Best Way To Put Multiple MPGs On Same CDR to Save Space?

[VideoJedi]

I've downloaded a great deal of shows.. rather than using 170MB of an 700MB CDR, I'd like to try to put 3 or 4 of these shows on a single CDR to not waste so much space, but I want to be able to play them on my DVD player. I'd like to be able to skip to each show with a click or two on the remote. What is the best and easiest way to do this? I tried to burn multiple shows to a single CDR in Nero with the cdi menu thing enabled, but the disc refuses to play in my DVD player. Would it be best to use VCDCutter to join all the shows into a single MPG and then find a way to index the entire thing, so I can fast forward to the relevant show. Without any kind of menu, my DVD player is ultra slow about fast forwarding through VCDs, so I hope a menu can be setup to skip right to the relevant program. I'm getting confused on the best way to make an index menu thingy. Any ideas?

[MOVIEGEEK]

Check out Moviefactory($49US) or VideoStudio($99US):
http://www.ulead.com

[HillJack]

Or VCDEasy (FREE) from www.vcdeasy.org

[burned_once]

I do this all the time with Nero. If your player supports CD-RW, burn those until you get one that tests OK. The menu tab on Video CD lets you create a "first play" menu similar to DVDs. This is the VCD 2.0 standard, not CD-I.

Not all versions of Nero create usable video CDs. I had to stick with 5.5.5.1 for a long time, as all the 5.5.6 and 5.6.7's burned VCD files as "CD audio" tracks on my Windows ME machine. I kept downloading and trying the upgrades, and I can report that 5.5.8.2 (the latest, two weeks ago) is working for me. I recommend it -- there are some nice bug fixes and it enables BURN-proofing for compatible drives.

Anyway, if your player doesn't support VCD 2.0, all that means is you don't get menus. They're nice, but you can put the same info on a CD label, jewel case insert, etc.

Just leave the menu tab unchecked, and drag more .mpg's into the collection window on Nero. This will create video tracks, just like on an audio CD but with your mpg files one after another.

Drag as many as you want, until you get close to the limit for your media. VCD has less redundant error-correction, so you'll get more data on there than you might think. I've burned 726 MB on a 650 MB disk, and about 794 MB onto a 700 MB disk, but this is with the menu. You might get a few more MB's on there with no menu.

To play the VCD without a menu, you can use the "prev" (<=), "next" (=>), and number buttons on your remote, just like you would on a CD player. Should you get more than 10 tracks, use the +10 and -10 buttons to navigate.

Good luck!

[VideoJedi]

Thanks all! VCDEasy has worked for me 90% of the time so far. I'll try a newer version of Nero since I use Nero to burn almost everything anyway. VCDEasy won't recognize my drive anyway, so I have been just making BIN and CUE files and burning with CDRWin. I have found VCD Easy great for making 3-minute skips on shows. My DVDplayer thanks you for this.

[burned_once]

If your version of Nero creates usable VCDs with one mpg on them, you don't need to upgrade. Just leave the menu unchecked, and try dragging more than one .mpg file into the compilation. It's that simple.