Creating a Music VCD

[zolseb]

I apologize to start with if this has been answered before but I have done a search on not only this forum but through Google and I can't seem to find an answer.

A friend has a jukebox that plays VCd's. To be more specific he has added a TV/Monitor to the jukebox so that he can watch the video clips of the songs.

What he wants to do is create his own music VCD's. He provided me with a couple of VCD's that were professionally made and it had the usual folders eg. CDI, EXT, MPEGAV, SEGMENT and VCD. In the MPEG folder were the video clips and in the CDI folder there were files named exactly the same as the ones in the MPEGAV folder but only much smaller in size eg. 2 or 3 KB. I am assuming that those small files are like short cuts or pointers to the main video files in the MPEGAV folder and it is required for the jukebox to recognise and thus play the video files.

I then obtained a music video clip and made sure it was in the PAL format and that it was MPEG1 and burnt it using Nero 7. Unfortunately Nero didn't place any shortcut or pointer file into the CDI folder. I'm not sure if I was meant to do that myself but I don't know how to if I was. My friend tried it out in his jukebox and of course it didn't work.

What I need to know is how would one make and burn a music VCD that would work in his jukebox. I'm sorry I don't know the make and model or the internal workings of his jukebox but if that is important to answer my question I'd be happy to get that.

Thanks.

[Baldrick]

Maybe it only works with CD-i, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CD-i

But it would be helpful with more information about the jukebox player.

[zolseb]

Maybe it only works with CD-i

I don't understand your answer. The originals that he gave me with the CDI folders on them do work in his jukebox. So obviously his jukebox can play CDI's.

[Baldrick]

VCD is not the same CD-i. I don't know any software cd-i authoring software.

[zolseb]

I just assumed that they were VCD's because that's what was written on them. And it contained all the same folders that a VCD has.

[jman98]

Yes, these are VCDs, but Nero doesn't create compliant VCDs. It comes close, but something may be off that the jukebox doesn't like. Try creating it with VCDEasy and see if you have better results. You should also realize that some VCD players don't work at all with burnable media and that could also be the problem.

Baldrick is correct that CD-i and VCD are not the same thing but there's some kind of overlap possbile between the formats that I have never understood. It is possible that zolseb is right that Nero didn't set up the CD-i part correctly and maybe the jukebox needs that to work. What exactly is wrong is hard to say, but you have some ideas on what to check now.

[zolseb]

Jman98 thanks for your input, I'll give VCDEasy a go and see what happens.

[Cornucopia]

If it's built to standards, a VCD is actually a "bridge" disc. This means it plays both in VCD (and most DVD) players and in CDi players.

I can almost guarantee that your friend DOESN'T have a CDi player. It would say "CDi" right on front if it did. And they never made any "jukebox" type of machines for CDi.
It's a dead format.

However, again, to create it correctly, one should include the CDi application files on a VCD.
Now here's the funny part: Those similarly-named files in the CDi folder AREN'T standard CDi application files and are NOT expected for standard CDi use. (There's usually just 3 or 4 normal ones)

I've seen these types of files before, they're created by Adaptec (now Roxio/Sonic) burning softwares like WinOnCD and VideoPak. In a way, they're bonus shortcut files. But they're also non-standard (adaptec was like that: they often used the MUSIC##.DAT nomenclature instead of the more common AVSEQ##.DAT nomenclature--although both are valid).

But to get back to YOUR situation,

#1-It sounds like your friend does have a valid VCD player and valid VCDs (at least, valid enough).

#2-Don't worry about THOSE extra CDi files, they're not affecting playback AT ALL on VCD players; they'd only affect CDi players (which you/he doesn't have).

#3-Just make a good standard VCD, using something which is known to make good VCDs. I've never had problems with Nero, just didn't like its lack of VCD features, but it -may- be non-standard enough to have problems. My preference is to now always use VCDEasy.

#4-This whole problem could have something to do with v1.1 vs. v2.0 (with PBC) compatibility.
In VCDEasy, make different versions-one with PBC and one without.

#5-Or, as jman98 said, it could be media problems. Try different (read: better) media brands, and also try CD-RW instead of CD-R (or vice-versa).

HTH,
Scott

[zolseb]

I really appreciate your detailed answer Scott and it certainly cleared up a number of things for me. I won't be seeing my friend for a few days but I will make a few different VCD's for him to try. I'll get back to you guys with the result.

[zolseb]

Just thought I would update re my problem above. Scott I would like to thank you again for your reply to my question because it solved the problem. My mate and I were obviously chasing a red herring with this CD-i folder and it's contents. I burnt 3 different VCD's, two with VCDEasy and one with Nero, all on CD-R media and all three worked. Thanks once again.