divx to vcd

[jyeh74]

Is there any qay to burn avi (divx) onto a vcd that is over 1gig big? or over the standard 700mb cd-r?

I think I remember someone saying that it doesnt matter how many mb it is, it is how many minutes it is. If this is true, then why is it that when I use Nero Burning ROM to make VCD, it measures it out of 700mb (standard cd-r) instead of say, 80 mins or something?

So I can technically burn into a VCD a mpg that is 1 gig large but only 50 mins long?

[guns1inger]

VCD is a standard designed for CDs. Therefore the VCD template restricts you to CD size. If you use a real encoder, instead of Nero (for example, tmpgenc) then you could encode to VCD specification (video and audio) but without limitation on the length. You would have to author this to a DVD as a DVD to play it back, as you cannot author a VCD on a DVD disc.

For the record, you should be able to get 74 - 80 minutes of footage on a VCD, depending on CD capacity.

[mats.hogberg]

Are you saying that the 50 min AVI is over 1 GB, or that the AVI when encoded to mpg is > 1 GB?
If the former, remember that the AVI file size is irrelevant to what size it will be when converted to VCD.
If the latter, you've encoded at a too high bitrate. 50 minutes should land around 500 MB when encoded as VCD specs mpg - plenty of room to spare on any CD-R.
And don't involve Nero in any aspect of the AVI to VCD process. Mostly, TMPGEnc and VCDEasy is what it takes.

/Mats

[jyeh74]

mat, i was saying the formaer, theoretically speaking. Just to see if vcd is based off of size (700mb limit) or length (80 min limit)

[guns1inger]

For compliance, a VCD has a combined audio video bitrate of 1150kbps, a defined resolution, and must be authored. So no, you could not have a true VCD 1gb in size and only 50 minutes in length.

You can encode mpeg1 at higher bitrates and resolutions than standard VCD, but this would not be a VCD. And once you start to up the resolution, mpeg2 becomes the better option. For DVD you can encode mpeg1 at VCD resolution at up 1850kbps and remain compliant. If you use 1150 combined bitrate, you can put around 7 hours and 15 minutes on a single layer DVD.

[jyeh74]

gunslinger

so if I do not encode, then I can only put 700 mb on a cd-r max?

[mats.hogberg]

It just happens (just a coincidence) that a "80 min" CD (which is a measure of how much music in Audio CD format you can store on it) also holds ~80 minutes of video in VCD format.
IMO, measuring digital storage capacity in time units is just plain silly (would you buy a 100 hours HDD, or a 15 minutes memory stick?).
Now, 700 MB is the limit when you write a CD in mode 1 (regular data disc) but 800 MB in mode 2 - Mode 1 has lots of space "eaten up" by error correction. VCD is written in mode 2 - 800 MB at your disposal (regardless of what Nero tells you!).

/Mats

[KBeee]

VCD's are mpeg1, at 1150 kbs 352 X 240 (NTSC), so TMPGEnc is perfect for this, as it's mpeg1 encoding doesn't expire in 30 days like it's mpeg2. 50 minutes is a good size to fit on a single CD.
Just open TMPGEnc, and follow the Wizard for NTSC VCD - I'm guessing NTSC cos you're in US.
Without knowing more about your DivX file (aspect ratio etc.) that's about all I can suggest.
Just remember, your VCD will probably look much worse than your DivX file.
You can use your copy of Nero to burn the VCD.

[jimmalenko]

Just a clarification of a few "errors" posted so far:

VCDs are 1150kbps max for video, and if using 1150kbps for video then you're limited to 224kbps max for audio, giving you a total of 1374kbps max for combined video and audio bitrate. However should you drop your video bitrate the VCD spec allows for 384kbps audio, provided your combined total does not exceed 1374kbps.