Converting RM to VCD

[src2206]

Hi friends,
I have a video file [of a private performence, and non copy righted material] which appears to be real media encoded. I would like to convert it to VCD PAL. I have tried to follow the guide of this forum and downloaded EO Video 15 day trial. Now when I'm trying to convert, the file can be imported perfectly in te play list but it is neither played by EO Video, nor it shows any video or audio source while trying to convert. I used GSpot, to examine the codec of the file, Gspot shows it to be a RM file, but in the right portion of its window, its showing n.a under both Audio and Video.

Do I have the codec in my PC? Honestly I am quite confused with all these codec trouble.
I think have RM codec installed in my PC 'cause I can play the file flawlessly in WMP11. I have installed RealMedia Alternative in my PC but opted for non installation of any player and set my WMP11 as the default of these types of files.

Please help me out, as my 15 day trial will be expiring soon.

Thank you in advance.

BTW, is there any way I can see the list of my subscribed threads in this forum? I always choose email notification but its really cumbersome to check my mail account repeatedly in the case of urgency.

[src2206]

One more thing:
GSpot, is showing "File is Real Media (.RM)" against the label "Stat".
If I click on this line, a yellow colored window is showing the following:

"This, or appears to be an unsupported filetype. GSpot provides full support for AVI and OGG media streams. Bsed on its composition GSpot beleives the file type to be RealMedia (.RM)"

Well I'm quite confused

[Ai Haibara]

GSpot is really primarily for AVI and MPEG files. I'm not sure about OGM/MKV, but I'm fairly sure it doesn't really support RealMedia files. Maybe MediaInfo might, or if you can play it in VLC or mplayer (with the Real support installed), you can use those to get more information about the videos. I don't think Real uses too many different codecs for audio and video, though (all its own, of course...)

[src2206]

As I mentioned I can play it in my WMP11 and as well as Media Player Classic.

Thank you for recommending MediaInfo. I downloaded and installed it. I checked the file in question with this software and it gave me the following info:

"1 Video Streams: RealVideo 4
1 Audio Streams: AAC"

So the main problem still renains, how can I convert it.
Please help.

[src2206]

Well, I think there is a missmatch between the instructions provided to use Eo Video in the tutorial in this foum and the present Eo Video version.

So could someone please guide me how to use the present Eo version to convert?

[laspis59]

Hello src2206

Have you tried freeware SUPER yet for importing RealVideo and converting to MPEG-1 with MP2 audio (Choose mpg VCD Compliant)?

After that VCDEasy is well worth buying to author the VCD or you can still get the old freeware version from VH.com (https://www.videohelp.com/download/VCDEasy_v1.1.5.2_Setup.exe)

[Ai Haibara]

Yeah, I'd recommend trying SUPER as well. Note, however, that you'll probably need to know the video frame rate and sound sample rate of the video(s) you're trying to convert, and make sure the output video uses the same values when you convert it using SUPER... otherwise, sync issues could potentially occur.

I thought installing Real Alternative was supposed to allow you to be able to load Real videos and convert them in VfW apps like VirtualDub, though... but I'm not sure about that.

[src2206]

MP2? Is it standard with VCD and can I play in my Standalone DVD player making VCD using it?

Thanks for the infos. I'm downloading Super. VCD Easy is the prog I already use.

[Ai Haibara]

(edit) whoops, never mind. I was thinking MPEG-2 video, not MP2 audio.

[laspis59]

MP2? Is it standard with VCD and can I play in my Standalone DVD player making VCD using it?

MP2 is the audio format and is VCD compliant.MPEG-1 is the video format and is VCD compliant.

Just choose "mpg VCD Compliant" in SUPER as the output container and all should play because its the compliant VCD specs.

Once "mpg VCD Compliant" is selected,dont change the AUDIO options and in the video options make sure "Video Scale Size" is set to 352x288 and "Frame/Sec" is 25fps for PAL VCD's.

https://www.videohelp.com/vcd

[src2206]

Thanks
I'll post the result here.

[src2206]

Hi Luke.

Thank you very much- yes its working perfectly.

Now please help me with the following:

After converting from RM to MPG1, the file size increased beyond the capacity of one CD. Now I have two more files of this subject as continuity. Can I use VirtuaDub to cut and join these converted files to fit them in 4 Cds, othrerwise I need 6 CDs min for 3 files if I only cut the files using VD. I need to join them too to optimise space usage.

Please guide.

thank you

[fish1234]

MP2? Is it standard with VCD and can I play in my Standalone DVD player making VCD using it?

Thanks for the infos. I'm downloading Super. VCD Easy is the prog I already use.

Be careful with installing Super. As mentioned by many others, it doesn't work well with cygwin and put quite a few hidden dll in your windows directory.

