How to convert Real Media RM/RMVB files to AVI with freeware AVISynth & VirtualDubMod

any ANONYMOUS forum user · #1 01-09-2010, 08:22 AM

You will need:

Real Alternative (to open RealMedia files in DirectShow players) or Gabest's Real media Splitter/Filter
AVISynth, latest version
VirtualDubMod (for generating AVI files)
RM file that needs to be converted (We will be converting C:\SAMPLE.RM file in this tutorial)

How to convert Real Media RM/RMVB files to AVI with freeware AVISynth & VirtualDubMod

Download and install Real Alternative.
Make sure you can play your RM/RMVB file. Test your favorite DirectShow player (Windows Media Player/WMP, Media Player Classic, etc.) and see if you can play your sample.rm file.
Download and install AVISynth.
Download AVSEdit to edit AVISynth files (you can also use Windows Notepad).
Download and install VirtualDubMod (it is useful for previewing AVS as well as encoding AVI files).
Open your AVS Editor (AVSEdit or Windows Notepad) and enter the following:
Code:
```
DirectShowSource("C:\SAMPLE.RM", fps=29.97, convertfps=true)
```
(Replace C:\SAMPLE.RM with your actual RM or RMVB filename and file path).

Save the edited AVS files "SAMPLE.avs" in the same directory as your .RM or RMVB file.

This AVS files tells AVISynth to open a DirectShow-type media file and feed it to whichever program that opened the AVS file. It also tells it to generate extra frames so the frame rate per second is kept at a constant 29.97. RMVB file's frame per second can vary depending on amount of pixels being changed on the screen, so you need to use the ConvertFPS parameter.
Run VirtualDubMod and open the SAMPLE.AVS file with it.
Please note that this is exactly WYSIWYG. If you got an error message in red letters, you better read it and fix it.

If you got the preview message, it's working! Hit the INPUT PLAY (lower left corner, circled below) and see for yourself. It'll probably be very slow and skipping, that's fine. Don't worry about it. This is a preview only.
Now, we know that the AVS file is working. So let's create an AVI file.

How to create AVI file from AVS file with VirtualDubMod
- Select "Video" -> "Compression". Pick a codec for the video (such as Xvid, x264). You don't want uncompressed as you likely won't have the hard drive space for it. Please note that the codec needs to be installed on your PC.
  
  Do not use uncompressed video as it takes to much hard disk space.
- Select "Streams" -> "Stream List". You'll see your audio stream. Right-click it, and select "FULL PROCESSING MODE". Right click it again, and pick "Compression". Pick an audio codec such as MPEG LAYER-3 (MP3). Pick one of the encoding rates. Hit OK to get out of this dialog box.
- Select "File" -> "Save As...". Then pick a filename. The conversion to AVI should start. When it's done, you have converted your RM/RMVB file to an AVI!
How to create MPEG-1/MPEG-2 file from AVS file with VirtualDubMod

If you want to generate MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 files, pick an encoder that accepts AVS files (TMPGEnc or QuEnc or etc.). If the AVS loads into VirtualDubMod, then it should work with any of those encoders as well.

For the example here, we'll pick TMPGEnc, though QuEnc would be almost identical except for slightly different options.

Start up TMPGEnc, and pick the Wizard if you don't see it. Pick an encoding template. For the test, let's say VCD NTSC. On the next screen in the wizard, we get to pick the source. Select the LOTR.AVS file we created. Hit next, next, and have TMPGEnc start encoding. After a while, you'll have converted your RM/RMVB into an MPEG file!