Burning a VCD that will play on my Phillips CD-i 210 Unit

[GavinMcCloy]

I have tried so many times to burn a VCD using nero but when I put the VCD into my CD-i 220 Unit, the button comes up, saying Play CD-i > so I press it with the pad, then screen goes black for a while then my system resets itself.......I have the addon cartrage and I own ONE VCD that acually does play and I got that from the market. why wont any of mone play that I make on my PC? If anyone has any advice that would be great thankyou.

Gav

[aldus4]

I presume your Philips CD-i 210 Unit is a VCD player? In Nero when configuring what you want to burn you choose VCD. On the Video CD Tab that appears, unclick "use CD-i application" as it might be causing the problem. However, you should check if your mpeg stream is ok (What was it made by- if by TMPGEnc try the Panasonic MPEG Encoder instead) and check if you can use all coloured media on your system. If unsure, use a silver layered CD-RW.

[hvr]

btw, have you been able to play the demovcd

http://www.vcdhelp.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?topic=48495&forum=1

on your unit?

[GavinMcCloy]

hmmm........acually I have one MAIN wonder, it may be that the CD-I application has some comapatiblity problem maybe with my unit? as the file sizes of the files in the CD-i folder are bigger in the one made by nero in comparison to the Matrix one here I got that acually does work.......the CD-i application program, thats the 1st thing that the CD-i unit loads I`m sure and thats not even comming up on the screen for me to press play :/

[GavinMcCloy]

in regards to that demo hvr.....I`m downloading it as we speak, looks interesting (hmmm....)

[aldus4]

As I understood the contents of a VCD, the CD-i application is basically software for the mpeg stream on your VCD, should the CD be played in a system without a VCD Player. I would assume that your CD-i doesn't need the CD-i application at all. - Keep us informed of your experiences.

[GavinMcCloy]

Good news!!, I burned the demo using CDRwin, it was a Bin/Cue file.....and it played....so the cd-r`s are ok, So I wonder why it`s not possible to burn vcds and play them? Is it nero thats the problem then do you think? I`m using the latest version of nero, would it be worth E-mailing Ahead`s Nero about my problem do you think? or is there any other program I could use to author my VCDs and so that they would be tailored in a certain way (such as that demo was made) so i can watch my movies on my CD-i Player?

[aldus4]

I had this problem using Nero 5.5.0.8. If the downloaded bin/cue was ok, I would suggest using VCDImagerGui to create a bin/cue file from your mpeg file and then burning the VCD Image file in Nero - this should work.

As for emailing Nero (sorry I am laughing here). You'll probably get a questioneer back asking you about everything your computer has in it, which drivers you are using etc. After about another 6-8 weeks the answer will be that something is wrong with your system and you should try changing this and that (usually involves time consuming and annoying things like reloading everything from windows on)...and guess what, if you really do what they say - it still won't work. Why they just don't admit that there are still quite a few bugs, I don't know.

Sorry about the ramblings with Nero. Yes, I use the program and like it (when it does what I want <grin> )

[GavinMcCloy]

Okay, humm.........I`ve been at this all day and now my head hurts....lol Can anyone help me with the command line to encode an *.mpeg file into a bin/cue file using the VCDImager program please? I`ve been trying all types of varous things like vcdimager --help ect and I`m trying to understand how 2 define a source file (*.mpeg) and a detination output file eg bin/cue.......but with no luck

[GavinMcCloy]

YIPPEE! I carcked it! okay now I figured it out (6hrs later) now it`s comming up with an error.......


++ WARN: track# 0 not a multipiple of 2324 bytes
++ WARN: could not determine mpeg format -- assuming it is ok nevertheless
INFO: scanning mpeg track #0 for scanpoints...
**ERROR: invalid mpeg packet found at packet# 0 -- please fix this mpeg file!


------------------------------------------------------------

So how would I fix it? :/

[aldus4]

You could try using mpegcorrector downloadable in the "tools" section. If this doesn't work try putting the file through TMPGEnc. Start the program - go to -->file -->mpeg tools -->cut/join. Enter your mpeg file and choose at the bottom "output" name it differently.

P.S. You should have downloaded the VCDImagerGUI, not the VCDImager - it would have been much much easier.

