How many songs can fit on a VCD?

[abularkin]

Just wondering if anyone had experimented with encoding audio cds or mp3s into the vcd format. How many songs could you fit on a cd-r if there were no videos or pictures?

[MicoMan]

Please tell me why?

[RobertSmith]

Why encode Auido files in to VCD?
I think it's too much work(if at all possible) with no gain.

[JackDudd]

As much as on a mp3 CD, I guess?!!!

JackDudd

[vitualis]

You can encode your audio to MPEG-1 Layer 2 format. These are allowed as segment items on a VCD.

Assuming you use a bitrate of 224 kbit/s, then you should be able to fit about 6 hours worth of audio on your VCD (of course, you will need to author it... VCDImager is good for this).

If you choose a bitrate that is lower, you will have an increased playtime. If you choose one that is higher, then you will have a shorter playtime. 224 kbit/s in MP2 is near CD quality.

BTW, audio only segment items are not universally supported on all stand-alone players.

Regards.

[kitty]

I have an idea how such a VCDimager music disc would be authored but I'd like to see an XML sample of one before coding it myself. I think the xml samples on hvr's site could use an example like this & more.

Da Kitty

[vitualis]

VCDs are supposed to work so that the last image is kept onscreen until another one comes along.

Thus, you can create a VCD with audio only SPIs which don't have blank screens by creating a <playlist> with only an mpeg still as the <play-item>. This quickly goes to the <playlist> or <selection> that has the audio only SPI as the <play-item>.

There is an example in the demo VCD. Here's a snipet of the relevant bit of the xml:

<selection id="select-audio-screen">
<timeout ref="play-audio-clip"/>
<wait>1</wait>
<loop jump-timing="delayed">1</loop>
<play-item ref="seg-audio-play"/>
</selection>

<playlist id="play-audio-clip">
<prev ref="select-audiospi"/>
<next ref="select-audiospi"/>
<return ref="select-audiospi"/>
<wait>1</wait>
<play-item ref="seg-audio"/>
</playlist>

Regards.

[kitty]

So a hybrid VCD/MP3 music CD would be definitely possible.

Why do this?

1) Disk works in MP3 CD players
2) Disk works in DVD players that are non-MP3
3) Pictures come up with the songs on DVD player
4) Menus help select songs to play whereas many MP3 disks are hard to access via lists

Why Bother?
1) Lot of work to encode audio to both MP2 and MP3 erdion of songs
2) Both copies of song would be on disk limiting audio to 3 hours (?) but this is still better than 1 hour.
3) XML coding would be tedious (maybe easier second time around)

Intriguing

[vitualis]

Um... there's a bit of speculation there, but I suppose no one will know until someone tries it...

Obviously, you can't get MP3's to play in a standard VCD player. However, you could additionally include these as additional files. As kitty stated though, you are essentially halving your disc capacity.

I would personally either just make a MP3 CD (i.e., normal CD-ROM with MP3s on it) or just an "audio" VCD.

Also, there's a possibility (actually, a good chance) that an MP3 CD player will play the MP2 segment items anyway (remember, an MP3 decoder also decodes MP2). However, any mpeg still images you include may confuse the player (thus, the idea of a hybrid may not work after all).

Regards.

[Lindell]

HI!
I have done this almost 1.5 Years ago! Posted my results on http://www.mpegx.com but unfortunlly they couldn´t read swedish! With my guide a baby can do this! No video only B/W image embedded with 160Kbit/s sound or higher if you want! You can fit 99 tracks on a cd. It´s almost 4 Audio cd´s, dependig of the playingtime of the tracks.
This is what you need!
Tmpeg! <---IT ONLY WORK WITH TMPEG!!!
settings: Video 500Kb/s and sound 160Kbit/s
B/W Image
and your tracks!
If you want the complete guide or if someone wants and have the time to translate it, then e-mail me :

ola_lindell@spray.se
PS!
I have 5 cd´s at home done in this format, EVERITHING WORKS! playingtime, FF, REW... and so on..
IT´s just like listen on a regular CD, no differens!
GOOD LUCK!





<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Lindell on 2001-09-04 06:32:11 ]</font>

[vitualis]

Lindell, not to be down on you, but you haven't created a VCD. You've only created a variant of an XVCD (i.e., non-compliant VCD).

The method outlined above is VCD2.0 compliant -- i.e., it will work in every VCD2.0 compatible player.

Your method won't work in many players.

Regards.

[TmpgeUser1]

aleast 20 songs with bad image or VCD format. using Tmpge

[RoopeT]

You can do mp2 audio CD with WinOnCD 3.8. It's called music compilation ... Just add wavs or whatever and winoncd encodes them to mp2 and burn as vcd