Nero/VCDEasy burning questions

[Indigo Girl]

I have made a music video which I was finally able to convert from WMV to something burnable, but now I have another problem.
I burned it successfully in VCDEasy, but it finalized the disk, and I didn't want that because it was 80% empty.
So I tried to burn it with Nero 5.5.3.1, and it said that the burn was successful etc, but when I tried to play the VCD there were a lot of folders that I didn't recognize-... CDI , EXT, SEGMENT, MPEGAV, VCD and a lot of subfolders ... how am I supposed to play it? Which folder do I use? The VCDEasy disc was clearer- I just played the MPG segment. This sounds like a silly question, but I am very confused here! Please help an obvious newbie- I don't want to waste CD's with VCDEasy finalizing them with only a few minutes of video all the time. How do I de-select that?! Thanks for any help.

The CDI, MPEGAV...etc are the folders that make your CD a VCD.
If you made a menu it would be in one of these folders. Your music
video is in the MPEGAV folder as a *dat (I think that is right) file.
Apparently when you burned it you selected the "Video CD" option.
This makes a standard VCD with the file (or files) you have supplied.
It also makes it playable in *Most* DVD players. If you have one and
want to see if it will play a VCD select the option at the left.
It is called "DVD Players". You can find most players in this list.

Goodluck.

[Indigo Girl]

Thank you megadeus 324.... this is all new to me, and there sure is a lot to learn! I thought that actually making the video was going to be the most work, but its all the other stuff that comes after making it!
I do have a DVD player- an Apex 1100w , so it looks like it will be compatible. Here's hoping.....

You are welcome. I, to, have an APEX 1100W. I have found that
any of my VCD's need to be in the 352x240 format or I start getting
studdering audio and the video gets out of whack.

If you could let me know how it goes. I have quite a few music vids
that my kids like to watch. It would be cool if they could take them
to Grandma's house and watch them there also.

[Indigo Girl]

hmm... it's didn't go at all actually.. I played the VCD on my comp okay, but the DVD player kept giving me the "no disc" message.
I have played other mpg videos on it, so I don't know what happened. Of course, I didn't make the other ones, so I must have settings wrong somewhere..... *shrug* ... back to the VCD trouble shooting, i guess.

[unclebud]

I have used several models of Apex DVD players and they all played my VCD's and SVCD's. I do know that sometimes the Apex players need to be turned off when changing formats for them to play correctly.
You should try that if you haven't yet.

[Indigo Girl]

It doesn't even work if I just turn the player on, and put the VCD in. What are you saying that I should do then? I'm confused.

[oddbod77]

You should try and figure out which version of the player you have. Go
here to learn more.

[Gargoyle]

I burned it successfully in VCDEasy, but it finalized the disk, and I didn't want that because it was 80% empty.

Do you mean that the VCD created with VCDEasy played in your Apex? It may be because the Nero disc is not finalized;on the other hand, I've burned VCDs with Nero that wouldn't play in my Apex AD600, but the same file burned with VCDEasy would play fine.

Also, is your APEX 1100 new? And were the other music vidoes you played VCD or SVCD? Apex has dropped VCD compatibility on its players, apparently due to lawsuits over not paying royalties for MPEG1 licenses.

[vitualis]

Firstly, with Nero or VCDEasy, you must finalise the disc. You cannot make multisession VCDs and not finalising the disc will cause problems. It is irrelevant that there is capacity left on the disc. Once you've burnt a VCD, you cannot add more data to it.

Secondly, assuming you've actually made the disc properly, then the VCD should player on a stand-alone player (e.g., DVD player) if it is both VCD compliant (essentially 100% of players) AND CD-R/W compatible.

You may be having a media compatibility issue. Try burning an audio CD on the same media type to see if that plays on your player. If it doesn't, then your player can't read your discs. You will then have to experiment with different brands of media to see if you can find one that works. Often CD-RW discs work better in these machines.

To play VCDs on the PC, you are best to get a software DVD player (e.g., PowerDVD or WinDVD).

Regards.

[Indigo Girl]

I just learned a whole lot reading those posts- thank you all!
But it looks like I have the new version of the 1100w 512k , which isn't a good thing.
And the disc I burned with VCDEasy did NOT play on the DVD either, just on the computer. Actually the Nero one does too now on the computer- I just didn't know how to do it before.
And the VCD/Svcds videos that I was able to play on the DVD were burned by a friend, so I have no idea what they are. I just know that they have "mpg" extensions, and that they play fine. So it looks like it is just a problem with the DVD player, which is discouraging since I just bought it mostly to play VCD's. I didn't know about the "new version" thing, just the 1mb, versus 512 k issue.
Anyway, thanks for the tips everyone.