Creating a CD-I compatible VCD disc

[BurningGround]

I have some VCDs that will not play in my APEX 1500 DVD player. The picture is blocky and there is no sound. Opening the .dat files in Windows media player works fine. Opening the disc properties on my Plextor burner I see that they are not CD-I compatible. Is this the reason why they will not play? I have d/l vcdeasy to attempt to copy data to a compatible disc but I cannot figure out how to do this. I want to determine how to correctly copy VCDs so they will play on my DVD player. Can the data on the disc be copied and burned in a data disc using something like Easy CD creator? If so what format must the disc be burned?

Thanks for your help in these matters. :o

[KingJohn]

CD-i is short for Compact Disc Interactive. It is an interactive multimedia system combining moving and still video, audio and program content on a compact disc, which can be played back in a dedicated CD-i player. A CD-i player is a stand-alone device, consisting of a CPU, memory and an integrated operating system. You wont need that switched on when making VCD's.

If the VCD plays ok on your computer, I would try a different brand of disks. Sounds like your DVD player don’t like the ones you have ?.

The .DAT on the VCD is your VCD mpeg with a few changes to its headers, you could drop that back into any of the authoring programs to remake the VCD. The VCD disks are not the same as data disks, there are two tracks (For 1 movie) the first track contains the data, the second contains the video stream, so you need to use easy cd creator (Vcd creator),Nero or Video pack 5 to setup and burn.

[ilovevcd]

To Create VCD Playable disc use Easy CD Creator 3.5

And Hey! Make sure they are 200% witebook compatible

I have done vcd's with that program for years now. Or Philips VCD Toolkit

Good luck

[vitualis]

As what letmeinforgodsake said.

From what you've described, it sounds more like a media compatibility problem. Try other brands of CD-R.

VCD 2.0 compliant VCD is supposed to be by definition fully CD-i compatible. Apart from having the MPEG clips all in spec, the most pertinent thing for CD-i compatibility (which isn't required for PC playback or stand-alone VCD/DVD player playback) is the inclusion of the CD-i app.

This can be done with Easy CD Creator 4.0 Deluxe+, Nero, WinOnCD and VCDImager: http://www.geocities.com/medinotes/vcd/cdi_app.html

You cannot burn the VCD files onto another CD-R as a CD-ROM. This is not a VCD and will not work on just about every stand-alone player.

Regards.

[BurningGround]

The VCDs I am guessing were copied as data discs and thus will not play in my DVD player. Just as described by vitualis . I don't think i have a media compatiblity issue as I have a variety of media that exhibits the same behavior.

I have tried to use VCDEasy to drop the .DAT file into the program to reburn in VCD format. It will not allow me to insert the file into the MPEGAV file as that folder is protected. Do I need to rename it or convert it somehow before dropping it into the folder?

As I understand it the .DAT is simply a MPEG with some header data added. Can it be converted back to an MPEG file with out loss of fidelity? I can play MPEG files fine on my dvd player. Once converted I should be able to load it back into VCDEasy.

Sorry about my lack of knowledge.
TIA,
Scott

[Simon_Haddad]

Use VCDGearGUI to convert the AVSEQxx.dat file back to MPEG. You should have no discernable loss of quality.

[vitualis]

BurningGround,

Have you tried playing back an audio CD on the same media? If that doesn't work, then it is a media issue.

Regards.

[BurningGround]

I have played most everything else that I have put into the DVD player.

I d/l'd VCDGear. converted the .dat back to MPEG, loaded that in VCDEasy to burn VCD and viola the VCD now plays in my DVD player. But I am concerned about any lost fidelity of this operation. Is there a good web reference about the format of vcd .dat and mpeg files and compression/conversion between these file types that may cause degradation of the video/audio in the process?

TIA,
Scott

[vitualis]

There is no loss of quality from going DAT --> MPEG with VCD Gear. It's a matter of some headers I think...

Of course, you could make your VCDs directly with VCD Easy/VCDImager and not even worry about this...

Regards.