What am I doing wrong ...??? (VCD Authoring)

[MarcDorcel]

Hi

I am about to go buy a new DVD player (tomorrow actually) and I intend on using it to watch home made VCD's, VCD's, DVD's and maybe even listen to mp3's....

I have tried making a few VCD's on my pc with Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum ( and 1 or 2 with Nero) so that I could test out a few DVD players in the store before buying one. I burned 5 VCD's, 2 ondifferent media... 1 CD-R, 1 CD-RW and all of them on different brands of CD's...because I have read on the net that the brand can make a difference.

But none of the VCD's that I made worked on 4 of the DVD players that the salesman and I tried...

I tried the following DVD players:

JVC 300BK
Pioneer DV353
Sony DVPNS315
Panasonic DVDRV32

So one of my many questions is this...How can I verify that I burned the VCD's correctly without having the new DVD player...?
(I do "not" have a DVD-ROM on my pc..just a CD-writer.)

Also I tried using VCDeasy, but I keep getting a message that I am missing some dll file. After installing the file, it still wouldn't work...so I gave up....for now.

( I don't know if this helps, but I am running Win XP Pro and I have made all the upgrades and patches for Easy Cd Creator, I have burned several music CD's with no problems)

I hope someone out there can give me a hand, I never thought I would get so frustrated or confused with the process of VCD making....

Thanks

Scott

[fyreboltx2]

its not that bad after you get the hang of it.

what is the source of your video? (like is it a dvd rip, a downloaded mpg or avi, etc.)

what did you encode with?

and you should be able to play vcds on with just a cd-rom drive (or cd-rw in your case) download a vcd player, take you pick theres a lot in the tools section.

more info will help us help you!

[MarcDorcel]

Hi

Thanks for the positive vibe fyreboltx2.

My source for video is..... mpg's I downloaded.

Encode..?!?!?!....I have to encode them before burning them...?
I had no idea I had to encode them, what do I use to encode them..?
And what setting fo I use for this encoding procedure..?

I will download a VCD player right now.

I appreciate your time and effort fyreboltx2...

Thanks

Scott

[thampi verghese]

Hi,I am new to VCD authoring.Slide show and video clips from Epson PhotoPC3100Z.My DVD player is Panasonic RV31.I have used TDK CD-R and Memorex CD-RW.So far not one coaster.All played without a hitch.Used Nero and Ulead and SSMM.All work.I tried RW a few times.No problem.But my son has a RV31.The CD-R with slide show and Video clips I gave him played only the Clips and not the slide show.I don't know why.Some where I read that if the CD-R/RW has a logo DISC it should play in Panasonic RV31.This all I could tell you from my short experience.

[fyreboltx2]

Hi

Thanks for the positive vibe fyreboltx2.

My source for video is..... mpg's I downloaded.

Encode..?!?!?!....I have to encode them before burning them...?
I had no idea I had to encode them, what do I use to encode them..?
And what setting fo I use for this encoding procedure..?

I will download a VCD player right now.

I appreciate your time and effort fyreboltx2...

Thanks

Scott

well if youve downloaded an mpg file it may or may not be vcd compatable.

load up nero, select to create a vcd, then load the mpg file.
after its done checking the file it will either give you:
a message saying its not vcd complient and give you an option to re-encode it. id recommend you not do it with nero. use tmpgenc. theres guides on this site thatll help you a lot!

or itll just add the file to the vcd. you can right click on the movie file, itll tell you if its a standard vcd. now your ready to burn!

if its an avi, then youll have to encode it, no matter what!

check the convert section under 'how to', theres guides thatll tell you how to convert an avi or mpg into a standard-vcd mpg file.

hope this helps!

[MarcDorcel]

Hi (me again)

I'm starting to lose my mind here....

I took an "mpg" that I downloaded, this "mpg" is supposed to be ready to burn as a VCD "as is", but after not being able to watch it with I-VCD Player(after burning it) I decided to encode it just to make sure.

I used the latest version of "TMPGEnc" to do this and I followed the instruction on this web site.

Then I burned the VCD....and still..."nothing"...!!!!

When I try to play the VCD with "I-VCD Player" or "Windows Media Player", it tells me there is no VCD in the CD-ROM.

I have tried burning VCD's with both Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum and Nero. VCD easy doesn't seem to work on my system....

