VideoNow Color (and Jr) Video Conversions

[VideonowDude]

Glad to see folks having success.

maxedroom, sorry about the colours. I just realized all my tests were conducted with cartoons or puppets, no live action stuff. My crude colour conversion code needs a bit of work by the looks of it.

Have to do some research, dont expect a new version any time soon. Keep your originals around and maybe you can re-convert them when I have a new version.

[JSM522]

Videonow, thanks for your time and effort in creating this awesome tool!
I made a justice league disk and it worked great. I was a little weary of modifying the player so I cut the disk. It wasn't too pretty but the Disk worked until the about the last 5 or 10 minutes (The reflective backing pealed up.)
I'll try scoring the CD first with an exacto and see if that helps.
For those of you who have modded the regular player (not the jr version) does the CD stick out the side of the player? My main concern is that my kid has to watch out for the spinning disk while he watches his shows.

Thanks again Videonowdude!

[brs72]

Me again...

Ok, I'm making the videonow discs no probs at all. My only issue is the peeling reflective layer. I've tried labels, no labels. I've tried scoring, scoring multiple times, both sides, cutting with scissors. Everything so far, has had the reflective layer peel. Even if it's good on the burn and first cut, a little bit of handling, and it starts to peel. And this is just with me, I haven't had the kids play around yet.... The only thing I've had a decent result with is a printable top. It didn't seem to peel. 1 or 2 small crinkles, but even after repeated handling, no peel..... yet... I was thinking about modding it, but I have a regular player not a junior, and I noticed that there were a couple more spots that touched the full size cd, and right now I kinda chickened out.....

So I was wondering..... Anyone having good results with no peeling of the reflective layer? Love to hear any of your stories....

Once again, thanks for everything.
Bill

[ppcinfo]

I've cut two CDs down to size using sharp scissors, and I haven't had any issues with peeling. I also am using some relatively "cheap" CD-R disks. Maybe you need to use sharper scissors?

Note, that when cutting the CD I make several straight cuts rather than trying to cut along a circular path.

ppcinfo

[maxedroom]

I tried something this weekend that worked well. First I burn the disk. Next I put a label on it. I've created a template with a 108mm circle on it that I print on the label so I don't have to trace a real disk. I use a tile cutter, the one with the sharp wheel that you use to score ceramic tile before snapping it, to score along the 108mm circle to cut the reflective backing. You can probably use an exacto knife. Then I use my really big, sharp scissors and cut approximately 1-2mm from where I scored the disk. Now the tricky part. I then peel away the 1-2mm circle of label/reflective backing from the outter edge of the disk. This leaves 1-2mm of exposed plastic disk on the outer edge. I then slap another label on it and cut away the part of the label that hangs over. This helps stick the first label and the reflective backing back down onto the disk on the outter edge. It's worked a lot better than previous attempts. It still peels a little WHILE i'm cutting it but so far the final product seems better.

[JSM522]

I think maxedroom has the right idea. I just did the same thing (without using the first label) and it seems to work. I used an exacto to cut the 108mm circle in the reflective coating, Cut it a little larger with utility scissors and peeled away the outer edge and then affixed a final label. So far so good. Looks like I'll be making some disks tonight!

[flybyu]

Well I am having a hard time getting past the security bootup sequence.
I have tried using the VND Track 00(First).wav to the cd-r and it did not
work, also tried taking a 178 framed section of my movie clip and using
Virtual Dub converted it to 18 frame format at 144 x 80 and tried to copy
a ripped first track boot of a legit Now disk, no go.

So I cannot figure what i am missing here?
Does the supplied track VND Track 00(First).wav at 2,099,292 bytes
the proper size to boot past the security point or is the file size needed
to be " it must be 107 frames, which with my encoder corresponds to a
file size of exactly 2,099,292 bytes" as posted by VideoNowDude?
When I use this boot the system will not work and gives me the no cd
inside icon?

I have followed all other instructions to the T and have used Nero 6.2
and set all tracks to Pause=0 but boot track Pause=2, and have
unchecked Remove silence at end of tracks and burnt at 8 times.
I have used the 00 boot track first and the 99 end track last in the write
sequence.

