Please Help a mommy

[Mrs_N]

Hi all
My family and I are moving out of the country in January so my husband can go to school. All we will have is my computer.(Well clothes to )I wanted to create some vcds from capture off cable so my daughter and I won't go crazy from bordem. So far tv shows aren't the problem (I get 3 episodes to a disc). I want to be able to get 90 minutes to 115 on one disc for movies. So here are my questions.
1) Is simply ripping a movie from a DVD better ?
2) If I am going to capture from digital cable what settings should I use for my ATI All In wonder 7500? Hard Drive space is an Issue, since I have Windows 98SE. Eventually I might upgrade to windows XP and get a 20G HDD
3) What template is the best for 90 to 115 movies on one disc
4) I have an Apex 500w dvd player that I would like to watch them on till I move.
5) xvcd or svcd for tv shows (2-4 24 minute epis on a disc) ?
Any help would be apperciated.
6) If I can get portable dvd player which one ?
p.s. I learned how to use Avisynth so scripts can help.

[snowmoon]

Not that I advocate non-standard templates, but what you are describing is here.

http://www.kvcd.net/

I'm not sure how to set up the ATI for doing something similar in realtime.

[Petco]

1. Ripping a DVD you get better quality but a B*** to learn.

2. Setting on ATI. Don't have one (can't advice), because it seems to conflict with a lot of other peripherals in system (IRQ conflict), but tried it twice. 20 Gigs is too small if you start capturing and video editing, suggest getting larger. Windows 98 (your system is old), XP (ntfs) might not like it had problems installing XP on older machines.

3. No comment

4. Apex will play most anything.

5. Try VCD's can fit almost 3-24 minutes shows. If done correctly, quality is descent.

6. Portable, usually can't play VCD's (the one's I've seen - could be wrong).

[MOVIEGEEK]

This unit will play everything but SVCD.
http://www.bestbuy.com/detail.asp?e=11101873&m=1&cat=32&scat=244

[kitty]

The audiovox portables are pretty good - go to target stores to check it out - they play DVD, SVCD, VCD, & CVD by design

[thxkid]

XP a pain in the Ass, windows 2000 better, but I rip full movies all the time using Windows98 SE without pains you get from XP, but then again I have a 30 gig hard drive AMD1600XP and 512 megs of PC 133 ram.
If time is not an issue use DVD2SVCD it does it all in one step execpt for burning the files to CD-R's but prepare to wait, 8-24 hrs for a finished product and I would not recommend putting 90-115 min on one 80min. CD-R unless you plan to never playi it on nothing larger than a 19in. screen, CD-R's are cheap enough now 10-15 cents each and 2 will fit easy in a CD jewel case so why not use 2.

[nandi_nokuri]

Can a cheap laptop play vcds ?

I have seen on ebay that there are some laptops with PII for around $200

[SatStorm]

VCDs are the most compatible format outhere! Any PC support it, because it is based on mpeg 1.

VCD this year turns 10 years old you know!

I believe any pentium 2 @ 233 and higher, can play VCDs

[fantomlord]

Can a cheap laptop play vcds ?

I have seen on ebay that there are some laptops with PII for around $200

but if you're going to play the movies on a computer, you're at least as well off using divx--you'll get much higher compression, and no noticible drop in quality when viewed on the monitor(assuming a good encode)

[Mrs_N]

I haven't had much luck with divx. The quality gets kind of bad

[gll99]

I agree that DIVX capture and then burning to cd may be the way to go, at least for the digital cable captures. It will save a lot of time by not converting to VCD. When you play them back I suggest you save your CD/DVD player and copy them to HD prior to playing.

To comment on your problem with DIVX

I have a P4 and use win98se also (by choice) and you can use DIVX 4.01 to 4.12 but DIVX 5.xx seems worst to me so I don't use it. Don't forget to adjust the bitrate 1500 to 3000 if you want to keep the filesize down. If you use virtualdub for capture, try a custom size of 352x480 and then a vertical reduction back to 240, it really improves the QA of the capture. Its a little tricky to do custom settings but worth it. I can't be more specific because I use WDM drivers now and they are not compatible with virtualdub so I can't view the menus to give you the specific settings.

You could also view these TV shows or movies on a TV set if you want just get a video card with a TV out. Connect the tv video out connector to the tv (or vcr) and the speaker out from your sound card to the tv aux audio in (or vcr aux audio in )

To view the picture full screen and remove scan blinking you need a program like TVtool 6.8. Unfortunately its shareware with a 15 minute time limit and must be restarted to continue (you get msg that says something wrong with your user data after 15 minutes) Its a cryptic message but it means the program is not registered.
If you don't get this prog then you get black borders all around the TV picture so its a bit smaller.

If you use TVTOOL 6.8 it only supports cards like the GEFORCE2 or 4 TI (titanium) cards (which are more expensive). (not ATI)

A cheaper alternative is an older but still available card the GEFORCE2 MX400 64 mb (not GEFORCE4) with TV-out which is compatible with TVTOOL . This card retails at about $70 canadian.

