Need help making VCDS and xVCDs with KWorld card and TVR

[888888]

The following is a letter I am sending to HONESTECH support. I have already sent a similar letter to KWorld with no reply and from what I hear, HONESTECH does not reply either. So I was hoping maybe one of you could help me with my very frustrating problem. Here is the letter:

Hi. Recently, I bought a KWorld V-Stream PVR 878 TV Capture card and it came with the HONESTECH PVR Plus software suite. My main goal is to make VCDs of TV shows I capture. I use NERO software instead of the included PVR DVD MAKER because I want to make VCD menus. My problem is that even when I capture an MPEG1 clip using the standard VCD NTSC format option, NERO refuses to recognize it. So does another VCD burner called VCDEasy. I would like to be able to burn VCDs or preferably 110 minute XVCDs from MPEGs that I capture. Right now, I have to re-encode each of my captured MPEGs using a program called TMPGEnc which is very time-consuming. However, as soon as I do this, they work perfectly with NERO. I would really appreciate some help. Thank you.

Alternately, is it possible to use the HONESTECH DVD MAKER software to burn 110 minute XVCDs that I capture with TVR at 800 kbps? This would also solve my problems as I can do without menus. Thanks again.

So thats it. Basically, I want to put at least four or five cartoon shows each 22 minutes long on one 800MB CDR. When I encode my MPEGs with TMPGEnc, I notice that the resulting DAT files NERO shows are significantly smaller than the MPEG files I put in. If I don't re-encode with TMPGEnc, NERO not only asks me to turn off standard compliance but the resulting DAT files are the exact same size as the MPEGs I put in. The result is a 700MB CDR limit which defeats the whole point of VCD format. And after analyzing a VCD I made with the HONESTECH DVD MAKER the resulting DAT files were actually larger than the MPEGs!

The HONESTECH software is very strange. I have never seen a program with so little documentation and such puzzling quirks. For instance, the audio format box is so small that it cuts off the last sentence of every line so there is no way of knowing what it means (there are two of each from what it seems). And the DVD Maker has to be the most featureless single minded program ever. There isn't even an option to select your burn speed!

Anyway, sorry about the long post. I have searched ALL over this board reading just about every VCD and xVCD related post as well as every KWorld and HONESTECH post. Some of those helped but not enough. I really hope somebody here can help me. If I can figure all this out, I will write a guide on using KWorld cards and HONESTECH software. So far, there are no such guides which is a shame considering that about half of all the capture cards on PRICEWATCH are KWorld cards.

Thanks!

[gab2001uk]

I do not have this particular card, but I do use a hardware MPEG1/2 encoder capture card, and often find the file needs to be corrected before it will be recognised by other software.
I use either M1-Edit->Tools->Repacketise, or TMPGenc->File->MPEG Tools and choose the Merge And Cut option to trim and re-compile the MPEG first.
Once you have compatable files, you should be able to get around 70 minutes on a CD-R 80 VCD with VCD Easy, including a simple menu.

[888888]

Ok. It looks like you solved my problem! Merging and cutting didn't help but when I multiplex the file in TMPGenc MPEG Tools using the VCD non-standard format, NERO lets me fit 800MB on an 800MB cd. And multiplexing takes less than a minute per 30 minute file. Thanks. You the man now dog gab2001uk!

Anyway, does anybody else have any suggestions. I end up "multiplexing" the MPEG twice, once in HONESTECH EDITOR when I edit out commericals and then "fast merge" and again with TMPGEnc. Does this hurt quality?

[gab2001uk]

Don't think the repeat multiplex does much to the quality, but can you not miss out the Honestech editor and just use the TMPGenc Tools?

[888888]

I need some way to edit out the commercials and the HONESTECH editor is actually pretty good if it weren't for these issues. Right now, I am getting mixed results multiplexing with TMPGEnc over again. My Magnaxox standalone DVD player plays these xVCDs alright but a Panasonic standalone DVD player I tried plays the MPEGs very slowly and skippily(basically impossible to watch) unless I completely re-encode them with TMPGEnc. Also, one of the MPEGs I multiplexed over again has a loud popping noise throughout the clip when I play it on a DVD player. I am going to try to multiplex the captured clip with TMPGEnc and then edit it with HONESTECH editor. Maybe that will help.

[gab2001uk]

M1 - Edit pro may help. http://www.mediaware.com.au/ProductInfo/M1editPRO/m1editpro.html
I have sent you a PM

[888888]

By the way, HONESTECH has so far not replied. Big surprise. Maybe they don't offer support for OEMs?

[xtreemkareem]

The bundles HOnestech software is crap. I wish I had bought the KWorld back when it was bundles with WinDVR... if you can find a version of that, try it out and see if it works any better.