making vcd's?

[g222leav]

i just got the ati all-in-wonder radeon 32 mb agp. i fiddled around with the tv tuner and caputed a few simpsons episodes, and futurama episodes, and some music videos. i'm gonna back them up in their .mpg format, but i'd also like to burn them into vcd so that i can play them back on my dvd player (shelf system). i'm also curious as to how the quality will be on the dvd player.

anyways, i have the ulead video editing software that came with it, and i also got my hands on mgi videowave5, that software seems to have a problem with my burner...so i dunno.

any suggestions on how to convert my .mpgs into vcd's????

[Memo]

Usually most burning programs have a "Make Video CD" option and you can add the mpg just like you would add an mp3 to an audio cd.

[Ladogaboy]

Nero is the best program I've seen. All you have to do is drag the .mpeg file over, and it will automatically create everything you need. As far as the quality, it will be as good as the quality at which you recorded it.

[Hoser]

There are a couple programs that I've been using for creating VCDs, SVCDs, and DIVx.

DVDx - http://www2.labdv.com/dvdx/ (Easy to use)
FlaskMPEG - http://www.flaskmpeg.net/

Here's a couple sites with good information about DVD ripping and creating the video files.

http://www.dvdripguides.com/ *
http://www2.labdv.com/sefyguide/dvdtovcd.htm
http://www.labdv.com/en/manuals/dvdx_guide.php *
http://www.dith.cwc.net/dvd/vcd.html

* - Definitely worth printing out for later use.

The video standards (resolutions) are as follows:

VCD (MPEG1) NTSC - 352x240 PAL - 352x288
SVCD (MPEG2) NTSC - 480x480 PAL - 480x576
DIVx (MPEG4) NTSC - 720x480 PAL - 720x576 (You can actually use any resolution with DIVx, a common one is 640x480. It all depends on where you'll be displaying your output.)

Most DVD players can play VCDs, not as many can play SVCDs, and none can play DIVx. You can play DIVx on your computer and use your video card TV output. VCD quality is comparable to a VHS tape. Since you captured the video off TV, this is probably your best choice. It takes about 10MB a minute using the VCD format.

You'll be able to put about 80 minutes on a 80min CD because the file is stored in a different format than regular files. I use Nero for creating the VCD, which will let you use a background picture and menus.

[artslave]

Answer's to all your questions.
http://www.vcdhelp.com/
Check-out the "How To" section on the left

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by Hoser
Most DVD players can play VCDs, not as many can play SVCDs, and none can play DIVx. You can play DIVx on your computer and use your video card TV output. VCD quality is comparable to a VHS tape. Since you captured the video off TV, this is probably your best choice. It takes about 10MB a minute using the VCD format.


A bigger problem is finding a stand-alone DVD player that will read CDR's... but if you are this far into it, I assume you know that already.

[Hoser]

I've got an Apex 600-A (with loophole menu) and Apex 700. Fortunately both can read CDR and CDRW. I usually make a VCD on a CDRW and test it before writing a CDR.

[Ladogaboy]

Originally posted by Hoser
I've got an Apex 600-A (with loophole menu) and Apex 700. Fortunately both can read CDR and CDRW. I usually make a VCD on a CDRW and test it before writing a CDR.

That's nice, I never thought of that before.

[g222leav]

hey guys, thanx a lot!

i ask my buddy at work, and he also suggested nero, which is what i tried once i got home. everything works great! i got the vcd to work on my pioneer 333 dvd that i bought for my 'rents specifically for dvd's, cd-r's and rw's, and v-cd's.

one more question...the video was a bit pixelated playing back on the dvd player...if i increase the the capture resolution, does that also increase the quality of the play back once it's been burned to a disk and playing on the dvd player?

[Hoser]

If you make the capture resolution the same as your output (NTSC - 352x240) then there won't have to be any resizing done. If you're capturing at a resolution that's not a direct multiple of your output resolution then there are bound to be some 'jaggies'.

You can also try to capture at twice your output resolution and see if the picture looks good when its downsized..