VCD Easy

[kshavo]

I just downloaded VCDEasy 3.1.0 (the free version). I can't get a menu with chapters to work with the program. I thought it was able to do it. Am I right? What am I doing wrong?

Ken

[aedipuss]

may not be able to in the trail version. the last "free" version was 1.1.5 i think, it's also listed on the tool page.

[kshavo]

I checked and I have the free version not a trial. I have 1.1.5.
Does it have the capability to create menus. I'm a newbie to the software and I can't seem to get it to create a menu.

[aedipuss]

never tried vdc or svcd menuing myself but there is a guide listed.

https://forum.videohelp.com/topic84327.html

what version it applies to i don't know.

[Nitemare]

Not all players will accept a menu. A decent cheat is to make a long MPG still that loops until a # is pressed on the remote, essentially interrupting "track 1" and manually selecting the next track.

I have never had any luck with menus and VCD and found this to be my only solution for players that do not accept VCD menus. In fact, I became certain that only a dedicated, geniune VCD player would accept them. I've yet to find a DVD player that would do the menus, but I admit that I have only tried with the ones I own.

Try a "software" VCD player on your PC and see if the menus work... if they do, you're authoring it right but your DVD player can't do it.

[aedipuss]

somewhere in the old cd movie pile i have a working svcd with menus that works on all dvd players that handle svcd format. i never saw the point in wasting what little mbs were available on cd with a menu, but this one a friend made. no vcds though.

[disturbed1]

Try setting the options to VCD 2.0 and PBC to on. I've had a few DVD players that have had the option to turn PBC on and off, check this as well. I've never had any issues with (S)VCD menus across many DVD players. I can honestly say I've never authored any menus with VCDEasy. I've always used Nero, VideoPack, Philips VCDTool Kit, I-Author, or Philips SVCD Designer.

[jman98]

I checked and I have the free version not a trial. I have 1.1.5.
Does it have the capability to create menus. I'm a newbie to the software and I can't seem to get it to create a menu.

I don't think it's possible with any version of VCDeasy to create a menu. You'll need to do a web search on it, but I seem to recall that you have to use another program to create the menu and then somehow import it into VCDeasy.
I'm too lazy to read this, but I found this with a quick search on Google:
http://www.vcdeasy.org/modules.php?name=_Guides&id=DVDRip_Extract
It should help to get you going.

VCD menus are severely limited. They can only be MPEG stills and there can be no background music. I have heard of some programs that will let you have background music, but I don't think this is technically allowed by the VCD standards. With the limitations of VCD menus, in my opinion menus are overrated and not really needed. Most commercial VCDs lack menus, although I do have a few commercial VCDs that use them.

[mats.hogberg]

Yes, you can have a menu, but nothing like a DVD menu. I don't think that's at all possible for VCD. And VCDEasy doesn't create it for you.
Just create a still image with text on it, like

• 1) Play first video
• 2) Play second video
• 3) Play third video

The user presses the numerical keypad on the remote, and is taken to that title (if you set it up right, which isn't too hard).

/Mats

[RowMan]

That was a trip down memory lane.

VCDasy was my first experience in making any type of interactive video disc before I was able to make DVDs. I learned a lot during that time.

More info on VCDEasy menus...
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic183277.html

My menu example...
https://forum.videohelp.com/topic174784.html

[jman98]

That was a trip down memory lane.

Indeed. I looked at your links. It was certainly very kind of you to provide such helpful info from the past. Not everyone would have gone to the trouble to do that.

I cut my teeth making just a few VCDs back in 2001 before I quickly moved up to SVCD. I made SVCDs for several years because of hardware limitations and the cost of DVD blanks before finally moving up to miniDVD (DVD format on CD-Rs - not supported on very many standalone DVD players) and finally DVD. I still have a little fondness for VCD/SVCD and try to help out on the subject when I can. Yes, DVD is better, no doubt, but there can still be a place for VCD/SVCD too.