in Windows Explorer and if you see the original files there) then you have created a data disk - that can hold just about anything you can throw at it and most cannot be read by a dvd player. The other type of disk is a dvd-video disk. Your sonic program can make this quite easily - just follow the workflow.

Vdub is a video editor and can transcode your video using other codecs that are resident on your PC. I have never been able to use that to change the audio codec and it just uses the one that was originally in the source avi. The experts on [hidden link - please register] may be able to direct you ferther. In truth, I use a much more sophisticated video editor and discussion of that is well beyond this particular topic.

To recap : Import the video on to the PC in the least  compressed form available beit DV.avi, mpeg-2 - even mpeg-1 (VCD quality can be perfectly acceptable for a dvd) . Select ac3 or mp2 as you audio codec (yes, there is an audio codec called mp2. Do not conuse that with mp3 whiich is totally different player. Use your Sonic MyDVD program to author a dvd-video disk.

Thanks, DB - very good information, but I'm as dumb as before...

- Yes I know that .avi contains video and audio - on the PC this works ok.
- In the Virtual Dub program I see no way to choose an audio codec Dobly = Dolby I think???.
Does that mean that such an audio codec should be 'got' from somewhere and installed as a plug-in in the Virtualdub?

- I forgot to mention that I write the DVD with a program called Sonic MyDVD - I think that is what you call a DVD-authoring program. At least I believe that it has similar functions as e.g. Nero.

- The manual of the DVD player gives no information about the audio part. On the remote control is a button 'Audio'; pressing this shows a 'forbidden' icon (red circle w. diagonal line).

- I have seen this site (Videohelp) before. It is so large that I would need days to find meaningful i(for me) informations in it... Well I could download other programs and try out... Maybe i will do that. DVDForger is one I saw there.

- hard stuff...

Thanks a lot again, DB

I'll try not to be too technical here.

An avi file is a 'container' for video and audio, both of which require a codec for you to see and hear. The video codec you have chosen is Xvid. What audio codec have you chosen. There are many and it's more than likely that the dvd player can only read certain ones - the most popular being ac3 also known as Dobly. Your manual should tell you what codecs can be read.

If you want to be certain that you can play the disk in the dvd player you should obtain a dvd-authoring program. You then make a fully compatable disk which can be played both the the computer and the stand-alone player. You should however choose a less compressed video codec at the transfer stage - mpeg-2 will suffice if you have it. DV--avi would be ideal

There are many such programs. One which I use is called Ulead DVD Movie Factory. There are cheaper ones (some are free) and more expensive. You may already have one with your dvd burner - Nero is often given for free. But, frankly, I would not use it.

If you want a better understanding of dvd-authoring then you can go to [hidden link - please register]. There are guides there. They also list most of the popular programs (look under tools) and also several dedicated forums.