wuts with warning

[pYShTr]

When I attempt to change settings when making a vcd with tmpge, why does it give a warning bout changin non sstandard settings is bad. Is it, and if so why? Anyone any thoughts

[sterno]

The VCD standard defines how the MPEG should be encoded. If you change the settings so that they don't match that standard you are creating a nonstandard VCD (XVCD). A player that officially supports VCD is pretty much guaranteed to play something that conforms to the VCD standard, except for special cases like a player that doesn't support recordable CDs (it will still play manufactured VCDs). It may or may not play an XVCD, there is no guarantee at all. Some changes tend to be more significant for compatibility than others - for example, many players can handle nonstandard bitrates, but a lot fewer can handle VBR MPEG1. A computer, on the other hand, can play just about any variation.

In general, conforming to standards is a good thing. It's planning for the future - just because your current player supports some nonstandard type of VCD doesn't mean your next player will. On the other hand, if you follow the standard you're fine with any player that supports VCD on CD-R.

Personally, I try to follow the standards as much as possible. Most of the nonstandard stuff I make is low-bitrate XVCD to fit 90 minutes on an 80-minute CD. Compatibility for that seems to be pretty good, and even if it doesn't work I'm not encoding anything that way that I'll really miss.

[mats.hogberg]

Well, as VCD is a standard, changing parameters outside of these might render your "VCD" (that's no longer per definition a VCD) not functioning, depending of what your player accepts. If a player says it can play VCD's, then it's VCD's within standards (which, if you're nitpicking, is the only kind of VCD there is!) that it promises to play. If your player still plays the disc if you go outside these specs - fine, but don't count on that it'll work in your friends player.

/Mats

[pYShTr]

Thanks for your help, so far every non standard vcd ive put in my player has worked, including 2 hour movies on 80 min cd. I just wasnt sure wut the warning meant,if it was wrecking dvd player or sumthin Thanks again for explanation