VideoNow Color (and Jr) Video Conversions

[chess_883]

Hey, I think I know what the blank track is for! I have thought about why there is a minimum play time for the discs, I thiink it is because the player is programmed to play over the minimum time, this is why the discs have blanck tracks at the end. I tried making a disc that was only 4 minutes, I loaded a previusly recorded blank track using Sound Recorder, went to EFFECTS>DECREASE SPEED many, many times, like up to the point where the blank track was 25 min. Then I recorded the discs like usual, and it worked! I also own 2 VideoNow Color Music Video discs, and their blank tracks are much more bigger than the 4 sec. blank track on an original disc. The trak is just used for the player to think that it is a real VideoNow File, so it'll keep playing. So whan the lens checks for the disc size to be videonow size, it also checks for any written files.

[flybyu]

Hey, I think I know what the blank track is for! I have thought about why there is a minimum play time for the discs, I thiink it is because the player is programmed to play over the minimum time, this is why the discs have blanck tracks at the end. I tried making a disc that was only 4 minutes, I loaded a previusly recorded blank track using Sound Recorder, went to EFFECTS>DECREASE SPEED many, many times, like up to the point where the blank track was 25 min. Then I recorded the discs like usual, and it worked! I also own 2 VideoNow Color Music Video discs, and their blank tracks are much more bigger than the 4 sec. blank track on an original disc. The trak is just used for the player to think that it is a real VideoNow File, so it'll keep playing. So whan the lens checks for the disc size to be videonow size, it also checks for any written files.

Good work chess_883!
I managed to get mine to work and the audio is in sync also now.
Anyone know what the max video time is on the VideoNow player?
Are we looking about 35 min on a cd-r in VideoNow time or about
70 min in Nero?

I applied a label on one of the cd-rs and then cut around the outside
to allow it to work in the unit. I found that if you do not use very sharp
cutting scissors that the disk can actually form little cracks around the
outside. I also noticed that if you then peel off the label it will pull the
silver inner coating right off the cdr.
Since this I have use a label on the cd-r and then mark with a original
disk and then use a belt sander while holding the disk by the center
vertically and rotate it around and remove the needed material.
With a little practice you can actually make the disk look very good,
better then the cutting method. Also the sanding method melts the
outside edge a bit, so the silver coating will not flake off now.
My kid loves SpongeBob now and the Simpsons on the unit, i as its so
cheap dont have to worry about him breaking or trashing it.

Anyways this has been so fun fooling around with, and i got my unit
at ToyRus for 50.00 Canadian. I have now picked up a Zvue to play
with now, the screen looks a little better resolution and no more disk
sanding, just flash the SDcard. The units like FlashTrax, iRiver are
better and have built in HD but are a hell of alot more expensive,
will wait a while for one of those.

fly

[skelex]

If anyone is interested, someone is selling homemade custom cut discs on ebay. 10 for $20.00 +s&h.
item #5964759148

[fun2live4]

I just had a cheap idea to solve the peeling of the reflective top layer. I too used some scissors to cut my VDNTG CD, MUCH THANKS TO VIDEONOWDUDE, and the rim is starting to peel.

I was thinking of using finger nail polish. Just apply around the edges to hold the top layer.

What do you think?

I'm going to go get a bottle but I couldn't wait to share the idea and get some feedback.

I hope they don't think I'm gay buying finger nail polish at this time of the night. Not that there is anything wrong with that!!

Hmmm... what color should I buy!!

Be right back!!

F2L4

[flybyu]

Well it looks like you can cut the cdr down, there are several companies
that will do it for you, just need to buy 1000+ to make it affordable.
I also think that you could use a lathe and a mandral or hub to attach
the cdr to with the center hub, using a wooden backplate then you could
then part off the section you dont want. Also you could try a hotknife
method or hotwire to cut and melt through the material, it might seal the
outer edge and stop the peeling also.

[GregSmith]

I Know This is off topic...

I just created a site for video biographers. it's at http://videon.us . I've included a documentary about a year on the DEW Line in 1964 and an OnStar spoof I did on a lark. Check it out!

Greg

[chess_883]

I have just created a working black and white video disc for the VideoNow Color Player. It works great. I have a question, or comment (whatever you want to call it): When the player reads the first track of a self booting disc, the track determines what mode the player will play in, if I am incorrect PLEASE tell me so, for example, the VideoNow Color Start track had to be 107 frames right?, so when the player has read the data, it knows to spin the disc 2x as fast, and when you put in a black and white disc, it must have a certain amount of frames that makes the player play the disc at 1x speed. VideoNowDude, can you help me if you are interested in making your VideoNow Color Discs 2x longer, or any body else? I would really appreciate your help! Thanks!

[VideonowDude]

I believe the first track does determine how the player treats the disc, yes. I don't have any b/w discs, looks like I need to get myself one and have a look. Interesting idea chess_883.

