VCD Playback problems - Jumpy on Standalone DVD player

[Philw]

Hi all,
I'm having a problem with my VCD's and it is driving me crazy - hope someone can help.

I have a batch of VCD's that I burned some time ago (using Nero) on my LG-8120B writer which play perfectly on my Pioneer DV-636 player.

I've just burnt a new batch of VCD's (about 20), which whilst they play perfectly on my PC (xine on Linux and Sasami on 2000), will not play on my DVD player. The player recognises the VCD and declares that it has started PBC playback, but after 10 secs or so, the screen goes black then there is about a 2-3 sec pause and then it plays another 10 secs.. then a pause.. etc.

I've tried burning using vcdimager and cdrdao (on Linux ), Nero (on 2K), 12x, 4x, Memorex & Datasafe CD's with exactly the same effect. I've even burned another copy of one of my working VCD's which now has the same problem. The source MPG's are from various sources, so I'd be surprised if it was an encoding problem (since I'd expect at least one of them to work).

I've seen a few reports about the 636 and VCD playback problems, but what confuses me is why can I play the earlier ones fine?

The only thing I can think of is that my writer started playing up and it has since been replaced with an identical model.

Can anybody help?

Cheers,
Phil

[Big_Jit]

I have problems with jerky video when using NTSC(film) VCD's. The solution was to encode to XSVCD using 3:2 pulldown when playback and then remultiplex using VCD template under TMPGEnc MpegTools... after that I had High Quality smooth playing NTSC(film) VCD's and it only takes about 5 minutes to remultiplex to mpeg-1...

but if you're not using NTSC(film) i ask are they Standard VCD format, PAL maybe. Players can act strange about playing VCD's if they're not just perfect...

[Philw]

Thanks for the response Big_Jit,
Unfortunately. these are downloaded MPG's (i.e. someone else has encoded them) - I'm not sure how to re-encode these files.

FYI, under TMPGEnc, one of the files (for example) has the following attributes: MPEG-1 352x240 23.976fps CBR 1150kbps, Layer-2 44100Hz 192kbps.
Help! It's gonna be a pain if the only place I can play these movies is on my PC's (they work on both of my PC's perfectly).

Cheers,

[Big_Jit]

I don't think that you need to re-encode them. Maybe you need a different cd-r brand. I've had a lot of bad experiences with Memorex cd's. try Fujifilm or maybe a cd-rw...

[Philw]

Hmm.. still no joy.. I've tried burning with Datasafe's & Imation CD-RW but the same thing happens.

[Philw]

Right, I'm at the end of my tether with this. I've tried the following things since my last update:

- Upgraded the flash on my CDR from 1.04 to 2.00
- Re-encoded one of my MPEG's into a standard PAL VCD format using TMPGEnc

None of this has made any difference at all. Has anybody come across this problem and found what the cause is?

Hope someone can help.

[rsetzerr]

Right, I'm at the end of my tether with this. I've tried the following things since my last update:

- Upgraded the flash on my CDR from 1.04 to 2.00
- Re-encoded one of my MPEG's into a standard PAL VCD format using TMPGEnc

None of this has made any difference at all. Has anybody come across this problem and found what the cause is?

Hope someone can help.

i have this jumpy jumpy problem as well.. i'm burning my disc using nero 5590 with PAL format..

Am still looking for solutions.. any so far??

[solo]

I may be wrong but it might be that your dvd player simply doesn't like TMPGEnc. I have a Cyber Home ADL 528 which i bought after reading that it will play anything you throw at it, well everything that is except VCD's encoded with TMPGEnc then it will give you jerky play back which i found to my cost. I have 30 + VCD's that will not play in this player but will play no problem in my Pacific or any other brand owned by my friends. I have tried all different ideas passed along to me in different forums and still no joy so i give up and now stick to the pacific so if any body wants to buy a CH ADL 528 ???

[Philw]

Hmm.. may be a different problem. After some feedback from another 636 user, I have sent my player back to be repaired (thanks to Richer Sounds for their excellent customer service). While mine is in being repaired, I have a replacement (an Aiwa, can't remember the model). I suspect that it may be a problem with the firmware... will advise when I get it back.

Incidently, the Aiwa plays VCD/SVCD fine, so it proves that it wasn't the disks themselves.

Cheers

[TheInformer]

This probably won't make a difference, but it won't hurt to try. Go ahead and use TMPGEnc to demux and then remux the MPEG-1 file and see if that helps with the problem. Sometimes my high bitrate MPEG-1 files don't play correctly in a DVD player until they have been de- and re-muxed.

[rsetzerr]

This probably won't make a difference, but it won't hurt to try. Go ahead and use TMPGEnc to demux and then remux the MPEG-1 file and see if that helps with the problem. Sometimes my high bitrate MPEG-1 files don't play correctly in a DVD player until they have been de- and re-muxed.

de-re-mux.. u mean loading the mpeg1 file into the input of tmpgenc and output it VCD format again??

or using the mpeg tools to merge and mux??

and would it make any difference if i encode the video file using other VCD format encoders?? whats a better alternative??

[The Dude]

Hi
Got the same problem , I have at home 2 DVD players.
on my Pioneer player the VCD plays very good, but on my other one
LG there r problems: the pic jumps, so is the sound and I have problems with jumping to chapters and menu.
I used TMPEnc and VCDEasy.
what do I need to do to fix the problems on the LG Player

[rsetzerr]

Hi
Got the same problem , I have at home 2 DVD players.
on my Pioneer player the VCD plays very good, but on my other one
LG there r problems: the pic jumps, so is the sound and I have problems with jumping to chapters and menu.
I used TMPEnc and VCDEasy.
what do I need to do to fix the problems on the LG Player

same here... i have not fixed it yet.. now trying another software other than TMPGEnc to encode the video... hope it helps..

[offline]

but after 10 secs or so, the screen goes black then there is about a 2-3 sec pause and then it plays another 10 secs.. then a pause.. etc.

Sounds like a classic firmware problem. Not the player's firmware, the firmware for the internal DVD drive mechanism itself.

I'm not familiar with your
brand so all I can suggest is take it to your dealer or an electronics repair shop to get the drive mech flash rom checked.