TMPGEnc vs. VCD

[Hactar]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

I'm trying (so far unsuccessfully) to create a VCD (or SVCD), using
VirtualDub and/or TMPGEnc. It appears that with the pair, I can translate
(with varying degrees of loss) anything I have into the appropriate format.
However, when I abandon the Wizard (as I am wont to do), almost all of the
options in TMPGEnc -> [Settings] -> "Video" tab are greyed out. Am I trying
to feed it something inappropriate? Is there some other switch that has to
be flipped first to enable these?

Also, I see the documentation on http://vcdhelp.com/ . Is there anywhere on
there or elsewhere that enumerates the requirements of the VCD format?

When I put a trial CD-RW VCD into my DVD player, the player's OSD recognizes
it as a VCD, but won't play it, so I've screwed up somewhere.

--
-eben ebQenW1@EtaRmpTabYayU.rIr.OcoPm home.tampabay.rr.com/hactar

A: Because it looks dumb and is hard to read.
Q: Why is top-posting wrong? -- from lots42@xxx.com

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hactar <ebenONE@tampabay.ARE-ARE.com.unmunge> wrote:
: I'm trying (so far unsuccessfully) to create a VCD (or SVCD), using
: VirtualDub and/or TMPGEnc. It appears that with the pair, I can translate
: (with varying degrees of loss) anything I have into the appropriate format.
: However, when I abandon the Wizard (as I am wont to do), almost all of the
: options in TMPGEnc -> [Settings] -> "Video" tab are greyed out. Am I trying
: to feed it something inappropriate? Is there some other switch that has to
: be flipped first to enable these?


At the bottom click on Load and load a VCD or SVCD template. Then click on
settings. If you want to change something like say resolution. Right click
on the word resolution and unlock it.

--Leonid

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

ebenONE@tampabay.ARE-ARE.com.unmunge (Hactar) wrote:

>I'm trying (so far unsuccessfully) to create a VCD (or SVCD), using
>VirtualDub and/or TMPGEnc. It appears that with the pair, I can translate
>(with varying degrees of loss) anything I have into the appropriate format.
>However, when I abandon the Wizard (as I am wont to do), almost all of the
>options in TMPGEnc -> [Settings] -> "Video" tab are greyed out. Am I trying
>to feed it something inappropriate? Is there some other switch that has to
>be flipped first to enable these?

I would stick with the TMPGEnc wizard; the VCD format is pretty
specific - certainly much less flexible than DVD.

In TMPGEnc, you can usually unlock greyed out settings by clicking on
the name of the setting (as long as the name itself isn't greyed out),
and selecting Unlock.

>Also, I see the documentation on http://vcdhelp.com/ . Is there anywhere on
>there or elsewhere that enumerates the requirements of the VCD format?

You could just read the settings from the TMPGEnc wizard.

I found this almost immediately with a google search:
http://www.videohelp.com/vcd.htm#tech

Nero does a nice job of burning VCDs if you feed it compliant files
(produced with TMPGEnc); I wouldn't let it do any encoding though.

 

[Hactar]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

In article <P0gqc.17782$KE6.12593@newsread3.news.atl.earthlink.net>,
<DeepOne@ix.netcom.com> wrote:
> ebenONE@tampabay.ARE-ARE.com.unmunge (Hactar) wrote:
>
> >However, when I abandon the Wizard (as I am wont to do), almost all of the
> >options in TMPGEnc -> [Settings] -> "Video" tab are greyed out.

> In TMPGEnc, you can usually unlock greyed out settings by clicking on
> the name of the setting (as long as the name itself isn't greyed out),
> and selecting Unlock.

Thanks, and also to the other poster.

> >Also, I see the documentation on http://vcdhelp.com/ . Is there anywhere on
> >there or elsewhere that enumerates the requirements of the VCD format?
>
> You could just read the settings from the TMPGEnc wizard.
>
> I found this almost immediately with a google search:
> http://www.videohelp.com/vcd.htm#tech
>
> Nero does a nice job of burning VCDs if you feed it compliant files
> (produced with TMPGEnc); I wouldn't let it do any encoding though.

The machine in question doesn't have the CD burner. Also, it's my PVR,
so I'm aiming for as little additional software on there as possible.
Until I figure out a faster way (unlikely), I have to transfer the VCD images
(MPEGs, it looks like) to my desktop box and burn them with cdrecord.

--
-eben ebQenW1@EtaRmpTabYayU.rIr.OcoPm home.tampabay.rr.com/hactar
TAURUS: You will never find true happiness - what you gonna
do, cry about it? The stars predict tomorrow you'll wake up,
do a bunch of stuff and then go back to sleep. -- Weird Al

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

On Tue, 18 May 2004 03:43:20 GMT, ebenONE@tampabay.ARE-ARE.com.unmunge
(Hactar) wrote:

>almost all of the
>options in TMPGEnc -> [Settings] -> "Video" tab are greyed out.

There is a template, in the Extra folder, "unlock.mcf", which if you
load it, unlocks all the settings. But it is probably better to unlock
an specific setting with the right-click thing others have told you,
change it, then lock it again. That way, you are prevented from
accidentally changing something.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hactar wrote:

> Is there anywhere on there or elsewhere that enumerates the
> requirements of the VCD format?
>
> When I put a trial CD-RW VCD into my DVD player, the player's
> OSD recognizes it as a VCD, but won't play it, so I've screwed
> up somewhere.

One of the requirements for VCD - that is not necessarily obvious -
is that the disc needs to be in a special CD-ROM XA format. It is
not enough to burn _files_ on a VCD disc (like you would do when
creating an ordinary CD-ROM). On a proper VCD, the video clips
on the disc are actually stored as _tracks_(much like the tracks
on music CD's), not as ordinary files - even though they show up
like they were ordinary files when you examine the contents of a
VCD using a computer.

If you try to play a properly constructed VCD disc in an audio CD
player, you should see at least two tracks: one of them is for
the control files and menus, the other being your actual main
video clip. If you add more clips on the disc, the amount of
tracks should increase, too.

This all means that you need to use a VCD-aware authoring program
to actually create a VCD disc - or an image of a VCD disc. There
is usually a special template for creating VCD discs. (If there
is no such template, chances are that your authoring/burning
program is incapable of producing the correct format for VCD
discs.)

--
znark

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: rec.video.desktop (More info?)

Hactar wrote:

>> On a proper VCD, the video clips on the disc are actually
>> stored as _tracks_ (much like the tracks on music CD's),
>> not as ordinary files - even though they show up like
>> they were ordinary files when you examine the contents
>> of a VCD using a computer.

> Always? Or does it depend on how your computer interprets
> a VCD? Is there a filesystem on a VCD?

There is an ISO 9660 filesystem on the first track. The *.DAT
files you see in this filesystem (in the MPEGAV subdirectory)
are, however, not contained within the first track (like normal
files on an ordinary CD-ROM filesystem would), but are actually
references to raw MPEG data stored on the subsequent tracks.

> Some computers display files on an audio CD also, and there
> is no filesystem there.

This is not the case with VCD's - there really _is_ a filesystem
there, it is just constructed in a special way.

For more information, see

<http://www.arndb.de/project/htmlmain/node15.html>

and

<http://www.cdrinfo.com/Sections/Articles/Specific.asp?
ArticleHeadline=VideoCD+Format&index=10>.

--
znark