I thought there were references an "extended" colour format, but I seem to have been delusional, I can't find any now. I suppose I could burn 106 CD-Rs, each with a different # of frames to see which boot...

[teknow]

I recently modded the videonow color to accept the full size cd's.

Some things I wanted to make obvious in case anyone else is foggy:

you may use multiple videos (multiple processing sessions with virtual dub), simply numbering the VDN Track 01.wav to VDN Track 02.wav, making way for the new one in the same folder which of course will default to VDN Track 01.wav.
I was unware of that and was scowering the net to find a program to merge two avi's having different audio rates (or whatever the error was with them).

Modding the VideoNow Color, requires significantly bigger cuts to the plastic, much less aesthetically pleasing, not that the kid cares... of course the first thing mom said was... oughh ugly.

My main questions come to the pixilation in comparison to the original disks, which are by no means great. Is the pixilation just a current limitation (I'm not complaining, I just don't want to miss out on the free cheese; There is free chese right?

Second, is there a way to increase the volume of the wavs produced by virtual dub. Again in comparison to original discs it is noticeably lower.

In addition there is a loud whining noise... wondering if i'm doing anything wrong or is this something everyone is experiencing?

Thanks alot videonowdude, been alot of fun, and my family appreciates your work

**** important, make sure when you are firing up your dremel to cut away at that plastic that you are in a well ventilated area and take breaks often. I had the nastiest of headaches from the fumes cutting/burning plastic creates

[chess_883]

On the VideoNow Color manual, it said that there are indeed "extended" discs, and that the fast forward and rewind buttons will skip 2x faster. I'll check in on that.

[thylacine222]

I've decided to try changing a DVD into a VNCD. In fact, right now, I'm converting the first 30 minutes of it to VNCD form. Except, I don't have a VNC. I'm planning to get one, but I would just like to see if alll of my hard work has payed off. Could I send a sample .wav file to someone to see if it would work? If this actually works, I suppose I could write some sort of tutorial to do this.

[skelex]

Hasbro has released the feature length film, Agent Cody Banks for videonow color. It is on four 25min discs so maybe they haven't figured out how to get the extended format to work.

[reddog83]

If anyone is interested, someone is selling homemade custom cut discs on ebay. 10 for $20.00 +s&h.
item #5964759148

New auction #5965828980 Better price.

[teknow]

That price is outrageous, Imagine buying those on a regular basis, much more cost effective to mod your player.

The new one is still 15 for 10 disks, that's horrible

Are you by any chance the person listing them?

[reddog83]

That price is outrageous, Imagine buying those on a regular basis, much more cost effective to mod your player.

The new one is still 15 for 10 disks, that's horrible

Are you by any chance the person listing them?

The price is set because of the yield rate for disks that do not peel at the edge or have imperfections. Not everybody wants the trouble to mod their kids player and have the spinning disk stick out -or- cut their own disks and have them peel. Still cheaper than buying OEM disks from Hasbro ($168.00 for 10). What price is not "outrageous"?

[teknow]

I'd be happy to do player mods on Vid color or JR. I've already done both. And I'm not sure why Videonowdude cut his JR's sides unless my model is newer, because it wasn't necessary on my jr (the far better constructed player.) IMO
Admitedly the disc sticking out is a turn off, but it's worth not having to buy such expensive disks.
If the yield is so low that it requires the price, then some revision to technique of cutting is necessary, not only for the consumers well being, but the integrity of the seller. I've hear several people here having wild success cutting, and not having problems. One such poster talked of using nail polish on the edges to hold the peel at its current state.
We all know that no one in their right mind or with an average income is going to shell 168 for 10 disks, at that point your better off buying all videos put out by hasbro.

My son has the Vid color with disc protruding... point is it functions and new media costs a as little as 14 cents not 1.50 a piece. Shop4tech http://www.shop4tech.com/z/CD_R_RW_Media/1_91 I mean come on that's aprox. 107% increase in price. It's certainly worth the time to do the work or find someone else who you feel with comfortable doing it. He'll be getting the jr I bought and modded today in 20 minutes when he gets back (modded for full size w/no external markings/cuts.

I suppose if you don't have the ability, courage (to rip into your player, then it's a good deal. I just didn't have the understanding that there was such a high failure rate. Still I'm glad I'll never have to try cutting a circular object; that would be disasterous.

Seriously.. to anyone from these forums I'd be happy to mod their player for 10 dollars plus shipping for return. So it wouldn't be more than 15 likely in the contiguous states.

**off topic, in the junior the volume is very noticeably decreased as a result of the extra disc size covering a significant part of the speaker. I'm intending to create some acceptable looking holes in addition to the existing ones to improve the volume.

** Walmart has lowered color JR's to 50 dollars making them the cheapest seller of NIP Vidnow products

[GregSmith]

I think $15/10 is reasonable. If you take into consideration that it probably takes an hour to produce 10 discs, then you are paying a modest price for the service. Especially if it is something you cannot do yourself. Blank DVD's are about $1/ea so $1.50 for VNCD (which are not in mass production, so economies of scale are not possible) is quite fair.

