Making a VCD to send to the Philippines

[StrikerZERO]

I'm planning on making a video for christmas to my relatives in the Philippines. It's been a long time since I've been to the Philippines. VCDs there are very common for watching videos much like DVDs here in the US. I'm not sure that when I send the VCD to the philippines, it might not play at all into their VCD players. I wanna make this video memorable for them all and I want them to see it. Please anyone? How do you make VCDs in the proper format?

[hech54]

I remember using this one back in the day:
http://www.videohelp.com/tools/VCDImagerGUI
Plain and simple.

[StrikerZERO]

That's it? Then what? what about the burning CD and stuff?

[hech54]

It gives you a BIN file. That can be burned to your CD with ImgBurn(FREE).
Of course your video needs to be MPEG1. If your video is not
MPEG1 then there are plenty of free encoders....especially for MPEG1.

[jman98]

We've got guides on making VCDs. Just make a standard NTSC VCD and your relatives SHOULD be able to play it. However, I am going to warn you about something. Portable VCD players almost never play homemade VCDs. Nobody knows why. VCD is a really old format and I'm straining to remember, but basically there was some old authoring program and apparently if you made the VCD with that, it would probably work in the portables. The problem is that this authoring program is not free and it's really old and I don't remember the name of it. If your relatives have a standalone VCD player and not a portable then they will probably be able to play your discs.

Look at our "What Is VCD" section in the column at the top left for the specs for VCD format. It will tell you what resolution and bit rate you need. TMPGenc is one program that can easily encode to VCD format, but you may have to look around a bit to find the free version.

[MOVIEGEEK]

Back in the day I used Nero Express, it would author and burn.
I must have 5 Nero CD's in my closet because they came with the writers.

[hech54]

The All-In-Ones like Nero and Roxio would be the best bet for VCD....no doubt.

[jman98]

The All-In-Ones like Nero and Roxio would be the best bet for VCD....no doubt.

The problem with this is that Nero (probably true for Roxio, but I have no personal experience) doesn't adhere 100% to VCD standards. Most DVD players will play Nero created VCDs without problems, but for best results I'd suggest either the original suggestion of VCDImagerGUI or VCDEasy. Standalone VCD players are less fussy than portable VCD players but still much more fussy about what they will play than DVD players. It would suck for the original poster to create a VCD in Nero and not have it play when if he had just done it in VCDImagerGUI or VCDEasy it most likely will work.

[StrikerZERO]

Oh i have TMPGenc. It's just that i only know burn stuff into DVDs. And about VCDImagerGUI or VCDEasy, you just convert the videos with those and that's it? How do you burn it? Is it by the conversion, you get the VCD data and then TMPGenc burns it?(that would make sense cuz VCDImagerGUI doesnt have a burn into CD function, or so i've thought...O_o)

[StrikerZERO]

It gives you a BIN file. That can be burned to your CD with ImgBurn(FREE).
Of course your video needs to be MPEG1. If your video is not
MPEG1 then there are plenty of free encoders....especially for MPEG1.

Oh nvm that's what it is...

[jman98]

StrikerZERO - you are dangerously close my friend to exceeding our patience here. Since you seem unwilling to actually look for any of our guides, here is a link:
http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?n...uides&id=Start

Use TMPGenc to encode to NTSC VCD format. There are guides for that too, but please at least be willing to look for those yourself if you need them.

I think you might have better luck with VCDEasy. There was an older free version available, but the main website (http://www.vcdeasy.org) no longer has it, so you'll either have to search for it (might try Bit Torrent) or just buy the commercial one.

[edong]

I'm planning on making a video for christmas to my relatives in the Philippines. It's been a long time since I've been to the Philippines. VCDs there are very common for watching videos much like DVDs here in the US. I'm not sure that when I send the VCD to the philippines, it might not play at all into their VCD players. I wanna make this video memorable for them all and I want them to see it. Please anyone? How do you make VCDs in the proper format?

Hey Kabayan,

I have not been there for two decades myself. I always send them DVDs because not one of my relatives owns a VCD player anymore. Are you sure your relatives are still using VCD and not DVD players? I believe you already saw the difference in quality between a VCD and DVD videos.

[redwudz]

I probably should add here that the VCD specifications and format are available to the upper left on this page in 'WHAT IS' VCD. <<<<< That should give you more information. VCD is still a common format in the Asian parts of the world.

[Cornucopia]

The software alluded to earlier that was so "compliant" was Philips' own VCDTK2 (VideoCD Toolkit) that WAS the reference software (seeing as how Philips owned the spec on VCD). I have a copy, but no need to be giving it out anytime soon.

I would say, in terms of "closeness to compliance", the list would be such as this:

1. VCDTK2
2. Cequadrat's Videopak (Cequadrat became Adaptec became Roxio)
3. VCDEasy (most recent version, although the free version is quite close), and any other freeware GUIs based on VCDImager (VCDImagerGUI, TSCV, etc)
4. Adaptec's EasyCDCreator - VCD module
5. Nero's VCD module
others...

I've used them all and have copies, so I know what I'm talking about. FOR YOUR MONEY, unless you need something special, like AVCD capability, your best bet is VCDEasy (even the paid version).

The REAL problem with VCD players is partly compliance (which can be alleviated by using a more compliant app), but often moreso one of difficulty reading CD-R or CD-RW media. Those portables are notorious for not reading such discs. Same thing with portable/automotive drives when trying to read MP3-audio CDs. Using the BEST media might help somewhat, but there's no guarantee.

BTW, VCDEasy comes with CDRDAO's burn engine so it can burn directly (but that hasn't been updated to new drives in quite a while). ImgBurn is probably more appropriate for new drives.

To the OP, how hard is it to ask your folks in the Philippines whether they have a DVD player or not? If they do, your authoring tasks are much more straightforward and more likely of success.

Scott

[StrikerZERO]

StrikerZERO - you are dangerously close my friend to exceeding our patience here. Since you seem unwilling to actually look for any of our guides, here is a link:
http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?n...uides&id=Start

Use TMPGenc to encode to NTSC VCD format. There are guides for that too, but please at least be willing to look for those yourself if you need them.

I think you might have better luck with VCDEasy. There was an older free version available, but the main website (http://www.vcdeasy.org) no longer has it, so you'll either have to search for it (might try Bit Torrent) or just buy the commercial one.

Oh i'm terribly sorry! T-T I get it now. It's up to me. Thanks!

[RabidDog]

To the OP, how hard is it to SEND your folks in the Philippines whether they have a DVD player or not? If they do, your authoring tasks are much more straightforward and more likely of success.

Goto your local bestbuy or other shop, plead poverty, Christmas, Good will to all People, and ask for a small, cheap, open box special DVD player. that should cost all of $10 or $20 of your worthless Yankee dollars. Or ask them how much it cost to buy one there, cant really be that much?

Dont post money in Envelopes tho or put dollar bills in pages of books,

If you really want to save money, post your footage on Youtube and create a private viewing group for friends and family.

[tomlee59]

Oh i have TMPGenc. It's just that i only know burn stuff into DVDs. And about VCDImagerGUI or VCDEasy, you just convert the videos with those and that's it? How do you burn it? Is it by the conversion, you get the VCD data and then TMPGenc burns it?(that would make sense cuz VCDImagerGUI doesnt have a burn into CD function, or so i've thought...O_o)

Use VCDEasy to author your VCD-compatible MPEG.

Use ImgBurn to burn the bin/cue onto a blank CD.

That's all you need, and they're free. Piece of cake.

[filmboss80]

RabidDog and tomlee59: This thread is over a year old. I think the OP has figured out what to do by now.