If anyone can help me out as I am stumped right now and have created
a few just a few coasters so far. (thats what you do with your bad cd-r's)

[chess_883]

Hey, you guys ever tried to put just music files into a videonow color disc? well, it would be awesome and everything! I was thinking that if I convert the audio file to 8bit stereo at 17640 sample rate, and burn it straight to a disc (with the booting track and last track), it would work, but then I thought that there is a reason for converting the whole thing into a new wav file that is 2X slower (since the player reads the discs at twice the speed) and 44.1KHz Stereo 16-bit using VideoNowToGo! DUH! So now I'm confused, remember, I just want the audio, not the video, but then again: the player might only be programmed to play video AND audio, so that got me even more confused!

After all my confusion, my next thought wasn't really helping out: a videonow disc is played at double the speed right, so I will only be able to fit like 5 songs on a formatted disc (if I did create a successfully working disc), but then I remembere that the player also plays black and white discs, and are not playing at 2X speed, and since the player doesn't limit black and white video I could fit twice the time, but it would be hard to convert it into a videonow black and white file, but I have software to make a booting track for a black and white disc, So my big question is: Is the audio technically different between a black and white video and a color video disc? If so, can you please contact me? Any ways, I could also copy the first and last tracks from a pre-recorded black and white disc. Please help somebody, I would appreciate it, A LOT! I just want to create a music cd that can play in the videonow player so I can take it anywhere, but that's not the real reason, I want to hear it anywhere ON SPEAKERS! Well, thanx for your help everyone, especially VideoNowDude, for even getting me this far!

[brs72]

Flybyu...

Try changing burning apps... I tried multiple disks with Nero. I've 5.5.9.9 and no go. It was suggested to me to try Cdrwin. I took one of my existing files and burned with Crdwin, presto, working disc. You might not be doing anything wrong, it just could be the app your using.

Worth a shot

Thanks
Bill

[flybyu]

Flybyu...

Try changing burning apps... I tried multiple disks with Nero. I've 5.5.9.9 and no go. It was suggested to me to try Cdrwin. I took one of my existing files and burned with Crdwin, presto, working disc. You might not be doing anything wrong, it just could be the app your using.

Worth a shot

Thanks
Bill

Thanks Bill, will give it a shot. Anything special you are supposed to
do in CDRwin to get to work properly. Do you still have to set the
first track at Pause=2 and the rest at 0 ?
I just downloaded it at do you use the first block in the top left to burn
the cd-r and do you use the "Raw Data" feature?

Again, thanks for the help!

fly

[brs72]

I Just got into work, I'll double check when I get home, but if I remember correctly, just use the defaults, no special things like nero.

Yes, it's the first block in the upper left, that's what I used.

I just loaded the tracks, including the first and last, and then burned.

That was it, didn't have to do anything special.

Good luck and let me know how ya do..

Bill

[cflynt]

I am still having issues doing this. I am sure I am doing something stupid.

I grabbed the videonowtogo filter and html guide. I am trying to do an mpg from a Looney Toons episode.

I open the file in VirtualDub by clicking File - Open Video File

Then I click Audio - Full Processing Mode

Then Audio - Conversion and select Custom and change it to 17640 for the Sampling Rate. Precision of 8-bit and Channels to Stereo. Then click OK.

Then click File - Save WAV and name it VDN Audio.wav

Then click Audio - Direct Stream Copy

Next I click Video - Filters, and then ADD Resize, change Width to 144 and Height to 80 and click OK.

Then ADD and VideoNowToGo Filter. I browse for the Audio VDN Audio.wav file I created earlier, which I save in the same dir as my flick I am converting. Then I browse for the Output directory which is that directory as well. These are already pre-commercial free so I don't do anything with frames. Then I click OK. And OK again to exit the Filters.

Then I click Video - Frame Rate and select Convert to fps under Frame rate conversion and put in 18 for the fps. Then I click OK.

After all that I click on the Left Skip button to make sure I am at the beginning of the flick and then click the Play with the 0 button to start the conversion. All goes well to the end. Then I close the application and open up my burning software. I have tried with Nero 6.6.0.3 following the exact insturctions from the HTML file, I have also tried CDRWin without changing any options with no avail. It burns fine I add the 00 and 99 tracks, have even gone as far as removing the (First) and (Last) from the filenames to see if that was the problem. After the burn, I trim the CD up with scissors, by first tracing an original VDN cd, yes some of the film comes off around the edges but all of the burned material is still in tact just fine, these are like 20 min episodes so there is plenty of room left on the CD. And each time I put it in the jr player, it always give the No CD symbol.