As mentioned by someone in their own Super forum....
( http://www.w3exchange.com/t59-cygwin1dll-creation.html )
================
- Ruins your cygwin installation, by installing an old cygwin1.dll in WINDOWS/System32. They also install this .dll as a system file so you can't see it unless that is turned on in your folder options. Cygwin re-install notices this rogue .dll, but can't erase it. This is an appalling programming practice. There has to be a way to use cygwin.dll without screwing up the lives of cygwin users.

Worse still, uninstall leaves the rogue hidden cygwin.dll still there! C'mon guys. Super is a... super program... surely you know better than this.
===================

Some free programs use Cygwin under the cover so if you can't use other programs after install Super, then may be caused by whatever Super installed. And if you check your WINDOWS/System32 after installed Super, you will see some hidden DLL files added there. And they are not only hidden but also set to read only. And if you uninstall Super, those DLL won't be delete and will stay there. And other program cannot overwrite it because they are read only (so can't update to newer version of dll even if other program try to). This is really poor program design and this is the kind of program that will cause problem with Windows and why people need to reinstall Windows from time to time to get rid of those 'extra' stuffs.

[laspis59]

After converting from RM to MPG1, the file size increased beyond the capacity of one CD. Now I have two more files of this subject as continuity. Can I use VirtuaDub to cut and join these converted files to fit them in 4 Cds, othrerwise I need 6 CDs min for 3 files if I only cut the files using VD. I need to join them too to optimise space usage.

Please guide.

thank you

VirtualDub/VirtualDub MPEG is really for editing and exporting to AVI.I just tried to edit a MPEG-1 with VD MPEG and output to MPEG-1 using direct stream copy,but it dont work.
For editing MPG files (Cutting,joining ect..) then you will need to use other software that is designed for use with the MPG format.I use Womble MPEG Video Wizard DVD or VideoRedo,you could use MPEG-VCR aswell is you like.

[laspis59]

I just looked in system32 and found 2 read only,hidden files "sapi.cpl.manifest" and "logonui.exe.manifest".They could just be system files.
Are these the ones you mean,fish1234?
In WINDOWS I found super.chm is hidden.The help file.
And in the folders eRightSoft>SUPER>mencoder I found a load of hidden codec files.

[fish1234]

I just looked in system32 and found 2 read only,hidden files "sapi.cpl.manifest" and "logonui.exe.manifest".They could just be system files.
Are these the ones you mean,fish1234?
In WINDOWS I found super.chm is hidden.The help file.
And in the folders eRightSoft>SUPER>mencoder I found a load of hidden codec files.

When I installed Super few months back in my Windows XP, it put files into C:\WINDOWS\system32 like

ac3filter.ax
AVSredirect.dll
CoreAAC.ax
CareAVC.ax
cygwin1.dll
cygz.dll
DiracSplitter.ax
.... etc

All hidden there.

Based on the reply by 96crypt_mod ( post 2006-08-18 08:51:08 ) in the Super official forum (link below), Super developer(forum mod) know about this issue and considering about it.
( http://www.w3exchange.com/t59-cygwin1dll-creation.html )

[laspis59]

I re-downloaded SUPER yesterday and I cant see any of the hidden files you mentioned in System32.It seems,although its the same build,that the program has changed or been modified since a few months back.When installed it says in my programs list SUPER (FIX) whatever thats supposed to mean exactly,I'm not sure.Maybe its been fixed.

Still,there are hidden files in the eRightSoft>SUPER>mencoder folder.Why these are hidden is beyond me.They dont have any need to be hidden,do they! It does indeed look suspicious.Is there malicious code hidden in these files because I know software that could be capable of this?

Maybe we should question eRightSoft about this?

[src2206]

Hi friends,
Now please clear something for me:
What is cygwin? What are the programs which use it?
Well, I already installed SUPER, and now I'm worried .

[laspis59]

Cygwin is explained in great detail here.I know the burning engine CDRDAO uses it.

Cygwin - is a collection of free software tools originally developed by Cygnus Solutions to allow various versions of Microsoft Windows to act somewhat like a Unix system. It aims mainly at porting software that runs on POSIX systems (such as Linux systems, BSD systems, and Unix systems) to run on Windows with little more than a recompilation

Regarding SUPER,my anti virus and anti spyware tools dont pick up on any malicious code (Virus) so maybe there is not much to worry about.It just seems odd that some files are hidden.What is the purpose of this?

src2206,have you managed to finish your task with any of the tools that I've mentioned?

You can take a look at the Video Editors (MPG/DVD) in the tools section.I haven't tried Cuttermaran yet but it might do what you need to the MPEG-1's,for free.I think you need to demux the video and audio first!

