Long Xvid files, Mode 2/XA and subtitles

[Chicago_John]

Hi folks,

I'm a new member but have been reading the forums for some time now and have learned a lot from the experts here. I finally got myself a standalone DVD player that can also play MPEG4 files in AVI containers. It also does a nice job playing some XVCD's that I created at around 900kbps with tmpgenc.

I have a couple unrelated questions resulting from my experiments. My new standalone player works great with most AVI files I throw at it both in DivX and Xvid format. It even seems to play many raw Mpeg1/Mpeg2 files. However, I tried to play a 3 hour movie encoded as 12bit Xvid (approx. 699mb, 448x192, 23.976fps, audio bitrate 110kbps, video data rate 67kbps) and the player choked. The display reads 10:00:00 (ie. 10 hours, 0 minutes, 0 seconds) and the disc rotates but nothing is displayed on the TV. After about 5 minutes, suddenly the picture and sound appear perfectly. I can fast forward through the movie but cannot reverse to the start. I checked the AVI file for errors using DivFix but none were found and the movie plays perfectly on the PC. I checked the resolution and it is divisible by 4. I even burned it again and used the FourCC trick to change the codes but that didn't work either. Is the player choking because of the length or some other factor?

Second question relates to Mode 2/XA. I don't own a DVD burner so everything I do must be burned to CD-R. So far I have learned about using "disc at once" instead of "track at once" and enabling the "short lead in and lead out" option in Nero. This has allowed me to fit about 715mb on a single CD-R. I'm a bit scared of overburning due to all the warnings about damaging the drive, etc, etc. I have some Xvid/DivX files that are about 770-800mb in size and I would really like to burn those onto CD-R. I'm wondering is it possible to use Mode 2 on a Data CD instead of Mode 1? Wouldn't this allow me to fit more on a CD-R? Am I misunderstanding something or making a mistake? I have used Mode 2 before but only with burning MPEG files in VCD format. Can I do the same on a Data CD with an Xvid file?

Lastly, my player claims that it can display subtitles in 32 languages but so far I have not been able to do this. I tried putting SUB and IDX files with the same name as the AVI on the disc and I tried using SRT files to no avail. When I press the subtitles button on my player, nothing happens. Is it possible that this feature only works with commercial DVD's? Unfortunately there's not much reference to subtitles in the manual. I downloaded a DivX test disc from divxtest.com that has many files for subtitle testing but none of them seem to work on my player.

Thanks to all for any input.

Regards,
Chicago John (a real novice).

[mats.hogberg]

Welcome to VideoHelp!

I'm a bit scared of overburning due to all the warnings about damaging the drive, etc, etc.

Don't be! Never heard/seen a report of a drive damaged by trying to overburn.

s it possible to use Mode 2 on a Data CD instead of Mode 1?

I seriously doubt that. Get some 90 min CD-R instead (They hold 800 MB). Not all players accepts them, but it's worth a try.

my player claims that it can display subtitles in 32 languages

That is surely in reference to DVD subtitles (which is bollocks, as DVD subtitles is just images, that can contain any language (or graphics)).
If your player support DivX/AVI subtitles, the best bet is .srt subs. Put the AVI and .srt file in the same directory (or in the root) and give them the same name (Like "mymovie.avi" and mymovie.srt") and your player should pick it up automagically.
On my player, I select the subtitle file first (Player says "DivX subtitles selected") then the AVI file, and the AVI is played back with subtitles. As there is no standard for this, how and if subtitle support works, is very player dependant.

/Mats

[celtic_druid]

You can burn anything as mode 2 form 2. Wouldn't recommend it for avi's though due to the lack of error correction although I believe all SAP's should support XCD's *.

To try it you will be wanting Mode2 CD Maker.