I have a Popcorn NMT media player that can't decode .rmvb files, and since I keep all of my vids/DVDs on it (and several USB drives) I wanted to convert some .rmvb files I had to .avi. Most of the "Freeware" I downloaded either didn't work properly or told you after you'd started transcoding that it would watermark the file or stop after a couple of minutes.....
It's a bit or a roundabout way, and the software is quite old, but this link gives a good description of how to do it (ignore the first couple of paragraphs, it's the VirtualDub guide you want):-
How to Convert RMVB
If you don't use the XVID compression as suggested you will end up with a huge .avi, about 75 times the size of the original file!
I didn't notice any quality loss after compression, but the file will still be considerably bigger, which I guess is why .rmvb is still used....
One thing the link doesn't mention is checking the frame rate of a variable bitrate video file - you can use MPlayer2.exe, the old Windows Media Player 6.4 which still comes with Windows, in the WMP folder. Once the video is playing, right click on the video window and select Properities. Go to the Advanced tab, Video Render, Properties and select the Quality tab. The Average Frame Rate Achieved field will bounce around for a while but eventually settle down, use the closest to this for transcoding.
If you have any specific questions I'm more than happy to let you know exactly how mine is setup, but an expert I am not!
I can't claim credit for any of this, but I hope someone finds it useful - it would have saved me half a day of searching and downloading......
It's a bit or a roundabout way, and the software is quite old, but this link gives a good description of how to do it (ignore the first couple of paragraphs, it's the VirtualDub guide you want):-
How to Convert RMVB
If you don't use the XVID compression as suggested you will end up with a huge .avi, about 75 times the size of the original file!
One thing the link doesn't mention is checking the frame rate of a variable bitrate video file - you can use MPlayer2.exe, the old Windows Media Player 6.4 which still comes with Windows, in the WMP folder. Once the video is playing, right click on the video window and select Properities. Go to the Advanced tab, Video Render, Properties and select the Quality tab. The Average Frame Rate Achieved field will bounce around for a while but eventually settle down, use the closest to this for transcoding.
If you have any specific questions I'm more than happy to let you know exactly how mine is setup, but an expert I am not!
I can't claim credit for any of this, but I hope someone finds it useful - it would have saved me half a day of searching and downloading......
