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  1. Member
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    I'm struggling somewhat to get this to work. The Saturn recognises the VCD, loads up the VCD player just fine. However on attempting to play the video, the system freezes and refuses to play. I'm pretty sure most of my settings are right, so I'll list them here and hopefully someone more experienced can tell me where I'm going wrong.
    I know the VCD works, as it runs a release copy of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan just fine. I'm attempting to use the Saturn's VCD to operate some old portable CRTs that have very precise input requirements that my Saturn is able to meet without my buying more tech, in order to run some lo-fi visual effects for a film I'm making in January. I really don't have any alternative equipment that can connect with this hardware, so please don't ask me to use something else unless burning Saturn VCDs is literally impossible.

    --------------------------------
    THE FILE
    Rendered in Magix Vegas Pro using settings for MainConcept MPEG-1 - VCD PAL (I'm using a PAL Saturn with PAL VCD Card) as a .mpg file
    14:48 video length

    VIDEO
    Frame Size: 352 x 288
    Data Rate: 1150kbps
    Total Bitrate: 1374kbps
    Frame Rate: 25.00 frames/second

    AUDIO
    Bit Rate: 224kbps
    Channels: 2 (stereo)
    Audio Sample Rate: 44.100kHz
    --------------------------------

    BURNING TOOLS
    Software: StarBurn (Latest version) - using Burn VCD option.
    Hardware: Pioneer BD-RW BDR-209D (Blu-Ray Burner, but does work with CDs, DVDs etc)

    3 Discs attempted at 3 various speeds
    4x (the slowest the Drive will burn at)
    16x
    40x (the fastest the Drive will burn at)

    --------------------------------
    RESULTS

    4x Speed - The Saturn loads the VCD player, pauses for a few seconds when you press play then stops automatically.
    16x Speed - The Saturn loads the VCD player but adds an option of PBC (Which doesn't appear at 4x speed or on my Star Trek VCD). Pauses and stops the video as 4x does.
    40x Speed - The Saturn loads the VCD player and adds the PBC option like 16x speed does. However on pressing Play, the player freezes then the console reboots itself.


    From all the literature I've found, I'm doing everything right. The only thing that I can see as a possible factor is that my disc drive can't burn a disc at lower than 4x speed. I've heard the Saturn has a 2x speed reader, but I'm at a loss to find an additional USB drive that burns as low as that.

    Any help would be much appreciated guys and gals. Thank you.
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  2. Member DB83's Avatar
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    Nothing wrong with those video and audio settings for a Pal VCD.

    I have no idea what that PBC option is.

    This appears to be a burn issue. You should burn at the speed that is quoted on the CD. But I guess that most these days are 48x and you say your burner can not handle that. What about 24x ?

    I had a quick look at the burning software manual. Make sure you follow the instructions carefully.

    BTW whatever the writing speed the playback read speed is 1x
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  3. aBigMeanie aedipuss's Avatar
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    it's been way too many years since i created vcds but it looks like you may have skipped a step. mpeg-1 video needs to be converted to .dat and an image of the disc produced. then you burn the using the bin/cue produced. just putting mpeg-1 on a cd isn't creating a vcd. i think vcdeasy was the program used back then to create the image. sorry just don't recall all the steps.
    --
    "a lot of people are better dead" - prisoner KSC2-303
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  4. Member DB83's Avatar
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    ^^ The stated burning software does appears to create a valid VCD.

    Of course the 'acid' test is to compare the folder/file structure to that from the 'What is' at the top of the page.

    And, yes, it's more years than I care to admit to since I last created a VCD. Back in those days I could have used Nero but just do not remember.
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  5. Video Restorer lordsmurf's Avatar
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    VCDEasy or bust.
    XP VM may or may not be required.
    Want my help? Ask here! (not via PM!)
    FAQs: Best Blank DiscsBest TBCsBest VCRs for captureRestore VHS
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  6. Mr. Computer Geek dannyboy48888's Avatar
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    Made one recently, take the mpeg and put into vcdgear. Drop the .cue file into imgburn and burn away. Did this on windows 10 64bit with no issues
    if all else fails read the manual
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  7. Member Cornucopia's Avatar
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    PBC stands for "PlayBack Control". It is the menuing system that goes beyond Play/Pause/Stop/NextTrack/PrevTrack, and includes gui buttons with hotspots, timer functions, looping, direct jump by menuitem#, etc.
    It is part of the VCD 2.0 spec, while the simpler controls are covered by both it and the VCD 1.0 and 1.1 specs.

    To be most compliant, you should encode and author using Philips' own Pink encoder and VCDTool authoring tools. But those are defunct and arcane and a right pain to setup and use. I have a copy in my app/data archives, but it isn't worth getting out.
    You should use TMPGEnc 2.5x using the PAL VCD Mpeg1 encoder profile preset. That should give you your vcd-compliant assets.
    Then you should author as VCD 2.0 (or 1.1 if you dont care about pbc features) and output to BIN/CUE, using VCDEasy.
    Both of those should be in a Win2k or WinXP 32bit VM.
    Then use ImgBurn normally, loading the BIN/CUE discimage and burning at the rated speed for the disc.
    Should work fine. Should also give you (nearly) the best quality possible.
    If you still have trouble, my guess is you might be using crappy brand blanks.

    Scott
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  8. Mr. Computer Geek dannyboy48888's Avatar
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    just tested tmpeg 2.5, runs fin under win 10 64 bit natively if anyone wants that route. did a encode under 2.5 and mastering works 5 and both authored fine in my case. tmpeg 2.5 is FREE though for mpeg-1 and does indeed produce a good result relatively speaking.
    if all else fails read the manual
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