vcd converter?

[that Todd guy]

Hey,

I am sure that the answer to this questions is on this forum somewhere,
but I haven't had any luck in searching it out, so I am just gonna ask it here.

I have a disk with a VCD file and none of the DVD players that I own
will accept that format, so I need to convert it to something that my players will accept.
Are there any free applications for converting VCD files to something else? (on a mac?)

I have been using handbreak & Mpeg Strreamclip to convert all of my DVD's to MPEG4
for use with my video I-pod,
but I am completely lost with trying to convert these VCD files.
I really don't care what format I convert it to, just so that I can watch them.
Although given the choice, I'd prefer to have it converted to MPEG4.
Can someone please help me out here?

Thanx
Todd

[Case]

1/ I have yet to see a DVD player that will not play VCD, so it might be a good idea to verify if your disc has indeed been authored correctly as VCD.
2/ The way to convert VCD to MP4 is to first 'rip' the VCD to an .mpg file, which then can be converted to MP4.

[guns1inger]

VCD resolution is DVD compliant. If you resample the audio to 48kHz you can author it to DVD compliance and it will play in any DVD player.

edit : fixed missing digit in sample rate - you would think after 20 years in IT I would be able to type properly

[that Todd guy]

Thanx for the fast responses...
I feel a little foolish,
but the file that I was trying to see was actually a DAT file,
not a VCD.

Can anyone suggest a good application for converting DAT files?

Many Thanks,
sorry for the confusion with my first post.

Todd

[Case]

VCDGearX has a "dat2mpg" conversion module.

[Cornucopia]

guns1inger, I think you meant 48kHz, not "8kHz"...

that Todd guy: All MPEG media on VCDs are store in tracks/sectors/files that have the label ***.DAT, so you're on the right track.

Good tools to use are: VCDGear, ISOBuster, or VCDEasy (I prefer the last because it rips ALL the different MPEG elements as well as an XML of the structure, but they're all good).

Scott

[havema-1]

How can I retrieve MPEG2 from a SVCD (should work also for VCD):

http://www.sjoki.uta.fi/~shmhav/SVCD_on_a_Macintosh.html#retrieve

[rumplestiltskin]

Copy the file named AVSEQ01.DAT to your hard drive. Rename the extension to "mpg" so you'll have AVSEQ01.mpg. Launch ffmpegX. Drop the file into the appropriate "drop point" in ffmpegX. Select XviD mencoder for the conversion, set the frame size (352x240, no change), set the audio bitrate (160kb okay?), (check Deinterlace in the Filters tab), and press the "Encode" button. This will give you a file that QuickTime will be happy with.

Now do one more conversion from the XviD to an H264 for iPod. Use the "640x" setting but maintain the same frame size (as you won't gain anything by changing it). Keep that audio at 160 or 128 if you wish. "Encode". Drop into iPod or into iTunes and stream it to your AppleTV.

[Edited for clarity]

[Case]

check Deinterlace in the Filters tab

MPEG-1 for VCD (240 lines of vertical resolution) is always progressive, so there is no use in deinterlacing.

Now do one more conversion from the XviD to an H264 for iPod.

Why this two-step scenario? One should be able to do this conversion in one step?

[rumplestiltskin]

True; one should be able to do this conversion in one step. However, the result in doing so is green screen video. Apparently, this is a case of you can't there directly from here.