Newbie MOV-->VCD help needed

[Luhmann]

Lets say I wanted to take the four free downloads from the Animatrix web site and turn them into a single VCD so that I could view them on my TV. How would I do that?

I took one of the .MOV files (which I named animatrix01-R1.mov) and processed it in ffmpegX, choosing the pre-sets for VCD [NTSC]. The result was (after an hour) three files:

animatrix01-R1.mp2
animatrix01-R1.mpg
animatrix01-R1.m1v

But Toast rejects these three files if I choose its VCD window. I read through the forums and saw something about using the tools menus to MUX as VCD, but that created a half dozen more files and I'm not sure I did it right. I wasn't sure which files should be used for input, etc. I realize that this would have created just a VCD for this one movie rather than all four - but it seemed to actually create two VCDs, which doesn't make sense considering that this is a short piece. There seems to be a setting for that as well, but rather than just guessing at random what settings should be what, I thought maybe someone could just gide me through the process?

Thanks.

[RastaPiggy]

The .mp2 is the audio file.. the .m1v is the mpeg-1 video file.. the .mpeg file is the muxed video/audio film. You have to pick the .mpg file by clicking on the browse button and click on Author with VCD settings on... On the left of this you see options as author as and split in.. if you want 1 chunk than set split in to 1. Than click on Author and wait. This should create a few files. Only 1 is important... the .bin file. You have to burn this in Toast with the Video CD option. Good luck!

[digitaldave]

I'm currently downloading the 4 movies.

What I'm going to try is to combine the 4 episodes into one film (maybe use iMovie or Final Cut) and then put in onto disk. This of course depends on the file size of the movies.

Save as a Quicktime movie and then process the one movie with ffmpegx. If it requires two disks I'll go back and combine two of the movies at a time and go from there.

Update: FCE didn't like the format of the films. Can't render. Need to resave as a regular Quicktime movie. (Even though it's sez .mov it could be any codec).

Importing into iMovie would accomplish the same.

[Luhmann]

Thanks!

It seems like the documentation recommends using VCD Builder for putting multiple movies onto a single VCD.

I suppose I can just use the created MPG file for that?

[major]

I suppose I can just use the created MPG file for that?

Yes.

[Luhmann]

Thanks for the tips - I made my first VCD! Unfortunately, it wasn't a total success, one of the four movies came out without any sound. I guess I'll have to try to convert it again. Also, the VCD builder menu doesn't seem to work. No matter what I do it still starts with the first film.

The only thing that is a real problem, however, is the amount of time it takes for the conversion. FFMPEGX takes nearly an hour to convert a 9 minute MOV file. Is there any way to speed up the process? Or any other tools that do it faster?

[RastaPiggy]

You should have used SVCD tho.. much better quality

[major]

Is there any way to speed up the process? Or any other tools that do it faster?

Try "fast mpeg-1" preset, though it will only work on some DVD players (as it creates a VBR stream).

[Luhmann]

I tried re-encoding the first film again, and encountered the same problem - no sound after the credits! This didn't happy with the other ones. Any idea why this is happening?

It is "The Second Renaissance: Part 1" from the Animatrix site.

SVCD is really higher quality? I alwasy thought it was just a way to include Karaoke sound tracks and such...

[major]

SVCD is really higher quality? I alwasy thought it was just a way to include Karaoke sound tracks and such...

Click on the left bar of this site "WHAT IS SVCD".