Easy all in one DVD to VCD programs. What's the catch?

[philtheskipper]

I've been looking at the DVD to VCD guides and I notice that all of them use a different program for each step in the process. My question is.... What's wrong with programs like Super DVD Ripper and EasyVCD that do all the steps for you with just a couple of clicks? What's the downside to these programs?

[Epi]

philtheskipper,

Some people just like the challenge, while others (like myself) like to customize the our DVD to VCD conversion's. While the programs are easy to use, most of them just don't give you enough options. Well thats my two cents.

-Epi

[lrspinelli]

philtheskipper.

I have a prob maybe you can help me with...???

I have a iso and found a way to convert it and it resulted in two folders audio_ts and video_ts. The audio folder is empty and in the video_ts folder there are several files vob bup ect and I am unable to find a program or method to make them into mpeg to burn as a svcd or vcd.....

The files are in four or more parts and some are over 1 gig in size.... By just adding .mpg to the end I can watch it (using media player on my comput) and it contains the audio but when I try to convert using any of my present tools ( dvd2avi, tmpgenc eovideo, vcdgear, virtual dub etc........ I can either not get it to work at all or can only get the video ........?? ...... no audio ...??

What I would like to find is either a one or two step method to take the iso and convert it to burn as a svcd....... As the file is larger than will fit on a regular cd I will need to cut .... etc...

thnx for any Help

[philtheskipper]

lrspinelli,

I'm a newbee to this stuff so I'm really not the one who should be giving you advice. Now that being said, I think you could use Super DVD Ripper to convert your file. The program can be downloaded and used for free six times. It will take the vob files and convert them to vcd, svcd , or divx compliant files. The program can extract(from dvd or hard drive), convert, split, and burn to cdr all in a couple of clicks. The setup is easy and is done using a very simple wizard.

http://www.dvdtodivx.net/

[mats.hogberg]

Some people like a car where all you have to (and can!) do is turn the key, press the accelerator and it will take you from point a to point b. If the car at some point fails to do so, they are stuck, and have to call the garage to come and pick them up.
Others, like to know about suspension, carburators, ignition, gears etc, and how to manipulate this stuff to get the car to behave exactly as they want. When this car breaks down, the owner usually knows exactly what's going on, pulls the tool box out of the trunk, dives under the hood, and is on the way a few minutes later.

/Mats

[lrspinelli]

thnx philtheskipper I will try it and let you know .........

Mats.hogberg ....??? thanks for the lesson in work ethic .......... and any help you may have rendered others in the PAST .... I am one of those need to know only types .......... one of the ""others" you did not mention.... While you may consider your "Philosophical advise" as your contribution (with your over 640 posts) I on the other hand find the information from the 10 post philtheskipper to be of much more of a practical use.... but tahnks for your contribution ....

thnx again ..............

[mats.hogberg]

Don't pay attention to me - I'm sometimes in that mode. But to your original q, I still think my reply applies!

What's wrong with programs like Super DVD Ripper and EasyVCD that do all the steps for you with just a couple of clicks?

The downside of pointandclick allinone packages is that you don't have a clue what's really going on, and when you after having waited for 3 hrs after inserting the DVD in the drive and clicked "Convert to VCD" the end result is not what you expected when you fire up your TV, you have no idea what and where things went wrong.
By using the separate specialized apps, you can take a look at how it's coming along at each step, maybe tweaking a few settings at some point, without doing it all from scratch again.
I know many prefer the pointandclick solutions, but I have still not found one that does 100% of what I want 100% of the time.

Some GUIs just take all the possible settings for all the apps it's a front to, mix them up a little, and present them to the user. Nothing gained here - just confusion.
Others hide what the author thinks irrelevant, which most likely doesn't match what I think.
I'm not making any judgements - people are simply different!
Personally, I always like to have full control at the lowest level possible, even if the learning curve might be steep as Mt Everest. Others like the dirty work to be hidden as much as possible.

/Mats

[philtheskipper]

Well, I would rather have a program that does all the dirty work for me as long as the final product is good quality. If I can't get great results with one of these programs I'll then try following one of the more complicated guides.

My first VCD made using Super DVD Ripper seems like it could be better. The close-up shots look great but when there's movement in a distant shot you start to get some digital distortion. Is this normal with a VCD? I'll see what happens with a SVCD conversion.

Another problem I have is my DVD player will only play vcd and not svcd or any other formats. So I'm stuck using vcd format.

[mats.hogberg]

when there's movement in a distant shot you start to get some digital distortion

Yes, that's a fact we'll have to live with, when it comes to VCD. The low bitrate gives you this effect. You could try 2 pass VBR or CBR at higher bitrates, but that makes it non-standard (a.k.a XVCD), which may or may not play on your stand alone.
You could also try to create a SVCD mpeg, then remultiplex (with TMPGEnc) as VideoCD (Non Standard) to fool your DVD into believing that it's playing a VCD.
As SVCD=MPEG2=DVD, there's no technical reason for it not to play SVCD - it's just that the manufacturer has decided not to allow it. CVD is also an option (SVCD with lower horizontal resolution).

/Mats

[lrspinelli]

Philtheskipper I am trying it now and it appears to be doing the job just fine… INCLUDING THE AUDIO… thnx

Mats.hogberg……….. You mention other methods and ways to do it ………. What are those methods the info that philtheskipper gave was the only method I have found that will work. I tried other but could not get the audio with all the tools that I have….

The quality using the superdvd seems to be good although it is pretty slow but it is a huge file I am doing… I would be interested in exploring other methods as well. I, like philtheskipper want to have a quality movie but I am not trying to create a work of art……….. but other tools are prob very useful for those times when the original source is in need of something

Thnx for any info you may be willing to share in that regard
Philtheskipper thanx again ….

[ntscuser]

I've been looking at the DVD to VCD guides and I notice that all of them use a different program for each step in the process. My question is.... What's wrong with programs like Super DVD Ripper and EasyVCD that do all the steps for you with just a couple of clicks? What's the downside to these programs?

I'm relatively new to this game so at first I tried the demo versions of these all in one packages. Okay it was relatively simple and fast. The first VCD I made looked 'okay' on my 25" 4:3 monitor. Then I tried it on a 32" widescreen set. The picture was attrocious.

As far as I can tell the way these packages squeeze everything onto a single disc is simply to drop frames. Scooby-Doo is a relatively short movie and was cut to around 13 or 14 frames per second. Also 355x240 with constant bit rate isn't really enough to mask the digital artefacts in a programme. I use 432x240 (minimum) with 2-pass variable bit rate and the highest motion search precision setting. The results are at least as good as an NTSC recording made on a VHS or S-VHS VCR but without the annoying chroma noise and other defects. Okay, so it won't play on everone's machine but most of my friends have two or three players to choose from anyway.

I've tried MPEG-2 but suffered from motion blocking on relatively mundane scenes. It's also debatable whether the 480-line structure is any improvement over 240-lines on an interlaced TV monitor. If someone reading this uses 480-lines and does believe it to be an improvement I'm not going to argue with them. I just don't believe the trade-off in bit-space for resolution is worth it except on rare occasions.