[GavinMcCloy]

okay, I found out what my problem was, I had changed the extention of the filename from *.dat to *.mpg and this, (which I`ve just found out) does not convert them. So I downloaded a copy of VCDgear and converted the dat file to an mpg and VCDImager liked it! it converted so I then burned it with CDRwin BUT! when I put it into the CD-i unit it reset itself immediatly, usualy the screen goes black for a while but this time it just reset completely......So I investigated further and put the CDR back into my PC opened up the folder Cdi on the VCD and to my surprise it was Empty have I done somthing wrong?

[vitualis]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
On 2001-07-04 16:57:47, aldus4 wrote:
As I understood the contents of a VCD, the CD-i application is basically software for the mpeg stream on your VCD, should the CD be played in a system without a VCD Player. I would assume that your CD-i doesn't need the CD-i application at all. - Keep us informed of your experiences.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

No, this isn't what the CD-i application is at all.

CD-i applications MUST be included for a CD-i player to be able to play back the VCD. Without the CD-i application included, the CD-i player would have no idea on what to do with the disc.

Apart for this, the CD-i application is not used by anything else.

GavinMcCloy, the problem is that you haven't included the CD-i application in your VCD. VCDImager doesn't automatically include it.

You can download the CD-i app required from here: http://www.icdia.org/sw_app/index.html

Get ver. 4.1.1 as this is required for VCD2.0 interactivity.

Now, you will have to edit the XML to include the following lines (in bold). Note, this is in the original XML on the demo VCD.

<pvd>
<volume-id>PAL_VCDDEMO</volume-id>
<system-id>CD-RTOS CD-BRIDGE</system-id>
<application-id>CDI/CDI_VCD.APP;1</application-id>
<preparer-id/>
<publisher-id>Michael Tam</publisher-id>
</pvd>

<filesystem>
<folder>
<name>CDI</name>
<file src="cdi_imag.rtf" format="mixed">
<name>CDI_IMAG.RTF</name>
</file>
<file src="cdi_text.fnt">
<name>CDI_TEXT.FNT</name>
</file>
<file src="cdi_vcd.app">
<name>CDI_VCD.APP</name>
</file>
</folder>
</filesystem>

Regards,
Michael Tam

[GavinMcCloy]

oh my! now it sounds like it`s gonna get really difficult, 1st of all I don`t know what XML is Xtra Mark up Lanuage? (that was just a guess btw) and I wouldn`t know where 2 edit it. :/

[wildcatfan]

doesn't nero include the proper cd-i files? (assuming you have that option checked of course).

Michael

[hvr]

well, to get you a simpler quickstart,

try either this, (to make things simple, let's put all files required into the same directory, in which we have CD'ed into...)

we have the following files:

track1.mpg track2.mpg track3.mpg (the tracks you want to add)
cdi_vcd.app cdi_text.fnt cdi_imag.rtf (VCD on CDI apps 4.1.1)

(I'm not sure whether \ is supported for MSDOS, so if it does not work, just make vcdi.bat file with the command on one long line without the \ and then call that one)

vcdimager \
--iso-application-id "CDI/CDI_VCD.APP;1" \
--add-file cdi_vcd.app,CDI/CDI_VCD.APP \
--add-file cdi_text.fnt,CDI/CDI_TEXT.FNT \
--add-file-2336 cdi_imag.rtf,CDI/CDI_IMAG.RTF \
track1.mpg track2.mpg track3.mpg


the example above should work with v0.6.2 as well as v0.7.7

but since I recommend using the 0.7.7 anyway, you might as well try the vcdxgen/vcdxbuild combination:

run vcdxgen with the same arguments as you would with the vcdimager tool, which, instead of creating directly the bin/cue will create an intermediate XML file, which you can open in an editor to customize,
then just run vcdxbuild over it, and you'll get the bin/cue generated...

you may want to bat'ch this sequence as well, eg.

vcdxgen [...long command line.... see above...]
edit videocd.xml
vcdxbuild videocd.xml



that's it, I hope I get you going with this...

[aldus4]

@ vitualis

You wrote:"No, this isn't what the CD-i application is at all.

CD-i applications MUST be included for a CD-i player to be able to play back the VCD. Without the CD-i application included, the CD-i player would have no idea on what to do with the disc.

Apart for this, the CD-i application is not used by anything else."