An added bonus is that you can use your computer DVD player to send the signal to your TV or VCR (TVtool removes macrovision protection)

Normally you would need to watch DIVX movies on your computer, this will make your viewing more enjoyable at minimal cost.

If you choose the TV-out option check out a free media player called zoom player 2.80. IT has been optimized for TV out and contains a zoom feature although it still does not fill the tv screen it produces a pretty good picture with some control over color, contrast etc...

[Mrs_N]

Hey gll99

I have Divx 5, should uninstall ? I have tried Divx 4 low motion but Virtual Dub doesn't cooperate. I think I might do the Divx idea, but I might do both Vcd and Divx, so I can be ready for any senario. I capture with ATI AIW 7500 mpeg2 with I frames only at about 12 cbr. Do I use DVD2AVI and frameserver to VirtualDub using AVisynth ?

[gll99]

I am so Sorry ... hold everything!!!!

Its my fault but I got that poor little me impression

I just checked your profile........

You have got some good horsepower under that hood.

If you are doing your own captures at mpeg2 then DIVx is not necessary for you unless you are desperate to save a few blank CDs. I thought we could save you some conversion time going from avi to mpeg but your card supports full capture mpeg2 at 30fps and with a P4 2.4 that should be no problem.

Just choose the optimal bitrate that will get about 1 hour on a CD and capture away. If the files are too large then cut them to about 780mb which will fit on a 700mb CD. (In case you don't already know this you can fit about 800 mb of video data vcd or svcd on an 80 minute disk). Burn the outputs directly to SVCD. No need to do any other processing. Quick and easy. Under normal circumstances we do some intermediate processing to milk the maximum quality out of our vcd and svcd but in your case its not the objective.

Ripping DVD is another issue. Do so only if you can't bring the disks with you (rentals or borrowed). If you do rip them then follow the guides on the left of the page you are reading. You should have no problems ripping 1 or more DVD per day if you want.

Earlier you asked about DVD quality. DVD to (s)vcd should always produce a better result because even the best digital capture will introduce some carrier noise but you will be able to capture some pretty decent stuff directly as SVCD compatible mpeg2. Keep the total video and audio bitrate sum under 2700. Normal audio bitrate is 224 but can be lowered to 128 or even less to save space but you need to check this on your standalone player when and if you get one.

Your ATI has a TV-out option so you may choose not to buy a standalone DVD player. As I said before, if you play many DVD from your PC player it may overtax it and burn it out. You might want to reserve 10gig or so on your HD and before running an original DVD just rip the vob tracks to your HD then direct your software player to play the movie from your HD.
For vcd or svcd you just have to copy not rip them.
Of course if buying and bringing a DVD player with you is no problem then make sure that it plays SVCD as well as DVDs and test some of your home made svcd with that player before you capture and burn too many.

Some closing comments on the Divx issue:

Everyone will have a different opinion on this so I don't want to start a discussion ( check the xvid site) but the free version of DIVX 5 contains what many call spyware or adware that attaches itself to your browser.

I suggest if you want to remove divx 5 (and that's up to you) then right after you do so run a program called adAware it will find anything left behind. Some programs won't work without their (adware / spyware) so if you remove all of it some apps may not work.

If your ATI card uses wdm drivers then Virtualdub will not capture since it uses vfw drivers. There is a vfw wrapper available for most window ops so that it accepts wdm drivers but unfortunately not for win98se (that I know of). With win98se if a capture app works with vfw drivers then it won't work with wdm drivers and vis versa.

One free app using wdm drivers is Virtualvcr. There's a link on this site (see at left... Other....tools....capture).

There are other apps there... some free, some shareware and some using vfw or wdm. I have tried them all at one time or another.
Virtualdub was still the best for me until I switched to wdm drivers.

PS: if you can capture CQ (Constant quality) or vbr for your mpeg2 then do so. It will produce an optimal size by increasing bitrate in high motion scenes and reducing it in low motion areas.

[Mrs_N]

gll99

Thak you so much for your time. So playing a lot of DVD will burn out the dvd player in a computer, I didn't know that. I am still wondering about Divx though, I notice that the quality of playing a VCD or SVCD is signifigantly lower than when playing on standalone and tv. I get a lot of noise around letters and stuff and macroblocks. So I was thinking that maybe Divx would be a little better to watch on my computer. I am I right ?

[gll99]

Some VCD/SVCD video will look better on your computer monitor and some will look better on a TV. Most of us have had the experience of a movie looking great on PC and then look awful on our standalone with macroblocks or skipping problems.

It takes time to make a good vcd / svcd. Maybe we are just perfectionist who are never happy with the results. The settings for 1 movie may not work as well with the next or in all parts of the movie. Don't get fooled by great short clips the video changes a lot during a movie. Some people apply a lot of smoothing effect to get that nice look from their captures but often sacrifice detail.