[src2206]

Hi laspis59, Yes I've completed the tasks I set for. I used EO video to convert them [this I did before you mentioned SUPER] and then used Video ReDo to cut and join. By this time I have installe SUPER. After that used VCDEasy to burn them. Checked out in my stand alone DVD player, they are just fine.

I'm trying to check SUPER usig one of my backup movie [divX].I'll post the result here.

Thank you.

[src2206]

Hi Luke,

OK, the result of SUPER is worst.The movie backup when converted again, came out quite bad. One of the flaw that there was two wide bands at the left and right of the screen and the picture is distorted. The video quality was also poor. I beleive it kept the aspect ratio 11:9 which did not work.

Another thing: What difference does it make by using/not using Direct Show durnig rendering?

Guide me please.

Thank you.

[src2206]

Luke, is there no all in one good quality converter available which can help in these situations, like creating backups and getting the original back from backups?

Please help.

Thank you.

[laspis59]

AFAIK DirectShow is a replacement for the old Video For Windows used by the system with media files.Because I'm not very informed about exactly what it is I looked it up in the wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Directshow

I cant say so far that I've ever come across an all in one converter that I'm completely happy with.SUPER is free and it can convert a lot of formats compared to most other software,but quality wont be as good for MPEG-1 compared to a decent encoder like CCE,Mainconcept MPEG Encoder or TMPGEnc Plus.Personally SUPER is good for me to convert files to a format like WMV,RM or Quicktime.Or them formats to AVI with huffy in order to encode to MPG with a good encoder.

You could do it a different,better way.Instead of converting the RM file straight to VCD (MPEG-1) with SUPER,you could convert to AVI with the lossless and very fast huffYUV codec.You wont have lost any quality when playing back the AVI file because huffy is lossless.Then you can convert the AVI to MPEG-1 with one of the encoders that I've mentioned above.These encoders will give VCD compliant MPEG-1's and the quality should be better than SUPER's.

The only other converters I can think of that are not too bad are River Past Video Cleaner (Trialware,Buggy!,I used to use it.LOL),MediaCoder (More Complicated!) or Canopus ProCoder.

All in one software is not likely to give you the quality you desire.Your better off using several tools for your task eg SUPER (RM to AVI with huffyuv.This will enable you to cut/join the AVI within VirtualDub) then AVI to MPEG-1 with TMPGEnc Plus,then edit with VideoReDo or MPEG Video Wizard/MPEG VCR if you haven't already the AVI with VD and finally author and burn with VCDEasy.

[src2206]

Great Luke. Thank you very much.

Things are quite clear to me now.

I have Adobe Premiere pro 1.5 to edit but I find it not very good for conversion jobs. It has Mainconcept MPEG pro encoder installed but I do not think that can be used as stand alone.

I'll use your method described in last paragraph of your post.
Just two more questions:

1. Will tmpgEnc free version do the job for me? [Can't really buy any more of sw ]
2. Can I use the same method for other formats like DivX/XVid too?

Thank you again.

[laspis59]

AFAIK you can use the freeware TMPGEnc to encode to VCD compliant MPEG-1 without limitations,forever! It's just encoding to DVD Compliant MPEG-2 that you have 30 days trial before you need to pay.So you can use TMPGEnc for free if you just want to make VCD MPEG-1's.The encoder shouldn't give you any aspect ratio problems ect... neither,like you decribed when using SUPER.I've had zero problems using the TMPGEnc series of MPG encoders for making MPEG-1 VCD compliant video.It's the recommended encoder for this according to VCDEasy.

You can use the same method with SUPER for DivX and XviD but because they could have the .avi extension,TMPGEnc might accept them without using a HuffYUV .avi converted file.If you have all the codecs installed including the audio codecs that were used to make the DivX/XivD video file eg MP3 (Lame MP3 - ACM codec installed) or AC3 (AC3 ACM Decompressor),VirtualDub will accept them if you need to cut and join,well at least the .avi extension DivX/XviD files I've tried are rendered with it.I've never imported a DivX or XviD file into TMPGEnc,only huffy AVI's that I've captured from digital TV in the past.You can try and see if the software accepts them,this way you wont need to do things the long way with SUPER.

I'm sure you have enough information now,to easily produce some compliant,good looking VCD's.

Good Luck with all your video/audio related tasks you plan to carry out in the near future.

[src2206]

Luke, you are just great my friend .
Thank you very much.
I've marked this thread too, so whenever I'll require information, I'll come back to this thread and I'm sure that other visitors of this forum will also be highly benifited by this thread.
I hpoe in case I have problems in future, you won't be bothered if I pm you to draw your attention to that particular thread.

Thank you again.