VCD CD-R size

[Joe Mac]

I read that you can get 870 MB CD-r's and fit more stuff on them, but is there a way to fit 110 minutes or so on a standard CD-R instead of 80 which I think is the max. The actual file size is smaller than 700, around 500, so thats not a problem.

thanks

Joe Mac

[Case]

A standard VCD of 110 minutes should be around 1.06 GB. A standard VCD of 50 minutes should be around 500 MB. Which suggests that your file is not a standard VCD.

[Joe Mac]

What do you mean by "standard" vcd? When I encode with FFMPEG, I usually just use the default settings for video but lower the bitrate. When I try and burn the CD, I use Toast 6 and select VCD and drag and drop the AVI file that I got. I click burn and it says that 935 sectors are needed and only 702 are available. I tried reducing the files size down to 450 megs and it gave me the same error that 935 sectors were needed. Not sure if thats clears anything up or not.

Thanks

Joe Mac

[Case]

What do you mean by "standard" vcd? When I encode with FFMPEG, I usually just use the default settings for video but lower the bitrate.

The VCD specification states a fixed bitrate of 1150 (video) + 224 (audio) kbps. If you lower the bitrate, you create a non-standard VCD. Some hardware players may play it, some (most?) won't.

When I try and burn the CD, I use Toast 6 and select VCD and drag and drop the AVI file that I got.

Avi? ffmpegX should have produced an MPEG-1 file.

I click burn and it says that 935 sectors are needed and only 702 are available. I tried reducing the files size down to 450 megs and it gave me the same error that 935 sectors were needed.

Toast tries to make a standard VCD by re-encoding your movie with a higher bitrate. The 110 minutes will always require to many sectors that way.
I suggest you make a disk image first and burn that with Toast. Either bin/cue or XA images. That way, Toast won't try to re-encode your movie file.

[Joe Mac]

The VCD specification states a fixed bitrate of 1150 (video) + 224 (audio) kbps. If you lower the bitrate, you create a non-standard VCD. Some hardware players may play it, some (most?) won't. [/quote]

I tried using the VCD preset and the quality was MUCH lower then the other way I was doing it. How can you make the MPEG-1 quality the best?

Toast tries to make a standard VCD by re-encoding your movie with a higher bitrate. The 110 minutes will always require to many sectors that way.
I suggest you make a disk image first and burn that with Toast. Either bin/cue or XA images. That way, Toast won't try to re-encode your movie file.[/quote]

I created a disk image and it burned quick that way. But, it didn't work in the DVD player.

What if I made MPEG-1 files, then burned those with a disk image, should those play in most DVD players?

Thanks a bunch

Joe Mac

[Case]

I tried using the VCD preset and the quality was MUCH lower

Transcoding will always lower the quality, but with a good source file, the result can be quite good. Second, the VCD resolution is only 352x240 (NTSC); if your source file was much bigger, then the lower resolution will look much worse. (If you want higher resolution, you should be looking into SVCD, not VCD.) The quality will suffer on top of that if you lower the bitrate.

I created a disk image and it burned quick that way. But, it didn't work in the DVD player.

Did ffmpegX create the disk image, using the VCD preset? Or is this an ISO disk with an AVI on it? Most standalone players (98%) can't handle MPEG-4 AVIs, and if yours could, you would know about it, because that would be the reason to select that model of player.

What if I made MPEG-1 files, then burned those with a disk image, should those play in most DVD players?

Yes, if the VCD-compliant MPEG-1 file has been authored for VCD. For 110 minutes of video for playback on a standalone DVD player, it is recommended to split the movie on two discs: (1) You get a standard VCD for maximum compatibility; (2) The quality won't suffer from a low bitrate.

For additional questions, please provide a bit of info on your source file. What codec is used in the avi? What is the frame size? Also, what model of DVD player?