I am trying to give you the easiest methods to suit your purpose but at the same time not limiting your options. You are not trying to store some precious collection or family video so the highest quality may not be necessary.

Right now you have the hardware capability to produce reasonable quality svcd by straight capture and burn. You can dispense with the fancy menus.
The cost in this case is about 3 cds per 2 hour of video but with a minimum of processing. The ouput can then be viewed 3 ways. On your PC, through your TV-out card to tv or from a standalone svcd capable DVD player. Bulk CDs are cheap and would suffice for this purpose.

I don't blame you for wanting alternatives. Encoding to another format whether divx or other codec will limit the viewing to your PC and your TV-out card but will result in about 1 to 1 1/2 hour of decent quality video per CD and more if you want to sacifice quality.
If you use DIVx (4), Microsoft Mpeg4 or XVID you will need to experiment with settings to achieve the balance between quality and file size. Those 3 do seem to look better, they allow a higher bitrate and yet produce a smaller filesize for the same amount of video time than vcd or svcd. When you look closely in full screen mode you will still see noise around text. Now imagine that on a much larger screen. Sometimes background scenes will appear blurred. That is caused by loss of detail in the encoding process. So neither method is perfect. I have done a lot of trial clips, TV shows, cartoons, and movies using the 3 codecs above and they all look fairly similar at comparable bitrate. Here again I am talking about straight capture with no post processing in order to save time. Obviously if you apply filters in virtualdub the video will look much better. I have some Star Trek movies captured from my tapes then processed through vdub and then tmpgenc to create almost flawless 2 disk VCD. I don't believe you want to go through that right now. Someone may suggest Picvideo or Huffy but I suggest you ignore those for now. They are great but produce very large files and even if you had the free hd space it would force you to do post capture processing. There are some tricks with pure avi like dropping the framerate to 23.97 or even less if you want to bump up the bitrate without increasing the filesize. You can also use some odd capture sizes like 640x480 (whatever your card supports) that you may not usually try with vcd or svcd. You can also use different audio compression like mp3 to save space. You can put any savings back into a higher video bitrate or to save space on your disks.

Lately I have experimented with 2 other formats instead of avi.
I don't intend to convert either of these to vcd or svcd but only watch them on my PC or TV-out card.

1- RM (Real Media) More specifically Helix Real Producer codec 9. I am impressed by the results but don't have enough trial time yet to recommend it to you.

2- The Windows media encoder (WME) wmv (video)
I use encoder versions 7.1 and 8. There is a codec 9 but right now it runs with XP and I have not found the codec or support for win98se.

I was using a shareware app called WINVDR PRO (not windvr) to capture wmv format files. It also permits encoding the audio to mp3 or wma (windows media audio) at the same time.

Using wme8, the file produced is smaller than a comparable DIVX with the same video compression bitrate. I did notice a slight frame jump at times as though there were missing frames. I think its the app and not the codec causing it.

A while ago I discovered another program, this one is freeware. It's called MSDVR

http://www.maksil.com


Its a vcr type program that allows you to record programs on your computer at preset daily, weekly or ad hoc times.
It needs wdm drivers (not vfw) and records to windows media format only. I ran a number of tests the last few days. I am very satisfied with the High Motion video bitrate of 1500 kbs. The picture is clear with minimal distortion in full screen mode and the framing is smooth. The file at that setting is just under 10 mb of video/audio data per minute. There is a High Motion bitrate of 768 which looks pretty good too and saves a lot of disk space. I need to run a few more captures at that rate to be sure but you can get over 2 hours on 1 cd at that setting.

If you burn any of these to cd remember that they are iso data disks not vcd so your max is 700mb on an 80 min disk.

I am getting out of breath, so I shall stop here.

Enjoy! Let me know how things work out.

[THE RIPPER]

Doubt your a mommy

[gll99]

The RIPPER:

I would have given the same answer to anyone, mommy,daddy, grandad, grammy, son or daughter. (just to name a few )

I like it when someone asks clear polite questions and specifies their objective.

This user did this regardless of family situation. I could be a kid, mommy, grammy, grandad for all you know, GLL99 doesn't mean much to anyone else but me.

Knowing the intended use really helps to provide some answers. Plus this user filled in his/her profile just like you did. That is appreciated and helps make these forums work.

I think its rather a novel approach to get seen on a busy forum. Who could resist helping a mommy in distress. It got my attention.

A good draw line guarantees that people will at least look at you question.

[THE RIPPER]

LOL , sucked you right in ,LOL

[gll99]

LOL, yes but willingly, LOL

[Mrs_N]

What a mommy can't encode videos and capture stuff.
With a name like "The Ripper" I doubt you watch Oprah.
I am a mother of one to be exact and since I have started this obession with VCD's my house has been a mess. I will mail you a picture of my uterus if it helps.