How do you distribute VCD's to the masses...legaly?

[angus]

I am newbie to VCD/SVD. I am trying to accomplish the following:

A client would like to distribute about 15 minutes of video to 10k+ potential customers of theirs. I currently author DVD's for them, but they want a cheaper and easier way to do this. They do not want to send DVD's to their clients that will play video on their PC's. They want something that a general user will insert into their CD player and it will load the proper decoder(Player) "automatically" if they do not have a decoder(player) installed already AND then they want the video to start playing automatically....with menus and chapters available.

Anyone doing/has done this before? Would you mind sharing your experience with us? What tool was used to create the final CD? What about licensing for the tool? Is there any freeware or shareware/donateware out there?

I am new to these formats and it is great what you can put on a CD. Everyones feedback is appreciated!

Thanks! :D

[dbaker6165]

well i know windows media player supports vcd's perhaps you can make some sort of "autoplay" file on the cd so it would playin computer cd-roms - it "should" still play in a dvd player if you did this.... You could "probably" do it with nero burning rom. of course i dont know how to do it but its just an idea.

[BerrantRyke]

I remember reading some threads on autoplay for the PC.

Try the search function above... I bet you find what you are looking for.

[tgpo]

These user guides just get better and better!

[angus]

This gives me some leads that I will follow up on today. Sounds like I could create my CD with autoplay and then with just use wmp as a "default" player. Sounds good. I will update later on my progress.

Thanks and if anyone has some ideas for the Mac, I could use those too, since I know it will be requested next.

[kfoss]

I have been working on such a capability but have yet to find a player that can both accept command prompt execution of player as well as having the ability to play menus.

I would appreciate any ideas on which player could do this. WMP does not play menus nor does it play anything other than that one individual .DAT files.

For Angus:
Considering that there is only 15 mins of video, have you looked at making a regular CD that is not a VCD and making your own script that autoruns off the CD like any regular CD. With only 15 mins of video it would seem that you are limiting yourself greatly by sticking within the confines of the VCD "standard".

Kevin

[Jestorius]

you can make a cDVD with a player on it. It won't play in a standalone but playes in PC-s.

You can make a VCD and a cDVD on the same CD. It playes as a VCD in a standalone and as a DVD in a PC. If you are using Pinnacle Impression for DVD authoring than the cDVD structure doesn't looks like a DVD. So the standalone won't hang.

The problem is if a client has a software player with insert detection and autoplay. It gonna start up and playing the VCD in the PC during the other player from the CD starts up and beginn to play the DVD.

[tgpo]

Thanks and if anyone has some ideas for the Mac, I could use those too, since I know it will be requested next.

Mac Power!

[DVO]

I saw a VCD player on a VCD once, it was made by Sony. It was a software on the cd and it wasn't possible to copy it to the hdd. Don't know if it works on Mac. Maybe you should contact Sony and ask them...

[AntnyMD]

Sony Videopress, the software on some pressed VCDs, works only in the Windows environment. If you can get ahold of this software (perhaps a "friend" of yours has a copy), you have to use VCD authoring software that allows you to add extra "non-standard" files to the VCD, like GNU VCDImager with the VCDEasy GUI. I've used Videopress on several of my own homebrew VCDs and liked it a lot. It fully supports VCD2.0.

Autorun anything on a CD doesnt help when the end user has had to turn OFF the autorun default. Just distribute a three-step instruction with your CD ... stick it on a label and slap that on the package you're distributing the discs in ... furthermore, if its for computer-use only, I wouldn't suggest making it a VCD, just a regular data CD with a high-quality MPEG-1 file on it:

1) Insert disc
2) Double-click to open My Computer and open the CD from your CD-ROM drive
3) Double-click video.mpg and enjoy!


By making it a straight data disc, and using MPEG-1, the file will auto-associate itself in Windows to Windows Media Player. Furthermore, if your client pops this data disc into a Macintosh, the file will auto-associate with Quicktime, with no further help needed from you, or an auto-run file

[EricB]

I have used just regular mpg1 files and autostart software from www.pollensoftware.com . It is really nice (and inexpensive) allowing you to add graphic nested menus.

[angus]

:D OK Mateys,

Success! I created 3 files, MPEG-1, AVI and WMF. I purchased a product called AutoPlay and created a very generic GUI that autostarts and allows the user to select which version they want to view.

Now the kicker! My client liked it, but they want it to be compatible with the MAC's. So I start reading about Hybrid CD's, XA, Roxio, blah, blah, blah.... I have not found a "simple" approach to this, so before I get started, anyone burned one of these "hybrids" that will work with both Mac and PC's? If so, what tools, OS's, etc and info can you tell me?

Any help is appreciated. I really want to thank everyone for their input. It beats having to re-invent the wheel whenever I start on a new topic or area.

G'day Mates

Angus (No! my brother is not named Malcom)

[You_Are_Alive]

Well, I'm sure you know that MAC and Windows compatibility issues are very tricky to deal with. But I'm surprised you overclocked the one file format that is cross-platformmed and will work for sure. Use MOV or AIFF, MOV preferred. Also pay attention to your file name extensions and names as well. Use the eight-dot-three naming convention, such as SOMEFILE.MOV. Prepare audio at 11.025 kHz, 22.050 kHz, or 44.1 kHz, which will play back well on both the Mac and Windows. Avoid 11.127 kHz, 22.254 kHz or other variations.

If you follow these guidelines, I think you're done.

[Big_Jit]

Why is everybody talking about software. Anybody can autorun any cd on their computer [That they burn] just by adding a file called Autorun.inf to the root directory on the disc you wanna burn. The file should contain the following:

[Autorun]
open=start mplayer2.exe /play /close \mpegav\avseq01.dat

And that's all there is to it.

you can fiddle with the file to use your favorite player on your computer.

Has everybody seen this on the site:http://www.vcdhelp.com/autorun.htm#divx

[mutt]

Hi EricB,

I am trying to accomplish distribution of vcd's (using TMPGEnc to encode MPEG1). These cd's must play via the cd-rom drive on the clients pc 's and open to a menu page that will allow the viewer to select different entry points or chapters within the vcd and then return to the menu page and select another entry point using mouse roll overs.

1) Based on your experience with Pollen Software will I be able to accomplish this?

2) Windows Media Player does not play Menu\Chapters from what I have learned. What software player do you include on your autorun vcd’s?

Thanks in advance for any help you or anyone else can offer.

[rallytbk]

I was just wondering... Why don't you just create an HTML file comparable to any any browser. Create links to the Mpeg1 files and have multiple pages for information, to include a link to the company(ies) website (if their system is networked/online).

That would be easier than creating VCDs and having companies download VCD software to run the CDs. Microsofts Media player (old and new) plays Mpeg and avi files... It comes with every windows package and apple can read HTML files with Audio and Video files.

Tell me what you think?

<reply requested>

[angus]

I will try the HTML approach. Main page with links to an MPEG file/MOV file, URL's, some JPEGs, etc.

Excuse my limited MAC knowledge, but if I keep everything on 9660 standard(naming conventions, etc) then it should work, right?

A couple of questions, what "burn" tool has anyone used and experienced the "least amount of problems"? And are there any HTML issues that one should be on the look out or avoid?

You guys(generic term here) have been great with your feedback.

Thanks!

Angus