MANY tries, but VCDs won't burn correctly

[urbabysgotrabies]

I don't know what is going on. I've tried so many times to burn a VCD successfully but it never works. The CD burns, and the program says it was successful. However, it will not play in my brother's DVD player (which says it is compatible with VCDs.. not sure about CD-R though). When I try to play it on my computer, every program I have tried says something along the lines of "The format is not supported."

The .mpg file was encoded from a DV-AVI file to VCD format using the Panasonic MPEG1 Encoder "VCD NTSC" setting. I also used the MPEG Properties program that I found on vcdhelp.com to have a look at it, and it seems to be in VCD format.

My burner is the HP8250i 4x4x24x burner. Is it possible that my burner just can't burn VCDs? But if that was the case, why has every one of the multiple (at least 4 or 5) programs I have tried allowed me to burn it? Does anybody have this burner?

Do I have to use a certain kind of CD? Do I have to burn it at a certain speed? I am clueless.. and suggestions would be HIGHLY appreciated. Thanks.

Sydney

[Chaz]

What burning program are you using?
Also have you checked the ability of the DVD player?

[urbabysgotrabies]

The 2 programs I remember are Nero 5.something and NTI CD Maker 2000 or something like that. And also, to make it even more confusing... I burned just the MPG file to a CD and put it on my brother's computer. Then I burned it as a VCD on his computer, and it works on his DVD player, but not in my computer. Hm...

[joshparty]

An MPEG1 file will not be properly read by a DVD player without it being encoded and written into VCD format. If you want to watch the VCD in your computer, get the program POWERDVD, very good with VCD. If you want to watch it in windows media player for the time being, go into the folder MPEGAV and open the DAT file in there, if there's 2 then one would be a menu, open the 2nd one unless you want to view the menu. hope this helps

[urbabysgotrabies]

See, the thing is I *did* put everything in VCD format. I didn't just burn a MPEG file. I used Nero's VCD wizard. If I burn a VCD on my computer and burner, it doesn't work anywhere: not my computer, not my brother's computer, not my brother's DVD players. However, if I transfer the MPEG files to my brother's computer and use his burner (with the same program, same settings) to burn the same VCD, it works fine, except in my computer. My computer is just VCD illiterate I guess. The ones I burn on his computer/burner play fine in his DVD player and in his computer.

When I try to open the DAT files in media player (or with any VCD player) on my computer, it says the format is not supported. If I try to copy the DAT files to my hard drive, it says it cannot read from the specified device.

Why won't VCDs made from my burner work anywhere, but the ones from my brother's computer work anywhere except my computer? How can I get my computer to read VCDs?