a few questions, pls help.

[jedi]

hi i am very new to this and i was wondering if i can ask a few questions.

1. when burning a XVCD, do i choose the vcd template? what is the best resolution and bitrate for xvcd's?

2. when burning, do u guys always simulate the process? or do u just burn rite away?

3.i cant play SVCD, so i use the VCD headers trick. the problem is, that tmpeg 75% of the time, cuts the files short. it gets to about 80 then stops and gives me an error. are their anyother user friendly programs that would allow me to do this VCD header trick? or is there a reason why this happens?

4.does the brand of cd-r matter? sometimes they have good deals like 100 80min cd's for 10 dollars, but im not sure if cheap cd-r's will work.

5. when i cant use the SVCD with 'VCD' headers trick, i have to make the mpeg2 back to mpeg1. when i do this, how much quality is lost? since im new to this, i really cant tell the difference, but u experienced ppl know, so pls let me know also.

6. when encoding a PAL to NTSC, all i do is choose the ntsc template in tmpeg? is that it?

thanks for takin the time to help me.

[bugster]

Answers where I have them

1: an XVCD is a non-standard VCD. What you can change from the standard depends on what your player can handle. The only sure fire way to know is experiment for yourself.

2: Pesronally I never bother simulating a burn, others may do so. Personal preference.

3: I guess you have this problem with downloaded SVCD's. I believe this to be caused by the mpeg containing something that Tmpgenc thinks is incorrect so it cannot continue. I am not aware of another program that will let you do this (maybe bbmpeg, dunno, not tried it). Someone else may be able to help here.

4: media quality can matter, again depending on your player. If you are going to be buying large amounts of a cheap disc, either be prepared for a lot of coasters or buy only previously used brands. Branded media is generally more reliable but not always so.

5: re-encoding from SVCD to VCD will lose some quality, but is shouldn't be much.

6: Converting from PAL to NTSC properly can be tricky. If you just select a template (I would suggest VCD NTSC film (closer framerate to PAL)) it will work but the result may play slightly jerky. For a complex but more reliable method, take a look at the convert guides on the left.

Hope this helps.

[jedi]

thanks man. you were the only one that took time to help.

[Mirror_Image]

thanks man. you were the only one that took time to help.

Well, the answers to all those questions already existed in the "how-to" guides, the FAQ, and the searchable forums.

[jedi]

actually the search dont work for me = page not found, and not all the questions are answered if the F.A.Q

[2man]

if you DVD player accepts SVCD w/VCD header he will read XVCD
to have a better quality in XVCD when encoding choose mpg-2/template then change the frame to 352x288-pal or 352x240 ntsc and for high bitrates high quality .
then as usual change the header before burn.
test CVD in your DVD player (the same above just change the frame to 352x576-pal or 352x480 ntsc)
give a try
2man

[jedi]

thanks 2man. just to make sure, u said use the mpeg2 template. so i just choose the SVCD template and change the resolution and burn? if the file is mpeg2 then i choose the SVCD template and resolutions and burn, then change the headers then burn, rite?

and if its mpeg1, what would i do? would i still choose the SVCD template?