Also, remember, that in a capitalist system it is the market that determines price. If you think it's too much to pay, simply starve the producer by not buying. That will drive the price down.

[teknow]

wohh wohh, I never buy dvd for more than 40 cents a piece, again refer to shop4tech website. .40 gets you name brands as well.

Recently I was in
Office Max and got 50 sony DVD-R 4x for 20 bucks. When you can find that price at retail for a major brand it should give an indication of the direction prices will follow. Granted that was with rebate; but shop4tech has free shipping on .32 cent DVD-Rs on 50 packs. So that's $16 for 50 to your door.
It was a freak of nature for Office Max to have that deal, so I guess Shop4tech won't be seeing for quite a while.

[thylacine222]

One site I found said that a good way to cut CDs are to use a hair dryer on the cd first then use Utility scissors. I suppose I'll try that tomorrow and report back.

[thylacine222]

OK, that didn't work. I tried to do the thing with the hairdryer, and it didn't work. Maybe I need to put it on for longer. There was less flaking than normal, but there was still flaking, which eventually got worse. I'm going to go try drying it for 2 minutes.

[VideonowDude]

Update on black & white discs: a basic test shows that at least 70 minutes of black & white will fit on a modded Color player (ie twice the time capacity of the Color discs), so an unmodded player should be able to get 58 mins of lower resolution, mono video on a 108mm disc.

If there is sufficient interest I could investigate adding a Mono option to VideoNowToGo, although tools already exist to make mono discs as I understand it so I'd be reinventing the wheel somewhat.

[EwanG]

To be honest, I'd be much more interested in finding a reliable source of 108mm disks than at being able to play longer shows at this point.

While the current program seems to work (and a big THANKS again from myself and my handicapped daughter), the fact that I'm not much of a hardware person means that she has so far gotten very little additional material. If only this "job thing" wouldn't take so much time away from my hobbies

FWIW...

[teknow]

why don't you send your player out to one of the members here for modification? I'll do it for YOU free minus shipping costs, in light of your situation.
I can provide online references if you would like. The moment the mod becomes unfun is the moment to try something else.

[EwanG]

why don't you send your player out to one of the members here for modification?

As I understand the mod, the disc then sticks somewhat out of the player, and I know my daughter well enough to know that would become an overwhelming temptation - which would likely ruin the disk or player, or possibly hurt her (not knowing whether touching one of those disks spinning at speed would do to your hand).

Unless I misunderstand how the mod works?

[teknow]

I'd be happy to do player mods on Vid color or JR. I've already done both. And I'm not sure why Videonowdude cut his JR's sides unless my model is newer, because it wasn't necessary on my jr (the far better constructed player.) IMO

As referenced in the quote from one of my previous posts: I'm unsure as to why videonowdude had to cut the sides of his jr. I've done the mod on two of my jr's and there is no need for this. Your daughter will not see any difference. No sharp edges, rough surfaces, or disk will come into contact with her.

*I believe he did this as a precaution (he believed the sides would interfere) so he would not have to open it up and cut again; when in fact it wasn't required, he just never realized it wasn't needed, so that part remains in the mod tutorial he provided.

** On the Videonow Color (not junior) it is required to cut the sides (quite a bit), but again this is not the case with the JR

***PM me for an Instant Message screen name if you would like to discuss this further

[VideonowDude]

There seems to be some confusion over my Jr. mods: the disc does not stick out of the case, I did not cut the side of the case. The markup on the bitmap must be misleading, I'll fix it if I ever need to rev the docs.

[chess_883]

videonowdude, i want to try to convert a color video with the black and white software, I don't know what it'll come out like, but i'm expecting details that will help. Oh, can you explain the 58 min. mono format thing, i didn't understand, have you tried it?

[VideonowDude]

chess_883, all I did was a crude test: I took a commercial B/W disc and used Nero to copy it to an audio CD, duplicating the tracks to get to 70 mins total (on a full-size disc). I then verified the Color player could play all the tracks.

As b/w discs run at 1x, and Color discs at 2x, this shows that a cut down b/w disc should get 58 mins on a Color player.

[chess_883]

Any Updates? Just Wondering!

[dmcbudman]

dude
everyone
thanks i took 4 discs before i got it right
i ended up haveing to rip my own first and last tracks
i first burned the snorks for my daughter 30min
family guy, home on the range(2discs), malcom in the middle
smurfs, simpsons & ducktales the movie
i cut the case up on the full size so the disc is hanging out
but hey i cant complain
you guys are great
now i just need to figure out how to cover up the spinning disc
i didnt see anyone post about how to fix the low sound issue
before you rip the wave up the volume to about 300-350
(audio tab under "conversion...")
once again may i say you the greatest