Hopefully I am missing something simple. Any ideas? This is I will state all the same type of media. But they are decent quality media. But that is the ONLY thing I can think of that I have't tried differently. Open to any suggestions.

Thanks again for all that have put forth effort on this project.

[flybyu]

Hey buddy, am in the same boat as you.
It has to do with the first 00 boot track, as said before by
VideoNowDude the length of the first track must be 107
frames in the 18fps format.
When i boot a legit VideoNow disk the unit my go around the
clock 1, 2 or up to 4 times before you get the Tiger boot screen.

I am wondering if the leading pause needs to be greater instead
of 2 make it 3 or more.

[chess_883]

cflynt, in what order are you burning your files?, it seems like you have the converting part right. Make sure that when using NERO, don't use the StartSmart option, go to the programs menu, and click on Nero Burning Rom, then select the Audio CD option/CDA Options Tab/UNcheck the "Remove silence at the end of audio track"/New/put VDN Track 00 in the beginning, then your wav tracks (created by videonow2go), thenVDN 99 Last/Make sure you select all of them except VDN 00, right click and select properties/change the Pause option from whatever # it is to 0, make sure it's 0/click ok/ select the CD with lit match icon/the burn compilation window will appear, i recommend you don't change anything in this window/ click burn. Also, make sure you are using a CD-R, NOT a CD-RW. I Hope I helped

[chess_883]

if my forum above didn't help, i provided a folder with 3 wav giles from an original disc, just put VDN FIRST first, VDN ALMOST LAST second to the last and VDN END last, put your converted wav files between the first and almost last tracks, it worked for me!

[cflynt]

Appreciate the help both of you, and unfortunately ya doing it that way, I am an old timer when it comes to burning cd's etc, so I never liked the new smart cd crap that nero has now, I always bypas sit and just put a link to run nero itself! But yah doing it that way, I drag the 00 file over first and then put the rest of them there. Do as you said about changing the time to 0 and still no go. I have tried multiple different mpg's all do the same, they are all Looney Toons eps, haven't tried anything else yet, but am guessing that isn't my problem. These are definately cd-r's but like I said I haven't tried differn't brands, cuz I didn't have any other brand, just thought it would be fine. But that is the point I am at currently. Will report back after I try, maybe I have something else that came with a burner or something sitting around. Thanks again.

[chess_883]

sorry about the message above, i' had problems uploading the files

[flybyu]

if my forum above didn't help, i provided a folder with 3 wav giles from an original disc, just put VDN FIRST first, VDN ALMOST LAST second to the last and VDN END last, put your converted wav files between the first and almost last tracks, it worked for me!

Hi Chess_883,

What is the track "VDN Almost Last" that you are using.
I have only tried "VDN 00 First and VDN 99 Last" in my cd-r burns?
Tried increasing the pause length to 3 in Nero and no luck yet.
Starting to run out of ideas?

fly

[cflynt]

Wanted to report back, that I finally have a success. I got a message from someone recommending I try and make a longer flick. The clips I was trying to use were like 15-20 minutes max, and he was guessing that maybe they check for longer flicks being as that is how their's come. Sure enough I just for testing purposes copied the same clip over and over a few times, making it almost the full 70 minutes on the CD-R and sure enough it worked!

SWEET! Appreciate all that helped and to VideoNowDude and the great person that sent me a message.

I did notice that the 144x80 actually is a touch small for the screen and compared to the size of the default movies made for the player. Not sure if they can go any larger or not. But it works and that is the main thing, but might play with that later too.

Now my next stunt moves onto trying to mod the players so that I don't have to trim the CD's! These are VDN Jr.s so should be fun! Also would like to learn how to make my own opening track but that isn't a requirement.

Again thanks for all that have put out effort to this project. It is going to make my kids very happy that we can put our own shows that so far aren't out from VideoNow currently.

[solfra]

VideoNowDude, I DID IT!!!!!!!! Wow man it´s perfect and incredible and I wanted to thank you very much for this.
I made a CD two days ago and it worked flawlessly. The film was 25 min. and I cut the CD with scissors and with the handling it peeled of a little, I think I will put a CD label when I make 30 min. discs.
The thing I don`t remember and it`s not clear in the help page is if I have to also burn the VDN Audio.wav or not.
I can`t remember if I burned it or not the other day.
Another question: what if you have an AVI with VBR audio. Do you have to convert the audio first to CBR or can we do it the same ?
Thanks.
F.

