Standalone VCD Player Problem

[mahmuttufanoglu]

Hi Everybody,

I am very new to VCD authoring. I am trying to create a VCD that will be playable on standalone VCD players. I have created a mpeg file using tmpgenc than burned the VCD with VCDEasy. When I insert this CD into my VCD player it is not recognized and not played. I burned the VCD with NERO, again no luck. So, I at first thought that the problem is related to quality of the media I used. I have tried branded media like maxel and Sony and it did not help.
Then I started to think my VCD player has problem with CD-R's. To test this condition I have copied a commercial VCD that bought before (which ofcourse no problems with my player ) using a cd cloning software. This cloned VCD played without any problems.Now I think I also eliminated the CD-R compatibility.
As a last test, I have converted the dat file in my commercial VCD to mpg using VCDEasy and recreated the VCD using this mpeg file. Unfortunately no positive result.

Then what may be the problem?

[arredja]

well maybe its a codec problem.
can u tell us some of the steps you took to encode and make the vcd.
are you getting the vcd from a vcd or another format?

[mahmuttufanoglu]

At first, I have captured an avi file from my JVC minidv camcorder using Ulead VideoStudio. Then I have converted this avi file to mpeg using tmpgenc (vcd template). Finally I have burned the VCD using VCDEasy. As I mentioned before, the VCD created this way did not play in my player.

I have also created another VCD from one my commercial (pressed) VCD's which perfectly plays. To accomplish this, I have first converted the dat file to mpeg using VCDEasy then recreated a VCD from this mpeg file. The recreated VCD does not play either.

[deckard8]

Try creating an Iso image of one of your commercial vcds (isobuster/clonecd etc.) and replace the dat file (vcdgear - mpeg >dat), with one of your own
(ultraiso, magiciso etc) and burn it. See if that works.

[vcdforme]

Hi,
I've made all of my VCD's using only TMPGENC and Nero.
100's of them, and they're perfect, media never mattered.
I don't know what you could be doing wrong, but one thing
for starters,
Don't let Nero do any encoding, use Nero for burning only.
You don't need VCDeasy.

[jman98]

Mahmuttufanoglu - By any chance are you really using a portable VCD player and not a standalone? If it's a standalone, is it a VCD only player? That is, it won't play DVDs? The reason I am asking is that portable VCD players have EXACTLY the problem you described - they will play CD-R copies of commercial discs, but they won't play anything you author with Nero, VCDEasy or any other tool. VCD only players generally are not available where most of us live in this forum, which is usually North America or the EU. I have never had access to a VCD only player to test it. but I did buy a VCD portable once. It refused to play anything I authored, no matter what I used to author, but it would play any commercial VCD that I copied.

No one really seems to know why this happens, so there is no fix for it. I knew one guy who looked into it and he was convinced it was because of quantization levels, but I compared a VCD I authored to a commercial VCD that played in the portable player and I saw no significant differences in the quantization levels. I'm sorry, but I don't think you are going to have a solution to your problem. The only thing I can think is that commercial VCDs must have something special about them, maybe some kind of setting, that authoring programs like Nero and VCDEasy don't use and that's why the discs don't work when we author them. I have no idea what that special setting is. It may be something independent of the video file like a setting in a directory other than MPEGAV.

[aldaco12]

Maybe, if the problem is only due to a bad VCD players feature, there is a possibility to 'modchip' it, as you can do for the PSX/PS2 and XBOX consoles??
You should try post here the name of the player, though...

[mahmuttufanoglu]

OK. After I have given up my hopes of playing these VCD's in my player, I went to an electronics store and bought an entry level DVD player which is also compatible with VCD, SVCD, MP3 and DivX formats. Interestingly enough, all those problematic discs played perfectly in my new DVD player. The problem is solved at least for myself. I still wish the problem were really solved because I will send these VCD's to my relatives and I am not sure whether they will be able play them or not.

Jman98 - I am not sure what you mean by a portable one but mine is NOT a small, compact one which you can carry in your pocket. You probably right that commmercial VCD'S may have something special with them and at least some players like yours and mine needs that speciality to play VCD's.

aldaca12 - my VCD player is not of a globally known brand but it is one those cheap unbranded units sold here in TURKEY

[vitualis]

I've owned two stand-alone VCD players. I can assure you that both Nero made and VCDEasy made discs work fine. As to your particular problem, it is sometimes hard to know exactly what is going on. If I had to guess, I would still probably pin it down to media compatibility problems and some bad luck/co-incidence at play.

Regards.