Yes, you're absolutely correct. I was under the impression that the CD-i application was basically a softwareplayer for VCD's. This came about, that after I had purchased a commercial VCD and put it in a PC without any mediaplayer etc. it started itself to play. I've checked this VCD now and found this extra directory on it called "WIN" with a software player ( Sony VIDEOPRESS Player Light ) in it.

@GavinMcCloy

Sorry for causing some confusion.

[aldus4]

Back to you main problem. I came across this article from

http://www.cdrinfo.com/articles/videocd/index.shtml

Quote:
"Video CD discs can also be played on any CD-i player that has the Digital Video extension. Philips players currently offer this extension via a plug-in cartridge, but this capability may be built into future CD-i players.

(In Help of Adaptec Video Cd there's "SEGMENT with a file name of ITEMxxxx.DAT where xxxx is a number. Items in this area cannot be played in a CD-I player". I have read thath Cd-i is no more supported by Philips, a Cd-i with Mpeg module can read ONLY VideoCd 1.0 standard.)"

Maybe thats the whole problem - you're burning using the VideoCD 2.0 specs and you need the VideoCD 1.0 specs.

Also try the forum, webpage at

http://www.icdia.org/

lots of info's for you there

[vitualis]

The help file in Easy CD Creator sounds pretty dodgy...

If authored correctly, a CD-i player can definitely play segment items.

Furthermore, CD-i players can also definitely playback VCD2.0 if the correct version CD-i application is included on the VCD.

Note: Gavin mentioned that the demo VCD played back on his CD-i player. This VCD is VCD2.0 and also contains numerous segment play items.

Regards.

[GavinMcCloy]

OKAY! GREAT NEWS! I used the VCDImager too make the VCD, I made up a batch file and put all the relevant files (the CDI_VCD.APP ect and it now works! Now I`m really getting into this VCD Authoring now so now I`ve mastered this! now I`m gonna move on to more complicated stuff I THANK EVERYONE WHOS INPUTED TO THIS POST and I`m now thinking of how nice it would be for EVERYONE if Nero VCD`s where multi COMPATIBLE :/ ......they do inc CDI folder when you make a VCD on nero, but I ask myself over and over "WHY!" didn`t it work when burned in Nero in the 1st place , then I would just beable to stick it in. and ABRACADABRA it plays.........maybe nero need to look into this

Thanks again for all your help guys......

Hey anyone wanna tell me how to make cut a 730Mb Mpg file? Whats the best cutter program out there?

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GavinMcCloy on 2001-07-06 20:55:21 ]</font>

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: GavinMcCloy on 2001-07-06 20:55:40 ]</font>

[vitualis]

I'm glad that you've gotten this sorted out...

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font size=-1>Quote:</font><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT SIZE=-1><BLOCKQUOTE>
Hey anyone wanna tell me how to make cut a 730Mb Mpg file? Whats the best cutter program out there? </BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR size=1 color=black></TD></TR></TABLE>

I find TMPGEnc quite good as a cutter for MPEG-1 files (just make sure that you set it to MPEG-1 Video-CD rather than "Auto&quot.

There are other programs as well, but as you've probably already have TMPGEnc, check that out first.

Regards.

[GavinMcCloy]

Acually I`ve now ran into another problem, I have an Mpg file here 730mb big, when I load it into TMPGEnc and try to do anything with it, it says that "file track1.mpg is not an mpeg file" strange as it may seem, It plays in Windows media player ect.......and seems to me like it is an mpeg file, I have tried the Mpeg Correcting program and VCD gear, to covert/correct ect, but with no luck?? any ideas anyone?

[vitualis]

That is strange.

How did you make your MPEG file to begin with?

Regards.

[GavinMcCloy]

I downloaded it, I and I`ve just ran into the same problem with another movie.....It plays on the PC and it`s in PAL format and this one don`t want to join/cut I`ve tried the Mpeg Corrector but then it just stays the same......okay and now I`m also getting the **ERROR: invalid mpeg packet found at packet# 0 -- please fix this mpeg file! error again

[RFontenot]

You also ought to take a look at using the Philips Video CD 2.0 Toolkit to author VCD's for your Philips CD-i player. With it, you'll be able to take advantage of some of the special capabilities of your CD-i player that aren't available with ordinary VCD players.

RF

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: RFontenot on 2001-07-09 20:31:09 ]</font>