[cflynt]

The VDN Audio.wav is definately not needed, that is just something you needed to extract to create the video/wav combo files. I dunno on the 2nd question, I would guess it requires some sort of conversion first before doing it.

[solfra]

Thanks for the reply.

F.

[VideonowDude]

There does seem to be a minimum content requirement, not sure exactly what but around 20 mins somewhere (20 mins VDN time, 40 mins CD Audio time).

I believe this is so the security check can find data on the tracks just past the limit of a 3" disc. If you boot a 3" disc containing all the right data, you can watch it seek past the disc edge and do this check.

I'll have to burn a few coasters to determine the exact minimum.

And No, you should not burn the Audio file to the disc, it is only used to merge the audio into the video at conversion time.

[chess_883]

if my forum above didn't help, i provided a folder with 3 wav files from an original disc, just put VDN FIRST first, VDN ALMOST LAST second to the last and VDN END last, put your converted wav files between the first and almost last tracks, it worked for me!

Hi Chess_883,

What is the track "VDN Almost Last" that you are using.
I have only tried "VDN 00 First and VDN 99 Last" in my cd-r burns?
Tried increasing the pause length to 3 in Nero and no luck yet.
Starting to run out of ideas?

fly

well, VDN Almost last is the file before the last in a manufactured disc, it is actually the track that displays the word "END" at the end of every manufactured VideoNow Disc, the reason I have it, and use it is because I have VideoNowDude's VideoNowToGo BETA Version, and it said to put these files in there, though the VDN Almost Last was not required, it worked fine. If u would like a copy of the files, pm me your e-mail adress, or I'll see if I'm actually able to put the files on a forum.

[chess_883]

sorry guys, i'm having problems uploading the file, the limit is 2mb, but the folder is 1.36mb, weird, the "CANNOT FIND PAGE" page appears, but replies fine without the attachment! Weird huh?

[chess_883]

here are the files that might help you! Straight from the disc!

[flybyu]

Ok, i have managed to get somewhere now.
Thanks chess_883 and VideoDudeNow!
I was burning a cd-r with only 24 minutes of content in Nero.
As VideoDudeNow said it must be over 40 minutes to work
and that is right, I increased to 45 minutes and it will play now!

The only problem I have now is the audio is out of sequence
with the video on the screen, not sure why. Must have been
the format for audio i used. Will just have to work that out and
try again.
For ripping the DVD I used ImToo DVD Ripper and with the video
setting to AVI output, MP3 audio, and Cinepak Codec by Radius?
Sould I make my audio "Store to Wave"?

Thanks again everyone.

fly

[cflynt]

Well modded a player and burned yet another CD but this time didn't cut the CD, and it plays but same prob I was having with the cut CD that I assumed was a film issue, but now that it isn't cut I dunno. But on playback everything is kinda garbled at times. Audio is too and video also. Any ideas on what I might have done wrong?

[reddog83]

thank you all for developing this great method!

I have created a few VDN disks so far from my DVR as a source. One thing I have noticed is the audio seems alot quieter than the standard disk? Is there anything i can do to the audio track to boost volume? thanks in advance for your help.

[NobodyInParticular]

I too am pleased to *finally* report SUCCESS! For all my previous testing I was trying a simple 2 minute video clip and could not figure out for the life of me what I was doing wrong because I followed the VideoNowTogo directions to a T. Once I tried burning a longer video (33 minutes total in .wav time) it worked!

The bad news is I'm having troubles cutting the CD-R down. I had to keep shaving off little corners here and there until it would spin freely all the way around. Once I finally got that, I added a label to avoid extra peeling. But then I had to cut the label and subsequently the CD-R some more, now the disk no longer works. Apparantly, I trimmed too much off. Argh!

Does anybody have ideas for where I could take a box of CD-R's to and have them professionally cut down to 108mm without ruining the film on the bottom, like my cutting has been doing?

Or, is there any hope at all that mini CD-R's can be made to work. Note: I have a Video Now Color and not a Video Now Jr. So, it doesn't look like modding the player would work for me because a full-size CD-R would still stick out the sides. VideoNowTogo's screenshots look like a Video Now Jr (or, at least, not like my VideoNow Color player). Video Now Color players must be slightly thinner than Video Now Jr players?