One more detail...I have mostly tried burning on CD-R's, but my main goal is to get things going with CD-RW's....

Can anyone help me with this, I am going out of my mind...!?!?!?!?

Thank you

[fyreboltx2]

well i dont see the problem... if youve encoded it it sould be in working order now...

well i can offer you one last tip, try a different brand of cd-r or try a cd-rw. sorry you didnt have a good experience with vcds.

[MarcDorcel]

Thanks for all your help fyreboltx2...

I am not giving up...yet..!!!

Maybe someone else on this forum can help me find the solution to my problem.
With all the knowledge around here, I can't conceive that no one else will know the answer.

I am going to the store in about an hour to test the last 2 VCD's I've made today...maybe they will work this time with the encoding....

If not, then it's back to the old drawing board....

I'll post an update when I come back.

[Fatboy]

What type of cdr's are you using ?

I know some standalone DVD players dont like cdr's / cdrw's check the compatability list on this web site ?

If Nero has converted a downloaded file, when promted if should take a while. But usally produces a ok job.

When you have a burnt VCD disc try opening it in explorer and opening the MPEGAV file and running the .dat file (this is the film) with Media Player.

In Nero when burning what settings do you have ?.

Have you tryed Tmpegnc or DVDx or BBmpeg or Ulead Movie to convert the film to VCD standard the burn.

I also had a lot of problems with this format and compatablity, please keep me posted.

Cheers.... Chris..... :P

[MarcDorcel]

I just came back from 4 different stores and none of the VCD's I burned worked in any of the machines.....
I asked several of the clerks if any of them had themselves burned VCD's for themselves and if they could give me any help with my problem.
The only 2 clerks that had any knowledge on the subject (or so they claimed) told me very different stories....

Clerk #1 told me that my CD burner was "crap" and I should replace it, even after I told him that I burn mp3 CD's and regular music CD's every week...He then told me that the software I was using was "crap"..as in Nero and Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum...so...I basically think this guy was an arrogant idiot...

Clerk #2 told me that according to the steps I followed everything should be fine...he suggested that I try different using a different template in TMPGEnc...except for that he had no idea....at least he was nice and honest...

Bottom line is....I have no idea what to look at first to troubleshoot this problem....Until I can burn a VCD, I won't buy a new DVD player...what's the point..?..my old one plays my DVD's just fine.

Reply to Fatboy:
I am using different CD-R's and CD-RW's for all the VCD's I am burning for the sake of testing what works and what doesn't....

I have checked the compability list "several" times and I am also trying to do my own little investigation on what works...

So far every VCD I have burned in either Nero or Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum can "Not" be read in windows explorer....

I used the settings indicated on this web page for both Nero and Easy CD Creator 5 Platinum...still no luck with the results.

I have been using TMPGEnc so far for all the encoding....

I will keep you posted through this thread of any progress I make....
I would also appreciate if you can give me any other tips or help on the subject.

[MarcDorcel]

Eureka...!!!

I seem to have gotten this thing to work properly.

One of the mistakes I made on 2 movies was that it was in the PAL format and I burned as such.In my area (Canada) we are supposed to use the NTSC format.

Also once I tried making a VCD with Easy Cd Creator 5 Platinum again...it worked....

So far, both my CD-R and CD-RW made VCD's work fine on my pc...tomorrow comes the final test ...trying both on a DVD player at the local store (again)....

I will keep you updated on the results...

Now I just have to figure out how to convert an mpg-1 PAL to NTSC format. I read the instruction on this site, but they seen to be for when you already have a PAL VCD in your CD-ROM....unless I didn't understand it properly.

If any of you have any tips for me on how to convert PAL to NTSC, I would appreciate if you could opost them on this thread...

Thanks

[fyreboltx2]

tmpgenc can convert pal to ntsc and ntsc to pal. just select the proper template. it shoud say if its a pal or ntsc in ().

or if your making a custom vcd then you can shange the settings on the video and advanced settings.

glad to hear you got it working! see i told you, once you get one working itll become easier!

p.s. you should to the guy and said your burner and software suck and shove it back in his face!

[MarcDorcel]

Thank you fyreboltx2 for all your help and support....

Thank you also Fatboy, I'll keep you updated on my next step.